I think you have to say that grading in France is usually over a 20-point scale. And indeed, the highest grades are rarely attributed even for near-perfect work.

Irish here. We mark things based on a percentages, and it would be rare to give someone very high marks (like 95%+). Then again our pass rate is 40%, and 85%+ is an A, so it could be scaled down. I think the USA uses different scales.

What happens to the 60% who fail? Do they retake the class or drop out and look for a job?

The grandparent means 'passing grade', not 'pass rate'.

Yes. Perhaps a dialect difference. We'd say "pass rate" to mean "get less than this and you fail, more and you pass". We don't tend to use the word "grade" here for results in tests, to my ears it sounds very Amercian. ☺ We'd say "mark".

Thanks! I couldn't quite wrap my mind around a school with 60% per-period attrition.

At least in science it is pretty common (and many teacher grade over 25 so even near perfect can give you a 20).

Lower is better?