Strikes disrupt students studying abroad in France

“The students have blocked off doors and hallways ... and kept 24 hour watch,” she wrote from Paris in an e-mail to The Daily Princetonian.

“One of my classes was cut short because student-strikers began to remove all of the chairs and tables ... to barricade all of the exits while we were still in the building,” Lewis explained.

Lewis, who is studying in France through the Brethren Colleges Abroad program, is one of several Princeton undergraduates currently experiencing a new kind of education, as university students and professors across the country enter the 10th week of strikes demanding the withdrawal of educational reforms.

Following French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s announcement of three new government reforms designed to improve France’s state-controlled university system and increase opportunities for its graduates, professors and students began protesting, according to a report by the Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s leading English-language newspaper.

The protesters said that the reforms, which will also increase the cost of education, will inhibit academic quality, the Kyiv Post reported. They began blockading classrooms and took two university rectors hostage last week in two separate incidents in Rennes and Orleans. Because of the suspension of classes, government officials worry that end-of-year exams will not be able to take place in June, the report said.

Princeton undergraduates studying abroad in France said they are feeling the effects of the strikes, from relocation or cancellation of classes to delays in the Paris Metro. All of the Princeton students interviewed said that they had at least one class disrupted, and some, like Lewis, had courses postponed indefinitely.

Thelma Ramirez ’10 said in an e-mail that she was initially “worried” about several of her classes at the Universite de Paris X being cancelled, but she added that she feels confident now that any missed coursework will be made up.

“All of the study abroad programs that we use have the infrastructure and the expertise to deal with university strike,” Giorgio DiMauro, associate director of Princeton’s Study Abroad Program, said in an e-mail.

Support nonprofit student journalism. Donate to the ‘Prince’. Donate now »

“We have been in contact with [students] and with the study abroad programs, and are quite reassured that all the necessary steps have been taken to keep students in class and on track.” These steps include providing students with tutoring, additional classes and reasonable alternatives to cancelled courses, DiMaurio explained.

Some students, like Jonathan Solarte ’10, who is currently studying at the Universite de Paris III and VIII, said they have even benefited from the protests, gaining an increased understanding of French culture and society.

“Many professors have used class time to encourage students to become involved in frank discussion about a situation that very much concerns them,” Solarte said in an e-mail. “There is a class about the strikes, which analyzes them from political and philosophical perspectives.”

Ramirez added, though, that some French professors may be bitter about having to teach while on strike. She recounted her sociology professor’s hesitation to give additional lessons to her American students.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“She feels that in a way, she is letting down her colleagues by teaching. In the end she agreed on the individual lessons because she understood that, as an American student, I am paying tuition, unlike French students,” Ramirez explained.

For Princeton students, the protests represent a stark contrast to the comparative calm of the higher education system in the United States.

“French students have asked me if something like this would ever happen in the U.S. and I say that frankly, no, it wouldn’t happen, because we pay for our education,” Ramirez said.

Emily Garcia ’10, who is studying at the Universite Catholique de Paris, also said in an e-mail that the continuing protests are strange on many levels, citing in particular the public frustration over the tuition rates. She noted that French students typically pay around 300 euros for their entire undergraduate education.

“Considering the absurd amount we pay at Princeton, it was pretty hilarious to hear students shouting ‘We pay 100 euro every year and the buildings are run down! Where does our money go?’ ” Garcia explained.

Garcia also highlighted the stark differences between French and American students in their attitudes toward conflict, explaining that she is hesitant to share the views expressed by a classmate from the Alsatian countryside who asserted, “We’re French. We have hot blood. We need to shake things up!’ ”

Garcia recalled that when she responded that the French are “always in revolution,” the French student replied, “No, the revolution is always new, every time!’ ”

“French people believe that the best solutions must come from conflict,” Garcia explained. “Therefore, if there is not conflict, there is no real solution-making going on, and a solution which comes from conflict is inevitably better than one created peacefully.”

“To me this seems completely foreign, and it was no good getting him to explain this mindset. In my mind, conflict is best resolved with listening, speaking, and patience,” she added.

Lewis also noted that she does not condone the approach of the French professors and students, which she said she finds unfair and damaging.

“I think they could find an alternate, more effective and immediate solution,” she said.

Garcia echoed the sentiment, adding that professors seem to be “valuing their own interest ... over the education of their students.”

Solarte, on the other hand, said he supports the strikes and feels revitalized by the upheaval. “I’m a French major after all,” he said. “So what if the Metro’s out of service? ... Paris is a breathtaking city to explore on foot.”

“Here, students don’t take their education for granted whatsoever and literally take to the streets to defend it,” he added. “Even though our education systems are different in significant ways, American college students could really learn a thing or two from French students.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that the strikes here have ruined my time in Paris,” he said.