Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The French exam season is off to a quarrelsome start. A teacher tweeted the philosophy questions in the Baccalaureate before all the candidates had opened their exam papers – and received a threatening tweet in return from the education ministry.
An examiner in northern France accused her estranged boyfriend of stealing philosophy papers that she was supposed to mark. She is now accused of throwing them away.
A Twitter row is also raging about the Victor Hugo poem Crépuscule (Twilight), which appeared in the French exam.
An internet petition is also circulating, signed by 43,000 candidates, complaining that one of the mathematics papers was unreasonably difficult. “Anyone who says on their CV, that they passed the 2014 Bac S (science), will automatically be given a job,” one disgruntled student tweeted.
The Education Ministry has now let it be known that the exam will be marked out of 22 but still officially scored out of 20. Such “adjustments” are common in the “bac”. Another “bac” tradition is the wry political commentary disguised as an exam question.
Students of Russian read a text on the building of a new Siberian railway line. They were then asked: “Can mastering new territories always be considered progress?”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments