ooh, Tigga, no you didn't. Is he optimistic? It's a bit scary having someone else work on my hard drive. Like sending a nude pic to a stranger!
The French education system. How to sum it up in less than 10,000 words?
It was organised along specific lines by Napoleon, really: to offer Republican, egalitarian education to all, but with specific establishments for those with potential to integrate elite bodies/jobs.
Until the late 70's or so, it managed to offer pretty good education to all, and worked as a form of social elevator, allowing those from humble backgrounds who had intellectual ability to move up, including by integrating those elite establishments.
However, it is now failing. Perhaps partly because those who come from deprived backgrounds now don't really have a chance to realise their potential, as intellectual success is devalorised amongst those social sectors. Also because it has been forced to adapt very fast to higher pupil/student numbers and to political targets.
To give an idea of the speed of change, when DH was at lycée in the late 80's, only 30% of 18 yr-olds passed the baccalauréat. It didn't really matter that much if you didn't pass it: you couldn't go to university, but there were lots of other options open, and other forms of training which led to good jobs.
Now, 80% of 18 yr olds get the bac, not because the level has improved but because it was decreed that this should happen.In fact many school leavers with the bac have a very loose grip on the basics of reading and writing (IME). Getting the bac is, however, enough to get into university. You don't have to get a specific mark, or even have taken specific subjects (unless you want to do medicine, in which case there is selection at the end of a year's intensive slog). If you have a literary bac, you can enrol in a biology degree. I taught students who had a vocational bac in hairdressing or a technological bac and had enrolled in an economics/law faculty because they couldn't get a job in hairdressing or couldn't get into a technological college.
Failure rates in 1st-yr university are around 60-70%. The absence of even minimal selection is one cause, as is underfunding of universities (a tutorial has about 45 people in it on average, so it is impossible to help those in difficulty) and lack of proper orientation. The result is that many people are bitter at failing, understandably, the current gvmt claims that universities are full of overprivileged lazy staff who can't teach and that the good pupils try to avoid university at all costs.
Meanwhile, the other establishments are allowed to select students, and they have rigorous entrance exams. The level attained by the elite is still very high, but it is mainly only available to those from privileged backgrounds, because those from less well-off or less well-educated ones have little chance of getting in. France may be one of the only countries where hardly any of the politicians have been to university, they have all been to other establishments. They know little about the university and, as their kids will not attend, don't care much unless it is to bemoan poor international ratings.
That's how university entrance works.
Maybe not what you wanted to know?