The things I don't like here

I read with great interest a post from one blogger.  She made a list of things she didn't like about Denmark.  I am tempted to do the same with France.  I am here because of professional reasons but I miss Canada a great deal.  To be fair, I would say that France has some qualities too, like culture, food, shares borders with 7 different countries (if I include Monaco).  But hey, you know me, I am the queen of criticisms and when it comes to bitching France I am unstoppable.  When I see books in English, blogs about idolizing French culture or how French women are so sophisticated, it infuriates me.  I don't know the exact title of those books, but "bringing up bébé" or other random stuff about how French women being thiner than others are  so far from the truth.  It's a shame that some people are making good money out of myths, but they sell books....and people will be continuing buying them.   Sorry if you are obsessed with France but it's not as idyllic as you think it is.  I have written this post few months ago but never published it because I'm too damn critical and so politically incorrect.

 Here are some of the things I've heard :

Myths vs reality:

French women (Parisians) are thin : get real, French women have weight issues like any other women in developed countries.  I don't live in Paris, but here in North of France, they are not thin at all.  Problem is that we never ever find sizes like 42-44 (size 12-14 in Canada or U.S) in the clothing stores, they are all gone first.

French kids eat so much better and eat everything:  we had several employees that are fairly young in the Company.  They are in their 20's.  I can say that all of them don't eat vegetables or cheese!  Their parents fed them meat and fries and as adults they only eat junk food.  I was pretty shocked when I learn that pretty much all of them don't care for cheese, they can't even stand the smell when we eat cheese in front of them.  They prefer beer to wine, which is something I can't understand either.  (North of France is more about beer than wine though).  Eating at Mc Donalds is not as shameful here.

The School system is good in France: I don't agree with that. They have a system based on Elitism.  If you fall behind at school, you are left out and you would have to go through a technical route.

At our company, we hired young employees a couple of years ago, some didn't have a high school diploma.  For example, you are 15 years old, and you are not really good at school, chances are you will have to follow a technical training, such as baker, plumer, etc. I'm not saying that those trainings are bad, I just find sad that those who are not good enough at school are left without general knowledge.  When I studied in Québec, in high school, we had to get our high school diploma before choosing any further training.  General saying in Québec : you need a high school diploma even for garbage picking.

So those guys we hired had very low knowledge of things.  I'm sad to say this is how social cleavages are made.  The less educated are left aside and the educated ones get the good jobs.  I am convinced that this academic elitism plays a big part in the social disparities in France.  Did you know that most of postsecondary education is almost free in France? well guess who get to go to universities and good schools? not the poors but the already fortunate ones.

Les Grandes Écoles, those schools are the top here.  Those universities (they don't even want to say universities because it is not prestigious enough) are for the ones who made through a long process : Prépa, concours.  Most of the students are from upper middle class or higher.  When they wanted to facilitates entries for regular candidates who are from "poor parisian districts", some students were not happy about it.

Health care system is good in France : True, but really expensive for the government.   I can only compare this to Canada, where health care is free.  I found some differences between Ontario and Québec, but I can say that when I walked into a medical centre in Canada, I only had to show my health card and I never bother to know how much it costs to see a doctor.  In France, you need to pay your doctor, then you get a reimbursement from la Caisse primaire d'assurance maladie.   So 23 euros for a consultation and you get a reimbursement of 70%.  Meds are also reimbursed.  The caisse primaire also pays a certain percentage for sick leave when an employee is off for a couple of days.  A lot of abuse is made due to pharmaceutical lobby and lazy employees who are not sick but don't want to work.  


Racism
Being a visible minority is not easy, especially in France.  I was discriminated against a few times.  Some where "in my face".  We wanted to get married in the village where my husband grew up and I was told to go to Lille because they don't know how to organize it for étrangers.  And the Mairie employee said : who knows if this is a Mariage Blanc.  (to get papers to live in France).  The nerves. Racism is common and nobody seems to be shocked or ashamed of it, even my in laws....

My list is not completed, but lots of things are not working in France and I don't know if they will ever change.