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Copyright comme une Française

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In France, a quarter of the population is in the education system ; public instruction is compulsory and free of charge up until 16 years old, and heavily subsidized for higher education. But it doesn't mean it has to make sense, though...

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Les emplois du temps 2015-2016 | Le lycée Adrien Zeller - Bouxwiller

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I walked into the dining room to see tables of four already set - silverware, silver bread basket, off-white ceramic plates, cloth napkins, clear glasses and water pitchers laid out ready for lunch.

I was standing inside my children's public elementary school cafeteria, or "cantine" as the French call it, in our local town near Annecy, France. As part of my research into why French kids aren't fat, the local city council gave me a tour of the public school's cantine and kitchen and let me ask any question that came to mind.

There are many theories as to why the French, and French children in particular, do not suffer from weight problems, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension like their American counterparts. Eating moderate quantities of fresh and freshly prepared food at set times of the day is definitely one of the most convincing reasons why they stay lean. Daily exercise, in the form of three recess periods (two 15-minute and one 60-minute recess every day) and walking or biking to and from school, is another.

So what do French kids eat at school?

Menus are set up two months in advance by the cantine management staff, and then sent to a certified dietitian who makes small "corrections." The dietitian might take out a small chocolate éclair and replace it with a kiwi for dessert if she thinks there's too much sugar that week. Or she may modify suggested menus by adding more or fewer carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, or protein to keep the balance right.

Almost all foods are prepared right in the kitchen; they're not ready-made frozen. This means mashed potatoes, most desserts, salads, soups, and certainly the main dishes are prepared daily. Treats are included - the occasional slice of tarte, a dollop of ice cream, a delicacy from the local pastry shop. Check out these photos of a school lunch being prepared on premises.

Below are photos and a description of one week's worth of school menus, taken during the last few weeks of this school year in June. French elementary school students don't go to school on Wednesdays, so that's why there are only four meals!

Monday

First course: Cucumber and tomato salad

Main course: Veal marinated with mushrooms, broccoli

Cheese

Dessert: Apple tart

Tuesday

First course: Cabbage and tomato salad

Main course: Roast beef, potatoes, baked tomatoes with herbs

Cheese

Dessert: Kiwi

Thursday

First course: Tabouleh (made with bulgur)

Main course: Sausages, zucchini

Dessert: Ice cream, apple

Friday

First course: Potato and pickle salad

Main course: Breaded fish, cauliflower

Cheese

Dessert: Peach

Where does the food come from?

"All our fruits, vegetables, fish and meat are sourced locally, some of them from local farms," according to Dany Cahuzac, the city counselor in charge of school matters, including the cantine. The local bakery delivers bread, a staple of every French meal, fresh every morning. And every two days, there is at least one organic item on the menu. Once a month, an entirely organic meal is served. The only drink offered at lunchtime is filtered tap water, served in glass pitchers.

Just as important: how the kids eat.

As the children come streaming into the cantine, they sit down at tables of four that are already set and wait for older student volunteers to bring the first course to their table. The child who sits at the designated "red" chair is the only one who is allowed to get up to fetch more water in the pitcher, extra bread for the bread basket, or to ask for extra food for the table. After finishing the first course (often a salad), volunteers bring the main course platter to the table and the children serve themselves. A cheese course follows (often a yogurt or small piece of Camembert, for example), and then dessert (more often than not, fresh fruit).

"We do our best to vary our menus throughout the weeks and months, but sometimes children don't like certain foods," explains Cahuzac. "We ask children to at least to taste everything and have a few bites before they give up on a food they don't like."

"Eating a balanced meal while sitting down calmly is important in the development of a healthy child," adds Cahuzac. "It helps them to digest food properly, avoid stomachaches and avoid sapped energy levels in the afternoon."

What about exercise?

What the French specialize in is moving all the time, not just during a bi-weekly gym class. For example, elementary-aged students throughout the country have three set recess periods during the day: a 15-minute run-around in the morning, a 60-minute recess after lunch, and another 15-minute break in the afternoon. On top of these designated times, children are encouraged to walk and bike to school, although this depends largely on the proximity of home to school. Bicycle parking spaces are usually all used up in the morning at our local school, and while younger students ride to school next to an adult, the older 5th graders often cycle on their own.

Aside from two hourlong periods of gym during the week, kids often walk during school outings and field trips (which can include anything from an hour to the local library, a visit to local farms, to the lakeside for paddleboard lessons, or a hike up a local mountain). Walking is emphasized in even younger ages - indeed 3- and 4-year-olds in preschool will walk up to 2 kilometers in an afternoon to go visit the local library. Sometimes they walk to the local retirement home to sing songs for the elderly.

"Even the youngest children in preschool walk together every week, " explains Cahuzac. "Those who want to complain usually just follow the pack, and eventually get in the habit of walking."

Elementary-aged school children in the big French cities walk just as much - it's often easier for them because of sidewalks. Or they use a trottinette (micro-scooter). "My first-grader loves his so much, his father went and bought one for himself," says Tina Isaac-Goizé. "It gives him another reason to like going to school, plus it is exercise although it takes only half the time of walking."

Making the French attitude work for us, too.

So what can we do to promote better eating and moving habits for our children stateside?

It all starts at home: We know what healthy foods are, and we need to use our positive influence to feed our kids healthier foods and and teach healthy eating and exercise habits by example.

Home-cooked meals based on plenty of fresh produce, and a weekly family walk, hike or game of tag are simple lifestyle habits that make a difference in a child's life over time.

What about school? Two suggestions: If healthy options are not available in your school, get in the habit of packing a healthy lunch for your child and boycott the cafeteria's fast foods. Then, reach out to local, state and national elected officials and demand better nutrition in your school. To learn how to take specific action for better food at your child's school, visit the official website of , a documentary about America's sugar addiction and obesity epidemic.

Lead Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Photos of food: Carine Duflos

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What French Kids Eat For School Lunch (It Puts Americans To Shame!)

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I walked into the dining room to see tables of four already set - silverware, silver bread basket, off-white ceramic plates, cloth napkins, clear glasses and water pitchers laid out ready for lunch. I was standing inside my children's public elementary school cafeteria, or "cantine" as the French call it, in our local town near Annecy, France.

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File:French school zones.svg - Wikimedia Commons

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From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

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Copyright Islam France TV

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Macron sur la rentrée scolaire et les dédoublements.

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Emanuelle Macron dans une classe a forbach fait un petit discours sur la rentrée scolaire.

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Copyright npr.org

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France Moves To Ban Students From Using Cellphones In Schools

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The country’s education minister says the strict rules are a matter of public health. But some teachers and parents call it a losing battle.

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The French Education system - schools and secondary education. About-France.com

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Schools, colleges and higher education in France, from kindergarten to lycees and colleges.

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What does a Parisian elementary school look like?

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What does a Parisian elementary school look like?

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The northeast of Paris is a very heterogeneous area. On one hand you find the town of the 19th century mixed with various constructions of the 20th. On the other hand whole blocks have been erased, sold to real estate companies and rebuilt in a style that is making an effort to be a modern interpretation of the Parisian buildings of Haussmann, though never quite reaching the same quality.

This development occurred in 1990 on a large block in the 19 th arrondissement in Paris. Several streets had been occupied by the studios of the SFP (société française de production), a French TV production company. In the 80's the SFP began to move their production out of Paris in the suburbs and left a large, unused area.

The site was sold in 1990 to the French construction company Bouygues that ended up building nearly 700 apartments on the site. The French architect's office Valode & Pistre, who drew the master plan, split the block to assure the accessibility of all the apartments by creating a small private street. The street was named < cours du 7ième Art > in memory of the old film studios.

Along this street a long and narrow area remained empty. Too complicated and expensive for the construction of apartments, the construction company left it to the City of Paris. The latter decided to plan an elementary school on the site for children of the ages 2 to 6 and ran a competition in 1996, which was won by the French architect Gilles Margot-Duclot.

Situated on the corner of two streets, the future building had to link the two different urban structures that met at this point. The site is about 100 m long and between 10m and 20m large. On top of the difficult size, the main side of the area is orientated to the south. The architect therefore had to avoid the overheating of the classrooms without shutting them off from its environment.

It is not easy for an architect in Paris to construct on a small site with several different neighboring buildings. There are numerous regulations to comply with. So during the planning process of the school the urban regulations and the shape of the area determined more and more the final shape of the building.

The architect decided to construct the school at the corner of the two streets on two thirds of the site, leaving an open space of 40m for the courtyard. The main building is about 60 m long and between 10 and 20m large. The requirements for the school included nine classrooms, some sleeping rooms, two playing rooms and one lunchroom. All together they counted for 1700 m2. Since the building site was only about 1500 m2 and the school needed a courtyard of 1000 m2, the yard had to be split into several levels.

When you first approach the building, it seems to stand out of its environment because of its different size but integrates at the same time through its materials. Being only half the size of the surrounding buildings it appears small with clear horizontal lines and large windows, simple without spectacular details or eye-catching colors. The polished concrete of the facade and the zinc-covered roof however integrate the school into its environment.

The base of the building is made of burr stone. The color and structure of the stone reminds you of the dry walls you find in southern France. This idea seems to be strengthened by the floral drawing on the fence of the courtyard.

The architect himself applied the stone as a reference to Jules Ferry the founder of the republican school system. For him it represents the strong base of an education that is granted and controlled by the state. This kind of stone had been used for a long time for the bases of the public buildings but has now become quite rare.

Despite the simplicity of the southern facade, it is well planned and detailed to avoid the overheating of the classrooms. Every horizontal retreat and interruption in the facade is built to let in the natural light and to block the direct sunlight without using external shades. Those are not welcomed by the city since it is trying to lower the maintenance costs of its buildings through a simpler design.

The interior concept is based on the circulation and the constructive structure. A main corridor lies in the middle of every floor and connects the different functions with the main entrance, the staircases and the outer courtyards. The constructive system consists of a simple precast beam and column structure in steel concrete. Four lines of columns organize the building, two along the main corridor and two in a distance of 7,20m, just behind the façade, so that it stays independent from the constructive system.

The main entrance to the school is situated in the middle of the building in the private street and has an exterior, covered waiting area, since the parents are not allowed to wait inside the building. The entrance is connected to the hall, which is the central point of the building and linked to the main corridor. All circulations between the different functions of the school go through the hall. The main corridor on the ground floor leads to the two staircases and to the courtyard.

The hall spreads over the first two stories and receives indirect natural light from the roof lights of the second floor. A large wall painting done by the artist Yvan Messac, a friend of the architect, decorates the hall. It represents the Small and the Great Bear in the night sky. In front of the wall painting two stone sculptures represent the two constellations.

The actual division of the functions over the three floors follows a simple logic of accessibility. The smallest children stay on the ground floor, the older ones on the first floor and the oldest on the second floor. The apartment of the housekeeper and the technical installations for heating and ventilation are situated on the third floor.

All the interior equipment like tables, chairs, coat racks and sanitary installations have been designed and selected to assure the comfort and freedom of circulation for the children. All the classrooms are facing south and are well protected from direct sunlight by the facade. They are about from 5,6m deep and 9m large thereby trying to facilitate all possible kinds of utilization.

The building as a whole has two quite different sides. The one to the street appears to be simple, clear and two-dimensional while the one to the north and to the courtyard is a playful combination of volumes and terraces. Both are mainly determined by the building regulations. The facade to the street had to be without larger retreats. The northern side had to respect the neighbors right of a clear view at the sky in an angle of 45 degrees from all points of their properties. This situation caused the main corridor in the second floor to change its direction to respect a neighboring two-story courtyard shed.

The elaboration of the compact plan is the result of the surrounding influences. Planning the space where it was allowed and not were it would have been most suitable. But fortunately the difficult shape of the area and the influence of the various regulations lead to more interesting solutions, different spaces and a more remarkable elementary school than one tends to see in Paris.

Author: Christian Horn is leading the architecture and urban planning office Rethink

Text published online in Architecture Week, 03/2002

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Elementary school in Paris - France - Urbanplanet

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The northeast of Paris is a very heterogeneous area. On one hand you find the town of the 19th century mixed with various constructions of the 20th. On the other hand whole blocks have been erased, sold to real estate...