“Wait, I can’t see anything, it’s written too small…” Suzy, 18 years old, a high school senior in the SES series (economic and social sciences), exclaims, “Wow!! I did it, I got my Bac…” Suzy jumps, shouts, cries. Completely disoriented, she doesn’t know what to do or who to talk to. Luckily, her philosophy teacher is there and advises her to go get her report card. “I don’t understand why I’m crying, this morning I wasn’t even stressed…” The emotion is very strong after nine months of hard and intense work. With the results in hand and her phone pressed to her ear, her family’s joyful cries can be heard through the earpiece in the small courtyard of G. Apollinaire high school.
While some are in paradise, like Suzy, others are between hell and purgatory. Mohamed, 18 years old, a student in the SES series: “I am really disappointed. I’m only 14 points short of getting my Bac. All year I had good grades, not super good but decent. I just spoke with my history teacher, she gave me some advice for the retake on Monday…”
Besides the joy and excitement of the masses of high school students, we should not forget the parents. They endured the anxieties and tensions of their children throughout the year. And this day of results announcement is akin to a liberation. “I am very proud of my son. He got his Bac on his first try, unlike me, who took it twice. Today, I feel like I’m young again, like I’m 18 all over again…” says Jean-Paul, 44, a teacher.
With their Bac in hand and their minds already a little on vacation, it’s now a matter of what to do with this little piece of paper, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year.
