Never in the States.

To say that the French like to strike and protest would be selling them short...it is a way of life for them.  Let me explain to you why.  During my third week in Montpellier a little strike or "La Greve" was staged not only in the city but at my University, Paul Valery...this SAME strike is still going on now.  This is going on almost 3 months of a strike that was started by the professors at Paul Valery, these professors were then joined by over 60% of the students.  What's could possibly be reason you ask?  Well, I am not entirely sure but it has something to do with new reforms that are being made within the university as well as within the country as well.  The professors are not happy with the new changes and apparently the students hold these same reservations, so they are making it known...and then some.  Just to put it in perspective, during this entire strike there has been no class at Paul Valery University.  The protesters have prevented this by the professors not showing up to teach and on top of that they broke into the school over night and barricaded the doors to classrooms and even the main entrance to the school at one point, with chairs, tables, and anything else they could find!  A bit extreme but if it gets the job done then how can you complain?  

To be honest, I don't buy any of this "We hate reform!" bull being preached by the protestors.  That is not the reason they are striking...they just don't want to go to school and they are doing something about it.  It also helps that the professors share the same sentiment or a lot of students would be missing class.  And I don't blame them for not wanting to go to class, it is sunny here everyday and the beach is minutes away...why would they even build schools in this city?!  I chose to bring La Greve to your attention because something like this would NEVER happen at a US university or college...or any school for that matter.  This is due to a laundry list of reasons but the two that come to mind is that 1. Us students in the US would never have the guts to stage such an elaborate strike for such a long period of time, we would be too concerned about how it would effect our GPA!  and 2. Our parents would literally kill us if we ever tried to pull a stunt like the one here in Montpellier, especially if they are paying tens of thousands of dollars for our educations...this is not an issue for the students in Montpellier as a years tuition at Paul Valery University is 400 euro!  Such are the benefits of the French government and social system...you see why they are striking to prevent reform?

  And just to be clear this has not effected my class schedule because I am not directly enrolled into Paul Valery University.  I am enrolled in an international language school located on the campus of Paul Valery, so we have not been effected much by the strike...no worries mother!