Making France
Competitive
There’s much debate in France right now about peeling back laws
limiting the work week to 35 hours. Proponents say that a change is needed to
make the country more competitive economically.
Revising the law might help at the margins, perhaps saving a
small factory or two or maybe even attracting a couple of new ones. But
businesses that need to keep wages down to compete are looking to the eastern
part of the EU, or more likely to China or Mexico. France is never going to be
on their list.
The challenge for France isn’t workers who sport blue
collars or even white ones, it’s the tech workforce, the ones who wear jeans
and whatever kind of shirt or blouse that happens to appeal to them that day.
France needs a bigger tech workforce and especially more of
the class of leading-edge technology entrepreneurs that drive the U.S. economy.
The United States is getting a constant flow of elite talent
from its universities. France isn’t, or rather not at a comparable scale.
There’s nothing wrong with the French educational system,
which by most estimates is among the world’s best, all the way from
kindergarten to college. And, while it’s hard to effectively rank universities
across borders, my impression is that France’s system is very strong, including
in science and technology. Still, comparable waves of talent aren’t there.
So what to do? Try a more American model of curriculum or
funding? Reorganize?
No. France has had very thoughtful leadership in higher
education for quite some time, and to the extent those kinds of changes would
be useful, they’ve already been made.
America’s advantage over France isn’t in any kind of
intrinsic system quality, it’s in the English language.
The top universities in the U.S. are like giant vacuum
cleaners, sucking up the most talented young people from around the world. When
these are added to the local talent, you have a far more powerful intellectual
machine than would be possible with domestic students alone.
The world’s academic talent pool speaks English. The
infrastructure supporting the language is vastly greater than for any rival.
Parents in China or Korea or India or even Iran want their children to learn
English so that they can have the flexibility of going abroad for education at
a world class university. The schools teach it as a major subject and tutoring
programs are readily available and inexpensive. Support for English is
everywhere.
By contrast, programs in French or German are small because
the opportunity is much smaller. Choosing French over English would be putting
all your hopes on a niche. And, because learning a language is time consuming
for even the most capable people, children focused on science and technology
will likely avoid directing strong effort toward a third language when it’s to
the detriment of something like acquiring greater programming skills or another
course in chemistry. Smart parents of smart children don’t go against
overwhelming odds in such a practical matter as language learning.
The issue of language extends beyond the university. After
graduation, the chances are overwhelming that a bright young person will need
to know English to get employment with one of the multinational companies that
dominate the technology component of the world economy. For multinational
employers, fluency in English is simply assumed.
English has the advantage of scale. And, because it’s had
this scale for a long time and has no real competition, the system is feeding
itself and making the language ever more dominant. For example, in the 25 years
since the fall of communism, nations comprising some 100 million people have
dropped Russian and switched to English as their second language.
The path to economic competitiveness for France has to begin
with making English the language of instruction in university programs in
science, technology, and some areas of business.
Such a change sounds difficult, but it wouldn’t be. I
suspect there are very few faculty and administrators in these program areas
who couldn’t make the transition quickly and easily. Educated people in France
are like their colleagues elsewhere—they know English.
What will happen to the young people who come to France to
study computer science or chemistry or math in English? I’m willing to bet that
a high proportion will love the country, learn the language, and decide to
stay. Over the long term, these people and their children will significantly
strengthen France.
In fact, the idea of switching instruction to English in
some programs has been proposed by key French university leaders. But the plan
hasn’t gone anywhere, faltering on strong political opposition.
I understand the critics. French is a beautiful language
with a great history and culture. And there’s nothing special about English per se;
its dominance has to do with the history of war and trade and doesn’t stem from
any intrinsic qualitative superiority.
The bottom line here is that this is a case where you can’t
have both your fullest level of national pride and your highest national
competitiveness. I hope the French change to English in universities soon; it
will make both the country and its
language and culture stronger.
