You say that like it’s a bad thing. More people should fail. We as a civilization deserve higher standards than what can be achieved by the average student.
I never implied that, in fact I'm pretty noncommittal on the matter and would do away with the baccalaureat (or maturite, or whatever) entirely.
60 years ago a test was hard and most people failed it. Today it's easy and most people pass it. What's the difference? Why even have a test? Since we're somehow talking about French-speaking countries, Belgium doesn't have such a test and isn't worse off for it.
You had different certificates that were valid (check a "dictée" from a CEP at the end of primary school, I am not sure that many people would make less than 4 grammatical mistakes).
Now you have private certificates that employers start asking (voltaire certificate) and there will be similar in math.
60 years ago a test was hard and most people failed it. Today it's easy and most people pass it. What's the difference? Why even have a test? Since we're somehow talking about French-speaking countries, Belgium doesn't have such a test and isn't worse off for it.