School's Out

School's out. Well, not really, but the marks are all in, the books given back, and the fête du collège no more than a memory (if you attended it, which my youngest did not, saying it was going to be way too boring...). The actual end of school is July 4, but think of it as an administrative date because my youngest and all his friends have been off school for days. It serves no purpose actually going to school because the teachers are all occupied with the Brevet for kids in 3e, so kids in lower years are just babysat and do nothing useful: no revision, no catch-up, no preparation for next year - nothing except drawing and watching the odd film (again).

Doubtful that my son has acquired all there is to learn during the year (from his marks), I bought an exercise book of the whole syllabus and he is instructed to do a page of maths and SVT (sort of biology) per day. His SVT teacher was a disaster this year; the whole class have had consistently bad marks, and my son has hated the lessons. I mark it at the end of the day and go through it with him, and although it's not really the best way to chill after a hard day's graft at the coal face (no comparison with an icy glass of rosé and a packet of S&V crisps, for example), it is serving a useful purpose that even my youngest can't deny. He is revising, catching up and learning that which he had zapped during the year - especially important in maths!

My eldest has finished his Bac. I'm hoping and praying he's done better than scrape through by the skin of his teeth, although it's what he deserves considering the amount of work he's done. He's been accepted at the Law Fac in Montpellier so he just needs to pass. Skin of Teeth or Mention Très Bien, it makes no difference. How's that for a motivating force? Personally I think it's a disastrous system and I know I'm not the only one. Many in and out of l'Education National (but mostly out) believe the system needs a huge overhaul. When 90% of kids who take the Bac pass it and then mostly fail in their first year at the Fac after wasted a pointless year in a place where they have no business being, it's time to do something sensible and reform the system. Not much sensible in l'Education National though so I expect the status quo to be with us for many a year yet.

My son's plan next year is to share a flat with some mates (a coloc) and have a riotous time. He also intends to do some work. School, he said, was boring and pointless (except Philosophy) and he was fed up with it. Life will start at the Fac and he says he's going to take it seriously. I'm hoping he doesn't forget after a week or two...

In the meantime, with both boys slobbing about at home, the place resembles Beirut all the time. The kitchen is a one-way zone: walk in, make mess, walk out. There is no return journey to clean up, or indeed to remove the plates, bowls and glasses that accumulate from the one-way system. I can't even walk in and rant because the chances are, they won't be there. They'll be out and about and I'm supposed to be grateful they haven't taken root in front of the XBox or some stupid reality show like Angels. By the time they come sauntering home (not always the case with my eldest...), I've cleaned up in order to make dinner and lost the will to vent.

In other news, I was behind an old woman with a thick peasant accent in La Poste the other week who had a perfect moustache. It was salt and pepper coloured, and she kept it nicely trimmed over her top lip. There was even a tuft under her bottom lip. I wonder if she sings...