Last night, Le Garçon (formerly known as The Little Guy; now that he's in middle school, he was due for an upgrade) was just starting his homework when he launched into a real tirade about something or other. When he's really worked up about something, he speaks very rapidly and his voice gets more and more high-pitched (he's only 11 and the voice-changing hormones haven't kicked in yet) so I couldn't make out all of what he was saying, but I managed to get that one day this week he will have not one but TWO tests ON THE SAME DAY!
Quel horreur! It's so unfair! The teachers are horrible! They don't care about the kids! It's insane, to give two tests in ONE day! The world is coming to an end!!!
Georges and I were sitting on the couch while this was going on, and we looked at each other with great amusement. I whispered: "Is he upset about having two tests on a single day?" (because as usual I thought maybe I'd gotten it wrong) and Georges nodded. He calmly responded to the tirade and basically let the kid vent about it for a few minutes before telling him that it didn't matter, he still needed to study for the tests and do a good job. End of story.
Except later on, after Le Garçon was asleep, I brought it up again. "Was he really that upset about having two tests on one day?" and Georges laughed as he told me the rest of the story. Apparently our Garçon wasn't the only kid who was up in arms about this unthinkable situation. He said that ALL the kids were so upset that they tried to stage some sort of protest. At the beginning of the school year, they had elected a class representative and a back-up rep (apparently, our kid was in the running as the back-up rep to another candidate, but they lost). When the news about the two tests was announced, the other kids decided that this was why they had elected a class representative and that HE should be the one to officially lodge some kind of complaint.
Of course this protest, should it proceed, will fall on deaf ears because, well, hey kids, welcome to the rest of your academic life, right? It's a terribly unfair world out there, all part of growing up (be careful what you wish for, yes?), where you will have professors who don't give a Ratatouille's ass that you already have two major exams and a term paper due on Thursday morning before telling you on Wednesday to read all of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables for a test on French literature Thursday afternoon. Tant pis. It's called "work" for a reason, pal. Get used to it. It won't get any easier or any more "fair".
I had to laugh though, at this idea of the kids thinking they could protest and that they might actually get away with it and get the result they want. That is SO French! I now have visions of these little middle-schoolers getting so angry at the perceived injustice of it all, and rampaging out into the school courtyard, digging up stone pavers and building barricades with school desks and cafeteria tables before standing atop the rubble with makeshift flags a-wavin' as they belt out a perfect rendition of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from the musical version of Les Mis:
I'll have to go back and check my French history notes, but I'm almost positive that the reason those students were protesting in the June Rebellion of 1832 was because they had too damn much homework and the professeurs were all asshats. Insurrection was clearly the only answer.
Here are some more great moments from my favorite musical to enliven your day. Now, go and protest something important, like that the hot dog vendor forgot to add the relish to your lunchtime hotdog or some idiot cut you off in traffic on your way to work. Join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!
