conseils de classe

In France, there seems to be no such thing as FIRPA. You would think that a country where a past president's mistress sat next to his wife at his funeral, and whose current president walked off the set of an interview when asked about personal information, private things would be kept private. Well, not so in the national education system.

I first noticed this when the students wanted me to read their grades out loud. They wanted to know the class average, who had the best grade, and where they stood. I remember the days when as a student at my little parochial school, we exchanged papers to grade. Then, we had to call out the grade on our classmate's paper so the teacher could write it in her gradebook. In the 8th grade, I sat behind a boy named Darrell, who inevitably had the lowest grade in the class. Each time I called out his score, I felt terrible for him. As a teacher, I was relieved when this practice was discouraged by the Owasso-based U.S. Supreme Court case. So here, I told the students that I would tell them their grades individually. Still, applause broke out when they figured out who had the highest grade in 6ème. I think I managed to keep the lowest grade a secret. At least for a while.

The conseils de classe are an interesting French tradition. Over the course of a week and a half, all the teachers of a group of students (6ème 3, for example) meet in the evening to discuss the class and their grades. Also present is a school administrator, as well as 2 parent representatives and 2 student delegates. Since I really had no idea what to expect, I was so nervous the first night, and terrified when I realized I was going to have to speak to the group about the class as a whole. First, the teachers and the vice-principal met behind closed doors and discussed privately certain delicate matters. Then, the parents and students joined us. We went around the room and gave our impressions of the class, and then looked at the grades of each individual student, discussed their behavior and progress, and decided on a global comment to put on their report card. (Each teacher has also written an appréciation for each student).

I have to admit that meeting with the other teachers and seeing the students' grades was useful. I learned quite a bit about some students and shared concerns about others. I also was somewhat reassured when I learned that I'm not the only teacher who has trouble with certain groups of students, but then I'm also discouraged because even the really good teachers are challenged by these students so I feel there's really no hope for improvement as the year goes on. At least it's not me, right?

Still, all of my alarms were ringing - family and individual right to privacy has been drilled into this American educator.