Relaxation After the Baccalaureate at Guillaume Apollinaire
The big day has arrived for hundreds of thousands of high school graduates. During this time, more about Bakary Koné than the Baccalaureate, it’s not easy to be up to scratch, revision-wise. The students from Guillaume Apollinaire high school are quite confident. This is the case for Romulus in his final year of ES (Economic and Social) at Stanislas High School. Relaxed and smiling but resigned. “I chose topic 2 (can a culture carry universal values?). We’ll see how it goes. It’s a topic we covered in class. I was expecting questions on religion or politics, but that wasn’t the case. Now, we have to think about the other more important exams like economics or history geography.”
It’s also a big day for Alain. He is not a high school graduate, but this June 12th will remain engraved in his memory. Alain eagerly awaits the exit of his sons, Thibaut and Thomas, the twins, from Calmette High School. “It’s a special moment, especially for them. It’s the culmination of their entire schooling. They are in ES. They are hardworking and serious and have revised well. Everything depends on the topic. I hope they both get this diploma. I would be very disappointed for them if they didn’t pass the bac, but I wouldn’t blame them.” Alain, standing next to the school gates, slightly away from the excitement, analyses the topics to calm his stress, which he struggles to hide. Being a parent of a graduate can be as challenging as being a graduate, somewhat like a football coach who is powerless on his bench while his players battle on the field.
Antoine and his three friends Célie, Natacha, and Laura from Thierry Maulnier High School chat and consider the upcoming subjects. They admit to having had butterflies in their stomach upon waking up. Antoine, a tennis fan and Rafael Nadal enthusiast, made an effort to stay focused on the baccalaureate. All four chose to analyze the text by the philosopher and educator Alain. “It was understandable, and the essay topics seemed to be traps for going off-topic,” explains Célie. Tactically, they did well. As for all students in the ES section, it is important not to lose points with philosophy, which has a coefficient of 4.
Here are the prompts:
Literary Series (L) coefficient 7:
Do we have duties only towards others?
Does it make sense to try to escape time?
Explain a text by John Locke on property.
Scientific Series (S) coefficient 3:
Can we judge the value of a culture objectively?
Can experience prove anything?
Explain a text by John Stuart Mill on trust as the main foundation of social well-being.
Economic and Social Series (ES) coefficient 4:
Should we prefer happiness to truth?
Can a culture carry universal values?
Explain a text by Alain on Economics, which is not the primary need of social organization.
Some quotes on the themes discussed:
Others:
-“Others, that is the other, that is to say, the self that is not me.” Jean-Paul Sartre.
– “Judging others is judging oneself.” William Shakespeare.
– “It is through contact with others that man learns what he knows.” Euripides.
– “One should lend oneself to others and give only to oneself.” Montaigne
– “Would one love others if one did not love oneself?” Cardinal de Bernis.
Duties:
-“A wife’s love resembles duty. Duty to constraint. Constraint kills desire.” Jean Giraudoux.
-“It is duty that creates right and not right that creates duty.” François René de Chateaubriand.
-“Duties: others have them towards you, but you have none towards others.” Gustave Flaubert.
-“When a man knows his duty, he is a god to man.” Cécilius.
Time:
-“There are works that make time pass, and others that explain time.” André Malraux.
-“Youth is the time to study wisdom, old age is the time to practice it.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
