Lyon Living: Observations about the French Education System part 2: Math

Math is math, right? I mean, two-plus-two-equals-four no matter what language you speak, and no matter how it's taught. Well, yes...and no. I've discovered through my daughters' experiences in a French public school that cultures can look at math in incredibly different ways. I've been wanting to write this blog post for a long time, but it's difficult for me to wrap my head around what makes French math so different, let alone put those observations in writing. I'll try my best.

The first thing to understand is how seriously the French take math. Mastering mathematics is the ultimate academic goal. French highschoolers must choose one of three tracks: "L" for littéraire (humanities), "ES" for economics & social sciences, or "S" for scientifique (various hard sciences, including advanced mathematics). The "S" is the coveted prize. Good students are encouraged to go for the S, regardless of their giftedness in math, or whether or not they even like math (enjoyment of a subject or career is not at all high on the priority list when choosing life's path in France). A humorous (to me) conversation with Lori's lead professor last fall solidified this point. It went something like this:

Teacher: Unfortunately, Lori's math grades aren't quite what we'd hoped for.

Me: Yes, math has always been very difficult for her.

Teacher: Oh...well, you realize that this limits her choices significantly. With these grades it will be difficult to progress in the French system, especially the S or even the ES.

Me: Lori has always enjoyed literature and history much more than math and science.

Teacher: (with disdain) Well, I suppose she could always fall back on the L .... (spoken as if this is the end of the world)

Excellence in math means getting into the best public universities, which means getting the highest paid and most prestigious jobs. Therefore, math gets prioritized in the educational system, and the math curriculum is intense.

Which leads to my second observation about French math: it's advanced. I've been helping Lindsey with her 6th grade math all year, and there are some problems involving geometry I just can't do. I tutored an 8th grade Saxon math class for three years, and Lindsey is doing problems at at least that level (Saxon is considered to be a very rigorous math curriculum). In France, math is not divided into categories by year like in the U.S. (for example, Algebra I and II, Geometry, Calculus, etc.). Instead, a little bit of each type of math is done every year from elementary to terminale. Everything builds on the foundation of what was learned in previous years, and the result seems to be a more holistic approach to math. I actually prefer this system over ours, although jumping in mid-stream is really hard.

When Lindsey's math scores started to drop last trimester, I made an appointment with her teacher. The first thing he said was, "She doesn't know her lessons." I found out that meant that she didn't master the math vocabulary. In France, math is just as much a written discipline as it is a problem-solving discipline. Every step must be justified in writing. Sometimes that involves a formula, at other times a sentence. Even when Lindsey knew how to solve a problem, often she didn't know how to express "why". Her teacher went on to say, "Explaining how you got the answer is MORE important than getting the correct answer." I don't think this is true in the U.S. Just getting the answer is usually sufficient.

My final observation for now about French math is that it's very integrated. I alluded to this above. In order to solve a French math problem, you need to use ALL of your math skills. One single geometry problem might involve fractions and decimals and metric conversions and ratios and using your protractor and ruler to draw a triangle with certain characteristics, not to mention basic operations like division and addition. Lindsey only has math class for one hour a day, three days a week. She might only be assigned two or three problems per week, as opposed to the typical American workload of 20 to 25 problems per day. But these two or three problems might have multiple parts and take an hour each.

I do think that in many ways, the French model is superior. At home, we've had to combine methodologies to find a way that it makes "sense" for our daughters, and frankly, for us grownups as well.