The contract encourages employers to hire young people (under 26) with the flexibility to fire them, for any reason, within the first two years of employment. While employers could offer more temporary positions, reducing the jobless rate, the employees would have zero job security until their 26th birthday, at which point they would be eligible for contracts for specified amount of time.

In Marseille, France this weekend, we watched a little gathering of high school students having a protest on the steps of their school.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t be at yesterday’s manifestation because I had classes all day. However, I did venture out at 5:30, hoping to catch the end of the march at Place de la Republique on the right bank.

I had been cautioned, by everyone — my professors, friends, my building’s concierge — to be careful, and as I climbed the steps to street-level at Republique, I wasn’t in the bravest frame of mind.

The march was over, and thousands of protestors and spectators flooded the street. Everyone was strangely subdued and inert; nobody was being rowdy, but I could sense that something was brewing. I pushed through the crowd, trying to evaluate the situation, then buckled and got back on the metro.

As a so-called reporter, it wasn’t the best move, but I think it was wisest. News reports later announced that, shortly after I left, a little bit of upheaval ensued and police blasted rioters there with water cannons and tear gas. I’m half-kicking myself because the photos would have been good.

I watched from a distance, via the nightly news, which gave lots of play to the afternoon manifestation and ended with an interview clip with a French college student who said the youth are not backing down. They’re one, she said, and sense that government cannot afford to hold out forever. From the students’ perspective, their persistence is paying off.

Le Monde recently reported that 63% of French people are against le CPE.

As an outsider, I’m looking for signs of how the manifestation is affecting life and am finding few. I think manifestations are just so customary and normal for the French, the people aren't phased at all and simply continue to go about their daily life.

I see “F*ck le CPE” scrawled on posters in random places. And everybody is still buzzing about the issue, but besides talk, there's nothing. The manifestations happen at scheduled times and follow a specific route. The riots are contained in certain locations.

Yesterday’s over-hyped grève générale ended up being weak. I was prepared for a day off because I had had heard that the metros would not be running and most businesses, closed. That was not the case, and I went trudging off to my 8:30 a.m. phonetics class. The metros were running, just fewer of them, but many trains were cancelled.