CHAPTER XV.

EDUCATION IN FRANCE.

France, Republic: Area, 204,092 square miles; population, 38,517,975 (1896). Civil divisions having special functions in educational administrations: departments (90 in number, including 3 in Algiers); communes, cities or villages.

PREVIOUS ARTICLES.

The educational system of France. (Report, 1888-89, Vol. 1, pp. 112–149.)

Report of the educational congresses and exhibition held in Paris, 1889. (Report, 1889-90, Vol. 1, pp. 41-186, by W. H. Widgery.)

Brief view of the educational system, with statistics for 1888-89. (Report, 1889-90, Vol. 1, pp. 249-261.)

Elementary education in London and Paris. (Ibid., pp. 263–280.)

Education in France: Statistics, 1890-91; progress of primary schools since Guizot's law, 1833; higher primary and classical schools of France. (Report, 1890-91, Vol. 1, pp. 95-124.) Education in France: Outline of the system, and statistics for 1892; proposed transformations and development of State faculties. (Report, 1891-92, Vol. 1, pp. 73-95.)

Civil service in France, by W. F. and W. W. Willoughby. (Ibid., pp. 369-412.)

Education in France: Outline view, with current statistics; inspection of infant schools; recent changes in the baccalaureate; reorganization of medical studies and of the scientific course preparatory thereto. (Report, 1892-93, Vol. 1, pp. 219-237.)

Education in France: Statistics for 1891-1893; recent modifications in secondary and superior education; progress of the system of primary instruction; schools for adults; movements for the admission of American students to the universities of France. (Report, 1894-95, Vol. 1, pp. 289-312.)

Education in France: Statistics for 1894-95; summarized view of primary schools; proposed modifications of secondary institutions; the law of July 10, 1896, transforming the State faculties into universities; status of medical students in France, with special reference to foreigners; Dr. Alcée Fortier on the French lycées. (Report, 1895-96, Vol. 1, pp. 611-639.) Education in France: Statistics, current and comparative; opening of the universities under the law of July 10, 1896; the new doctorate open to foreigners; state secondary schools v. church establishments; the law of July, 1893, respecting salaries of teachers of primary schools; the superior primary schools, progress, organization, and scope; M. Boutmy on the reform of the baccalaureate; M. Bréal on the study of Greek. (Report, 1896-97, Vol. 1, pp. 29–70.) Education in France: Statistics, 1896; the decentralizing movement; the reconstruction of the universities; efforts for strengthening the moral influence of the schools; temperance instruction; manual training and technical schools; report of Mr. Charles Copland Perry on technical education in France; the admission of American students into French universities; review of the career of M. Victor Duruy, minister of public instruction, 1863-1869, by the Duc de Broglie; review of the work of M. Henri Marion, first professor of the science of education at the Sorbonne, by M. F. Buisson. (Report, 1897-98, Vol. 1, pp. 694–788.)

System of public education in France: Summarized statistics; current record of the universities organized under the law of 1896; tabular view, 1887 and 1897; admission of foreign students to French universities; the university doctorate created under decree of 1897; primary education; work of the Republic reviewed; secondary education; congress of professors; commission of inquiry. (Report, 1898-99, Vol. 1, pp. 1086-1138.)

Education at the Paris Exposition. (Report, 1899-1900, Vol. 2, pp. 1661–1709.)

System of education; outline and statistical survey, current and retrospective; proposed reform of State secondary schools; public lycées and colleges for girls; universities, reorganization and recent development; the congress of primary education. (Report, 1899–1900, Vol. 1, pp. 1711-1732.)

Retrospective and current survey of State education; the system of primary school inspection: the new scheme of secondary education; the law subjecting religious orders to civic authority; conspectus of courses of study in the University of Paris; the new university doctorates; international correspondence of students; the teaching of "la morale" in the primary schools; the simplification of French syntax. (Report, 1901, Vol. 1, pp. 1081-1135.)

TOPICAL OUTLINE.

Statistical summary for 1900-1901. Constitution of the State system. Historical development of the system.

Primary education: Detailed statistics, current and comparative; school enrollment and attendance; the teaching force; expenditures. Agencies complementary to the school: Evening classes; popular lectures; insurance societies ("Petites Cavé"); associations of former pupils ("Petites A"); school patronage associations; university extension; sources of support. Educational statistics of French cities having more than 100,000 inhabitants. Statistics of illiteracy. Secondary education: Statistics; scope; unsatisfactory condition arising (1) from the influence of the rival schools of the religious orders, (2) from the want of scholastic advance; law against the religious orders; the new plan of secondary studies as set forth by Dr. Compayré; comparative view of curricula 1886-1902; chronological review of the successive modifications of secondary schools since 1789.

Higher education: Statistics, current and retrospective; historic review of the development of French universities, after report of M. Liard; particulars of recent expansion, from report of M. Maurice-Faure; admission of foreign students to French universities; table of higher technical schools.

Appended paper: The professional and financial status of French primary teachers as developed by a recent inquiry.

With the exceptions indicated by footnotes, these statistics are from the report of M. MauriceFaure, chairman of the financial committee of the Chamber of Deputies. Budget for 192 (session 1901).

Expenditure for 1896-97, including all public primary schools and primary normal schools. Statistique de l'enseignement primaire, 1895-97.

dExcluding the clerical seminaries (petits séminaires) preparatory to the theological schools, enrolling about 23,000 young men.

a Report of M. Maurice-Faure, for the Chamber of Deputies, session 1902, pp. 2, 3.

SUMMARY OF THE YEAR, 1900-1901.

From the above summary it appears that in the year 1900-1901 there were enrolled in the primary schools of France, including infant schools, a total of 6,277,340 pupils. Omitting the infant schools, the enrollment in primary schools was 5,530,232, equivalent to 14.19 per cent of the population. Of this enrollment 75 per cent were in State primary schools. Secondary schools for boys enrolled 165,148 students, of which total 53.4 per cent were in State schools (lycées and communal colleges). The universities registered 31,389 students, of whom the vast majority, viz, 95 per cent, were in the State institutions.

In addition to the State universities there are numerous special schools for advanced study and research under the control of the minister of public instruction and supported by the State (see footnote, p. 698), and several State technical schools of university rank under the control of other ministers (table, p. 710). The numerous municipal schools of similar character complete the public provision for the highest order of specialized education. The number of students belonging to the high-grade special schools can not be exactly stated. Of those in attendance upon the specialized schools of liberal culture, i. e., the École des Hautes Études, Collège de France, etc., many are borne on the university registers as candidates for degrees. The number of students in the special technical schools is approximately 3,500.

Technical schools of a somewhat lower grade are very numerous, including 35 schools of arts and trades dependent upon the ministry of commerce, enrolling about 5,500 pupils; 13 municipal technical schools in Paris, with 1,380 pupils, and a large number of private schools, supported by private societies or by manufacturers.

The three principal secular associations engaged in the maintenance of schools of this class report for the year 1899-1900 an average attendance upon their classes in Paris (chiefly evening classes) as follows:

The Polytechnic Association

The Philotechnic Association
Union Française de la Jeunesse

Total....

Students.

13, 380

9,920 11,348

34, 748

The expenditure for the schools and universities under the control of the minister of public instruction is met by State and local funds. The appropriation for this purpose from the State treasury amounted in 1901 to $41,393,296 (206,966,483 franes). Of this total about 76 per cent, $31,426,215 (157,131,075 francs), was for primary education.

The most important event of the year under review has been the enforcement of the law for the regulation of the religious associations, which represent about onethird of the teaching power of the State. The influence of these associations, especially in the department of secondary education, has been regarded by the republican government as adverse to its policies, and this feeling was one of the provoking causes of the measure which subjects the associations to the civil authority. As regards the right of the State to determine the conditions upon which the associations may exist and carry on their operations in France, the new law simply reaffirms the policy sanctioned by previous laws, but the vigorous enforcement of the law is a new departure. The bearing of this law upon educational interests and the significance of the statistics summarized in the foregoing table will be more fully disclosed by the details which follow.

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.

The State system of education is characterized by centralized control, thorough organization, and comprehensive scope. The executive chief is a cabinet officer, the minister of public instruction (at present M. Chaumié). The minister has extensive administrative power, and also takes the initiative in measures for the development of the system. He supports his propositions in debate in either chamber, but votes upon them only in the chamber of which he is a member.

For the supervision of the system the country is divided into seven inspectorial districts, to each of which an inspector-general is annually assigned. These officials are chosen from educational experts and appointed by the President of the Republic upon the nomination of the minister, from whom they receive their instructions and to whom they report directly. (Formerly there were general inspectors, also, for special branches-music, gymnastics, drawing, etc.-but the tendency is to concentrate the work in the hands of the general inspectors. A special inspector of drawing is still retained, and there is also a corps of general inspectresses of infant schools.)

To the central authority belongs, also, the superior council of public instruction, which deliberates upon all matters referred to it by the minister, and constitutes also a final court of appeal in respect to disputed questions and cases of discipline.

The council consists of 60 members, one-fourth appointed by the President of the Republic and the remainder elected by their colleagues (professors and teachers), the term of service being four years.a

The minister is also assisted by an advisory committee (comité consultatif), formed by his own appointment from the company of general inspectors, honorary or acting, and from the highest officials of the system of public instruction. The centralized control of the system is facilitated by its organization into academies or administrative divisions, 17 in number. b Each academy comprises

a The elective principle was established by the law of 1880, reorganizing the councils and admitting representatives of secondary and primary education. Among the appointed members are found at present the names of M. Bayet, chief of the department of superior education; Mme. Dejean de la Batie, directress of normal school, Fontenay-aux-Roses; M. Gréard, for thirty years vice-rector of the Paris University; M. Liard, successor to M. Gréard; M. Rabier, director of secondary education; M. Boutmy, distinguished for his writings on political science.

Among the elected members are the well-known names of M. Lavisso, member of the French Academy; M. Leroy-Beaulieu, member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences; M. Berthelot, distinguished chemist; M. Brouardel, of the Paris Faculty of Medicine; M. Croisset, dean of the Faculty of Letters of the Paris University; M. Boissier, of the French Academy; M. Jost, inspector-general of primary education.

The word academy, besides this special use in relation to the system of public instruction, signifies also a society of littérateurs, savants, or artists. It is used absolutely for the French Academy.

a university, one or more university faculties, a group of secondary schools (lycées and communal colleges), and its quota of primary schools. The chief officer of the academy is the university rector, who is appointed by the President of the Republic, and subordinate only to the minister of public instruction. The authority of the rector extends to all grades of education, but the interests of higher and secondary education absorb most of his attention; hence the general conduct of primary education is relegated to the academic inspectors, of whom there is one for each department comprised in the academy.

The academic rector is assisted by a council of university professors, of whom four are his own nominees and the remainder elected by their colleagues.

The local unit for primary school administration is the department, a civil district which, for educational purposes, is treated as a subdivision of the academy. There are in all 90 departments (including 3 in Algiers), which are unequally distributed among the 17 academies.

The educational authorities for the department are (1) the prefect or civil chief, an appointee of the President of the Republic; (2) the educational council, 4 of whose 14 members belong to the civil council of the department, 2 are primary inspectors, and the remainder teachers elected by their colleagues; (3) the academy inspector, appointed by the minister of public instruction. Each department has also a corps of primary inspectors, in the proportion of 1 to every 150 schools. To this class of officials falls the inspection of individual schools, the conduct of teachers' meetings and of the examination of pupils for the certificat d'études.

With the exception of the departmental prefect, the educational officials are all chosen upon professional grounds. The rector of an academy must have the doctor's degree, and in addition must have given proof of administrative ability. The academic inspectors are chosen by the minister generally from the professors of secondary education or from the body of primary inspectors; in any case, they must have had experience in teaching or in school administration.

The primary inspectors are selected by competitive examination from the élite of the teachers. The examination is the same as for the directors of normal schools, and includes, besides general branches, pedagogy, school law, and school management.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYSTEM.

The system of public instruction comprises three departments-primary, secondary, and superior-each under its own chief or director. This division follows the lines of historic development. The secondary schools (State lycées and communal colleges) form with the universities a system of liberal education, crowned by specialized training for the learned professions. In this respect they preserve something of the relations that existed before the Revolution between the University of Paris, the mother university, and the colleges that clustered around it. The separate administration of secondary and of higher education is a survival from the Imperial University. The work of the Republic in these two provinces has been that of gradual transformation in the spirit of scholastic freedom and in

a It is worthy of note that the frequent change of ministers has had little effect upon the administration of the system, since it has been the policy to retain the chiefs of the three divisions of the system, irrespective of these changes. Thus M. Buisson was director of the department of primary education from 1877 to 1897, when he succeeded M. Marion in the chair of pedagogy at the Sorbonne. His successor, M. Bayet, has just been transferred to the post of director of higher education in place of M. Liard, who has been chosen to succeed M. Gréard as vicerector of the Academy of Paris. M. Rabier remains as director of secondary education. The rectors of the academies are also retained during long periods, as illustrated by the career of M. Gréard, who has directed the affairs of the Paris Academy throughout the whole period of the Republic. Nearly equal in duration has been the service of Dr. Compayré, rector of the academy of Lyon, formerly of the academy of Lille.