It's cultural. France has a long tradition of selecting and funnelling the brightest math students to elite schools and institutions. In particular, there's a s

It's cultural. France has a long tradition of selecting and funnelling the brightest math students to elite schools and institutions. In particular, there's a system of "preparatory schools", 2 years right after high school, where students work hard to get to the best possible "Grande Ecole" (engineering school). Not only the incentive is high for the students to perform well, but maths teachers in these classes are extremely qualified. I should add that the most selective "Grande Ecole" produce more managers than engineers. Maths is mostly a mean of selecting elite, since most of these students won't work in science or engineering. Ironically, France students on average are getting worse and worse at maths. This system works well for some elite, but not for the rest of the country. I like to think it's the same for gastronomy. France has great restaurants, but a lot of French eat mostly pizza, Mac Donald's and junk food.