Conseil de Classe (Pt. 2)

Last week I talked with a friend, now in a master’s program at the University of Rennes, about the conseil de classe. While at his small high school, he served as a student representative, a delegate, for a year. Ideally, I’ll talk with students, graduates, teachers, administrators, and parents as I try to learn about this aspect of the French education system. It interests me both as an education tool, as well as a representation of French culture.

The way he spoke of delegate selection reminded me a bit of student council elections at my high school (minus the flyers and speeches). Students volunteer, and if there are multiple volunteers, which isn’t always the case, there’s an election. He pointed out that a delegate should be someone who has a good rapport with all students. It doesn’t work if your delegate is the class geek or brown-noser. When I suggested some sort of academic incentive to get more students involved, he responded that he didn’t believe it’s in accordance with the principle of being a delegate.

He also said that when there aren’t any major issues, the meeting doesn’t serve as much more than a check-in, but that the conseil de classe is a great means for discussing solutions if there are problems. The specific example he gave concerned an extremely introverted student with awful hygiene, and, from what I understand, the focus in these meetings can often go beyond students’ grades. I also noted, though he didn’t make a point of it, his comment that serving as a delegate dispelled, for him, the idea of students vs. teachers.