AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE — Preparing for my trip abroad, I found it curious that one section of our French textbook was dedicated to protests and demonstrations. Words like banderole (banner) and manifestation (sit-in) were apparently high priority words for an inexperienced French speaker’s lexicon.  This, of course, seemed a little bizarre — until I arrived in France. I then got personal experience with one such word because of its frequent recurrence: “grève,” or strike.In mid January, I was visiting Marseille, France’s second largest city. After hitting several of the city’s sights, I decided to take the bus back to the center of town. After waiting nearly 20 minutes someone finally asked me, “You know there’s a strike, don’t you?”After a string of assaults on transportation workers, they decided to prove a point by putting the brakes on the city’s mass transit.Just last month, there was a sweeping national government strike which went beyond transportation to include the postal service, telecom company and other government services.While I had no problem walking in Marseille, and the strike last month was largely voluntary (and didn’t affect me), yet another strike has been far more serious for me.Across the country professors are acting out against new reforms concerning university research.Like education in the U.S., French professors are expected to engage in both research and teaching. But a new policy would allow school administrators to punish professors who don’t engage in quality research — forcing them to teach more hours.Some professors are simply withholding grades. Some agreed to suspend class for one day, while others have been on strike indefinitely. Professors at my university recently agreed to extend the demonstration for an additional week.Most professors seem to recognize there is a time to strike and prove a point and a time to return to class. The act is mostly a message of disapproval rather than an all-out war against the state. In fact, it seems this is not even a serious strike, as there appears to be little consequence to crossing the picket line. Many professors have returned to their classes while others declined participation at the onset.France is notorious for its frequent strikes, and engaging in them seems almost like a cultural celebration. While the current situation lacks the fortitude of some strikes in the past — including the Protests of 1968 or the weeks of mayhem in 2006 denouncing labor reforms — the spirit seems to engage everyone. Student’s even hung banners with dramatic phrases in support of professors.Without question, the threat of disrupting daily business is relatively absent in the U.S. While there was much ado on campuses across the country voicing opposition to the Vietnam War, even with a hugely unpopular War in Iraq the number of dissidents was not reflected in any kind of wide scale civil disobedience.As for occupations in the U.S., we have relatively weaker unions as well as laws restricting strikes for many occupations, including all federal employees. In 1981 Ronald Reagan famously fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers after they went on strike.And more recently there was the MTA strike in New York in 2005.Still it seems we are missing a part of the culture that leads to the frequent demonstrations and strikes in France. Perhaps there are less things to complain about.Fat chance. Our “Flagship university” is currently facing budget cuts.The result of a similar research policy being enacted might elicit colorful language, but certainly no stoppage of work.Then again, it seems necessary — though unpopular — changes that go through uneventfully in the U.S. could drag France’s reactionary populace to quit work.There seems to be a fine line between when a strike should be used and when you should just complain without disrupting business as usual. Both countries should move toward the middle on the essential question: To grève or not to grève?—-Contact Mark Macmardo at [email protected]