IMMIGRATION & FERTILITY
Even if the United States is a country of immigrants, it is only 12th on the list for immigrants and 11 out of 34 OECD countries have a higher foreign-born population share.
Despite the Sarkozy government's obsession with immigration France is below the OECD average.
|
| Foreign-born population, as a % of the total population, 200 |
| France | 8.4 |
| USA | 13.7 |
| OECD average | 11.7 |
On the other hand, with almost 2 children per woman France has the highest fertility rate in OECD-Europe and the 9th highest in the OECD (the OECD average is 1.74 children per woman.), slightly under the U.S. (7th highest in the OECD)POSITIVE/ NEGATIVE INDEX
Other key figures are the various positive and negative experiences reported by the participants of the OECD surveys. I believe some of the results may be culturally revealing.
|
| Proud of something you did | enjoyment | Positive Experience index | Boredom | Depression | Anger | Negative Experience Index |
| France | 49.9 | 74.5 | 72.7 | 16 | 7.9 | 30.6 | 28.5 |
| USA | 74.2 | 84 | 76.3 | 29.8 | 13.8 | 19.3 | 28.1 |
| OECD | 62.6 | 77.6 | 72.3 | 20 | 9.9 | 17.5 | 22.4 |
For instance, according to these results, the French tend to be more angry and much less proud of something they did than the average OECD or the average American.
For sure, pride is certainly not something highly valued in France (maybe because of its
catholic heritage) but there is more than that - French education is not generally about encouragement and the school system itself (including grading) is about what the students do wring not what they do well. From an early age, the French are conditioned into seeing their errors and mistakes and not their positive performances. Typically in France, you will emphasize what is wrong in the hope of making improvement and will consider compliments and positive reinforcement unnecessary.
This, in my opinion, is the core of what is wrong with the French educational system.
Whether this is related to "anger" is impossible to say. My tentative explanation is that the French tend to aim at perfection and idealism (and thus do not emphasize pragmatism which is sometimes seen as poor compromise) which causes frustration and anger. This is pure conjecture, I confess but it makes sense to me.
According to the OECD, Americans, on the other hand, seem to be more bored and depressed. I have no particular explanation for that one. Maybe too much emphasis on material gains turns out to be unsatisfactory in the end.
For sure, pride is certainly not something highly valued in France (maybe because of its
catholic heritage) but there is more than that - French education is not generally about encouragement and the school system itself (including grading) is about what the students do wring not what they do well. From an early age, the French are conditioned into seeing their errors and mistakes and not their positive performances. Typically in France, you will emphasize what is wrong in the hope of making improvement and will consider compliments and positive reinforcement unnecessary.This, in my opinion, is the core of what is wrong with the French educational system.
Whether this is related to "anger" is impossible to say. My tentative explanation is that the French tend to aim at perfection and idealism (and thus do not emphasize pragmatism which is sometimes seen as poor compromise) which causes frustration and anger. This is pure conjecture, I confess but it makes sense to me.
According to the OECD, Americans, on the other hand, seem to be more bored and depressed. I have no particular explanation for that one. Maybe too much emphasis on material gains turns out to be unsatisfactory in the end.
Overall though, the Americans tend to be happier (enjoyment is quite high) and feel more positive than either the French or the average OECD.
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