This page is one of the annex pages of www.understandfrance.org, the foremost site on Franco-American intercultural differences. It contains documents, facts and figures illustrating the content of some of its pages.

Facts & figures

This page contains Facts and Figures about France and the French. Some are significant, other less so.... High school programs in France

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High school programs in France		Program in hours per week of the 3 years of "lycée" (the equivalent of "high school") : "seconde" (i.e."sophomore"), "première (i.e. "junior) and "terminale" (i.e. "senior") for the three different cursus : "L" (i.e. "literary"), "ES" (i.e. "economic and social") and "S" (i.e. "science"). Section S is the most prestigious : it is practically required to be admitted in a "classe préparatoire" after "terminale)
in France, elementary school "école primaire" (i.e. from Grade 1 to 5) is followed by: "college" (from Grade 6 to 9), then : "lycee" (from Grade 10 to 12, roughly the equivalent of "high school") : this is what is represented on the opposite chart List 1 : economy or art or technology or engineering or scientific methods or health and social or biotech or lab sciences or literature List 2 : arts or mathematics or language 3 or latin or greek List 3 : art or mathematics or language or law (for L), mathematics or political science or economy (for ES), mathematics or physics-chemistry or biology-geology or computers (for S) Source : Le Monde 10/3/2010		Hours per week "seconde" "première" 'terminale"       L ES S L ES S French 4h 4h 4h 4h History-geography 3h 4h 4h 4h 4h 4h 2h Languages 1 & 2 5h30 4h30 4h30 4h30 4h 4h 4h Mathematics 4h 3h 4h 4h 6h Physics-chemistry 3h 1h30 1h30 3h 5h Biology-geology 1h30 3h 3h30 Sports 2h 2h 2h 2h 2h 2h 2h Ethics-civics 0h30 0h30 0h30 0h30 0h30 0h30 0h30 Economy 1h30 5h 5h French literature 2h 2h Foreign literature (in foreign language) 2h 1h30 Philosophy 8h 4h 3h TOTAL (for all students of each cursus) 23h30 20h30 24h30 25h 22h 23h30 26h Individual tutoring 2h 2h 2h 2h 2h 2h 2h Personal multidisciplinary work 1h 1h 1h One course on list 1 1h30 One course on list 2 3h One course on list 3 3 to 5h 1h30 2h Optional : art workshop 0 to 6h 0 to 6h 0 to 6h 0 to 6h 0 to 6h 0 to 6h 0 to 6h TOTAL (except optional) 27h 26h30 27h30 28h 27 to 29h 27h 30h See a global chart of the educational system from First Grade to College Back to education

To table of contents To top of the page  Back to home page	Harriet Welty Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French. Order her books: "French Toast, An American in Paris Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press, New York, 1999 "French Fried, The Culinary Capers of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001 More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming events, testimonials, etc..)
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