FRANCE is justly proud of some aspects of its education system. At prestigious public-sector high schools such as Henri IV (pictured), an ancient establishment in the center of Paris, pupils emerge with rigorous, well-trained minds, thanks to a broad-based final exam, the baccalauréat. The country boasts five of the top 15 European business schools. Their high-flying graduates are snapped up by banks in New York and London. French tech engineers are in high demand with startups in San Francisco. Yet, although it caters well to the top end of the ability range, French education is miserably failing the bottom.
Each year 122,000 pupils—17% of the total—leave school with no high-school diploma. Last year the French army evaluated national levels of reading and comprehension during a compulsory day of military and civic service for 17-year-olds. It found that one in ten attendees could not understand basic French. Such difficulties are concentrated in the outer-city banlieues, where family support is minimal and schools tend to get the least experienced teachers. But even the average is dropping….
