New Scaratings

My nephew (name withheld to protect the guilty) and his charming bride debarked for Montpellier, France last autumn, so that she could teach English at the local university, correctly named Paul Valery Montpellier III. Montpellier, the 7th largest city in France, is beautifully situated between Marseilles and Spain, just off the Mediterranean coast.

Although my nephew was denied a work permit in France, he's picked up a couple internet gigs which, in reciprocation of the mutual esteem which he and the French government enjoy, are tied to domains registered in the United States. His tax liability is likely to disappear somewhere over the Atlantic.

So there is my adopted niece, trudging through the syllabus, attempting to render into English what is French, for a student body which historically has spoken Occitans, when Alors!

Emmanuel Macron's government proposed that university students should be obligated to provide a resume, documenting why the student should wish to be enrolled, accompanied by a 50 Euro fee.

France has been admitting students to its universities, without any encumbrance whatsoever, since at least 2007. Macron's notion that you might need to justify admission resulted in a nation-wide student strike.

The upshot of the student strike is that my niece, disobliged from her university employment, is pressing my nephew to spend more time with her, exploring the countryside on their bicycles. Nephew, the original bum, is simply trying to make money.

My observation, being appraised of these things, is that the average American student might not find much sympathy for his French counterpart.