I wonder about the extent to which having an additional level of selection helps.
High school curricula are generally limited by having to be able to be taught by a large number of teachers all around the country and by needing a minimum number of students at the school who are capable of the content.
If the préparatoires can put more qualified teachers and students together that would allow significant development and running selection for elite universities after such an intermediate preparatory program it would reduce the chance that talented students aren’t missed due to having attended a high school that is weaker at maths (even though it sounds like the preparatories have a selection bar too, I assume it’s quite a bit lower than performing well enough to get into a top institution).
I wonder about the extent to which having an additional level of selection helps.
High school curricula are generally limited by having to be able to be taught by a large number of teachers all around the country and by needing a minimum number of students at the school who are capable of the content.
If the préparatoires can put more qualified teachers and students together that would allow significant development and running selection for elite universities after such an intermediate preparatory program it would reduce the chance that talented students aren’t missed due to having attended a high school that is weaker at maths (even though it sounds like the preparatories have a selection bar too, I assume it’s quite a bit lower than performing well enough to get into a top institution).