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Maybe I should clarify: The french university system is abysmal. The grande ecole recruits all the best minds, and these schools make for very good members of s
by rtpg 14y ago
Maybe I should clarify: The french university system is abysmal. The grande ecole recruits all the best minds, and these schools make for very good members of society, but it comes at the cost of specialisation. These people get maybe 1 or 2 years at most of actual specialisation.
Basically people getting out of these schools are very smart and know a bit about very many domains. It's just that, for having spent 5 years in the school system, they'll know a lot less about their domain than others having spent 5 years in an american university (for example).
In 99% of cases this is not important. You learn everything on the job anyways, and people going through the grande ecole system makes you very good at learning quickly and effectively. It's just that while in school you might be a bit useless, and when you get into the workforce, you'll end up with a pretty cushy job anyways.
- carlob 14y agoFair enough French _universities_ are pretty bad. So what? How do they compare with non-elite American universities? There is a large movement of entrepreneurs in the US that are encouraging bright students to drop out of college, because they think that college has become completely ineffective in teaching useful work skills. Maybe it's because of overspecialization. I don't want to defend the French system, which I sincerely despise for political reasons (this two tiered system is an important cause of social injustice in France), but the American academic system doesn't seem to compare favorably with it, especially in comp-sci curricula.