I Need a Pillow to Scream Into

I wish this was an entry about April Fools' Day and some prank that had been played on me, but I'm fairly certain that the stupidity of the French is not a prank unfortunately.
Nothing makes you appreciate something more than seeing the alternative. The American education system needs a lot of reform, but it's still miles and decades better than the French system. "No Child Left Behind" certainly beats out "Every Child a Mediocre Clone". And that really does seem to be the goal of the national French education system. Imagination is not only NOT encouraged it's beaten out the children as early as 7 years old. The moment they hit elementary school they are required to sit silently and copy or read. Children are to be seen and not heard (when did we make it back to Purtian America?!) and they don't even do that well! French children can't copy off the board, they can't do an art project without a ruler and very very specific instructions. No wonder I made a child cry when I gave them an open-ended art project. He was just totally overwhelmed at the idea he would have to make choices himself! But then again, it's not entirely the kids' fault. There is ZERO incentive to try and do better than the dumbest person in the class. Teachers aren't allowed to give out individual or small group prizes for winning a game, for good behavior or for good grades on tests. A teacher asked me once why not every child got a sticker on their test. When I told her that only the children who got 8/10 or better got a sticker she looked at me like I was the devil. No wonder the majority of French big soccer stars are immigrants!! The idea of competition is completely absent from French culture. Not that they have the Eastern idea of the whole before the individual, it's more like, I'm doing my bare minimum and so is everyone else, so why should I bother trying harder? And all the jokes about the French surrendering at even the hint of invasion? Well it makes sense now: the French would actually have to do something and make decisions and come up with ideas that were better than mediocre to win a war. And the idea of "winning" anything doesn't matter to them. I would bet that in WWII the French were more concerned with staying alive and keeping French culture alive than beating the Germans. No wonder the Americans had to come in and save the day. Americans are hard-wired to work hard and try and beat out everyone else for more success. And I do agree that some people go a little overboard, but it's still better than everyone doing just enough to skate by.
Anyway... I could go on for a lot longer but I think the point here is that France is a fabulous place to visit. Vacations here are ideal because the French are so "laid back" (it's actually just pure laziness, but for vacations we'll pretend it's a laid back spirit...) and there's a lot to see and culture is very important. But for a mid-Western American girl it's like being in my own personal hell. My hard work will never pay off here. I will never be rewarded or praised for being a great teacher or coming up with something truly original and creative... because, well, that would just make the other teachers look bad.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!