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This student survey was a response to the French youth unrest in 2005 and 2006. It considers the degree to which French higher and secondary education institutions create social cohesion. Focusing on three distinct higher-education institutions: "L'institut d'etudes politiques de Paris" (Sciences Po), "Ecole Normale Superieure," Paris 8, and a "lycee" in the outskirts of Paris, it asks students their opinions on pressing national issues. It reflects on how the French education system was developed to create French citizens and the post-war use of quotas created for Algerians in the employment and education sectors. It draws comparisons with the controversial 2001 separate-admissions policy at Sciences Po and the more recent agenda to institute 30% set-asides for higher-education scholarship students. (Contains 10 tables.)

The French education system was created as a means to uphold the republican principles emanating from the Revolution. The first Article of the 1958 French Constitution says the Republic assures equality before the law of all citizens without distinction of origin or race. Theoretically at least, it is not only forbidden to discriminate, but to make distinctions that favor one category over another. The republican ideal is that all citizens are French and nothing else--the privileges bestowed by French citizenship override identification with ethnicity or religious groups and stipulate that difference does not exist in the French public sphere. This means that all French citizens, irrespective of religion, race, or social standing, should receive the same education and be afforded the same opportunities and rights. Furthermore, the French republican model implies that "the nation-state must always give preference to collectivity over the individual." This article discusses the history of the French affirmative action policies. (Contains 20 notes.)

The United States and France have actively implemented higher education policies to attract foreign students. In the case of France, European Union educational initiatives are often a means to further policies that are already in place. This article focuses on the response of two diverse French higher education institutions to the EU's Bologna Declaration and its call for standardized matriculation time for degrees, private-sector intervention, external evaluations, and possible entry into GATS. The article also considers the tension between the Bologna Declaration and the French notion of "le service public".