CHAPTER IV. EDUCATION IN FRANCE. France, Republic: Area, 204,092 square miles; population, 38, 961,945 (1901). Civil divisions having special functions in educational administrations: Departments (90 in number, including 3 in Algiers); communes (cities or villages) numbering 36,551. PREVIOUS ARTICLES. [In the following index to chapters in previous reports of this series relative to education in France, mention is made only of special subjects considered in each chapter. In addition to these special topics the chapters present detailed statistics, current and comparative, with a brief conspectus of the system of public instruction.] 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.) Statistics for 1888-89. (Ibid., pp. 249-261.) Elementary education in London and Paris. (Ibid., pp. 263-280.) 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.) 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.) 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.) 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.) Statistics for 1894-95; 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.) 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.) Statistics, 1896; 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.) The universities, as organized under the law of 1896; tabular view, 1887 and 1897; admission of foreign students; 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.) 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 corre spondence of students; the teaching of "la morale" in the primary schools; the simplification of French syntax. (Report, 1901, vol. 1, pp. 1081-1136.) 57 Statistics 1899-1900; new programmes of secondary schools, Doctor Compayré; the reorganized universities, special reports by M. Liard and M. Maurice-Faure; professional and financial status of French primary teachers; report of special commission. (Report, 1902, vol. 1, pp. 667-719.) Statistics, current and retrospective. Primary schools, organization, and programmes; detailed programme of moral instruction. Programmes of higher primary schools compared with those of American high schools and with those of French secondary schools. (Report, 1903, vol. 1, pp. 585-622.) TOPICAL OUTLINE. Salient features of the system of public instruction in France. Uniform organization of the "académies" or local subdivisions of the system. Effects of the law against the religious associations. Efforts to liberalize the universities and colleges. Statistical summary of schools and universities, 1903-4. State appropriations for the service. Primary education.-Statistics, retrospective and current, with explanatory comments: Enrollment and attendance; the teaching force, number and classification, qualifications, salaries. Movements for prolonging the education of the people and for promoting the social welfare of the young. Expenditure for public primary education. Practical results of primary education. Educational statistics of cities having more than 100,000 inhabitants. Secondary education.-Lycées and colleges for boys; statistics; the new programmes; salaries of professors and teachers. Lycées and colleges for girls; studies comprised in; distribution of students; enrollment, 1881-1904. Universities and special schools. Recent progress; statistics. Technical and industrial schools not under the n'inister of public instruction; higher technical schools; technical schools of lower grade. SALIENT FEATURES OF THE SYSTEM OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN FRANCE. The system of public instruction in France has been described very fully in previous reports of this series. Hence it is enough to recall here the salient features of the system, its compact organization, centralized authority, and uniform operation throughout the country. The chief of the university system is a cabinet officer, whose title, under the administration of Premier Combes, was "minister of public instruction and fine arts." In the readjustment of public affairs under M. Rouvier (who succeeded M. Combes in January, 1905) public worship was transferred to this ministry, thus restoring a relation which has been repeatedly formed and broken up in the past. The position was held by M. Bienvenu-Martin from January 24, 1905, to March 14, 1906, when it passed to the present incumbent, M. Briand. The inclusion of public worship at the present time in the same ministry as public instruction is undoubtedly intended to facilitate the execution of the recent laws relative to the religious orders. The three scholastic divisions of the system of public instruction-i. e., department of higher education, department of secondary education, and department of primary education-continue to be administered, respectively, by M. Bayet, M. Rabier, and M. Gasquet. It has been, indeed, the policy of the Republic to give long tenure to the incumbents of these important positions, thereby guarding the actual work of education from the evils of frequent and capricious change of direction. To this . important end tends also the mode of selecting the members of the superior council of public instruction, in which all professional matters are carefully deliberated. This council consists of 60 members-one-fourth appointed by the President of the Republic and the remainder elected by their colleagues (professors and teachers). Although the term of service is but four years, the most competent members are generally continued on from term to term. The chiefs of the scholastic departments named and the superior council belong to the central administration of the system, to which also pertains the corps of general inspectors for primary education. These officials are required to make two annual tours of their respective districts and report directly to the minister of public instruction the results of their observations. EDUCATION IN FRANCE. UNIFORM ORGANIZATION OF THE "ACADÉMIES." The administration of the system is facilitated by its local subdivisions or "acadé- The Paris Academy includes the University of Paris, and 19 of the 111 State lycées In addition to the general administration of the academy, the immediate direction of the affairs of the university and secondary schools in an academy are the special charge of the rector, who is president both of the university council and of the academic council. The latter council, composed of professors of higher and secondary instruction, is the deliberative body whose advice determines measures affecting the general conduct of higher and secondary education throughout the academic division. These duties leave the rector small time for attention to primary education, which is placed under the direction of academic inspectors (one for each department), who rank second only to the rector; all other persons engaged in the service of the primary schools are subordinate to them. The prefect, or civil chief of the department, has a measure of independent authority in school matters, as the appointment of regular teachers rests with him, but he must in every case make his choice from a list approved by the academic inspector. While in general there is but one academic inspector for each department, Paris, with its immense population, requires 8, of whom, however, 1 is specially designated as the director of primary education. The academic inspector is assisted by a corps of inspectors for primary schools in the mean proportion of one to every 150 schools. In 1902 there were 18 primary inspectors in the Department of the Seine and 433 in the remaining departments, making a total of 451. The smallest of all the academic divisions, Chambéry, in the Alpine region of southeastern France, comprising only two departments with a population of 77,897, presents, on a reduced scale, the features of the largest. At the head is the rector and the academic council; in each of the two departments the usual academic inspector and a corps of primary inspectors. This academy does not possess a full university, but its place in the series of institutions is supplied by a university school of sciences and letters. Four lycées, two for boys and two for girls, and two communal colleges make up the provision of public secondary schools; the primary school system is complete in both departments, including two normal schools, one for men and the other for women, and a full complement of primary schools, both elementary and higher. Every academy between the two extremes, Paris and Chambéry, repeats the same organization and the same liberal provision of schools and colleges. As the appointment of the entire body of officials, and also of the professors of secondary and of higher education, rests either with the president of the Republic or with 1 71 the minister of public instruction, it is easy to understand how the spirit of political unity is maintained throughout the system. EFFECTS OF THE LAW AGAINST THE RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS. The characteristics of the system of public instruction above described, which must be kept in mind in any attempt to understand educational movements in France, are derived from the university system established by Napoleon and carefully designed to serve political ends. The influence of the system in this respect, attested under successive governments, has been recently illustrated in the struggle against the teaching orders, or brotherhoods. The associations law of July 1, 1901, which required all the religious orders to apply for special authorization from the Government for the continuance of their existence and work, whether charitable or educational, the subsequent refusals of the Government to sanction the authorizations applied for, and the law of July 8, 1904, requiring the suppression of all the teaching orders (monks and nuns) within a period of ten years, have had the effect already of closing above 5,000 schools out of 10,000 conducted by the religious orders. These measures end the liberty of teaching established by the Falloux law of March 18, 1850, and give to the State a monopoly of education scarcely less than that exercised by the university system of Napoleon. The repressive influence of the associations law is intensified by the law promulgated December 9, 1905, to take effect December, 1906, providing for the complete separation of church and state and thus ending the relations established by the concordat signed by Napoleon and Pope Pius VII in 1801. In striking contrast to this aggressive policy are the efforts recently made by the Republic to liberalize the higher teaching agencies of the State by infusing into the universities and colleges the spirit of free initiative and individual responsibility. To this end the old university faculties, which under Napoleon were little more than examining bodies with rigidly prescribed functions, have been restored to the dignity of corporate universities, and the uniformity of the lycées (state colleges) has been modified by new and more elastic programmes.b a TABLE I.—Statistical summary of schools and universities, 1903–4. a For account of the university law of July 10, 1896, and the measures leading up to it, see Report of Commissioner for 1902, vol. 1, Chap. XV, I pp. 698-703. For new programmes of secondary education, see Report for 1902, vol. 1, pp. 687-697. Includes 7,375 in secondary classes not connected with secondary schools. d Professors in State lycées for boys in 1903. These enrolled 58,593 students, as against 35,612 students in local colleges. Directresses, professors, matrons, and clerks in secondary schools for girls. f Also 22,497 in seminaries preparing candidates for the priesthood. g In 1904, not including clinical assistants in the faculties of medicine, librarians, etc. EDUCATION IN FRANCE. Table I shows the enrollment in primary schools, secondary schools, and universities and the number of teachers and professors employed for the latest year for which official statistics are available. The expenditures for the system of public instruction have not been reported since the issue of the last official statistics which are prepared by the statistical commission at stated intervals.b STATE APPROPRIATIONS. The appropriations by the legislature for this service have increased by 79 per DETAILED STATISTICS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION. TABLE II.-Retrospective view of pupils in the primary schools.a Pupils in schools. Belonging to religious orders. 1866. 4,515, 967 2,343, 781 2, 172, 186 3,537, 709 978, 258 2,820,670 1872. 4,722, 754 1,695, 297 2,445, 216 2,277, 538 3,835, 991 886, 163 1876-77. 4,716,935 2, 400, 882 2,316, 053 3,823, 348 893, 587 2,648,562 2,068, 373 1881-82. 5,341, 211 2,708, 510 2,632, 701 4,359, 256 981,955 3,567,861 1886-87. 1,773, 350 5, 596, 919 2,829, 127 2,767, 792 4,505, 109 1,091, 810 3,877, 185 1,719, 734 1891-92. 5,556, 470 2,805, 849 2,750, 621 4, 281, 183 1,275, 287 3,900, 977 1,655, 493 1896-97. 5, 531, 418 2,782, 547 2,748, 871 4, 190, 320 1,341, 098 3,911, 806 1,618, 612 1901-2. 5,550, 284 2,776,978 2,774, 306 4, 175, 575 1,374,709 4,040, 329 5,552, 762 62,785, 650 2,767, 112 4,309,095 1,243, 667 4,435,747 1,509,955 1, 117, 015 a Infant schools not included. Algiers not included prior to 1886-87. It will be seen from the foregoing table that the primary schools of France are classified as public and private, but under the head of public schools are included schools established by the local authorities and private (clerical) schools adopted as public schools. The proportion of the latter to the whole number of public schools was 22 per cent in 1876–77; in 1891–92 it had fallen to 10 per cent, and in 1901-2 to 5 per cent. The private primary schools are either secular schools or schools belonging to the religious orders. In 1902 the latter formed 85 per cent of all private primary schools. As a rule, moreover, the teachers of the private secular schools are in close relations with their clerical superiors. Hence the statistics showing the distribution of pupils in the several classes of schools (Tables II and III) taken alone do not indicate the full strength of the clerical influence. They should be studied in connection with the statistics showing the classification of teachers (Tables IV-VI). a Derived from Annuaire Statistique, 1904, and report of M. Massé to the Chamber of Deputies on the budget of 1906. The latest of these official reports are as follows: Statistique de l'enseignement primaire, 1901-2; Statistique de l'enseignement secondaire des garçons, 1887; Statistique de l'enseignement supérieur, 1889-1899. 591. c Report of M. Massé, chairman of the financial committee of the Chamber of Deputies, on the budget for 1906, p. 13. d See Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1903, vol. 1, p. e Report of M. Massé, table, pp. 3-12. 1 For the list of special schools sharing in the appropriation for higher education, see pp. 81, 82. ED 1905 VOL 1-8 |