Congressional Serial Set

CHAPTER XIII.
APTER

EDUCATION IN FRANCE.

France, Republic: Arca, 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).

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. 369-112.)

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 correspondence of students; the teaching of "la morale" in the primary schools; the simplification of French syntax. (Report, 1901, vol. 1, pp. 1081-1136.)

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.) The characteristic features of the system of public instruction in France have been very fully presented in previous Reports of the Commissioner of Education, as indicated above, and the development of the system set forth by the record of legislative and administrative measures and detailed statistics.

Since the publication of the last Report of this series no complete official report of public education in France has been issued, and no changes of any moment have taken place in the administration of the system. This chapter presents, therefore, only statistical summaries bringing the record down to 1902, supplemented by a detailed view of the work of the various classes of schools which in the French system are included in the division of primary education. For purposes of comparison the programme of French secondary schools is also included in the presentation, and likewise programmes of public schools in our own country.

TOPICAL OUTLINE.

Statistics, current and retrospective. Detailed view of the system of primary instruction: General administration; classification of primary schools; subjects of instruction-infant schools, elementary primary schools, branches, and typical programmes; typical programmes for elementary schools in the United States. Examination for the certificate of primary studies, marking the passage from the elementary primary to the higher primary schools. Higher primary schools: Origin; organization; separation from schools of commerce and industry; typical programmes; programmes of high schools in the United States. The National Industrial Schools (Ecoles nationales professionnelles) of France: origin; general character; programme. Programme of the primary normal schools. Programme of French secondary schools (lycées and communal colleges). Enrollment in the several classes of higher primary schools and public secondary schools in 1901.

STATISTICAL SUMMARIES.

Table I presents the summarized statistics of the schools and universities of France for the latest year reported. The remaining tables bring the current statistics into comparison with those of earlier date.

From Table II it will be seen that the maximum enrollment in primary schools was reached in 1888-89. The subsequent decline has taken place wholly in France proper, excluding Algiers, in which division there has been a slight but steady increase from an enrollment of 78,001 pupils in 1888-89 to 114,809 in 1900-1901. The decline of enrollment in France, exclusive of Algiers, is in reality small, amounting to 96,601 pupils, or 1.7 per cent. This is accounted for as follows:

(1) Decrease in the school population of France (ages 6 to 13), which, as shown in Table V, amounted to 3,145, or 0.07 per cent, between the census years 1891 and 1896; (2) rapid advance of pupils in the primary schools, with the result that the leaving certificate (certificat d'études primaires) is obtained at an earlier age than formerly; (3) less vigorous enforcement of the obligatory school law.

Since 1888-89, which marked the end of the period assigned by the law of 1886 for the full secularization—that is, elimination of clerical teachers—of public schools for boys, the enrollment in public primary schools has fallen off to a noticeable degree, while the clerical schools (schools under the religious orders) have increased their enrollment. The extent of this transfer is indicated in Tables III and IV. From the latter table it will be seen that the primary schools under religious orders classed as public (that is State-supported) attended by boys had been very nearly eliminated by 1901, and the corresponding schools for girls were rapidly declining. The private clerical schools on the other hand were increasing their enrollment. These details would possess little general interest but for the fact that the struggle between state and church for supremacy in education has become the chief issue in the politics of the country. Recent measures which threaten to deprive the religious orders of

all rights to teach in the State have been fully explained in previous Reports of this series.a

Tables VI-VIII, with the accompanying comments, relate to the teaching force. Tables IX and X, showing the expenditure for public primary schools, as set forth in the quinquennial reports of the minister of public instruction, complete the retrospective survey of primary education. The three remaining tables relate to secondary schools (lycées and colleges), the universities, and higher technical or special schools. TABLE I.-Statistical summary of education in France.