I’ve noticed that it’s a trend on social media to make lists of things that would shock or perturb someone from a different country — mostly I’m seeing French things sending Americans into comas and vice versa. And since my opinion is the only one that matters, and since people are overlooking so many good bits, here’s my list:
1. The Americans with Disabilities Act
Europe is not a good place to have a physical disability. You cannot expect to be accommodated in any hotels, restaurants, museums, public spaces, apartments, schools, etc. In a wheelchair? Good luck on this sidewalk that was paved in fourteen different places over the past decade. Blind and a Braille reader? Hope you enjoy the three locations in the entire city with Braille descriptions in easy-to-find places. Need a service dog to warn you about seizures? He’ll have to wait outside while you tour the museum, so try not to seize.
Okay, so I pick up these little girls from school every Tuesday to babysit, right? I stand outside the school, which has a step up at the door, and watch the students emerge from the fifth floor onto an outdoor staircase. The staircase is a tight metal spiral that all the students file down. So there’s no way for any student with any kind of physical disability to enter or exit the school.
Here’s a fun game the next time you are in France: take a picture every time you see an ADA violation. You’ll run out of camera space. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I think it has something to do with the American emphasis on individual liberties being at odds with the French emphasis on public unity (and uniformity).
2. Positive bonds between teachers and students
My students had been asking about all these laws cropping up in Florida that they don’t understand. They knew it had something to do with school, but no details. I explained the Don’t Say Gay bill and the Stop WOKE Act that DeSantis passed, and then explained how these things were harmful. But they were still confused — why would a teacher ever mention that they were gay to their students? Why would a teacher, any kind of teacher, ever mention that they were married? Why would a teacher ever share any kind of personal information with students?
I was confused. I asked what they thought about their other teachers, my colleagues. Oh, she’s really mean and yells all the time. Yeah, he berates us constantly and gives us hours of homework. No, we don’t know their first names.
So from what I understand, French teachers achieve respect from their students out of fear, and seem to avoid forming any kind of personable bond. I seem to remember specific training to, uh, do the opposite of that.
3. any serious modern conception of race and racism
You aren’t going to believe me, especially right now, but Europeans are the kind of racist that Americans haven’t been since the mid 90’s. I know that’s confusing to hear. But remember that Europe has a very different system of policing and immigration, as well as different rules about firearms. Instead, the French are still stuck in the thought that anyone who isn’t white isn’t actually French. Like, I could eventually be French, if I got citizenship. But if I was black, I can’t really become French. I’d always be African — even if I was born and raised in France, even if my parents were born and raised in France. Imagine how cultural belief like that shakes out in situations like housing, schooling, healthcare, and policing.
And besides that, we’ve got that hyphen situation, and France just doesn’t. I know people back home who are Indian-American, Afro-American, Asian-American, European-American. We’ve all got hyphens in our ethnicities and heritages. Comes free with the birth certificate. No such thing here in France! You must be one or the other; you’re either in, or you’re out, and you gotta choose quickly. I know in the States that these variable identities can be at odds with each other, but you can’t deny that they are allowed to exist in tandem. Not so here in the land of the Gauls. There’s a lot more I could say about racism here, but it all boils down to this: at least in America, we talk about it.
So yeah, don’t let anybody try to tell you that French people are somehow more evolved or refined than us rednecks just because they know how to pair wines with meats. They are a fallible, ancient, obnoxious, fascinating, infuriating, beautiful, lovable, silly, precarious culture — just like us.
Bises,
Allison
P.S.: I mean that about us being an ancient culture. The official country might be young on paper, but I bet the folks down at the reservation in North Carolina could tell you just how long people have been having civilization on this continent.
Flan in France 