Well ok, there are always T&C so do read the small print, but if your kids are sitting their bac in 2014, it may be well worth their while opening a new bank account and grabbing some free cash.
Last year the Caisse d’épargne Ile-de-France was offering 30, 60 and 100 euros for each of the three 'mentions' and the BRED-Banque populaire was offering 50€ to everyone who passed their bac.
But this year, the CIC seem to be offering the best deal with a whopping 160 euros for a très bien, 80 euros for a bien and 40 euros for assez bien.
There are other various grants that can be accessed if you get a très bien and you can read about them here.
And if you hear of any other good deals for students or student banking, please post them here!
"Cutting the nose off a beautiful girl won't make an ugly one any prettier".
There is so much nastiness meted out by otheer children in school to those who do well ("intello", "swot" "geek", "nerd" etc etc etc) that just for once it is nice for them to get a reward. People who are good at games probably train & so on but I don't see why they are MORE deserving of praise & accolades than those who work hard & are clever as well. People are good at different things and have different aims, not everybody is academic just as not everybody is athletic or musically or artistically talented. As we are in a society which seems publicly to value brawn (sports) or beauty (showbiz) over brains it is fair that at least sometimes brains should get a look-in.
There is no league for measuring the scale of fairness. Yet just about everywhere applies scales to achievement without discussion about what is fair to whom. Incentives like the banks are giving away are simply carrots. They know that psychologically, if they throw a few titbits to the 'best' students for exam results, when they later graduate some of the crème de la crème will knock on their door and that way they will have the best candidates with pre-installed loyalty.
However, that is an artifice. I have taught highly intelligent students who were likely to get 1:1 degrees, a goodly proportion did, but some of them I would not have put in charge of licking an ice lolly. In the real world some of them were barely able to tie their shoe laces, so circumvented that by wearing pull ons. Then there are people like yours truly who passed exams without any effort or thought. How? I have had a near on photographic memory most of my life. Give me something to read and I could usually tell you where the commas were. Actually learn and absorb the content - not necessary. One just regurgitates the 'knowledge' for exams. It is less effective as one gets higher up the ladder, most masters degrees require far too much analytical thought and an original dissertation, neither of which a photographic memory produces. That is me, but there are many more people who have that 'gift' by varying degrees and by hook or by crook that aids them get the highest passes. It does not make us ideal candidates for a lot of jobs and there the would be employers with their incentives are going to unwittingly pick a few of us up.
The most outstanding students will often go on to the least anticipated professions or stay in research and teaching, however when looked at with a little forethought that may also pay off for these 'prize' giving benefactors since it is these people who might well teach the next generations of students and at some stage when advising students may have their benefactor's name firmed stamped on their memory and give the thumbs up when the young work seekers mention that company. There is always something psychological that was born in the boardroom in such things. They know full well that of all of the primed loyal entrants into their company only one in so many will truly shine. However, they will have their 'quota' of these people who will make them money hand over fist, so deal done. The benefactors here are banks doing what banks do, memory men like me would be of no real use but the one in ten or twenty or so who truly shine are simply there because the banks are lining their ducks up in a row. In other words, what appears to be benevolence is ultimately investment.
If that is unfair on those who are low down the list for achievement, well sure. However, is there actually fairness up at the top when all the money is really for is to seduce people? I tend to think that there are non-achievers who fail exams and even excellent students who simply do not perform well in exams who will always 'fail'. Failure is such a subjective word anyway, since not all of us are academic and imagine if we all were. Apart from probably boring each other rigid, who would do the many 'unskilled' jobs, the vast majority of which appear to require quite a lot of skill anyway? It is all rather subjective anyway. I know a very talented poet with a row of awards for his work and commissions for new collections who was expelled from an ordinary secondary modern in England in the late 1960s. He did not get as far as 'O' levels, he worked in the parks department of his home city for several years then started scribbling a few poems based on his observations. That grew. He has a couple of honorary doctorates now but still not a single pass in any kind of exam. Would CIC offer him €160? I think not. Of course he is exceptional, but do not condemn anybody for being bottom of the pile because for enough people that is reason enough to crawl, then walk and finally run to the top without a bank's titbits. At the same time, there are many people who went to the very top academically who have done 'nothing' since. We should not judge any more than these banks are kind of 'pre-judging' but heck they are giving away money so grab it if you can, why be any more moral about it than them?
But not everyone can make the grade, otherwise there would be no point to taking the exam in the first place. You can pass any number of exams and still feel second rate. 'No one can make you feel inferior without your consent' - I quite like this quote supposedly from Eleanor Roosevelt, that is doing the rounds.
Of course it is the banks, i know that I am just irritated and tired and not thinknng straight! the banks do what they want but it smacks of preferential treatment to me. and why shouldnt athletes get paid well? enormously is ridiculous yes, I know how hard the kids work, it just isnot right for the non academic ones, it is a statement by society that brains are best…???
But it isn't the state, Annie, it is business - they do what they want.
The state gives out bourses au mérite and thank goodness it does, there are a lot of clever hard-working children whose families would not consider higher education otherwise.
In my daughter's prépa every single piece of work has not only the mark but also the rank on it so they can see where they are because they are going in for competitive exams later on, yes it probably is depressing if you are 45th out of 45, maybe you can do something about it.
Someone has to be first & someone last & everyone else is in between and I don't see that it is a shameful secret.
It is the same for the capes etc - because I came in the top decile of results, I got more points and had more choice over where I got posted. That's life.
sports cups are not cash. I have two sons both went through o levels and a levels and uni, they have chosen very different life styles, rewards for passing exams??? self satisfaction, praise, party, and a present from us, but why should the state shell out to a few of the kids who work hard and make the grade? And as I keep saying what about those who work and dont get there? They are marked out as second class at 18!disgraceful! every one of them has to find their way their own place, they need help not to be denegarted.
sports cups are not cash. I have two sons both went through o levels and a levels and uni, they have chosen very different life styles, rewards for passing exams??? self satisfaction, praise, party, and a present from us, but why should the state shell out to a few of the kids who work hard and make the grade? And as I keep saying what about those who work and dont get there? They are marked out as second class at 18!disgraceful! every one of them has to find their way their own place, they need help not to be denegarted.
There are no prizes in schools here, not for academic work anyway, possibly a cup or something for sports and even then not as a rule. I think that those who do well, really well, should get some reward for it. I see my pupils working like mad (some of them) and it is nice and I think fair that they should get some base material recognition for it. And the fact that they were probably clever in the first place doesn't alter that. Life isn't fair and we all know it isn't and yet insist on pretending it is. So when can we expect carefully handicapped Olympics to ensure everyone comes first and gets a gold medal?
Since when was life fair? I think this is a pretty good incentive for students to go the extra mile and it's a life-lesson too. Hard work pays off and there are always challenges, winners and losers in any field. You cannot reward everyone all of the time. Perhaps some of these high flyers in the academic world bemoan the fact that they never win sports cups....?
Oh come on! To get any sort of mention in the bac, let alone a TB or a bien is really difficult. You can pass by being very good at one or two subjects to raise your average and weak in the rest, or simply by coasting to get a just pass average, being good in all the subjects across the board is very, very hard. I had three daughters go through the bac so I do know. I don't see any harm in those who've worked their cotten socks off having a reward, I think it's nice.
I dont know how i feel about this. if it were my kids and they had worked and got good grades i would be pleased for them, but I know there are kids out there whohave worked just as hard if not more so and not achieved much, they have worked hard done their utmost, why should they be left out? those who make the grade have the gift of good memories and a certain type of brain the others dont. if you get your grades you get a better job, you earn more, do you really need extra cash now or is it an example of our materialistic society which only values high achievers???? We need hosptal poryters, we need gardeners, masons, carpenters, mechanics just as much as brain surgeons, lawyers and accountants!I guess i think it is unfair.