| The diary of an old student
2006-2007 (#2) |
When I retired in Oct. 2005,
I decided to start a new life (see my resume)
and part of this life would be to study History at the Sorbonne. After
a first (and very happy) year, this is the diary of my second
year iback to school.
Philippe Rochefort
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| Back to school : first decisions |
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The "mémoire" |
- In October 2006, I started my
"Maitrise" in History. This is the fourth year and
it is called "Master" or "M1" (see chart).
After the Licence, the choice is between 9 departments :
- History of Antiquity
- Medieval Worlds
- Civilization of Modern Times
- The Contemporary World
- History of Cultural and Religious
Facts
- Power, States and Politics
- Historical Anthropology
- Cultural Areas : Europe and
the World
- Issues, Conflicts, International
Systems in Modern and Contemporary Times (Pr.Georges-Henri Soutou)
: this was my choice. It includes 6 options :
- Diplomacy and international
relations
- History of Communication and
major networks (Pr. Pascal Griset) : my choice
- The building of Europe
- History of colonization and
decolonization
- Innovation and international
economic relations
- The main objective of the year
is to write a "mémoire" (dissertation), under the supervision
of a "directeur de recherches" (Pr.Griset in my case).
It has to be submitted in June and represents 150 to 200 pages
(+ annexes).
- In addition to the mémoire,
there is :
- A weekly seminar with the "directeur
de recherche"
- Methodology : two courses a
week (historiography and historical techniques)
- Case studies : two seminars
a week : in my case, one on the history of large corporations
and organizations and one which consists in attending meetings
of historical associations
- A course in another field :
I chose "colonization/decolonization"
- Language (English !)
- We are around 20 students with
the same "directeur de recherches" and there is a friendly
relation between us (with a common blog), in
spite of the disastrous material conditions of the Sorbonne.
The students are very friendly and helpful to their old classmate.
- No money, please ! Today July 11, 2007, I receive an internship
contract from a resaerch center to help financially the two students
involved in the project for which I am writing my "memoire"
(300 Euros/month). This money is badly needed by my memoire-mate
but not by me (and I would be the oldest intern in France). I
have to arrange with my "directeur de recherche" how
to use this money for another purpose in the same project.
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- The subject of my "mémoire" is
"The History of Regional Planning" (Aménagement
du Territoire) in France between 1969 and 1992, as seen through
the archives of the Conseil National des Economies Régionales
(CNER), an organization which was instrumental in the 1960s and
which does not know that it is dead by now. I work with a very
smart and nice student, Johanna, who covers the period 1952-1969.
- It is interesting to observe
that, now at the end of January, the total time devoted to my
dissertation by the teaching staff shows a
great confidence in my
capacity to do it all by myself : one minute in the corridor
with the professor and a luncheon with his assistant.
- Today, May 26, 2007, I have 115 pages of my "mémoire"
already written and my professor never saw them (and never asked
for them) ! When will he discover them ? I'll have to keep them
as a mystery, but one day, they'll have to be disclosed. I hope
he'll like them.... Today, as I am currently finishing the exams
for Semester 2, I still do not have my grades for Semester 1
(somebody apparently lost one of them).
- Early July : the mémoire is
taking shape ! It is
due for August 31 with 150-200 pages + annexes 150 pages. The
"soutenance" (presentation to the professor) will take
place Octobre 2 (I still do not have the grades of the first
semester last year!).
- October 2 : I formerly present my mémoire and I get
a (very good) grade : 19 (on a scale of 20). I am delighted !
The question now is : "What am I going to do this year?"
: considering a PhD or not ? If yes, I have one year to find
a subject that turns me on for the next four years, if no, what's
next ?
Courses, grades and exams
- The weekly seminar is interesting
and Pr.Griset shows that he is indeed a
very good professor (see
his resume) by
providing the students with excellent information, orientation,
advice and very clear explanations of the most complex phenomenons.
- Mid-year exams took place in January ; they are much more informal
than last year's. They include :
- Colonization (written, 2 hours)
: a subject with two questions : "what did Europeans know
about the geography of Africa in 1887" and "the conquest
of Madagascar". No problem. (grade = 16)
- Historical techniques (written,
one hour): a subject (in a choice of six) about "statistical
techniques in history". No problem.
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A French school year...
- Vacations, vacations, vacations.... The French academic year is very short
! It starts October 2 and ends somewhere in June : let's take
June 23, i.e. 38 weeks. Out of these 38 weeks, no professor with
a weekly course can get more than 25 courses a year, taking
into account :
- 5 lost for vacations : (Christmas
2, February 1 and Spring 2)
- 5 lost for exam weeks and "grading
weeks" : 2 in January, 3 in June
- 3 lost for various holidays,
mostly in November and May
- The President of the university
recently mentionned in an article the drop-out
rate at the Sorbonne
: 73% the first year, 47% the second year, 42% the third year.
This is the price of the myth of "No selection" but
just mentionj the word "selection" and 85% of the students
go on strike.
- To protect French students from
the temptation of working too hard, the
library of the Sorbonne is closed
one out of the two weeks of Easter. To know more about vacations in France,
click here.
- Happy Americans !
There are many (hundreds?)
American students at the Sorbonne, from the best US universities,
for a semester in France. A long-time admirer of American universities,
I wonder how they can survive in such a Third World ordeal but,
actually, they do love it. I keep asking them and I'm happy and
proud to report that the answer is always the same : they love
the courses (they're right), the building, the Quartier Latin,
life in Paris, everything (even the French)!
- Happy professors ! One of our courses ("History and
television") starts early in the morning, at bat 8 a.m.
and the professor does not like this schedule : she arrives around
8:15 with her coffee mug, grumbling about the schedule. Last
time I left at 8:30, with many students, but she arrived 10 minutes
later. I explained the students that this would be unthinkable
in an American university, but they did not believe me...
- More to come on next page :
my new school
year (M2 in the French
cursus, which is the fifth year)....
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- Historiography : 3 reading reports
on the history of economic development
- Corporate history : a 20-page+
report on "how a large corporation keeps its archives and
historical records" ; I chose SCET, a company I worked for
25 years ago (see my resume)
: it was really fun to go back as a student and interview the
CEO and my distant successor !
- English : one-hour Q&A with
questions on both grammar (all these terrible rules on past tense
and articles) and the American Revolution. No problem. (grade
= 15,25)
- Final results for mid-year exams (published only late
September!!!) : 16,917 (on 20). OK!
- I'm happy too with my grades
for Semester 2 : 18,333 (on 20).
- The meetings with historical associations are a lot of fun. These are associations such
as History of Economy and Finance, History of Telecommunication,
etc... Pr.Griset is their scientific adviser and he brings along
his students. There are two groups : the group of old buzzards,
talking about the great things they did in the 1960s (the French
nuclear program, the renovation of telecoms, etc..), the group
of young sparrows, who can't believe they can even move, and,
in between, a sparrow-buzzard : me!
- For
many of the students of my class, trying to pass the CAPES or agrégation exams are THE critical issue of this
year and next : these exams give you the access ticket to become
a teacher (and a civil servant by the same token) and get both
a salary and a job for life. They are very competitive and the
number of people admitted is fixed (I have to check the figures)
: for History is may be something like 200 or 300 (when the number
of candidates is several thousands). The "concours"
takes place in April and some of my fellow students will try
this year with the hope to pass it next year.
- I just read a funny book (in
French), by an American woman who decided to resume her studies
after having lived 20 years in France by preparing a competitive
examination, the "Agrégation d'Anglais", at
Paris4 - Sorbonne. She encountered the same kind of situation,
amazement and shock I did (Laurel Zuckermann, Sorbonne confidential, Fayard, 2007)
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| To related pages : to my last
year's diary and
next year's, to my
resume,
to my Franco-American
site and the page
on education
in France, etc... |
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