The first time that I ever deeply questioned the quality of my own educational background, I was in the 5th grade. My family had moved to France, and the school was very different from Sonora Elementary back in Kentucky! Before I go any further I want to clarify that I received a wonderful basic education at Sonora, and I am extremely grateful to all of the teachers and faculty and my friends there who contributed greatly to my life. Because of them [and my loving, supportive and encouraging family environment] I enjoyed school and learning from the very beginning.
Regardless of the merits of my previous academic environment, I quickly realized some of its faults when I arrived at Morier, my school in Joue-les-Tours, France. First of all, there were some great perks in this French school that had been missing in the US. The most noticeable was "recres" or recess. We had plenty of time for freedom and playing throughout a day. As far as I remember there was a short maybe 15 minute break in the middle of the morning. At this time we would all run to the playground for games of tag, marbles, "elastique" [Chinese jumprope?], and chas-bisou [boys and girls chase each other and kiss the captor(s)]... In case of rain we would crowd into the ground-floor open area and watch the boys play round-the-world ping pong, talk and sing French dirty little kids songs. "Au claire de la lune, j'ai pete dans l'eau. Ca faisait des boules, c'etait rigolot. Ma grand-mere arrivait avec un couteau. Elle coupait mes fesses en million morceaux." [Please forgive the lack of correct accents and any improper grammar/ spelling]. I had always read about recess in children's books and thought that it was just another part of the fantasy world that often was represented in kid lit. Now in France I realized that it truly did exist, and perhaps had truly existed in the US in some place and time. I was sad to have missed out on it for so many years!! I did get to play catch-up though. In addition to the morning recess there was about 2 1/2 hours more of break time around lunch!!
Lunch. That was another perk at Morier. There were 2 lunch groups. The first lunch group would go straight to lunch and then have an hour and a half of recess. The second lunch group would play for an hour, have lunch and then have another half hour to play. Either way, you couldn't go wrong! Lunch itself was very different from the US. Cafeterias as well. We went in and sat at our assigned lunch table, with the same group every day. There was a rotation of who would perform "service." Those individuals would go to the kitchen staff and get bowls of food and table settings and bring them to the table. After cleaning and setting the table, they were responsible for serving the food in roughly equal portions to each person at the table. After eating they would scrape and stack the plates and take them back to the kitchen, and wipe down the table. Most days the food was very tasty, and even if it was not my preferred dishes, it was well-balanced and of high quality. My favorite was turkey cutlet with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. Truly delicious! There was also an amazing tomato salad with a lemon/ mustard vinaigrette that I have never been able to replicate or find elsewhere... I am making myself hungry!! Did I mention we also ate in courses? There was also always french bread to go with every meal and a pitcher of water. There was no slopping different foods into the appropriate holes of a cafeteria tray. I learned a lot about French manners and cuisine from those school lunches. I would love to go back there for a meal!! :) Needless to say, there was more learning involved in these rituals than in those of the average school cafeteria in the US. I also developed a great affinity for the French diet and eating customs.
Well aside from these perks there was also some academic excellence. It is very difficult to compare, but I am pretty sure that the level of math was higher in France. I left French school after CM2 [5th year] and was reviewing math instead of learning until at least 7th grade of my US-based home school curriculum. They also managed to teach me to do multiplication and long division of multiple-digit numbers in my head... I wonder if I can still do it... I wonder if everybody can do it... Anyway, I was impressed with myself at the time, haha!
Of course there were drawbacks too. Like the bathroom. There was a girls' side and a boys' side, but the wall down the middle stopped below shoulder-level, just above the row of sinks down the center of the room. I was too embarrassed to go to the bathroom at school for awhile. Nobody else seemed to think it was a big deal.
In spite of some major culture shock and missing many people and things from home, I had a great experience in French school! I am grateful for the brief part of my education that was French!