Les notes — The Grades

Reading a French grade

French teachers are known, at home and abroad, for grading strictly and praising sparingly. Grades out of twenty rarely go above sixteen in the humanities, and written comments tend to be brief, noun-heavy and understated: bon travail, ensemble correct, des maladresses, peut mieux faire. For students from systems where praise is expected and grades run high, the first semester can be discouraging until they learn to read the code. The key is the litote, understatement through a negative or a mild word. Ce n'est pas mal means it is good; honorable is a genuine compliment; intéressant, on its own, often signals that the reader wanted more. The opposite is also true: strong praise is rare enough that très bien or excellent on a paper is worth framing. Teachers also separate substance, le fond, from form, la forme, and comments often say which one a weakness concerns. Some French educators have criticized this culture of severity, arguing that it discourages students without improving their work, and many teachers now make a point of explaining their comments in person, as Mme Delorme does. Her distinction between giving an opinion and taking a position is a classic one: the dissertation forbids the first in the introduction, but expects the second in the conclusion, once the argument has earned it.