The philosophy test

[Deleted]

Today is a big day in France -- the beginning of the annual baccalauréat exams, which high school students must pass in order to be able to accepted to a university. (Anyone with a "bac" can register at any university in France.)

The first day is devoted to the philosophy essay, which generally strikes fear into just about everybody's heart.

They have three hours to write an essay chosen from three options:

Arts and letters section (coefficient 7 for the final grade)

-- For history to be objective, must the historian be impartial?
-- Does language betray one's thoughts?
-- Explanation of an excerpt of The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) (It is about how desire is spawned by deprivation but how the pleasure of satisfaction destroys both the desire and consequently the satisfaction. Therefore we have no real appreciation of what we possess and only understand suffering -- or some such.)

Scientific section (coefficient 3)

-- Is it absurd to desire the impossible?
-- Are there questions to which no branch of science has an answer?
-- Explanation of an excerpt of Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) (It is about how people must take an interest in local affairs and mutual assistance before they can begin thinking about the greater good of a country.)

Economics and social studies section (coefficient 4)

-- What is gained through exchange?
-- Do technological developments change the nature of man?
-- Explanation of an excerpt of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke (1632-1704) (It is about the concept of justice and fidelity being universal, even among criminals, or else criminal groups could not maintain cohesion -- but how can such moral values be considered innate when the rules are so different depending on one's social group?)

[bixaorellana]

Lofty stuff! Do the students have an inkling of which subjects might be presented for the essays? They're only writing one essay, chosen from the above nine themes, right?

Really, a person just completing high school should be able to express himself coherently on any of the above subjects, especially when three of them will be partly a demonstration of reading comprehension.

The beauty of expecting such an essay from students leaving high school is how much faith the educational system shows in itself in assuming that those students will indeed be prepared to expound on such weighty subjects. That further means that high school graduates are equipped to think and to continue educating themselves throughout life, whether or not they're able to attend university -- which is as it should be.

[Deleted]

Depending on their 'orientation' in high school, they have a choice of three subjects depending on their category.

Since France has a national curriculum (including the private schools, no matter what their religious affiliation may or may not be), the same subjects are taught at every school according to the directives of the Ministry of Education. The questions asked were covered at some time during the school year.

[patricklondon]

This is very like the kind of "general paper" that is part of some UK final secondary exams, or in the old special entrance exams that Oxford and Cambridge used to set.

But so much depends on the marking: it would be, well, not exactly easy, but not impossible, to mug up a fairly elegant piece with handy quotes (to demonstrate wide reading) and a few jokes (I know, I went to the kind of school that equipped you for that sort of thing) - but utterly unoriginal. No doubt easy to spot for an experienced examiner.

Has anyone else read or seen Alan Bennett's "History Boys": that sort of exam trickery was one of the targets.

[hwinpp]

Does every 'stream' take the same bac? I used to be in the D stream (which I disliked intensely) which was a bit like a science stream. Even worse was the C stream, I think, pure maths basically...

[Deleted]

Yes, each group has the same bac.

[traveler63]

K2:

This is very interesting and just reinforces what I think about the American Education system which is not very much. At least now. when I was going to school in the 50's and 60's the system was very different. It was much harder, we had no calculators for math, we had to write essays, book reports, and we were actually taught to think critically. Nothing was graded "on the curve" and you actually had to pay attention.