To Strike or Not to Strike

France. The land of wine, cheese and - strikes? That's right. The country of romance has another passion: faire la grève. Since I have been here, the teachers have gone on strike at least five times (that I know of). But their strikes are not like those that we have in the States. Striking is done by only those who want to, so students still have to show up. I must say that I am not a fan of this system. I had one group of students for whom that was their only class for the day. All of their other teachers were on strike. Is it really worth it to go to school for one hour?? That said, some students decide that it isn't worth it and stay home. Teachers then end up with half of a class. What kind of lessons can they teach? They would have to repeat it again for all of the students who were not there. The penalty for striking teachers is a day of pay and so they must weigh that against the reasons for the strike. Unfortunately for me the assistants are not allowed to strike and so I have to show up, strike or not. :o)
Teachers are not the only ones who strike. Last Tuesday I ran into a large group of students from local high schools who had decided to go on strike. Instead of returning to class after lunch they took to the streets with signs and chants to protest some of the school policies. For example, the end of the year exams are universal for all of the schools and the students want them to be more specialized for each school so that they are more reflective of their abilities. Makes sense to me. Even still, who ever heard of high school students going on strike??
Outside of the education system, the country is full of strikers, most notably the post office and transportation. It seems that there is a train worker's strike at least once a month. I got caught in it on my way to Lyon for a Christmas market in December and ended up spending two hours in the middle of nowhere. One of the other assistants got stuck on her way home for a wedding last weekend. About the only "good" thing is that not everyone is allowed to strike. They are required to keep approximately 60% of the trains running. So, if you miss yours, there will hopefully be another later. A few weeks ago the airline industry went on strike wreaking havoc for all of those who were travelling during the February holidays. Just what drives the French to strike so often? We may never know. Suffice it to say that their passion extends into every aspect of their life.