Paul from Paris

French president Sarkozy announced a scheme to promote learning English. Sarkozy has trouble with his native tongue and has a limited command of English. His scheme revolves around preschoolers and computers. It won’t work: French students tread water in language classes for years, never progressing towards measurable competence; and French language teaching adores abstraction and hidebound rules.

Le Monde accompanied its report of the presidential scheme with testimony from its readers and bloggers. Their comments are eye-opening. Where and how do French people learn English? Not in the classroom, in class; but at home, while watching “South Park” or “Friends,” reading Harry Potter, or listening to popular music.

On languages, Sarkozy turns out to be more a follower than a leader. What is really happening, today, in French society is more impressive than politicians’ vague hopes for the future. The photo above was taken at a Relay newsstand in a Paris train station. The display window promotes four titles. Remarkably, the books are available in French translation, and also in English. A close look will reveal two lessons: the English-language books are physically smaller than the French translations; and the English-language books are significantly cheaper than the French translations.

couverture du magazine Ikea Family Live (hiver 2010)

“Et si vous fixiez vos propres règles?”

Voici la question posée en couverture de Ikea Family Live magazine, publication du magasin suédois éponyme destinée surtout aux consommateurs parents de jeunes enfants en quête d’”idées et inspiration pour la maison”.

Il s’agit d’une question ouverte, un brin provocante tout en gardant le ton bon enfant du magazine et du magasin.

C’est aussi une réponse à l’affirmation de la RATP à bord des bus parisiens : “Si chacun fait ses propres règles, tout se dérègle.”

Il s’agit, pour la RATP, d’un énoncé fermé, vaguement ménaçant, qui n’admet pas de discussion. Bizarrement, c’est aussi un mécanisme à disculper la RATP de dysfonctionnements : l’origine de dérèglements se trouverait auprès des usagers, intempestivement innovateurs.

Anyone who has read a lease or condominium association rules for a property in Paris has probably encountered a puzzling clause that reads: the occupant shall tolerate a raising of the roof.

What could this possibly mean?

Parisian property owners could increase the number of floors in their building. This was not accomplished by subdividing existing floors, but by adding new ones, constructed on the roof.

I don’t know whether this is still possible today, but for a few years it seems to have been a fad.

The most impressive example I’ve seen in Paris is a building on the rue de Rivoli.

I posted last month on resume fraud, particularly whether French and Americans react differently when faced with a CV that is not entirely truthful.

Yesterday’s news brought me the remarkable story of Adam Wheeler, a student at Harvard College. Wheeler is accused today of gaining entry to Harvard by falsely claiming a superb record at the Phillips Academy prep school and study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These and other alleged falsifications came to light when Wheeler sought Harvard’s support when applying for prestigious post-graduate Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships.

Here is the first remarkable point of the Wheeler report: Wheeler has been studying at Harvard since 2007, until at least 2009. His conduct as a student does not seem to have drawn much attention at the élite college, although there may have been charges of academic dishonesty. Wheeler apparently wanted to go on to law school, because he was active in the Harvard College Law Society.

Harvard today is very, very angry with Wheeler, against whom many criminal complaints have been made (to which Wheeler has answered: not guilty). I have to wonder: is Harvard angry because its admissions process apparently does not select for an ability to perform at Harvard? This is fine. Maybe Harvard selects for students it thinks can best perform (or develop) at Harvard. Maybe Harvard selects for what it thinks will be the best possible class.

Harvard wasn’t the only party that Wheeler allegedly crashed. Wheeler applied for (but was not offered) an internship at The New Republic, which  posted the résumé Wheeler submitted for that position.

Here is the second remarkable point of the Wheeler report: Wheeler’s apparent falsifications are so brazen that his résumé challenges belief. Wheeler’s résumé is so over-the-top that I doubt any reader would believe it, or seriously consider Wheeler.

What was this young man thinking when he claimed:

• language proficiency in: French, Old English, Old Persian, and Classical Armenian;
• sole authorship of two academic books;
• co-authorship of four additional academic books?

Has any undergraduate –even at Harvard– ever shown competency in these four languages? How many Harvard undergraduates have written academic books? Of those, how many have written more than one?

The stated grades (perfect), academic honors, and distinguished service could be true, but the compilation of them all strains credibility. For me, the clincher is Wheeler’s claim to have “formed a faculty committee to solicit input from Harvard faculty and students, as well as from external experts, on how best to integrate graduate training in arts-practice into the existing curricular structure of the university”. No matter how stellar the student, why would the university have entrusted an undergraduate student with such a task? It makes no sense, other than as a smoke-and-mirrors stunt.

Would you interview Wheeler for a job? Would you offer him one?

This story discusses an unfortunate case involving a Harvard student, books (non-academic books for young people), and dishonesty. There’s an interesting postscript here: the protagonist is alive and well and thriving, in law school. Dishonesty does not always lead to dishonor.

Diesel, the jeans maker, has launched a new campaign. I noticed it in Paris, and photographed its billboards, along an entire platform of the métro. (As you can tell from the photos, the wall of the métro platform is curved.)

Diesel’s campaign has a tagline: Be stupid.

In France, the slogans are written in English, translated into French word-for-word in small print.

In French, I’m confident that the slogan doesn’t work; French people don’t want to be stupid. And as an American, I can’t think of a positive connotation to “stupid”.

From Diesel promotional materials, being “stupid” has something to do with living intensely and without care. It has nothing to do with being unintelligent or slow or dim-witted.

Musical group The Black Eyed Peas sang “let’s get stupid” on their hit “Let’s Get Retarded” from the album Elephunk; the song was subsequently re-released with the title “Let’s Get It Started“. I understood “stupid” in this case to suggest being inebriated or high, but maybe I’m reading too much into the lyrics. Perhaps this song matches the meaning sought by Diesel.

Maybe Diesel wants to appropriate “stupid” by using it ironically, much like people of color (among themselves) use the word “Negro”, or homosexuals use “gay” or “queer”.