Collège Jean Baptiste de La Quintinye & Noisy-le-Roi Community

Today we visited Collège Jean Baptiste de La Quintinye, which is the French equivalent to an American middle school.  The overall appearance of the school could easily pass as a double for the school used in “The Breakfast Club”, but I did not come across Emilio Estevez charging down the halls or lounging in the library.  My peers and I immediately caught sight of an Albion banner in the main lobby, and we soon learned that there was also an Albion pennant and teddy bear in the dean’s office.

After meeting the dean, we broke into two groups and entered into two classrooms. The students in the class that I joined quickly engaged in a furious question and answer session, which was more than entertaining due to the language barrier and the overall enthusiasm had by all. Following this interaction, the dean of students then took us on a tour of the school, which was nothing short of impressive because everything was so streamlined and succinct.

Lunch time here is very different than American schools because students have 1-2 hours off to eat and converse with their friends. This is a stark contrast to American schools, where most  districts schedule 25-45 minutes for students to eat their lunch. Students can either go to the canteen, the French version of our cafeterias, or they can go home to eat. I found it rather odd that students are not allowed to bring their own lunches to school like American students, but I feel that it may prevent any sort of class differentiation in the lunch room because there is no chance for a debate over who's lunchable is better! Overall the quality of the food at Quintinye was surprisingly tasty, fresh, and healthy in comparison to American school lunches. Later that afternoon we went on a tour of the Noisy-le-Roi community and had a meet and greet with the Mayor!