I have two not necessarily very helpful thoughts here, which are really long-held observations germane to the topic of the diary.

First, even (especially?) among the most educated Americans and among them even (especially?) among those who follow current events in France closely, everyone's head seems to explode when it comes to discussing French politics, especially extra-parliamentary politics. So no surprise that the student movement is getting misleading coverage.

Second and maybe more to the point, I think the relevant difference in this instance between the US and France is not union culture as suggested above but student culture. American students are (and I'm speaking of the modal American student, not those who would be reading a site like this) incredibly uninformed about politics and yet at the same time passionate about popular culture. The point I'm making here is that American students have very little culture or structure, especially on campus, for political activism.

So even if (and I am convinced by Jerome's statistics) the students are objectively "wrong" and in fact, the CPE is a necessary (or at least logical) way to spur hiring, the reaction of the students against the Villepin government is something that could have no analog in the US. This year's federal budget cut, IIRC, 13 billion from funding for student loans, which will contribute greatly to the alarming levels of student debt, but I am not aware of a single organized protest or political mobilization by American students against this.

So if it is the "same fight," the hard work will not be convincing the FT to do a better time but finding ways for American college students to get in the game.