In France, all schools follow the same basic curriculum. There are quite a few after-school programs after 4: 30 pm.

The French educational system is quite different from the system used in America. It’s directed by the central government and the basic curriculum is the same throughout the country. In French towns and cities, most small children attend school in their immediate neighborhood. They enter school on their fourth birthday and are a group with others of their age. They wear a uniform coat of a special color to indicate their grade. The American ideal of paying special attention to the individual needs of each child is not the primary value in the French school system. For example, they’ve few special classes either for bright children or for those who need extra help in their subjects. If students do not complete their school work satisfactorily, they must repeat the grade. Children are given more difficult tasks in French primaiy schools than in American schools.
    At four years of age, for instance, the French people begin to learn writing in script. Printing is not taught as an easy first step. French people are taught to draw by copying an object set before them. If they do not copy the object accurately enough, the teacher may mark an x through their paper and have them try again. Artwork is not given to the children to take home and to show their parents each day. It is collected in a folder that is given back to them at the end of the term. The routines and discipline of the French primary school are also more rigid than those in American school. School begins at 8: 30 a. m. when the bell rings for the children to line up and enter in classes. If it is raining, each child must wipe his or her shoes on the doormat on the eye of the teacher standing at the door. Each child must say "Good morning" to the teacher and promptly and quietly take his or her seat. The teacher is called teacher. Personal names are not used. Each subject taught is a knotted certain period of time and follows the same sequence nationally. At 11: 30, there is a two-hour break for lunch when most children go home. Those children who cannot go home for lunch are served the meal in school. When they have completely finished their main course, their plates are turned over and the shallow dishlike part of the base is used for serving the desert on. School ends at 4: 30.
    There are very few after-school programs for young children who have no one to pick them up at 4: 30. The enforcement of the school rules lies with the principal and the teachers. If children are noisy or inattentive in class, the teacher may punish them by making them stand facing the wall in different comers of the room. Students may have their ears tucked or hands pulled to correct their behavior. Parents may come to the school to speak with the teacher or the principal about their child, but there is no open school period when they can sit in and observe the child’s class. There are no parents and teachers associations in French elementary schools. The pupils are expected to meet their expectations of the schools, not the reverse, and it is the child not the school who must bend if this can not achieved.