C'est la Rentree! School is in!

Bonjour tout le monde!
It is that time of year again, both in the US and France.  As usual, there are those who want to change the status quo, to make things better.  Here in the US, there are experts who theorize that adolescents need to sleep longer, so they want to start school later.  A great idea, but the logistics sound very formidable.  Start school later, classes end later, and then there are sports?  Or does one do away with sports?  Practice less? Start games later?
In France, schools are changing also.  Historically, French school children went to school full time on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday.  Then they went to classes half day on Wednesdays and also on Saturdays.  After classes on Wednesday, French school kids often went to the museums, which were free. As a student in Paris, I thought free museums were awesome.  Until a couple of times at a museum with lots of school kids had me running for the exits!  Being an art history student, I had a card that allowed me to visit museums at any time; that is what I did.  However, that did not include two hours at the Louvre every other Thursday.
Several years back, the Minister of Education declared an end to classes on Saturdays.  There was an outcry from parents and teachers alike.  What are we going to do with our Saturdays?  However, the prospect of being able to have entire weekends away at the family villa sort of overcame most arguments.
Now, the Minister of Education is doing away with free Wednesday afternoons, something that was in place since 1882. The school week will have a full day of classes from Monday to Friday.  The change seems to be just for the little ones, elementary school kids.  They will have their classes spread out over five days instead of four and a half days, and will have extra curricular activities until the regular end of the school day.
Since France has a centralized almost everything, that goes for school holiday schedules, too.  There are three zones throughout continental France, with separate schedules and some different holidays for the overseas departements. Check out the schedules for yourself: http://about-france.com/school-holidays.htm

No, not a school, it's Napoleon 1er's tomb.  He organized the first educational system

To read the article about the new five-day week schedule: http://www.thelocal.fr/20140901/france-school-reform-schedule-change