Culture et civilisation en France

Qu’est-ce que c’est la culture ?  la culture est la vie totale.

Culture is the total way of life. 

France has a surface area of 549,000 square kilometers and a population of 59 million.  This include not only metropolitan France, i.e. the main land.

France share borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Span.

EDUCATION IN FRANCE

France has a centralized education system, controlled by the ministere de l’Education nationale

CENTRALIZATION

The curriculum is drawn up by the government and is handed down to schools in an official publication called Le Bulletin official de l’education.

From nursery to lycee:

• Nursery school (2-6) is optional but almost all the children attend
• Primary school (6-11) is structured in five levels: le cours preparatoire (CP), cours elemtaire 1 and 2 (CEI and CE2) and cours moyens 1 and 2 (CM1 and CM2).  Here pupils acquire reading, writing and arithmetic skills
• College (11-15) involves four years study culminating in the firs national exam taken by students choose which subject area they want to specialize in and hence which type of lycee they attend.

ECONOMY

France is the fourth largest economic power in the world and belongs to the G7 (the group of the seven most industrialized countries).  Its annual gross national product (GNP) is approximately and 1800 per person

• The system in Action:  The working population of  france represent 43% of all inhabitatants.
• The primary sector:   Cosists mostly of agriculture, and emplys only 6% of the working population cereatls are grown mostly in the paris Basin
• The secondary sector:  Which includes industry and construction employ about 30% of the labour.

Nuclear power now accounts for 74% of electricity production.  Most successful are the telecommunicaitons, railway stock and aerospace industries.

• Working hours are fixed by law at 39 hours per week, with a daily maximum of 10 hours.  Employee may work an extra 130hrs per year, pay at a higher rate.  Paid annual holiday in 30 working days.