LIBRAHY BUREAU OF EDUCATION i-sv FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENT ORGANIZATION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN FRANCE BY FREDERIC ERNEST FARRINGTON, Ph.D. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNI- VERSITY; LECTURER ON EDUCATION, YALE UNIVERSITY; AUTHOR OF "the PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL SYSTEM OF FRANCE," "commercial EDUCATION IN GERMANY," ETC. SECOND EDITION LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK LONDON, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS 1915 Copyright, 1910 By Longmans, Green, and Co- First edition, April, 1910. Revised August, 1915. C" \^ ^ THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, XT. S. A. TO MY WIFE PREFACE This volume is offered to the public with the hope of affording a source of information which shall satisfy the inquiries that are becoming more and more frequent as to the progress of education in France. For more than seventy-five years Germany has been frequented by Ameri- can scholars in the effort to gain new light toward the solution of some of the vexing educational problems that have confronted us. It is an open question whether or not in the early days France had anything worth while in her educational system to repay the trouble of making an ex- tended study of the conditions in that country. Since the Franco-Prussian war, however, she has been quietly and unostentatiously forging to the fore, so that to-day she is fairly among the very leaders. The progress that she has made during the last thirty years is quite without a parallel within the same length of time in the educational history of the world. To be sure, the most striking advance has been registered in the fields of primary and industrial education, but the development in the domain of secondary education is likely to have an only less significant effect upon the intellectual progress of the nation. This study is confined to the field of the state secondary schools. The reader will therefore look in vain, for instance, for any discussion of the law of separation that has been such a prominent subject of consideration during the last few years. This whole question is a purely religious one, and affects public education only very indirectly. As has been pointed out in the text, there has really been no sudden uprising against the church. The beginning of this change viii PREFACE of heart even antedates the reign of Henry IV. Ever since that time the lay element has been quietly transferring influence from the church side of the balance, but it was not until the period of the Third Eepublic that this change had become sufficient to move the scale beam from its time- honored position. Now clerical influence has been definitely and finally banished from the dominant place it once occu- pied in the public school system. The material herein presented was gathered during a year's stay in Paris, partly through culling over a mass of miscellaneous documents and other printed matter (for the French have no complete account of their own secondary school system that might have served as a point of de- parture), but largely through first-hand contact with the schools themselves — personal interviews with head masters and censors, visits to class rooms in Paris and in the pro- vincial lyc^es and colleges, and numerous conversations both in and out of school with educational workers of all grades that were in closest touch with the secondary school con- ditions in France to-day. Every effort has been made to get as comprehensive a view as possible of the actual workings of the secondary schools, lyc^es and colleges both for boys and girls, in the provinces no less than in the capital. To this end, after attending more than one hundred classes in Paris itself, visits were made to the schools in Armenti^res, Auxerre, Beaune, Dijon, Fontainbleau, Lille, Saint-Quentin, and Sens, and finally to the higher normal schools for men in Paris, and for women at Sevres. If there be anything here to offend the casual French reader who may chance upon these pages, I shall regret exceedingly to seem thus ungraciously to repay all the mani fold kindnesses I have received in the fair land of France. I have attempted to set forth conditions as they appear from the American standpoint, commending here, perhaps com- menting upon adversely there, but in no case necessarily PREFACE ix questioning the wisdom of the practice or condition from the French point of view. Throughout it all, I have attempted to play the part of the sympathetic critic. It is a great pleasure once more to bear witness to the rare courtesy that has universally been extended to me, and to a patience and consideration far in excess of what the poor attempts of a sometimes bothersome and persistent foreigner who speaks the language but indifferently well would appear to merit. The list would be long indeed, if I should attempt to mention on this page the names of all to whom I am under obligation. I desire at this time, how- ever, to express my especial appreciation to M. Gautier, Directeur de V Enscignemcnt secondaire, M. Liard, Vice-recteur de I'Academie de Paris, M. Lyon, Becteur de VAcademie de Lille, M. Boirac, Becteur de VAcademie de Dijon, for author- izations to visit the schools within their jurisdictions ; to my old friends M. Dr. Philippe, Chef des travaux au Lahoratoire de psycliologie pJiysiologique de la Sorhonne, and M. Picavet, Secretaire du College de France, et Rcdacteur en chef de la Bcime internationale de Venseignement, the former for valuable material on the recent developments in gymnastic instruction, and the latter for many helpful suggestions, and much good counsel as to schools to visit, to say nothing of numerous personal letters that constantly smoothed the way. I am further under obligation to Dr. Benedict, my colleague at the University of Texas, for much patient reading of manuscript. Finally, the sane counsel, wise judgment, and indefatigable aid of my wife have been a perennial source of encouragement and inspiration. FREDERIC ERNEST FARRINGTON. Austin, Texas, October 1, 1909. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION This new edition of French Secondary Schools affords oppor- tunity for correcting a few errors which have come to the author's attention. Although the program now in force differs in some particulars from that represented by the re- form of 1902, the fundamental principles of that sweeping reform have stood the test of experience. Inasmuch as these were set forth with considerable detail in the original text, it has seemed best to leave those pages untouched and to give in a new appendix the complete program which went into effect in October, 1913. The few insignificant modi- fications in the program of the girls' schools have been incor- porated in the body of the work. Here also are to be found the important changes in salary schedule, fees in boys' schools, and subjects of the baccalaureate examination, as well as other changes of less moment. FREDERIC ERNEST FARRINGTON. New YoiiK City, June 25, 1915. CONTENTS Chapter Page I. The First Revival of Learning 1 II. The Second Revival OP Learning. Scholasticism 16 III. The Renaissance to the Revolution .... 31 IV. The Revolution and the Progress of the Nine- teenth Century 59 V. The Administrative Organization of the Secondary School System 84 VI. The Administration and the Teaching Force OF the Schools 103 VIL The Program 123 VIII. The School and Its Life 150 IX. French and the Classics 187 X. Modern Languages 213 XI. History and Geography 237 XII. Mathematics and Science 257 XIII. Other Subjects of Instruction : Philosophy, Morale, Law, Drawing, and Gymnastics . 288 XIV. The Public Education of Girls 309 XV. The Higher Normal School and the Training OF Teachers 345 XVI. Some Characteristics of the Schools of the Twentieth Century 378 xii CONTENTS Page Appendix A. Copy of Master's Diploma of One Petuus Mansakt, 1511 389 Appendix B. Cukhiculum of the Colleges of the University. Statutes op 1600 . . . 390 Appendix C. Paris Colleges, 1600, Chronological Order of Foundation 391 Appendix D. Chronological Order of Foundation op the Universities of France in Exist- ence at the End of the Seventeenth Century 393 Appendix E. Curriculum of the Jesuits : Ratio Studiorum, 1599 394 Appendix F. Extract from the Cash Account op Mon- sieur FiLLEY de la Barre, 1706-1728 396 Appendix O. Curriculum of the University Colleges, 176- according to Holland .... 399 Appendix H. Comparative Daily Programs in 1769 and 1874 401 Appendix 1. Occupations of Parents of Scholarship Holders appointed in 1906-1907 . . 402 Appendix J. Menu. Lycee Lakanal, Sceaux . . . 403 Appendix K. Pro(Uiam of the Examination (Letters) for the Certificate for Teaching in Girls' Secondary Schools .... 405 Appendix L. Diplome d'Etudes Superieures de Phi- LO-SOPHIE. Examination Markings, Higher Diploma in Philosophy . . 408 Appendix M. Bibliography 411 Appendix N. lioYs' Secondary Schools. Program of 1912 431 INDEX 437 NOTE Tlie following abbreviations are used in the footnotes and in the bibllograpiiy : Jhdl. adm. for Bulletin administratif dn Minist^re de I'instruction publique et des Beaux-Arts. . Circ. for Circulaires et instructions officiellcs relatives a I'instruction publique. Enquete for Enquetc sur I'enseignenient secondaire. The report of the Ribot Commission. Rep. Com. Ed. for Iteport of the United States Commissioner of Education. FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS CHAPTEE I THE FIRST EEVIVAL OF LEARNING The meeting of Charles the Great and Alcuin at Parma in the spring of 781 was one of those events in history, which, however unimportant they may appear at the Charles Invites moment, seem fraught with significance when Alcuin to viewed in the light of subsequent develop- ^^ ^^' ments. These two men standing as they did for the highest attainment in Western Europe, the one of the temporal power, and the other of the intellectual life, were no strangers to each other, for they had met in a neighbor- ing city some years before. Doubtless during the inter- vening time the powerful king had heard of the rise of that young Saxon with only less interest than the latter had followed the strenuous career of the Frankish monarch. It was at the time of this second meeting in the Italian city that Charles formally invited Alcuin to come to the Frank- land to teach. After the death of Albert, Alcuin had gone to Kome in accordance with the wish of his former teacher to receive from the Pope the pallium for Eanbald whom the old archbishop had previously selected as his successor. Not only did the invitation of Charles furnish a welcome opportunity for relief from the troublous times that portended no peace for the people of Britain, but further, Alcuin, then in the full vigor of ripe middle life, felt it the call of duty to cross the channel. He delayed only long enough to return to York to obtain permission from his archbishop and his king, and to attend to some business 2 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS matters at home, for although neither then nor afterwards was he ever a monk,i he was already scholasticus, or master of the cathedral school at York and was also in charge of the cathedral library there. Thence in the next year he set sail for the continent, in company with some of his chosen friends, to take charge of the palace school at Aachen. Charles the Great was already somewhat in touch with the learning of the time, but what he had been able to obtain from Peter of Pisa and Paulus Diaconus Charles's served only to stimulate his desires for more. Learning. *' Up to this time, however, his book learning, such as it was, had been chiefly limited to grammar. The rest of the trivium and the greater part of the arithmetic that he acquired came from Alcuin, while for the other subjects of the quadriviu7ii he was subsequently indebted to Alcuin's successor, the more scientifically inclined Clement of Ireland.^ So when Charles, in this year 781, in one of the few peaceful intervals of his stormy career, met this Saxon scholar who he thought could satisfy his desire for knowledge, he was quick to seize the opportunity and invite him to his court. At that time hi Gaul, learning had fallen upon evil days. Although under the old Eoman Empire there had been Condition of '^^'^Y schools, now all was changed ; internal Learning in strife, foreign invasion, " the distribution of ^^ ■ the monasteries that Charles Martel had made among his warriors had given the last blow to the schools of the Gauls." ^ The great municipal schools that had flour- ished at Treves, at Bordeaux, and at numerous other cities, had passed away,* and what little instruction there remained was carried on by the ecclesiastical schools. The sum total of 1 He was ordained a deacon at York. West, Alcuin, p. 64. 2 MuLLiNGER, The schools of Charles the Great, pp. 70, 121. 8 MoNNiER, Alcuin et Charlemagne, p. 34. * GuizoT, Histoire de la civilisation en France depuis la chute de V empire romain, IL, p. 2. For list of the most important episcopal schools from the sixth to the middle of the eighth century, see id. , p. 4. THE FIRST REVIVAL OF LEARNING 3 all the subjects taught at these schools is comprehended m the phrase " the seven liberal arts ; " the trivium, including grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic, and the quadrivium, arith- metic, astronomy, geometry, and music.^ But these subjects had sunk nearly to the level of crass utilitarianism, and in the main they were studied only just enough to sustain the intellectual life of the church. Charles himself in one of his capitularies bears witness to the low condition of learning : " Desirous as we are of improving the condition of the churches, we impose upon ourselves the ta.sk of reviving, with the utmost zeal, the study of letters, well nigh extin- guished through the neglect of our ancestors. "We charge all our subjects, as far as they may be able, to cultivate the lib- eral arts, and we set them the example. We have already, God helping, carefully corrected the books of the Old and New Testaments, corrupted through the ignorance of tran- scribers." 2 The passing of these former schools marked too the passing of literature. " Not only did the literature become entirely religious, but the religious even ceased to be literature." ^ At that very time learning in Ireland and Britain was considerably in advance of that on the continent. Christi- anity had been carried to Ireland by Greek missionaries, and to Britain by Koman. It and Iiekmi was these two countries that guarded the sparks of intellectual life and kept them aglow to rekindle the sacred fires in Gaul. Of all the schools of England, that at York was by far the most famous, not only for its teachers, but what was of more importance still, for its library, for in the list of books given by Alcuin himself^ one finds practi- cally all the text-books of the time enumerated. It is quite natural, then, that Charles should have had his 1 For a good account of the development of the seven liberal arts, see Davidson, Aristotle, Appendix ; and West, Alcuin, ch. I. 2 Bali^ze, Capitidaria regum Francorum, I., 204-5, quoted in Mullin- GER, op. cit., p. 101. 8 GuizoT, op. cit., II., p. 6. * Quoted in Mullingeu, op. cit., pp. 60-61, note. 4 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS attention directed toward York, and when he cast about for teachers to satisfy his desire for learning that he should have l)een attracted by the renown of the scholasticus of that famous school. The meeting at Parma gave him the oppor- tunity he wanted, and he was not slow to offer Alcuin the position of master of the palace school. Early in 782 the Saxon teacher was installed in his new place. This palace school was in no sense a public school, but seems to have been intended exclusively for the king and Tho Palaoo ^^^^ court. Among its pujnls we find Charles School !iiul its himself, his three sons, his wife, his daughters, "''' ^" his sisters, Einhard, subsecpiently his biog- raplier, and a few others.^ Although nominally situated at Aachen, the school was a kind of peripatetic institution, for it followed the wandei-ings of the court, now at Worms, now at Ma}ence, now at Frankfort, now at Katisbon.^ In fact, this migratory characteristic seems to settle the question that it could not have been a higher school in any kind of natioi\al educational system. Subse(|uently the school ap- pears to have increased considerably in numbers, for we find that a greater part of its pupils obtained positions of responsibility as ambassadors, archbishops, and missi dominici? Alcuin's task was by no means an easy one, for he had to adapt his teaching to pupils differing widely in age, attain- ments, and interests. It is rather likely, how- In'struction^ ®^®^"' ^^^^^ whenever the king was present, his own needs in large measure determined the instruction for the others. Inasmuch as Alcuin never showed himself to be an independent thinker, the lessons of the palace school probably followed pretty closely the general character of his own instruction at York, naturally, however, with certain modifications to adapt them to the different nature of his pupils. One can readily imagine that the 1 MoNNiER, op. cit., pp. 81-82. ' MULLINGER, op. cit., ]>. 105. ' MoNNiKR, op, cit,, p. 135. THE FIRST REVIVAL OF LEARNING 5 other members of the school as well as Charles himself wanted somethuig more than instruction in reading Latin, in learning the church chants, or in acquiring facility in the computation of the church calendar. In this respect tliis school differed from any other with which Alcuin had ever been connected. At all events, the preparatitni for his new kind of teaching was often no slight task for him, master though he was of the traditional learning, for he himself testifies: "As soon as the ruddy charioteer of the dawn suffuses the lic^uid deep with the new light of day, the old man rubs the sleep of night from his eyes and leaps at once from his couch, running straightway into the fields of tlie ancients to pluck their flowers of correct speech and scatter them in sport before his boys."^ So the intercourse of teacher and pupils undoubtedly redounded to the nmtual profit of both, " It is diilicult to say," says Guizot,^ " what was the object of these lessons, I am inclined to believe that Alcuin treated all sorts of subjects somewhat at random ; that in this palace school there was rather more of conversation than of instruction, strictly speaking, and that its chief merit lay in the play of the mind, in the successive arousing and satisfying of the curiosity." From a sentence in Monnier,^ it looks as though Alcuin might have presented the seven liberal arts in succession to his pupils in the palace school. It is not mu-easonable to suppose that the work thus laboriously prepared may have served as the basis of the treatises that have come down to us and that were written during the period of his abbacy at Tours. A few lines* from a conversation carried on between 1 MiGNE, Patrologia LcUina, CI., }). 782. Carmina CCXXXI. Quoted iu West, op. cit., p. 47. 2 GuizoT, ojh cit., II., pp. 189-190. 8 "Vers rannee 790, Alcuin, apres avoir termind son cours sur Ics sept arts, mettait h, la voile pour la Grauil Bretafjiio." Monnikk, op. cit., p. 144, referring to Alcuin, Khet. Quoted from Fkoben, t. II., p. 313. * GuizoT, op. cit., II., pp. 190-191. 6 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Alcuin and Pepin, the second son of Charles, then about fifteen years old, will suf&ce to show something of the nature of the instruction, which as MuUinger points out "foreshadows the scholastic disputation."^ Pepin. " What is writing ? " Alcuin. " The guardian of history." P. " What is speech ? " A. " The interpreter of the soul." P. " What produces speech ? " A. "The tongue." P. " What is the tongue ? " A. " The whip of the air." P. " What is the air ? " A. " The preserver of life." P. " What is life ? " A. " The joy of the happy, the sorrow of the unfortunate, the expectation of death." Surely not a very advanced form of teaching, but inter- esting as showing the character of the instruction and the trend of thought of the period.^ Successful as the palace school was, nevertheless it was one of the less important of Alcuin's influences on Frankish p, , , culture. Strongly supported, if not actually Capitulary urged on by Alcuin, Charles began to spread of 787. ^jj^g intellectual leaven to the far corners of his domain. The famous capitulary of 787, "the first general charter of education for the Middle Ages," is the earliest and by far the most important of the royal decrees by which he tried to bring this to the attention of his people. It was addressed to all the bishops and the abbats throughout his possessions, and while returning thanks for the expressions of good feeling that he had received from them, nevertheless he kindly reproved them for their many uncouth phrases and exhorted them to improvement. He especially urged 1 MULLINGER, op. cU., p. 75. 2 For more detailed account of the instruction in the palace school, see MoNNiKR, op. cit., pp. 87-135. THE FIRST REVIVAL OF LEARNING 7 that men should be chosen for interpretation of the Scrip- tures, "who are both able and willing to learn, and also desirous of instructing others." The full text of this epoch-making document is as follows : ^ " Charles, by the grace of God, King of the Franks and of the Lombards, and Patrician of the Eomans, to Baugalf, abbat, and to his whole congregation and the faithful committed to his charge : " Be it known to your devotion, pleasing to God, that in con- junction with our faithful we have judged it to be of utiHty that, in the bishoprics and monasteries committed by m. q f Christ's favour to our charge, care should be taken Capitulary that there shall be not only a regular manner of ^^ ^^'^• life and one conformable to holy religion, but also the study of letters, each to teach and learn them according to his ability and the divine assistance. For even as due observance of the rule of the house tends to good morals, so zeal on the part of the teacher and the taught imparts order and grace to sentences ; and those who seek to please God by living aright should also not neglect to please him by right speaking. It is written, ' by thine own words shalt thou be justified or condemned;' and although right doing be preferable to right speaking, yet must the knowledge of what is right precede right action. Everyone, therefore, should strive to understand what it is that he would fain accomplish ; and this right understanding will be the sooner gained according as the utterances of the tongue are free from error. And if false speak- ing is to be shunned by all men, especially should it be shunned by those who have elected to be the servants of the truth. During past years we have often received letters from different monasteries informing us that at their sacred services the brethren offered up prayers on our behalf; and we have observed that the thoughts contained in these letters, though in themselves most just, were expressed in uncouth language, and while pious devo- tion dictated the sentiments, the unlettered tongue was unable to express them aright. Hence there has arisen in our minds the 1 MiGNE, Patrologia Latina, XCVIII., p. 895. Translated in Mullin- GER, op. cit., pp. 97-99. 8 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS fear lest, if the skill to write rightly were thus lacking, so too would the power of rightly comprehending the Sacred Scriptures be far less than was fitting ; and we all know that though verbal errors be dangerous, errors of the understanding are yet more so. We exhort you, therefore, not only not to neglect the study of letters, but to apply yourselves thereto with perseverance and with that humility which is well pleasing to God; so that you may be able to penetrate with greater ease and certainty the mysteries of the Holy Scriptures. For as these contain images, tropes, and similar figures, it is impossible to doubt that the reader will arrive far more readily at the spiritual sense according as he is the better instructed in learning. Let there, therefore, be chosen for this work men wlio are both able and willing to learn, and also desirous of instructing others ; and let them apply them- selves to the work with a zeal equalling the earnestness with which we recommend it to them. " It is our wish that you may be what it behooves the soldiers of the Church to be — religious in heart, learned in discourse, pure in act, eloquent in speech ; so that all who approach your house in order to invoke the Divine Master or to behold the excellence of the religious life, may be edified in beholding you and instructed in hearing you discourse or chant, and may return home rendering thanks to God most High. " Fail not, as thou regardest our favour, to send a copy of this letter to all thy suffragans and to all the monasteries ; and let no monk go beyond his monastery to administer justice or to enter the assemblies and the voting-places. Adieu." As to how carefully the commands of Charles were carried out, history unfortunately gives us no very satisfactory de- tails. Charles himself, however, had already brought with him from Eome teachers of singing and arithmetic, and these were distributed among the various monasteries of the realm. At all events the king does not appear to have been satisfied entirely with the way in which his new plans were working out, for he issued other capitularies two years later containing more specific directions. In one of these he directed that the priesthood should be recruited " not only from among the servile class but also from among the sons THE FIRST REVIVAL OF LEARNING 9 of freemen." ^ This is rather interesting as showing some- thing of the disrepute into which the chm-ch had fallen, as well as the efforts of Charles to make it a more honorable calling. "Let every monastery," says this same capitulary of 789, " and every abbey have its school, where boys may be taught the psalms, the system of musical notation, singing, arithmetic, and grammar ; and let the books which are given them be free from faults, and let care be taken that the boys do not spoil them either when reading or writing."^ This shows very clearly what Charles believed should be taught in these schools, but it also throws additional light on the decay of education even among the monasteries and abbeys, and furthermore echoes his dissatisfaction at the effect of his great capitulary. Some years later in 797, Theodulfus, bishop of Orleans, issued a rather remarkable letter to his clergy. Although more limited in the scope of its influence than the great capitulary of ten years earlier, yet of TheodulfuZ it is even more liberal in its provisions. He ordered all his clergy to open schools for their parishioners wherein the children of the faithful might receive free in- struction.^ This, as Mullinger points out, was probably the prototype of the modern free parochial school. Here again, what the exact results accomplished were we have no means of knowing. One writer ^ goes so far as to assert that the lower orders in France had more universal education at the end of the eighth century than they had in the first quarter of the nineteenth ; while another maintains that they were 1 Baluze, Capitularia, I., p. 237. 2 Ibid. Quoted in Mullinger, op. cit., p. 102. 8 " Presbyteri per villas et vicos scholas habeant, et si qui libet fidelium suos parvulos ad disceudas litteras eis commendare vult, eos suscipere non renuaut sed cum summa charitate eos doceant attendantes illud quod scriptura est. . . ." Labbeus, Concilia Galliae, VII., p. 1140; quoted in Maitre, op. cit., p. 14, note. * LoRENZ, Alcuins Lehen, p. 38. 10 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS probably of almost no accoimt, but that "the attempt is worthy of note."^ The importance of Alcuin's influence upon education, however, is not limited to his direction of the palace school Alcuin ap- ^^^ ^^ ^^^ P^^^ ^^ t^® issuance of the educa- pointed Abbat tional capitularies. His incumbency of the o Tours. abbacy of Tours is of even greater significance, for the effect of his work there is more directly traceable through the remaining centuries that lead on to the founding of the University of Paris. One can readily imagine that Alcuin's life at the palace school could not have been al- together pleasant. It is hard enough to teach the children of royalty, but to have as a pupil one of the most powerful monarchs of his age who has already passed middle life, is far from an enviable position. Charles was indefatigable in his questions, and the poor Saxon master was often hard pressed for an answer. Alcuin began to long for release from this strenuous life. At length in 796 Charles gave in to his importunity and consented to have him give up his work. In token of his fourteen years of faithful service as teacher, counsellor, and ambassador, Charles rewarded him with the abbacy of St. Martin of Tours, one of the richest in the kingdom. The seclusion of the abbey undoubtedly furnished a wel- come relief from the whirl of court life, and a court life whose laxness must often have shocked and "^^^^Sf'"" gi'ieved the churchman. But Alcuin's respon- sibility was even greater there than at Aachen. Ealbat of Tours was a kind of embryo feudal lord, for he was the master of twenty thousand serfs, and his farms stretched from Tours as far as Aachen.^ Yet he took up his new task with all the zeal of his early life. He restored the Benedictine rule in all its severity, and reorganized the school, re-establishing instruction in all the seven arts, and even taking an active part in the teaching himself. He set 1 GurzoT, op. ciL, II., p. 216. 2 MoNNiER, op. cit., p. 338. THE FIRST REVIVAL OF LEARNING 11 himself early to the task of replenishing his librar)% and to that end besought Charles for leave to send some of his younger monks to England to bring back books from the treasures of his old library at York.^ We have no means of knowing the extent of the obligation thus incurred by Tours, but we may reasonably infer that whatever of the books enumerated by Alcuin in his account of the library at York 2 were not already at Tours might subsequently have been found among the books of the latter monastery. At all events, thanks to Alcuin's reforms, the fame of the monastery at Tours soon spread far and wide, and scholars were attracted there from all over the western world. Eelieved from the necessity of adapt- Reforms ing his teaching to the demands of men of tlie world, Alcuin contracted the scope of his instruction to the narrow limits prescribed for religious needs, and Virgil and other secular classic authors were put on a " forbidden list." The whole monastery breathed the spirit of thoughtful study and reflection. At this time all instruction was free, al- though some of Alcuin's successors allowed " sordid business considerations " to enter into their conduct of the abbey, for about 840 we find Archbishop Amalric setting aside certain property whose income should provide for re-establishing free instruction at Tours, and Charles the Bald confirming this in a capitulary .^ Alcuin himself spent much time in looking after the work of his copyists, for he was especially anxious to restore the purity of the Latin language. But that Alcuin found time for more advanced instruction may be learned from the famous scholars that came to St. Martin's to profit by his teaching. By far the most illustrious of all these pupils (in fact his fame even surpasses that of his master) was Rabanus Maurus, subsequently abbat at Fulda, 1 Alcuin, Epist. XXXVIII., I., p. 52. Quoted in Monnier, op. cit., p. 260. 2 See MuLLlNGER, op. cit., pp. 60-61, note. 8 MAixRE, Les Proles ipiscopales et monastiqiies de ^Occident depuis Charle' vmgnejusqu'd Philippe- A aguste, pp. 49, 203. 12 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS one who zealously sought to carry on the ideals of his teacher. Thenceforward learning seemed to flow in three parallel currents.^ 1. At the east it centred around Fulda and the various monasteries dependent upon that parent institution. Thence came the influence that spread widely over Ger- many .^ 2. At the west we find the group of schools that subsequently became merged into the University of Paris. 3. In the centre were the schools of Keichenau, St. Gall, Loubes, Lifege, and Strasburg, which contributed in no small way in the eleventh century toward the development of the western group of schools. After Alcuin went to Tours, Charles hesitated some time before appointing a new head for the palace school. His interest in astronomy had meanwhile been Poli(!y growing steadily, and Alcuin had never been ^^ ^l\ ^^^^ satisfactorily to answer the questions of his royal pupil, so it is not strange that the king's new teacher should be stronger in the subjects of the quadrivium than was his old master. The new head was Clement of Ireland. This appointment was a great surprise and grief to Alcuin, for not only was the emphasis of studies changed from the triviiim to the qitadrivinm, but the Irish scholars represented the tradition and doctrine of the Egyp- tian school, and the change that this implies was of far more initial importance to the churchmen of those times than ap- pears possible to us now who are looking back at that re- ligious^ strife over a period of more than eleven centuries. It was not until about a century later that these two schools were in a measure harmonized in the person of Kemy of Auxerre, who taught at Rheims and at Paris.* Lewis the Pious, the successor of Charles the Great, at- tempted to carry on the work of his father, for as one of 1 MoNNiEK, op. cit., p. 266. 2 See Russell, German higher schools, p. 10. 8 For more detailed account, see Mullinger, op. cit., pp. 114-123 ; MoNNiKR, op. cit., pp. 36-43, 136-142. ^ MoNNiER, op. cit., p. 267. THE FIRST REVIVAL OF LEARNING 13 Alcuin's pupils in the palace school he had become vitally interested in the intellectual life. We find him formally recognizing the existence of two Ian- „^ . , guages in prescribing the translation of the Episcopal Scriptures to the lingua Teudisca. At the same Schools, time we see lay education differentiating more and more from religious education, and the line of demarcation between the monastic and the episcopal schools becoming more and more distinct. The culture of the former was decidedly of a higher type than that of the latter, although one was in no sense a preparation for the other. The episcopal school was attached to the cathedral and was under the direct control of the bishop. It was destined to prepare the priests for the diocese. The acting head of the school seems to have been known as the magister scholasticus, or capiscolus.^ It was he who read slowly in a droning voice the words that the boys laboriously wrote upon their tablets of wax. Only after these had been carefully revised by the master could they be copied upon the leaves of parchment. In this way each pupil probably wrote ^ most of the books he ever pos- sessed.^ Narrow utilitarianism was the dominant factor in outlining the work of the schools, for it probably seldom included more than the minimum requirements for the per- formance of the religious offices. Orleans and Eheims fur- nish the only striking exceptions to the general mediocrity of all these cathedral schools during the ninth century. These two schools under the direction of Theodolfus and Hincmar respectively represented distinctly a higher type 1 MaItee, op. cit., p. 184. ' This reminds one in general of the custom still pursued in some of the classes of the elementary schools where the words of the teacher dictated at the end of the lesson and copied by the pupils serve as their text-books. See the author's French public primary school system, p. 90. It is almost un- necessary to add that here the similarity between tlieso schools ceases. * See Rabanus Maurus' words in Migne, CXII., 1600-1601 : " Me quia quaecumque docuerunt ore magistri, Ne vaga mens perdat, cuncta dedi foliis." MuLLiNGER, op. cit., p. 131, note. 14 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS of education. Indeed, it was "the episcopal school at Eheims which . . . claims the proud distinction of having preserved, in this century (the ninth), that tradition of learning which links the episcopal schools with the Uni- versity of Paris." ^ It is to the monastic schools throughout the period from Charles the Great to Philip Augustus, however, that we must look to find the real preservers of learn- Schools.'' i°^- Corbie, St. Kiquier, St. Martin at Metz, St. Bertin, and Ferriferes (one of the two abbeys bestowed upon Alcuin when he first came to the court of Charles) are among the most important of these. In 831 the library at St. Kiquier possessed two hundred and fifty volumes, a very large number for that time when every book represented the arduous hand labor of days, and some- times of months. Here, thanks to the severity of the Bene- dictine rule, not only was there much copying of books, but the monks zealously devoted themselves to the study of the liberal arts, the writings of the church fathers, and the Holy Scriptures themselves. Alcuin had posted in his copying room at Tours : " Later the copyist may himself become master. Then he may find new doctrines, and expound those of the ancients."^ It is worthy of note in passing to refer to the petition of the bishops to the king in 829. They begged him to use his authority " to establish schools in the three Bishops Peti- j^Qg^ suitable places within his dominions in order that his father's work and his own might not come to naught." ^ Unfortimately the advent of civil war put an end to this project, and to most of the other reforms that Lewis the Pious had undertaken. From this time on well nigh to the beginning of the Uni- versity of Paris, we have to seek for intellectual attainment in the scattered monasteries where abbats and monks devoted 1 MULLINGER, op. cit., p. 132. 2 Quoted, MoNNiKR, op. cit., pp. 263-264. 8 Quoted, MAfTKE, op. cit., pp. 25-26. THE FIRST REVIVAL OF LEARNING 15 to the cause of learning still cherished the ideals that Alcuin had brought to Frankland. This influence is directly trace- able down to Odo of Cluny, but with his death in 940 its last vestige fades away in the gathering gloom that enshrouds the greater part of the tenth century. Perchance its tradition still persisted, and like a sunken river it flowed steadily along, coming to the surface again in Drago, John the Deaf, and Roscellinus. Such was the first revival of learning in Western Europe that emanated from Alcuin and " Europe's lofty beacon," as the Saxon teacher once admhingly called Charles the Great. CHAPTEE II THE SECOND REVIVAL OF LEARNING. SCHOLASTICISM "Ampere recognized three revivals of learning in France: the first dates from Charlemagne ; the second falls at the end Three Revivals °^ ^^® eleventh century ; the last is the great of Learning in Eenaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- France. turies." ^ It is the period of this second revival of learning, commonly known as the period of scholasticism, that now concerns us, and the significance of this whole movement centres around the fact that it marks the found- ing of our modern universities. The former monastic and cathedral schools still dragged on a more or less precarious existence. Almost like a flash in the pan some one of them would become '^theSl^s"^ famous, but its repute was only ephemeral, and it soon dropped back into a position of medi- ocrity. The renown of any particular school was dependent upon the brilliancy of the individual head ; hence it failed to exercise any continuous influence on the intellectual de- velopment of the nation as a whole. The system thus had no intrinsic worth of its own. After the fatalistic notion of the dies irae had passed away, and people awoke to the full realization of the fact that the world was still as intact as ever, they seemed infused with new life. One expression of this regeneration worked itself out in the zeal for organi- zation. This is the period of expansion, of the crusades to the east, of the rise of the guilds in the west, of the growth of independent communes in France and Italy. Apply this 1 Maitre, Les icoles ipiscopales et monastiques de I'Occident, p. 141. SECOND REVIVAL OF LEARNING. SCHOLASTICISM 17 same development to the intellectual world, and we have the community of learned men, the university. In the eleventh century the cathedral school at Paris was no more and no less than an ordinary church school, merely a type of the sort of institution that had already p^^^.^^ ^^ ^ been in existence for centuries. It was perhaps Centre of a little more prominent on account of its being Learning, situated at the capital city, but the Paris of those days did not hold the same relative position in the minds of the people that it holds to-day ; in fact, on more than one occasion it had been forced to acknowledge the supremacy of Eheims, Laon, or Bee in the intellectual world. From the advent of William of Champeaux, however, there was a permanent change. He began to draw pupils from afar, and thither in the very first years of the twelfth century was attracted that young Breton, " the first of French philosophers in the order of time, and by the intellectual movement which he determined, the precursor of Eamus and Descartes, in other words, of the Eenaissance and the modern spirit." ^ This man was Peter Abelard. After attending the school of William of Champeaux for a brief period, Abelard's independent spirit refused longer to brook the domain of traditional learning, so he determined to break with his teacher and open Leam^ii^! a school of his own. A contemporary writer of the twelfth century, Guillaume de Conches, suggests that this action of Abelard's may have been typical of the time. " Our students," said he, " have renounced the Pythagorean system which required seven years of listening and thinking, and did not allow one to question the master before the eighth year. To-day, when he is barely inside the door and before he has taken his seat, the pupil questions his master, and what is worse, judges him."^ Abelard taught at Melun and at Corbeil, and finally moved on the very camp of the enemy by establishing a school on the slope of Mount Ste. Genevieve itself, not far from the present precincts of 1 CoMPAYR^, Abelard, p. 23. * Quoted in TnfiBY, Histoire de l'6ducation en France, I., p. 298. 2 18 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the university. There were already schools on the northern reaches of that licight that were openly competing with the cathedral scliool in the city, but Abelard's (juickly over- shadowed all the others. William of Champeaux was soon forced to give up his position in the cloistral school, and after a brief interval Abelard was installed in the place of his former teacher. This was really the summit of his career, and he continued to teach theology and dialectic there for four or five years. Vainglorious and boastful thougli he was, such was the brilliancy of liis intellect and the power of his argument that he attracted students from far and near, and I'aris ])ecarae more than ever the intel- lectual Mecca, " a source of living water, another Athens." It was during this period that Abelard is said to have counted among his pupils twenty cardinals and more than lifty bishops and archbishops.^ The virility in his teaching lay in the fact that he replaced the old trivium ^ by pure philosophy and advanced theology, contending chiefly for the dominance of the reason as opposed to tradition. " Scholas- ticism had begun before Abelard, but it was he who gave movement and life to the method by lending it his power and his renown. It was he above all who erected it into a principle and gave it a general application." '^ Thus in this teaching of Abelard do we find the germs of the university, but these did not develop to a recognizable Abi'lard iho ^^-^'^"^ until more than sixty years after his Forenniiior of death. Abelard was the forerunner rather the University. ^^^^^^ ^j^^ founder of the University of Paris, for we have no evidence for supposing he ever had the 1 CiiKViKR, Histoire de VUnivcrsiU^ dc P(rm, I., p. 171. ' For an intcrestiuj:; discussion as to Abolard'a knowledge of mathematics, SCO Ouvrages imhiits d'AMlard, puhlu's par Vurrou Cottsin, Introduction, p. xliv. " It is certain then that Abelard was entirely lacking in mathematical knowledge." Also in Ckbvier, op. cit., I., p. 221: "Although John of Salisbury testiiics to have had a smattering of niathemat ics, it docs not seem to have been studied in the twelfth century as much as in the time of Alcuin, and iu the centuries immediately following him." 8 CompayrA, op. cit., p. 19. SECOND REVIVAL OF LEARNING. SCHOLASTICISM 19 remotest conception of an organization like even the univer- sity of the thirteenth century. Abelard, however, was one of the first exponents of that desire for teaching, that neces- sity for individual expression, in a word for the Lehr/reiheit, that has dominated the universities since his day. " He was a man who by his merits and his defects, by the audacity of his opinions, the brilliancy of his career, his innate passion for controversy, and his rare talent for teaching, contributed most to increase and expand the taste for study and that intellectual movement whence issued the University of Paris in the thirteenth century." ^ The impetus given to learning by Abelard was quickly noticeable, for in the last half of the century Paris was full of schools and teachers. The work in the more elementary of these schools was doubt- Grammar less similar to that described by John of Teaching in Salisbury who came to Paris about 1135 and ^ceJtury.*^ for a brief period sat under Abelard's teaching. " The teacher explained the authors, accustoming his pupils to apply the rules to the text. He pointed out the oratorical turns and the subtleties in the art of persuasion. He noted the fitness of the terms and the metaphorical expressions, the order and arrangement of the different parts of the subject ; what attention should be paid to the choice of words and thoughts ; how the style ought to vary according to the subject-matter. He carefully trained his pupils' memory, requiring them to recite to him the finest selections from the historians, the poets, and the orators, which he had explained to them. He had them reproduce exactly what they had heard (that is, what he had told them). He en- couraged them to read for themselves, particularly in the great authors. He wanted them to write both prose and verse every day, and he started conferences wherein they discussed questions among themselves."^ 1 Ouvrages inedits d'Ahdard, publics par Victor Cousin, Introduction, p. 1. 2 KiLiAN, Tableau historiqiu de I'instruction secondaire en France, p. 7. 20 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS The instruction in the ecclesiastical schools of that time was for the most part free. In fact, William of Champeaux is said to have taught philosophy publicly and I^trucdon gratuitously in a faubourg of Paris, where he laid the foundations of the abbey of St. Victor in 1108.1 But it is inconceivable that all the schools that were springing up on Mount Ste. Genevifeve could have been free. Fired with the zeal for self-expression though those teachers were, so much so in fact that they seemed to be learners one day and teachers the next, yet they must have gained a livelihood in some way. The teaching profession then could not have been entirely bereft of pecuniary reward, for Abelard himself declared that " poverty forced him to re- ' open a school." ^ What the fees were we have no means of knowing, but in his case they must have amounted to con- siderable, for this school of the Paraclete was fairly thronged with students, and formerly at his lectures in Paris he had been known to have as many as three thousand auditors. In Abelard's time the Lehrfreiheit was less restricted than in the succeeding years. The ease with which he opened Lehrfreiheit ^^^ school and gathered about him his hun- and the dreds of eager disciples is an indication of the License. existing conditions. But the misfortunes of his later years are well known : how he was driven about from place to place ; haled before an ecclesiastical council at Soissons and forced to burn his books with his own hand (a punishment of no small moment in those days when the writing of a book was such a laborious affair) ; and even im- prisoned in a monastery. Toward the middle of the twelfth century, this right to teach was considerably abridged, and as one Catholic writer expressed it, " the Church, justly alarmed by the reprehensible undertakings of certain impru- dent doctors, exercised its right, and began to demand the license." ^ As formally established by the Council of Latran 1 Th^ry, op. cit., I., p. 255. " Ibid., p. 273. 3 RiANCEY, Histoire de I 'instruction publique et de la liherti de I 'enseigne- ment en France, I., pp. 188-189. SECOND REVIVAL OF LEARNING. SCHOLASTICISM 21 in 1179, this signified merely a permission to teach, liccntia docendi. Since this authorization had to be obtained from the bishop or some other accredited authority, the church was thus in possession of a kind of brake that could be applied to the intellectual forces when the centrifugal move- ment seemed likely to become dangerously strong. In Paris the chancellor of the cathedral was invested with the power of granting the license. He was sworn to grant it only to " capable " individuals, but unfortunately we have no means of defining the limitations of this term. At all events it was intended merely to safeguard the rights of the church, and at the time of its inception was applied essentially to the field of theology, although in the next century this was extended over the arts work as well. Hence the origin of the degree granting power of the chancellor. Meanwhile the schools on Mount Ste. Genevieve became more and more numerous as the century rolled along ; they drifted farther and farther away from direct control of the cathedral authorities, although of the Schools two thirds of them were taught by ecclesias- ^"^^*^^® Teachers tics ; the study of dialectic absorbed all their interest almost to the exclusion of the old subjects, and they carried it to ridiculous extremes, so that John of Salisbury was moved to exclaim : " The masters of our day, in order to parade their own knowledge, accustom their auditors not to understand them, and they imagine that Minerva has placed all her secrets on inaccessible heights. . . . First they tax immoderately the feeble comprehension of their hearers; then they throw the natural order of ideas into confusion and make a special effort to turn things topsy turvy. I might almost say they put the cart before the horse ; then they seem to study how to contradict the thought even of the author they are explaining." ^ The schools were drawn closer and closer together through a community of interest until the ties of the intellectual life became stronger than 1 Quoted in Th^ky, op. cil., I., pp. 285-286. 22 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS any racial antipathies that may have existed, and we find the cosmopolitan groups of teachers and students in the embryo nations making common cause against the common enemy — the Parisian populace. In 1200 Philip Augustus took the part of the students against the provost of the city and granted them the right of trial before the episcopal instead of the civil court, a privilege that M. Compayr^ has said " may be considered as the first official charter of the Univer- sity of Paris." ^ During the next fifteen years a series of bulls issued by Innocent III. recognized the masters and students of Paris as a corporation with all the rights and privileges belonging thereto within the meaning of the Koman law, strengthened their position in their contests with the chancellor, and formally forbade the latter to with- hold the license from anybody that the masters recommended to him,2 Thus the organization subsequently known as the Univer- sity of Paris came into existence. Originally composed of Oreanization ^^^ masters of the different schools, or rather of the of the four disciplines,^ the university later University, differentiated itself into faculties and nations. It was not until about the middle of the thirteenth century that this nomenclature assumed its modern connotation.^ At that time the clear-cut distinction between the faculties is plainly shown by a letter of Alexander IV., wherein he threatens the arts students and their rectors with excom- munication unless they stop interfering in the affairs of the theological faculty.^ Almost from the first the arts faculty necessarily took a subordinate position with reference to the others. In fact, it was naturaUy looked upon as preparatory to theology, law 1 COMPATK^., op. cit., p. 78. 2 Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis, I., p. 62 et scq. 3 Denifle, Die Entstehung der Universitdten des Mittelalters Ms 1400, p. 69. * Ihid., pp. 71-72, 106. 6 Denifle et Chatelain, op. cit., p. 388. SECOND REVIVAL OF LEARNING. SCHOLASTICISM 23 (canon), and medicine. Nevertheless, in so far as dialectics and philosophy formed a part of the subject-matter, these arts schools certainly came within the scope of what is now known as superior instruc- The Arts tion. But on the other hand, as the instruction the^ Secondary dealt with the ordinary grammar, rhetoric, and Character of mathematics (and undoubtedly there was much ^ ^ °^ ' of this elementary work), they belonged to the middle part of the present secondary course. Their students were allowed to enter younger and younger, and in place of Abe- lard's lectures for the comprehension of men, we find the lessons adapted to youths of fourteen or even less. If the student had learned to read and write (of course in Latin), and had mastered the elements of Latin grammar, he was deemed competent to begin the study of logic, and was con- sequently eligible for the university. The sole other condi- tion of admission seems to have been that the young student should attach himself to some master,^ who was thus in a measure responsible for him. It appeared later that one of the functions of this master was to claim his young charge at the provost's when he fell into the toils of the law.^ When one considers the youth of many of these students, the wisdom of this precaution immediately becomes apparent. In fact, throughout most of the early years there was constant strife between town and gown, and this friction was the immedi- ate cause of many of the early privileges granted by the kings. The crowd of students brought too much revenue to the city and nation for the king to treat them with disdain, and so for the first years at least the university could almost always count on the royal support. Let us pause for a moment and see what these mediaeval students were studying in this University of Paris. The earliest curriculum is that outlined by Robert de Courc^on in 1215.3 This practically confines the work of the ordinary 1 Nullus sit scholaris Parisius, qui certum inagistrum Don habeat. Statute of Robert de Courqon, 1215, Denifle ET Chatelain, op. cit., I., p. 79. 2 Thurot, op. cit., p. 38. 8 " Et quod legant libros Ariatotelis de dialectica tarn de veteri quam de 24 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS courses to certain parts of Aristotle's logic (in either the ver- sion of Porphyry or Boethius), some other works of Boethius, and the whole of Priscian's grammar. For the Curriculum extraordinary courses (which could be given of the Arts only on holidays) we find the fourth book of }• Boethius's Topics, Donatus's De Barharismo, Aristotle's Ethics, and the subjects of the quadrivium. Aris- totle's Metaphysics, and Natural Philosophy., together with the writings of certain specified heretics, were strictly ex- cluded from all courses. Save for some rather unimportant revisions, this remained substantially the program until the advent of the Renaissance. It was during this early period that we find the beginnings of our modern degrees, Mr, Laurie has aptly traced the parallelism between the degree process in the Degrees : The g^jy Qf ^rts and the mastership in the guild of Baccalaureate. *^ , • • • c i the crafts. This is merely carrymg out further the analogy already pointed out in suggesting that the uni- versity and the guild were both the evolution of a common feeling — the need for organization. The lowest degree, sub- sequently called the baccalaureate, was for a long time known as the deter minance. It was formally established in 1275 ^ and remained practically the same until toward the end of the fourteenth century. A candidate must be at least fourteen years old and must have studied logic for two years at Paris or have had equivalent work at another university. The examination consisted of three parts : (1) a disputation before his master and his classmates some time before Christ- mas; (2) an examination shortly afterward conducted by a special examining board of the nation ; and (3) a public dis- putation in Lent. This determinance, then, concerned only the nations of the faculty of arts (although it was subse- nova in scolis ordinarie et non ad cursum. Legant etiam in scolis ordinarie duos Priscianos ad alterum ad minus. . . . Non legantur libri Aristotelis de methajisica et de naturalc 2>hilosophia, nee summe de eisdem. ..." Denifle ET Chatelain, op. ciL, I., pp. 78-79, See also id., pp. 228, 278. 1 Denifle et Chatelain, op. cit., p. 631. SECOND REVIVAL OF LEARNING. SCHOLASTICISM 25 quently adopted by the other faculties), and there were minor differences of procedure among the various nations. The name "baccalaureate" was not applied until the fifteenth century. As we have already seen, the licence or permission to teach antedates by many years the corporate existence of the uni- versity. Originally it was granted solely on r^^^ License the initiative and at the pleasure of the Chan- and Master- cellor of the Cathedral. By the year 1213 1 he '^^P- could not refuse the license to any candidate whom a com- mittee of the masters declared worthy, although even then this question of worth was not altogether beyond the control of the chancellor, for he appointed three of the six masters that composed the commission. This necessarily presupposes that there was some sort of an examination, else how could this committee inform itself sufficiently about the merit of the candidate to recommend him for the distinction ? Some- time before the year 1255 the Chancellor of the Cathedral had further been compelled to share his power of granting the license with the Chancellor of Ste. Genevieve, for in that year Alexander IV. issued two bulls, one to the Chancellor of the Cathedral and the other to the Chancellor of Ste. Gene- vieve, couched in identical terms with reference to the grant- ing of the license. It is interesting to note that the second of these is the first document in the archives of the university that makes mention of the latter officer.''^ " The candidate had to swear that he was twenty-one years old, was not mar- ried, that he had passed his determinance at Paris or at some other university that had at least twelve regents, that he had sustained at least two public disputations before several mas- ters in the rue de Fouarre,^ and that he had studied in the faculty of arts at Paris for three years. The time spent on grammar was not to be counted in these three years.* These 1 Denifle et Chatelain, op. cit., I., p. 531. 2 Ibid., p. 299. * A street in the Latin Quarter just across the south branch of the Seine from Notre Dame. Most of the arts work of the university was given here. * Thurot, op. cit., p. 52. 26 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS conditions were subsequently considerably modified, but they included the most important provisions which prevailed about the middle of the first century of the university's existence. To become master of arts it was only necessary for the licen- tiate to be received formally into the corporation of masters. The two essential features of this ceremony seemed to be that the candidate should take a solemn oath of allegiance and obedience to the statutes of the university, the faculty, and the nation, and that he should furnish a banquet to his fellow masters. After an elaborate ceremonial he was thenceforth a full-fledged teacher of the university. The mastership was the highest title of the arts faculty, for it was not until long afterward that the doctorate came into vogue in that faculty. In the meantime various colleges had been springing up in Paris. According to Vallet de Viriville,^ three were founded before the end of the twelfth century, Colk^'Jiis^^ eighteen during the thirteenth, and forty dur- ing the fourteenth.^ But these earliest insti- tutions did not correspond at all to our present notions of a college. They were practically no more than boarding-houses, each with a resident master who conducted his charges to the public schools in the rue du Fouarre,^ or in the case of older students the colleges were a kind of scholarship foundation for prospective ecclesiastics. It was not until after the middle of the thirteenth century, 1257,^ that Kobert Sorbon established the first college for lay students in theology. These colleges, then, intended originally for students from the same district, province, or nation, owed their foundation to public munificence, private benefaction, or as was true in the case of Sorbon and others, to a combination of the two. A house was bought or built, a fund set aside for its main- tenance, a few poor scholars gathered together, and the col- 1 Vallet de Viriville, Histoire de Vinstruction en Europe et principale- vient en France, p. 166, note. '- For partial list of these, see Appendix C. 8 CiiEViER, op. cit., I., pp. 271-272. * Uknifle et Chatelain, op. cit., I., p. 349. SECOND REVIVAL OF LEARNING. SCHOLASTICISM 27 lege opened its doors. As time went on and more and more of the younger students were gathered in the boarding-houses, or pedagogics, as they were called, it seemed more convenient to keep these youngsters in their pensionnats and teach them there, than to conduct them to the public schools in the rue du Fouarre. The result was that these latter schools became less and less popular, and finally went out of existence alto- gether. Then we find the elementary stages of the French secondary school as it exists in the lyc^es and colleges to-day. Harcourt, the present lyc^e Saint-Louis (1280), Montaigne (1314), and many others, however, were apparently founded as pure secondary schools,^ while some, like Navarre (1304), had students of both grades. The establishment of these colleges simplified the disciplinary problems of the arts faculty in no small degree, but the fundamental principle of student control had been diametrically changed. The condi- tion of almost absolute license was replaced by one of clois- tral repression, and this same notion still prevails in many of the French schools to-day. During all this period the church was still chiefly respon- sible for teaching the elements of learning through the mon- astic and cathedral schools. Each cathedral rpj^^ had its school where it taught not only the "Grammar" boys who were destined for the clergy, but Schools, also the choir boys' who assisted in the church services. In the case of the cathedral school at Paris these latter had two masters, one for music, and the other for grammar, whence it happened that the grand chanfre, or precentor, was put in charge of the instruction of the lay pupils, so to speak.'^ As the city expanded and schools were set up in the other parishes, the jurisdiction of the precentor was extended over them all. Eventually we find the Chancellor of the Cathedral at the head of the university instruction, and the precentor at the head of the lower instruction (for at that time there was no distinction between secondary and 1 CoMPAYR^>, op. cit., p. 194. ' JoLY, TraitU historique des 6coles 6piscopales et eccUsiastiques, p. 238. 28 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS elementary schools). Such was the power of the precentor that without his authorization nobody could open a school outside the colleges of the university, that is, a " grammar " school.^ It was to these schools, then, that the scholars (scholarship holders) of the earlier colleges were sent for their elementary instruction in grammar and the other sub- jects until they were ready for philosophy.^ The curricu- lum ^ of these parish schools was limited to reading, writ- ing, grammar, a little church reckoning, and church music. It is almost unnecessary to observe that this instruction was all in the Latin language. The grammar of those days embraced all that we understand by the word to-day together with the reading and interpretation of the poets, or in other words, literature. The curriculum of some of these grammar schools was gradually advanced until it also included the ordinary rhetoric of the time, which was chiefly confined to the formulas of letter writing ; the elements of arithmetic, then known as algorism ; and some very elementary work in logic based upon the Summulae of Peter of Spain. It can readily be seen that this presented considerably more difficulty than it would to-day, for the pupils copied all their own books themselves and then committed them to memory verbatim even before they could understand the subject- matter. In any case, it was all completed by the time the boys were twelve or thirteen years of age, when they were ready for the logic of the arts faculty of the university. Gerson, in the regulations he drew up for the cathedral school at Paris, gives us some notion of the discipline there as well as in the pedagogies.^ Each pupil was supposed to act as a monitor over his comrades and to denounce them 1 JoLY, cqy. cU., p. 304. As late as 1678, the precentor was having trouble with various individuals who were teaching without this authorization on the ground that they were teaching "literature and foreign languages," p. 495 et seq. 2 Ibid., p. 267. 3 TiiUROT, op. ciL, pp. 93-94. * Gerson, Opera IV., ])]>. 717-720, trans, in KuNZ, Pddagogische Schriften von Johannes Gersons, p. 146. SECOND REVIVAL OF LEARNING. SCHOLASTICISM 29 for violations of the rules of conduct, such as speaking French, swearing, lying, rising late, talking in church. Whoever failed to denounce his fellow was subject to the same pun- ishment as the malefactor. The whip seems to have been the favorite instrument of punishment. In fact, one writer facetiously observes : " As regards discipline, the whips of the fifteenth century were twice as long as those of the four- teenth ; . . . the whip has driven ignorance from the four corners of Europe." ^ Such in general, then, was the contribution of scholasti- cism to practical education — nothing that could really be called a system of education save perhaps in . . ^ t •^ . . . , f . Ancient In- the higher field. The universities had come into stitutions being; they had rapidly advanced in power, and Modem privileges, and position ; they had displaced forever the episcopal and monastic schools as centres of general learning, and these latter classes of schools "were completely effaced from the scene of history." ^ Their de- scendants, however, the parish schools, continued for long afterward to provide the youth with the elements of learning. The field of secondary education was covered in part by these schools, and in part by the arts faculty of the univer- sity, first through its own courses in the rue du Fouarre, and later through the instruction given in the colleges and jpensionnats, where by the end of the fifteenth century the greater part of the arts regents were teaching.^ The certi- fication of teachers had already begun in the license of the chancellor, and the reform of Cardinal d'Estouteville in 1452 marks the beginning of the present system of inspec- tion. At that time he ordered the faculty of arts each year to choose four masters from each nation to inspect the col- leges and pedagogies and to reform therein whatever they found amiss in morals, food, instruction, administration, or scholastic discipline in general.* So, too, during this period 1 MoNTEiL, Histoire des Fran<;ais des divers 6tats, II., p. 308. 2 MaItre, op. ciL, p. 170. ' TiiitKT, 02). cit., I., p. 391. * Denifle et Chatelain, op. cit.. IV., p. 725. 30 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS we see the colleges beginning what is to-day the traditional secondary instruction in grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy. Finally, we find an explanation of the present system of the French lyc^es, for as a French educator has expressed it: " The universities had made a great experiment in the day school for students of all ages. And it must be thoroughly recognized that this experiment, which people seem to wish to renew in our day, has failed, since the Middle Ages, as they were ending, turned into another path, and even re- placed by the strictest sort of discipline the liberty of other days." ^ ^ COMPAYR^, op. ClL, p. 197. CHAPTER III THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION The fifteenth century marks one of the great epochs in world history, for it chronicles the differentiation between the old days and the new, between the Middle Ages and the modern times. This distinction j^gu^gs^jj is even more striking in the domain of the in- tellectual life than in the political world. In the former, scholasticism had been the dominant power for well nigh three hundred and fifty years. Received with great acclaim at first, for it had been a potent force in dispelling the gloom of the dark ages, it had expanded and developed far beyond the point where it had anything vital to contribute to the world's betterment. It was now no more than a desiccated body with the substance absorbed by the most barren formal- ism. The emancipation from this formalistic domination is one of the debts the world owes to Italy, for she had been the first to feel the invigoration of the new life, and thence it had been transmitted to all the world. The fall of Con- stantinople, the invention of printing, and the discovery of the new world, grouped within a comparatively brief period, each had its share in disseminating the new knowledge. Without the assistance of these gieat factors the Renais- sance might have been born and have perished within the narrow limits of the Italian peninsula. Of all the countries of Western Europe, France was one of the last to feel the inspiration of the new movement, perhaps because the old scholasticism kept such a tenacious hold on the University of Paris, the centre of its intellectual being, perhaps because the frozen Alps formed a non- 32 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS conducting medium between the warm life of the south land and the hardly less impulsive nature of its Latin neighbor on the north. At all events, the movement was well under way in both Germany and the Netherlands before France felt the impulse. It was the expedition of Charles VIII. in the last decade of the fifteenth century that first attracted Trance definitely toward Italy. At that time the French king acquired or appropriated everything portable that fancy prompted and sent it all to his chateau at Am- boise. Thus " Italy conquered the French from the day they penetrated there, and held them by a thousand delicate ties." ^ The years following mark the very culmination of the Eenaissance in Italy. Eaphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Titian, Andrea del Sarto, Machiavelli, Ariosto, were at the very ilood tide of their renown. This was the era of individual achievement, of intellectual eman- cipation, of a real re-birth as contrasted with the tendency toward organization, toward concerted movement, toward mere resuscitation of the past that had formed the dominant note of the scholastic period. Although France turned toward the new life, she did not do so entirely in a whole- souled manner; the middle class showed a characteristic reluctance to accept innovations and clung tenaciously to the old traditions ; the universities and colleges ^ did not will- ingly surrender their old methods which scholasticism had so long dictated. Besides, too, after the heretical doctrines of Luther began to spread abroad every humanist was more or less an object of suspicion. Etienne Dolet, " the martyr of the Renaissance," gives a vivid contemporary account of the spread of the new ideas over Europe : ^ 1 Lemonnier, in Lavisse, Eistoire de France, V., 1, p. 159. 2 By 1500 there were fifteen universities in France, and in Paris alone between forty and fifty colleges. See Appendix D for list of these institutions. 8 Commentariorum linguae latinae, tonius I., Stephano Doleto Gallo Au- relio autore. Lugduni, apud Seb. Gryphiuni, 1536, Col. 1155. Quoted by BuissoN, Rapport an Ministre de I'instruction publiqtte, Prd/ace cl Repertoire des ouvrages p6dagogiques du XVI^ siicle, pp. viii.-x. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 33 " Barbarism reigned everywhere in Europe. Suddenly Laurent Valla, supported by some valiant companions in arms, assailed it in front. . . . Soon the combat spread, and from every country rushed the reinforcements for the army of letters. . . . " This army of letters assembled from all the corners of Europe made such assaults on the camp of the enemy that finally barbarism has no longer any refuge. It has long since disappeared from Italy, it is '^^onhe^'^'^ gone from Germany, England is saved from it, Renaissance: it has fled from Spain, it is banished from A Contempo- i^ ' _ _ rary Account. France. There is no longer any city in Europe that will shelter the monster. Everywhere learning is more honored than it has ever been. The study of all the arts is flourishing. Through learning men are led back to the study that they have so long neglected. Now man learns to know himself ; now he walks in the full light of day instead of groping hopelessly through the darkness; now man really lifts himself above the animal through the mind that he can cultivate and through the language that he can develop." Dolet wrote thus enthusiastically in happy ignorance of the fate that was awaiting him, for only ten years later he gave up his life in the Place Maubert, Paris, for prematurely pro- claiming a freedom that was not yet accomplished, mute but incontrovertible evidence that this barbarism was not yet overcome. From the foundation of the College Royal, the future College de France, by Francis I. in 1530, we may confidently assert that the progress of the Eenaissance was fairly under way. This college, really an in- QoJ&le stitution of superior instruction, was established as a protest against the anaemic scholasticism and the narrow religious dogmatism as represented in the university teaching of those days. It was founded as an association where there was full opportunity for independent thought and research outside the domain of theology in distinction from the close corporation of subservient minds that made 34 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS up the body of the real university teachers. The first two chairs founded were those of Greek and Hebrew, followed some four years later by one of Latin, and very shortly by a still wider expansion of the scope of the intellectual work. Here then was a body of teachers known as lectcurs royaux, paid directly from the royal treasury and no longer depen- dent on the fees collected from their students. This again militated in favor of free and untrammeled thought which was the cardinal principle of the foundation. This institu- tion aroused bitter animosity on the part of the university on the ground of encroachment on its hereditary rights and privileges, but the opposition came to nought as it did again less than half a century later in the case of the Jesuits. Of a truth " the eldest daughter of the king of France " ^ had already begun to lose her monopoly of the field of education. The chair of Greek founded at the College of France did not represent the beginning of that study at Paris, for Greek The study of ^^^ already been taught there long before the Greek at time of Francis I. Previous to the fall of Constantinople, the study of the ancient lan- guages had for many years been much neglected. Even Cicero and Virgil were as completely forgotten as Sophocles and Homer. In 1450 one Gregory of Tifernus, a fugitive Greek, had made his way to Paris and opened a school for the study of his native language.^ Some years later the university itself called Greek teachers from Italy, but the chief credit for the revival of the interest in Greek in France is due to the great scholar Budffius (1467-1540). One of the foremost humanists of his day, at one time the friend of Erasmus, he discovered anew the Greek and Latin civiliza- tions through the study of the languages and the writers in their original form and thus contributed immensely toward a knowledge of the life and times of the ancients. In fact, * " La fille ainee du roi do France," a name bestowed upon the university by Francis I. in 1515 and subsequently in quite common use. Cf. Pasquier, Recherches de la France, p. 811. * KiLlAN, Tableau historique de V instruction secondaire en France, p. 19. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 35 Budseus was largely responsible for the foundation of the College of France, for he not only suggested the plan to Francis I., but he continued his importunities until he saw the professorships actually established.^ It was well on toward the middle of the sixteenth century in the little college of Ave Maria under the direction of Ramus that we find Greek and Latin authors for the first time studied together in the University of Paris.^ The situation at the college of Sainte-Barbe about 1500 (at that time one of the youngest colleges of the university) is probably typical of the general conditions then prevailing in Paris. ^ The organization of the p^.'^'fPi^^J. sixteenth century college was decidedly looser at the Begin- than it is to-day. At the head was a principal "^?g °^ the whose control was chiefly exercised over the Century, boursiers or scholarship holders. We must not forget that when the colleges were first founded within the university these scholars formed the only class of pupils, but as time went on modifications supervened, and at this period we find the character of the student body considerably changed. Among the resident pupils were (1) the convic- teurs or portionistes, regular boarding pupils, (2) the cam- eristes, usually young men of wealth who lived at the college in the charge of a particular master. These latter students provided their own food and service, and were dependent up- on the principal merely for their rooms, fire, and instruction. Not more than five or six of these camSristes at the most were under a single master, and while they lived in the college they formed a group quite apart. Among the non-resident pupils were (1) the mar- tinets, "the swallows," and (2) the galochcs, so-called from the foot covering they wore in winter as a protection against 1 It is interesting to note that at one time Erasmus was considered as director of the undertaking and was actually approached about 1517 to that effect. Although in hearty sympathy with the plan, the Dutch scholar re- fused the offer. Lemonnier, op. cit., V., pt. 1, p. 291. ^ Waddington, Raynus, sa vie, ses Merits, et ses opinions, p.33. * Based chiefly on Quichekat, Histoire de Sainte-Barbe, I., pp. 73-92. 36 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the mud of the Latin Quarter. The martinets, forming the larger part of the student body, were often altogether un- known to the principal, for inasmuch as they paid their fees directly to their masters, they never came in contact with their principal until they presented themselves for their degrees. The galoches were chiefly students of mature years who wandered about where fancy prompted, making their own arrangements with the masters whose courses they frequented. Finally there was a sixth class of students, the domestics, whether general servants of the college or private servants of the masters or of the cameristes. These servants were almost invariably poor students who were working their way along toward an education as best they could. It is interesting to note that Ramus was for a time in this ca- pacity at the College of Navarre. The day of the college student began then very early in the morning, much earlier even than in France at the present time. At five o'clock class work was already T/woX under way. This first period lasted an hour and then everybody went to mass. After that came breakfast, then a short intermission untO. eight o'clock, the time of the principal lesson of the morning. This was a full two-hour period and was followed by another hour of discussion or review of the preceding lesson. At eleven o'clock the resident students all assembled in the refectory for dinner. Although they had but one meat course and one vegetable course, the repast was extended over a whole hour, for it was preceded by the reading of a chapter from the Bible or from the life of one of the saints and was followed by the principal's announcements either of public reproof or commendation. Then came an hour's quiz on the morning lecture, followed by an hour of rest. The college authorities took good care not to leave their students any idle time, for this " rest period " was taken up with a public reading from one of the poets or the orators. The principal lesson of the afternoon lasted from three to five o'clock, followed, as in the morning, by discussion. From six to seven, supper, and then THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 37 another hour's quiz on the work of the afternoon. This was followed by a vesper service, and the curfew rang at nine o'clock. The masters and some specially authorized students were permitted to sit up until eleven o'clock. The only real recreation was on Tuesday and Thursday between the close of the afternoon class and supper time. Although holidays were then much more numerous than now, these did not interfere with the work, for as in the early days of the uni- versity, they were given over to subjects outside the regular progi-am, the " extraordinary lectures " of former times. It is not surprising that Erasmus, Eabelais, Ramus, Mon- taigne, and Vives found material ioi ridicule in the face of such exercises as the following, chronicled by the last named writer: i ^Exerdse."" Master. Child, tell me, in what month did Virgil die ? Pujpil. In the month of September, master, M. In what place ? P. At Brindisi. M. What day of September ? P. The ninth before the Calends. M. Rascal ! Do you want to dishonor me before all these gentlemen ? Bring me my ferule, draw back your sleeve, and hold out your hand for having said the ninth instead of the tenth. See that you answer better. M. How did Alexander raise himself when he fell to the ground in first setting foot upon the soil of Asia ? P. In leaning on his hands and raising his head. The sixteenth century was a period of enormous educa- tional activity. A mere cursory examination of M. Buis- son's Repertoire des ouvragcs pcdagogiques du YanmiXiiv of XVP Steele, an explanatory catalogue of the Educational books of that period found to-day in the li- Thought, braries of France, containing six hundred and fifty pages, will give some idea of the immense amount of thought 1 Quoted by Quicherat, op. cit., I., pp. 88-89. 38 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS devoted to education in that century, a period second only to that of the last few years. From Germany we find the names of Luther, Melanchthon, and Sturm; from Holland, Erasmus; from England, Ascham ; from Spain, Vives ; from France, Eabelais, Montaigne, and Eamus. Of these three French writers, it was Ramus that left the deepest impress upon the actual education of his time. Eabelais with his keen satire and his advocacy of scientific education, and Montaigne, in his quieter, more dignified fashion with his insistency that the man should first of all be a man and subsequently a doctor, a lawyer, a man of the world, were both of them essentially theorists, whereas Eamus was not only a far-sighted educational thinker, but furthermore a practical teacher. To borrow a fine expression from M. Buisson, Eabelais and Montaigne were both "teachers of genius, but teachers by accident." ^ Eamus, as professor of rhetoric and later as principal of the College of Presles, instituted important reforms there and succeeded in building up a flourishing institution where before had been only con- sistent mediocrity.^ The most significant of the changes he introduced were (1) the union of the study of eloquence and philosophy in the same class room, he taking the rhetoric in the afternoon and his colleague Talon the philosophy in the morning; and (2) the freedom with which he discussed the text. To criticize Quintilian, much less Cicero, was almost sacrilege. This presumption brought him widespread no- toriety in the university world and even persecution, espe- cially since he was already suspected of lukewarmness toward certain orthodox theological doctrines. Despite the machin- ations of his enemies he was appointed professor royal at the College of France in 1551, and there he soon found other independent thinkers that shared his religious doubts. In his suggestions to the king in 1562 on the reform of the university, he diagnoses the situation with wise acumen and 1 Buisson, op cit., p. xiv. 2 Waddington, Ramus, sa vie, scs icrits, et ses opinions, p. 64 et seq. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 39 advises drastic changes. The most significant for us are the suggestion that in order to reduce the cost of education for the students, there should be established in jjjg each faculty a certain number of professors Educational with fixed salaries paid by the State who Reforms. could thus dispense with the necessity of student fees,i and the recommendation that the colleges confine themselves to grammar, rhetoric, and logic, and that the university should teach philosophy, law, medicine, and theology .2 In other words, he proposed a sharp demarcation between the fields of secondary and superior education, a suggestion that was not adopted until after the Eevolution. Some of his other ideas in regard to enriching and extending the university curriculum (in the arts faculty by the addition of courses in mathematics and physics) were carried out in the great re- form of Henry IV. Eamus himself did not live to see them realized, for he perished in the sanguinary days immediately following Saint Bartholomew's. At the time of Kamus's projected reforms, a real new birth seemed to be taking place all over France. He himself bears witness to the position of the University of Paris in the world of letters, for ganct and^the he says " that no one is considered to have had Reformation a liberal education who has not studied at Together. Paris." ^ The numerous educational writings have already been noted. The principles of the Eeforma- tion had made marvellous progress throughout the length and breadth of the land so that Protestant colleges were springing up in great numbers. But the dark clouds of religious strife had already begun to gather, and the civil wars of the League put an end to all these fair promises. Thirty years after the period of Francis I., these Protestant colleges had practically aU disappeared, and the reactionists 1 Avcrtissements sur la rfformaUon de VuniversiU de Paris au Roy, 1562 (An undated reprint paged 117-163), p. 123 et seq. 2 Ihid., pp. 139-140. ^ Ramus, op. cil., p. 158. 40 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS were everywhere dominant, at what cost to France one can only conjecture. " One may believe," says a French writer, "that Protestantism, if it had triumphed in France, if it had not been hunted out during the religious wars before being exterminated by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, would have given us what we have hardly obtained to-day after three hundred years of struggle and effort, a strong organization of primary instruction." ^ From about the middle of the century we see an im- portant linguistic change, for French begins to displace Latin Reaction ^^ the language of scholars. In 1555 Ramus agaiust published his Dialectic in French, and fol- umanism. jQ^g(j j^ seven years later with his Beform Flan for the University and his French Grammar both in the vernacular. In 1565 one Henri Estienne published a treatise on the Similarity between the French and the Greek Language. In 1576 Louis le Eoy, one of the professors of the Royal CoUege (the college of France) expounded the orations of Demosthenes in French rather than in Latin, the medium of interpretation hitherto employed.^ In the meantime a new organization had been created that was destined to play a leading part in the educational history of France for nearly two centuries. This was the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits. Legally recognized by Papal bull in 1540, Loyola and his little band went forth to defend and to extend the Catholic faith, to lead the Counter Ref- ormation against the rapidly increasing forces of Protes- tantism. Beset by enemies within as well as without the church, they nevertheless persisted until, supported in large measure by the military character of their organiza- tion, they had fairly hewn out a place for themselves. 1 CoMPATR^, Histoire critique des doctrines de Viducation en France depuis le seizieme siicle, pp. 457-458. Written in 1879, before the passage of the great fundamental laws which underlie the fine primary school system of France to-day. 2 Lemonnier, in Lavisse, Histoire de France, V., pt. 2, pp. 287-288. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 41 From the very first they wisely recognized that the most effective way of accomplishing their ends was to lay hold upon the youth — not all the youth, but only the most promising of them, the probable future intellectual leaders — and to mould them during their most impressionable period, the years of adolescence. " As defined by Jesuit authors, the education of the youth means the gratuitous teaching of letters and science, from almost the first begin- nings of Grammar up to the culminating science of Sacred Theology, and that for boys and students of every kind, in schools open to all." ^ Loyola and his first companions had been fellow students together at Paris, and thither the Jesuits turned their attention. After years of struggle they estab- lished themselves there, and in 1563 opened nf^^^^^ t*^ the College of Clermont, later known as Louis-le-Grand and to-day one of the most important lyc^es of Paris. Here then was the university again compelled to share its time-honored rights as an educational institu- tion, but the College of Clermont proved to be a doughtier antagonist than the Eoyal College. The instruction in the new college was not fundamentally different from that in the other colleges. It reiterated the humanistic emphasis upon Latin and introduced the study of Greek, but it rejected absolutely all spontaneity, all tendency toward individuality. The striking innovation, however, was the gratuitous instruction, and this was perhaps the chief reason why the university could not compete with it successfully, for the professors of the older colleges were still forced to exact fees from their students. In the meantime the College of Clermont grew and waxed strong in spite of the persistent efforts of the university to drive out this vigorous young rival. So keen was the competition that by 1579 the greater part of the university colleges were half empty and scarcely one fifth of the number then existing had not been compelled to rent their rooms to persons outside the ^ Hughes, Loyola and the educational system of the Jesuits, p. 43. 42 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS student body.^ In fact, this competition together with the disasters accompanying the Wars of the League worked such havoc among the other colleges that sooner or later all of them were forced to close their doors, and the College of Clermont was the only one whose classes were not suspended during these terrible years.^ Soon after the entry of Henry IV. into Paris in 1594, the Jesuits fell into disfavor on account of suspected complicity in the attempt upon the king's life, and they were expelled from Paris and banished from the realm. Not until after the death of Henry IV. in 1610 was the College of Clermont completely restored to its old position, and it was eight years later before the Jesuits were finally triumphant in undisputed power in their college with the opposition from the univer- sity practically broken. The success of the Jesuits has been due in no small degree to the military character of their discipline, to their implicit obedience of their superiors. When the Batio Success of studiorum appeared in its final form in 1599, it undoubtedly embodied the most advanced pedagogical ideas of the time as applied to the aim of the Jesuit system of education. It represented the best work of the most learned of the order for years, and they skilfully adapted from Sturm and the other humanists as well as from current university practice whatever they found service- able for their purposes. Everything was carefully prescribed even to the minutest detail of method, and no deviation was allowed. When to nicety of method are added determina- tion, enthusiasm, and a subordination of personal interests, we find little difficulty in accounting for the success of a movement which was primarily religious but incidentally educational, especially when we call to mind the utter dis- organization of the forces opposed to it. In 1594 Henry IV. found Paris in a state of almost utter demoralization. Of the forty-three colleges of the university 1 QxjiciiER AT, ffistoirede Sainte-Barhc, II., p. 63. 2 fiMOND, Histoire du College dc Louis-le-Orand, p. 67. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 43 nominally in existence at that time,^ not one was carrying on its work. The students were scattered; the buildings were closed or were serving as barracks or „, ,. , 11 o 1 11 1-1111 Educational stables;^ the outlook which had been so Condition auspicious in 1562 was shrouded in gloom ; ^° l^^^- the university was veritably worse off than it had been one hundred and fifty years earlier, before the reform of Cardi- nal d'Estouteville. Almost immediately the king set about a reform of the university. It is interesting to trace here the gradual disso- lution of the power of the Papacy over the Evolution of university, and so over education in general in Civil Control France. The university owed its foundation of Education, to the pontifical authority, and that power had directed exclusively the first two great reforms in its history. In 1452 the same influence dominated, but Charles VII. had appointed parliamentary commissioners to assist the Papal legate. At this time, 1595, it is a royal commission that controls the situation, but the ecclesiastical authority is nominally represented in the person of the Archbishop of Bourges as the chairman of the reform body. As we study the educational progress in France during the last few years, we see that this church influence has now entirely disap- peared, like the swing of the pendulum as it were, from absolute ecclesiastical control to absolute civil control, and this evolution has required almost exactly seven hundred years. The results of the labors of this commission were pub- lished in the Statutes of the University of 1600. The influence of the Renaissance is easily discern- ■„ „ r^, •IIP • 1-111 1 Ketorm of the ible, for there is a decided broadening of the University, course of study ^ with the emphasis, to be sure, •^^*^^- upon the Latin language. Most of the important classic 1 For the list of colleges in Paris in 1600, see Appendix C. 2 JouRDAiN, Histoire de V UniversM de Paris, p. 2. * For the course of study of the university colleges in 1600, see Appen- dix B. 44 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS writers are represented (except Martial, Livy, and Tacitus), even including Tibullus, Perseus, and Propertius, " and some- times Plautus." ^ The place given to Greek in the program marks a decided change. Homer, Hesiod, Theocritus, Plato, Demosthenes, Isocrates, and Pindar are all specifically men- tioned, and Greek shares with Latin the honor of being required for promotion to the class in philosophy .^ There is a radical departure from the old subserviency to grammar in its narrow sense, for of the six hours of lessons per day, only one may be given over to precepts and rules, the other five being devoted to study and consideration of the original texts.3 The old requirement as to the use of Latin as a common medium of communication is reiterated, and every student is forbidden to use the vernacular within the college precincts under penalty of punishment fitting the dereliction.* There is no exact indication of the amount of time this course would require, but it seems reasonable to suppose it must have extended over a period of five years. tbrcourst T^® ^o^^ °^ ^^® ^^^^ ^"^^ ^^ specifically indi- cated, and it is difficult to see how the " rules of grammar, selections from Terence, from the letters of Cicero, from the Bucolics of Virgil, and from other authors of equally pure Latinity " could be covered in less than one year, and " the selections from Sallust, from Caesar's Cominentaries, from Cicero's De Officiis and his easier Orations, as well as Virgil and Ovid, together with a comparative study of Latin and Greek grammar " could be completed in less than two years. Assuming as we must that the boys were nine years old when they began this course, and were already familiar with the elements of the Latin, this arrangement corresponds fairly clearly with Sturm's course at Strasburg, ^ and further- more it agrees exactly with the time allotment of the Ratio 1 Stalua FacuUatis Artium, XXIIL, in Jourdain, op. cit.. Pieces justified- lives, p. 4. 2 Ihid., XXIIL, XXXVI. « Ibid., XXV. 4 Ibid., XVI.-XVII. 6 Schmidt, La vie de Jean Sturm, pp. 286-288. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 45 studiorum as well as with the course prescribed for the Col- lege of Narbonne in 1599. ^ Ou the other hand the work in philosophy is very carefully outlined, even to the daily program. It consists of a two- year course devoted almost exclusively to Aris- totle, but the aim is directed to a mastery of the content rather than the form, toward a philosophical rather than a grammatical study of the text. ^ In the second year of the philosophy course we find the beginning of math- ematics as a secondary study, one hour a day being devoted 'to Euclid. 3 The suggestions of Eamus were again carried out in regard to the fees for instruction. These had been steadily creep- ing up, until it was almost impossible for a poor student to finish his course, much less to complete his work for any of the Mgher degrees. At this time the regents were absolutely forbidden under threat of loss of position and possible ad- ditional punishment at the hands of a magistrate, to demand or even to accept from a student more than five or at most six gold crowns per year (between fifty-three and sixty-four francs of the money to-day). The charges for the pupils below the third class were about four crowns. * It goes with- out saying that the price of board was quite apart from these fees for instruction, but this was fixed in October of each year by a standing committee whose jurisdiction extended over all the colleges. ^ In August of the second year of the philosophy course, the candidates for the baccalaureate were examined on the sub- jects of logic, ethics, physics, and metaphysics, by a special commission appointed for that pur- pose. The successful candidates were then examined for the license by another commission, and in September tliey received the master's degree. Thus those that survived these 1 FiiLiBiEN, Eistoire de la ville de Paris, V., p. 800. 2 Statua Facultatis Artium, XLII., op. cit. 8 Ibid., XLI. 4 Ibid., XXXIL, XLV. 6 Ibid., LXVII. 46 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS ordeals were ready to begin teaching at the opening of the university in October. ^ According to this plan the interval be- tween the bachelor's and the master's degrees has been con- siderably shortened. The first of these is purely an academic degree based on scholarship, the license implies the posses- sion of fitness to teach, and the master's degree is merely the formal admission of the candidate into the teaching body of the university. The possession of this higher degree from the University of Paris (or adoption by the masters of the university, which was recognized as the equivalent) was ab- solutely required of all teachers of grammar, rhetoric, or philosophy in the colleges of the university. ^ In other words, the master's degree was the minimum qualification of the secondary teacher. The duty of inspecting all the colleges in the first month of his incumbency was again imposed upon Inspection. ,, the rector. These statutes have been described thus at length because in the first place they mark the beginning of the modern J , university, and again because, save for various of this modifications introduced from time to time, es- Reform. pgcially in 1626 and in the last half of the eighteenth century, these three hundred and ten articles re- mained the statutes of the university until its suppression in 1793. The Jesuits were not the only religious body that was in- terested in the education of the youth. The seventeenth Th W k f century in France was marked by the rise of the Port- two Other organizations within the purview of Royalists. ^-^^ Church, the Port-Koyalists and the Orato- rians, both of whom came into active competition with the older order. The first of these was crushed out (1660), while the Oratorians lived to see the suppression of the order of the Jesuits and even inherited many of their colleges when the latter were banished from France in 1764. Although 1 Statua FacuUatis Artium, XLVII., L., LIII. 2 Ihid., LVI. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 47 the schools of the Port-Royalists had such a transitory exist- ence (less than twenty years at the most), yet their spirit long survived the dissolution of their schools, and they left a lasting impression on French education. The study of the French language was with them a real subject of instruction, even though the French was often a translation of the Latin classics, but it is to their lasting credit that they tried to lay a good foundation in the vernacular before beginning the study of a foreign tongue. They preferred to learn the Latin through the French rather than the French through the Latin. Another radical departure from established custom was in the place they gave to the rational process. They substituted Descartes for the vestiges of scholasticism that still persisted in the colleges of the Jesuits, and sought not to form good Latinists but rather to send out young men of independent judgment. Nevertheless, as has been pointed out before, the Port-Eoyal system was an ideal rather than a plan for general application. Aside from the principles of method noted above, its chief merit depended upon small groups of picked pupils (not more than five or six in a class), and the fact that they were all directed by teachers of supe- rior attainments, ideals which are impossible of realization in any public school system. Formed like the other religious orders primarily for the support of the Church, the Oratorians turned their efforts to the recruitment of the priesthood and assumed the responsibilities of a teaching body in order Oratoriaus the better to attain their primary end. After their formal registration by the Parliament of Paris in 1613, they spread with marvellous rapidity and all unconsciously soon became strong rivals of the Jesuits. By 1629 they already had some fifty establishments in various parts of France.^ Like the Port-Royalists the Oratorians laid much stress on instruction in the vernacular, the first years of the instruction in grammar being entirely in French.^ Such 1 Perraud, L'Oratoire de France an XVII'' et au XIX^ siecle, pp. 49, 54. 2 At Juilly a sixth class of grammar was established for this purpose, fol- 48 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS was the vitality of the Latin, however, that its use was made obligatory from the fourth class up. The history (and at Juilly, their most important college, there was always a special master for that subject) included sacred history in the two lowest classes, Greek and Eoman in the next three, and French history in the three most advanced classes. This latter was looked upon as particularly vital, and the instruction from the lowest to the highest class was all in the native tongue.^ Geography was taught in connection with the history, while physics and mathematics (including algebra, geometry, plane and spherical trigonometry, analyti- cal geometry, and the calculus) were the subjects of special instruction .2 The Oratorians and the Port-Eoyalists are equally to be credited with beginning the study of grammar in the vernacular, but for the emphasis placed upon history, mathematics, and physics, the Oratorians have to share the honors with none. In fact, in the course in French his- tory, as RoUand bears eloquent witness, the Oratorians were more than a century in advance of the colleges of the uni- versity. " The youths who frequent the coUege know the names of the consuls of Eome, and are often ignorant of those of our kings; they know the great deeds of Themistocles, of Alcibiades, . . . they know not those of Duguesclin, of Bayard . . . ; in a word the great men who have made our nation illustrious . . . have made no impression on them."^ Thus we find that the classics have ceased to monopolize the instruction of the colleges, and the courses are being framed more and more with the idea of turning out boys with an all-around equipment, with a liberal education. Of these three religious teaching bodies the Jesuits were by far the least progressive, for they continually harked back lowed some years later by a seventh, exclusively devoted to the study of French grammar, and to a few elementary notions of sacred history. Hamel, Histoire de I'ahbaye et du colUge de Juilly, p. 215. 1 Pekraud, op. cit., pp. 220-221. 2 Ibid., p. 222. 3 Holland, Plan d'dducatim, p. 105. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 49 to the Constitutions of Loyola and the Batio studiorum of his successors. The Batio studiorum of 1599 was "found to be not only new, but complete, and good for . centuries to come."^ So "good" in fact, that Conservatism save for a few modifications, particularly in ^^^ 1832, and these not fundamental, it remains the Magna Charta of the order to-day, and the youth are still taught under the influence of the Jesuitic humanism of three hundred years ago. In the words of one of the generals of the nineteenth century in speaking of instruction in the lower studies : " The study of Latin and Greek letters must always remain intact and be the chief object of attention." ^ However that may be, the Jesuits of the seventeenth century far outdistanced both of their ecclesiastical rivals in the popular favor, and succeeded in crushing one of them abso- lutely. To the old College of Clermont were annexed successively various adjoining pieces of property as the student body increased, so that before the end of the century there were no fewer than five hundred resident pupils.^ The favor of the king, who was flattered by the Jesuits' crafty change of the old college name in his honor, attracted to its halls the scions of the nobility of the realm, and the College Louis-le-Grand under royal patronage became the most flour- ishing institution of Paris. Encouraged by their success here they multiplied their colleges throughout the length and breadth of the land. The Jesuits were not the source of all the troubles of the university during these years. The lower or grammar schools, which were as old as the university itself and rphe Grammar had remained under the jurisdiction of the Schools of Precentor of Notre Dame, had been gradually ^^^ Cathedral, pushing their work upward until grammar, according to the interpretation of their director, included all the classic ^ HuGHKS, op. cit., p. 88. 2 General Roothaan writing in 1832, quoted by Hughes, op. cit., p. 292. 8 EiiosD, Histoire du colUge Louis-le-Grand, p. 137. 4 50 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS studies up to philosophy.^ He claimed the right to have this grammar taught by whom, how, and wherever, within the limits of Paris and its environs, he saw fit. These schools, in 1675, had rather more than five thousand pupils, and the university, feeling that they were encroaching dan- gerously and irresponsibly upon the rights of its colleges, prayed the king that they be confined within their ancient limits.2 Although Louis XIV. in a letter to parliament forbade the teachers of these schools to teach anything more than reading, writing, and the elements of the Latin lan- guage, and to receive any pupil more than nine years of age,^ the question was by no means settled. It dragged along until after the opening of the new century. Nevertheless it was these same grammar schools or "little schools" as they were called (not to be confounded with the "little schools" of the Port-Eoyalists), that continued to carry the brunt of preparatory work for entrance to the arts faculty of the university. In the face of all this competition from the lower schools and the religious bodies, together with the internal dissen- sions arising from the philosophical and theo- the^Unfversftv logical questions that were coming to the fore, during the the University as a whole was far from pros- ^(Jentur^*^ perous. The reforms of the early years of the century had done much, but much yet remained to be done. From the records of the rectoral inspection of 1642, the discipline as a whole showed a commendable progress, but of the forty-three colleges in existence in 1600, there were only four or five that could compare favorably with the best institutions of the Jesuits.* They began more and more to imitate the methods of the latter, but found the 1 JoLY, TraitU historique des ^coles ipiscopales et eccUsiastiques, p. 304. 2 Requeste au roy contre les petitcs escholes, in JouRDAiN, Histoire de I' Uni- versiUde Paris, Pib:cs justificatives, p. 104. 8 JOURDAIN, op. Cit., p. 240. * These were Harcourt, Beauvais, Grassins, Cardinal Lemoine, and Mon- taigu, without considering Navarre and Sorbonne. Joukdain, op. cit., p. 145. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 51 free tuition scheme of the churchmen a severe handicap. With the opening of the College Mazarin in 1661, from the bequest of Cardinal Mazarin, the university was in position to compete with the Jesuits on their own terms, for here there were no tuition fees. This college entered immedi- ately upon a career of prosperity that continued uninterrupt- edly until the Eevolution, never having fewer than six hundred students, and in prosperous years even running as high as twelve hundred.^ Shortly before the passage from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century, thanks to the wise administration of EoUin, there was a decided improvement both j^qJUj^ a^jj ^^g in the discipline and in the academic work of Tmiu des the university. Rector from 1694 to 1696, he ^^"'^''• conscientiously made the rounds of all the colleges, and with a kind but firm hand sought to modify their discipline and instruction in accordance with the principles enunciated later in his Traits des etudes. Although strangely overestimated by Villemain, who said in the second quarter of the last cen- tury that since the publication of this work there had been no progi-ess,2 nevertheless from the point of view of actual practice it was undoubtedly the most important pedagogical treatise of his age. Classicist though he was and faithful to classical traditions, he wrote this work in French in order to appeal to a larger circle than he could have reached through the Latin. This compromise is all the more note- worthy when one considers that his first work in the vernac- ular was begun when he was more than sixty years of age. It shows the slow but steady progress of the native language in displacing the Latin in the world of letters. In the Traits des etudes, the aims of university instruction (that is, secondary instruction within the author's meaning) are conceived to be : (1) the cultivation of the mind ; (2) the ^ JOURDAIN, op. cit., p. 264. 2 Villemain, Tableau de la littirature fraiv^aise au X VIII^ sieclc, I., p. 226. 52 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS development of the moral character ; and (3) the formation of the Christian man.^ He follows the Oratorians and the Port-Royalists in the importance of the French language for the beginning pupils, but he shows his partiality for the classics in the elaborate treatment of instruction in Greek and Latin. Nevertheless there is no attempt, as in the cur- riculum of the Jesuits, to teach the Latin as a living lan- guage, but it is considered as a means of laying under tribute the vast treasures of the classic world. Not merely to form good Latinists, but rather to develop young men of fine ap- preciation and good taste, who know the right and will do the right, this is the goal he sets out to reach.^ His program in history is worked out nearly as minutely, but, strange to say, it is limited to sacred and ancient history. In his intro- ductory note he makes this astounding statement : " I do not believe it possible to find time during the course to devote to the history of France. ... I confess that I have not applied myself sufficiently to it ; and I am ashamed to be in a way a stranger in my own country after having journeyed over so many others." ^ He suggests, however, that the students should be encouraged to read the history of their own coun- try in their leisure hours. How far behind the conceptions of the Oratorians and the Port-Eoyalists ! As he himself modestly observes, save for some few ex- pressions of his own particular views, notably in the instruc- tion in French and history, he has no intention of writing " a new plan of studies, nor of proposing new rules or a new method of instructing the youth, but he merely intends to note what already prevails in the University of Paris." * But one ought to add that from beginning to end it is all tempered by his individual interpretation, and it breathes throughout the kindly and gentle spirit of its author. At 1 RoLLiN, De la maniere d'enseigner et cfMudier les belles lettres (com- monly known as Traite des Hudes), Discours pr6liminaire, p. i. 2 'ibid., pp. xcviii.-xcix., cm. 8 Ibid., III., p. 11. * Ibid., I., p. civ. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 53 least for the next half century it stood as the ideal which the colleges of the university sought to attain. A few years before, in 1719, the young king, Louis XV., through the Duke of Orleans, had ordered that in return for a diversion of some State funds to the exchequer of the university, instruction should be gra- instruction, tuitous in all its full course colleges.^ At that and Professors' time the salaries of professors of philosophy and rhetoric were fixed at 1000 livres, 800 livres for those of the second and third classes, and 600 livres for those of the fourth, fifth, and sixth classes.^ This action of the regent was received with great popular approval. It indicated a more widespread application of the innovation begun at the College Mazarin more than thirty years before, and it put the ten colleges to which it applied in position to compete suc- cessfully with the Jesuits for the popular favor. Neverthe- less the standard set by a decadent royalty was swept away with that power itself, and to-day the gratuity of secondary instruction yet stands as an ideal for France to attain. In 1762 appeared the J^mile, that suggestive but extremely fantastic and Utopian scheme of education. Any analysis of its contents is foreign to the scope of this rpj^^ study, for its importance lies not in any im- Educational mediate effect on the educational practice of devolution. the time, but in the influence it exercised on subsequent educational thought. In this latter respect it was an epoch- making treatise that has exacted tribute from all the great educational writers since that day. The publication of the J^mile together with the sweeping away of the staunchest supporters of the old educational doctrines in the expulsion of the Jesuits, which occurred that same year, seems to 1 Lettres patcntcs de Louis XV., April 14, 1719, in Joukdain, op. cit., Pieces justificatives, pp. 167-168. 2 Equivalent to-da)' to from $200 to $125. Not a very large income to be sure, but it must be remembered tbat these men were all celibates, that they had also their living at their college, besides extra fees of various sorts. The greater value of money in those days must also be kept in mind. 54 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS suggest that the educational revolution preceded the political revolution, and that the former dates really from 1762, when the old teaching force of the colleges disappeared from the scene.^ The fall of the Jesuits had come about somewhat sud- denly. Although the gratuity of instruction in the full- course colleges had enabled the university to The Fall of compete with the Jesuits on more than even the Jesuits. ^ terms, yet the College of Louis-le-Grand had easily held its own, due in no small degree to the fact that the education there often bordered on the spectacular. The college and the order seemed to be prospering more than ever when suddenly the crash came. The attempted assassi- nation of Louis XV. by a former domestic of the college, the expulsion of the society from Portugal, on account of com- plicity in a plot against the life of the king, the bankruptcy of one of their order who had been engaged in the West India trade, all came in rapid succession. This last was really the most serious blow to the order in France, for it resulted in a general investigation conducted by the Parlia- ment of Paris as well as by the parliaments throughout the kingdom. At this time it seemed as though the stored-up hatred of years burst forth. The political question was undoubtedly uppermost, but evidence is not wanting to show that there was wide-spread dissatisfaction with the Jesuit methods and subjects of instruction,^ and that their moral conscientiousness was not above reproach,^ Be that as it may, in August, 1762, the Jesuits were ejected from all their colleges, and their property was sold to satisfy their credi- tors. In 1764 the order was suppressed throughout the realm of France, and nine years later it was formally abol- ished by the Papal See. By this first act the Jesuits lost no ^ CoMPAYR]^, Histoire critique des doctrines de I' Education en France, II., p. 5. 2 Cf. Holland, Recueil de plusieurs des ouvrages du president Holland, 1782, pp. 394, 543, 565, 579-580, 717. 8 Ibid., pp. 395, 452, 542, 730. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 55 fewer than forty colleges within the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris alone, and in tlie rest of France their colleges fell into the hands of the provincial universities or were directed by the Oratorians or other teaching bodies. In spite of the efforts of the creditors to have the Paris property sold, the parliament declared that the College Louis-le-Grand must never be used for anything but educa- tional purposes. The university transferred its official seat to the home of its former rivals, all the colleges of Paris that were not " full course " (twenty-eight in number) were formally amalgamated with Louis-le-Grand,^ providing one hundred and eighty-five effective scholarships, which number was subsequently increased to six hundred, and for the first time in two hundred years the university was left in undis- puted control of secondary and superior education in Paris. Thus the secondary education was concentrated in the ten full-course colleges that still survived. The expulsion of the Jesuits created a great gap in the ranks of the teaching force throughout the country. It required only a stroke of the pen to declare p ,, ,, these thousands of positions vacant, but how Educational different a matter to fill them again ! In its ^^^^' •^''^^• dilemma the Parliament of Paris appealed to the other par- liaments and to the universities for help in drawing up some general plan of education. The result of this request is embodied in the educational plan of EoUand d'Erceville, which was presented in a report to parliament in 1768. In many respects this merely reiterated the doctrines of EoUin and the Port-Eoyalists, but it suggested others which, if not original, were yet innovations in the educational conceptions of the university. Eolland's ideas of the importance of history are even more radical than those of Eollin. Like the latter he insists that history be taught in every class from the lowest through the rhetoric,^ but he wants it 1 JoURDAiN, op. cit., PUces jtbstijicatives, pp. 215-220. 2 At this time the classes were respectively, the sixth, fifth, fourth, third, second or humanities, rhetoric, and two years of philosophy. 56 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS divorced from the course in gi'ammar and intrusted to the hands of special teachers, and furthermore he would empha- size modern and national history. ^ Not only is a more regular and extensive study of French to be undertaken, but more important still, French is to be added to Latin and Greek as a source from which to draw illustrations for the principles of rhetoric.^ EoUand, however, did not quite dare to sanction the radical measure of the Minister of Dijon who ordered that the French replace the Latin and Greek for this purpose. One of the most attrac- tive points about a comparative study of programs is to trace the gradual conquest of the vernacular over the classic tongues. EoUand further urges the appointment of special professors of mathematics and experimental physics, justifying his recommendations by the success of similar innovations at the Colleges of Mazarin and Navarre respectively.^ It is in the matter of organization of instruction that Hol- land's suggestions were the most valuable, for Napoleon in- corporated some of them bodily into his plan for an imperial university forty years later, especially that relating to the centralization of educational control. This led to a seques- tration of the three orders of education, and for fear that the system might become top heavy, Eolland advocated a reduc- tion in the number of full-course colleges, replacing some of them by pedagogies or part-course colleges where the instruc- tion would be limited to religion, ethics, French grammar, the elements of Latin and of history.* In this suggestion of less lavish opportunities for secondary instruction, Eolland was merely restating the idea that Eichelieu had brought forward long before and that reappeared nearly a century later in Bismarck's fear of an " educated proletariat." " One should never lose sight of the principle," said Eolland, 1 ROLLAND, op. cit., pp. 118-123. 2 Ibid., p. 112. 8 Ibid., pp. 139, 144. * Ibid., p. 30. THE RENAISSANCE TO THE REVOLUTION 57 "that each one ought to have within his reach the edu- cation for which he is best fitted." ^ By this he meant the universal opportunity for education, provided the in- dividual was fitted to receive it, but he never seems to have reached the grander and more vitally fundamen- tal ideas for the State, of gratuitous and compulsory education. One of the most serious handicaps in the way of realizing this universality of opportunity was the lack of competent teachers, a situation that had been incalculably aggravated by the recent measures against the Jesuits. In order to overcome this difficulty, Holland, in accordance with the sug- gestion of one Abbd P^lissier that had appeared shortly before, proposed to establish a training school for teachers in each university centre.'^ The details of the plan thus brought forward were strikingly similar to the great scheme of the Convention that had such an ephemeral existence a few years later, but which was the first practical attempt to put the training school idea into existence in France. One of the primary aims to be served by such a school was to bring the standard of the provincial teachers up to that in Paris, so " that all the French should share alike in the treasures of the sciences that are accumulating from day to day — in a word, that the time would come when one could no longer distinguish a young man brought up in the prov- inces from one who had been educated in the capital." ^ Thus we see that the plan of EoUand was no chimerical scheme like Kousseau's l^mile, but bristled with sound sense and practical ideas. The time was not then ripe, however, for accomplishing these reforms. It needed the drastic purgation of the Eevolutionary period, followed by the constructive genius of Napoleon, to put them into effect. The end of the university was not far o£f. Almost exactly 1 Holland, op. cit., p. 25. 2 Ibid., p. 59. 8 Ibid., i>. 22. ■' 58 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS a quarter of a century later the decree of the Convention of September, 1793, abolished tlie old order of things educa- tional, and the full-course colleges went down to ruin with the ancient University of Paris that had all but liuished its sixth century of usefulness. CHAPTEE IV THE REVOLUTION AND THE PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY " The laws of education vary as the government." ^ This fundamental truth gives us the key-note to the charac- teristics of educational legislation during the Eevolutionary period in French history. All was confusion in. political life ; all was chaos in educational the^KfvoTution affairs. The bill passed to-day was likely to be repealed to-morrow, or perhaps the government that voted the new law would cease to exist before the changes contained therein could become operative. Nevertheless, in spite of all the transitoriness of the acts of the governing bodies, certain great principles were enunciated then that have since been elaborated in a more practical form and have been incorporated in the educational creed of the nation. The astonishing fact is not that the national as- semblies from 1789 to the beginning of the Consulate did not leave their educational projects in a more finished state, but rather that they found time during that period of kalei- doscopic changes to consider educational questions at all. Yet of all the committees of the Convention, the Committee of Public Instruction was second in activity only to the Committee of Public Safety, and that, too, during 1793, the " terrible year." Wliatever efforts had thus far been made to popularize education, particularly secondary and superior, and give it universal application, certainly had not been successful. The education in the colleges under the old regime had unquestionably been for the few. Save for some 1 Montesquieu, De I'esjmt des Ms, bk. IV. 60 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS sporadic efforts, it had all been restricted to the domain of letters, and had ministered very little to the practical needs of society. Indeed, aside from the time when Latin was essential for church purposes or necessary in the diplomatic service, what utilitarian value had there been in the classic learning which formed the body of instruction in the college courses ? The impulses, and that is equivalent to saying the acts, of the Eevolutionary assemblies were mainly in protest against everything that had been. The university and its colleges had been; therefore they must go. This destruc- tion, however, was only preliminary to the reconstruction that should rehabilitate them on a grander, more exten- sive, more national, more socially useful scale than before. Through the developments in the history of French second- ary instruction that we have cursorily sketched up to this period, the ordinary man had scarcely been considered in the educational scheme ; yet ever since the Battle of Bou- vines sounded the death knell of the knight of the Middle Ages, this "common man" had been coming nearer and nearer to the front of the stage. Instead of the supernu- merary to be ordered about at will, he had been steadily grow- ing in importance until at the time of the French Eevolution he played the leading part. " How have ye treated us ? " says Carlyle. " How have ye taught us, fed us, and led us, while we toiled for you ? The answer can be read in flames over a nightly summer sky." ^ A more pregnant answer still may be read in the declaration of the Rights of Man, and in the applications of these principles in the subsequent de- crees of the Constitutional Assembly. This, in turn, was shortly followed by the Constitution of 1791 which guaran- teed the creation of universal public instruction, gratuitous in its lower stages.^ Instead of the religious ideal, the notion of personal safety in the sight of the Almighty, that had formed the basis of the educational efforts of the Middle Ages, and that had 1 Carlyle, French revolution, bk. VI., cli. 3. * Constitution of 1791, title I. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 61 persisted throughout the period of the Renaissance and the Reformation, it is now the destiny of the political world, the safety of the State, that underlies the educational schemes. Lepelletier and the still more fiery radical, Dan- ton, voiced this conception in declaring that the child be- longed to the Republic before belonging to his parents, and consequently he should be taken away from the home sur- roundings and educated by, at the expense of, and for the State.^ This was admittedly nothing less than the revival of the educational system of Sparta. It was not so much what these iconoclasts actually effected in the direction of educational reform, as what they dreamed of doing that ex- cites our interest and our admiration to-day, for the princi- ples that have survived are far more important than the institutions. The great projects of Talleyrand and Condorcet, the scheme of the Constitutional and the Legislative Assem- blies respectively, compassed the whole gamut ^ of educational activity from the modest vil- pians Contrasted lage school to the Institute at the capital, but with those of the " . . . • c 1 Convention. the times were not yet ripe for any such am- bitious organization of public instruction. With the advent of the Convention the extreme radicals soon gained the control, and these earlier comprehensive plans were re- placed by those of a distinctly smaller calibre whose em- phasis was chiefly devoted to the field of primary education. Not only were these projects more limited ia their scope, but they marked the far reach from the liberalism of the days of 1789 to the Jacobinism of 1793, which latter was nothing less than the despotism of an irresponsible clique replacing the tyranny of a monarch. Thus for a time we find that supposititious notion of equality pushed to an absurd extreme. It was only in the last year of the Con- vention that the educational plans showed evidences of former liberal ideas, and higher education received some 1 Plan dc Michel Lepelletier, in Hippeau, Instruction puhlique en France pendant la R6volution, Discours et Rapports, pp. 349, 385. 62 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS attention. The founding of the Polytechnic School, the School of Mars, the Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, and the Normal School, followed the next year by the organ- ization of the Bureau of Longitude, the National Institute of Music, and the Central Schools, all came in rapid suc- cession within a period of less than a year. In those days no project appeared too difficult, no conception too grand. To have the idea was equivalent to launching the undertaking. One of the most important of these ephemeral creations of the Convention was the establishment of the Normal School. This was the first legal recognition Normale ^^ France of the distinction between mere academic training and teaching ability. Fur- thermore, it presaged the secondary normal school of a few years later and laid the foundation for a course of training whose utility scores of men conspicuous in the educational world in America to-day scoff at most acrimoniously. Eolland had already promulgated the same ideas some twenty years previous, drawing them admittedly from a series of pamphlets issued by one Abbd Pdlissier. The plan as presented to the Convention by Lakanal provided for the establishment at Paris of a great central normal school which should furnish the teaching force of the departmental normal schools subsequently to be established.^ After a very brief existence of less than four months (January 20 to May 15, 1795), this school passed out of exist- ence, and there is no evidence that there was any attempt made to establish the departmental normal schools as originally contemplated. The work of this Paris school only emphasizes the cardinal principle that prompted its foundation. The mere recital of the names of the profes- sors of this ill-starred effort (among whom were Lagrange, Laplace, Monge, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Daubenton, and BerthoUet) is a sufficient guarantee of the intellectual quali- fications of the teaching staff, but from the point of view 1 Dicret de la Co7ivention nationalc, 30 Oct., 1794, Recueil, I., sec. 2, pp. 26-28. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 63 of a training school the undertaking was a conspicuous failure; in the first place because these scholars failed to grasp the purpose for which the school was established, and in the second place because the work they gave was not adapted to the intellectual attainments of their students. Laplace, speaking for himself and Lagi-ange, in his opening remarks said that they expected to present a " general sketch of all the discoveries made in mathematics." In accordance with this aim he began with arithmetic, and at his fourteenth and last lecture had reached the discussion of the theory of probabilities.^ Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, who was somewhat surprised at being invited to give a series of lectures before these students, announced to them at the first meeting of his com-se that he would yet require about three months to complete the elaboration of his new treat- ment of ethics from a scientific point of view ^ and that he would consequently be compelled to postpone the com- mencement of his lectures until later in the session. The end of the school came before his work was completed. BerthoUet confined himself to the recent discoveries in the field of chemistry. Be that as it may, although this first great normal school was far from a success, nevertheless the experiment was not in vain, for Napoleon was keen enough to appreciate the advantages of such a school, and the plan was revived in the new university. This next school went far beyond the experimental stage, and to-day it still stands, the justifiable pride of the secondary school system. Each of the three Eevolutionary Assemblies had its own grand scheme of popular education, championed respect- ively by Talleyrand, Condorcet, and Daunou, r^^^ central but all except the last never got beyond the Schools of the paper stage. They were never put into actual Convention. execution. The comprehensive system proposed by Daunou ^ SSances des dcoles normales recueillies par des sUnographes et revues par lei professeurs, I., p. 21 ; VI., p. 32. 2 Ibid., I., p. 114, 64 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS included the establishment of the well-known ecoles centrale&, or central schools, all over France, This was a practical triumph of the plans of Talleyrand and Condorcet, and was a tacit admission that the country must provide for something above the elementary instruction emphasized by Lepelletier and his fellow members during the early days of the Con- vention. In the spring of 1795 the Convention had voted to establish the central schools in accordance with the report presented by Lakanal/ but the plan was too loosely drawn to be carried out. It provided for one school for every thirty thousand population, and each faculty was com- posed of fourteen chaii's representing no fewer than twenty different arts and sciences. Lakanal's bill was merely a kind of encyclopedic enumeration of subjects of instruc- tion, with no specific progi-am to be followed, nor even any division into classes. It remained for Daunou to bring order out of this chaos, and the program of these central schools that formed a part of the organic law of the fol- lowing October^ remained substantially unchanged through- out the eight years that they existed. The instruction was divided into three groups : the first, for pupils from twelve to fourteen years of age, included drawing, natural history, ancient languages, and, at the option of the legisla- tive body, modern languages ; the second, for pupils from fourteen to sixteen years of age, covered elementary mathe- matics, physics and chemistry ; the third, for pupils of sixteen years of age and over, embraced general grammar, literature, history, and legislation. It requires but a glance to see the enormous difference between the secondary schools of the Eevolution and the colleges of the ancient regime. Truly the fall of the classics had been great. These central schools were thus real secondary schools in our sense of the word in America, for they received pupils directly from the primary schools that were estab- lished under the provisions of the same law, and prepared 1 Dicret, Feb. 25, 1795, chap. 1, RccucU, I., sec. 2, pp. 37-38. 2 Loi, Oct. 25, 1795, Title II., Eecueil, I., sec. 2, pp. 46-49. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 65 their pupils for the special schools such as those of astron- omy, natural history, and medicine which were to be established later. This law of the Convention made no attempt to enforce the school attendance, but a subsequent order of the Directory ^ shows a curious effort to encourage attendance at the central schools. This provided that every non-married seeker for government appointment that was not in the army should present a certificate showing that he had been enrolled in such a school, while in the case of a married man with children of school age, the proof that the latter had attended the government schools would be sufficient for this purpose. Applicants who were unable to comply with the above-mentioned provision were required to present satisfactory evidence of the validity of their claims for exemption from these requirements. At all events, the end of the year 1796 saw two of these central schools under way in Paris (a third one was subse- quently added), and one in each of the provincial depart- ments. In distinction from the former practice, they had no boarding pupils. There was also an annual tuition charge not to exceed twenty-five livres (about five dollars),which could be remitted in the case of one quarter of the pupils, pro- vided their financial condition justified their demand for this exemption. These central schools, although they have been severely scored by many critics, nevertheless form an impor- tant link in the secondary school system of France, for they bridge over the gap between the old regime, and Napoleon's organization of new lyc^es and the establishment of the modern secondary school system. True, their organization was incomplete, but nevertheless they expressed in a tangible form the protest of the Revolutionary ideas against the clas- sical training of the monarchy ; a kind of " human " education as opposed to the humanistic education of the old colleges. Besides, too, this was a transitional period of momentous con- sequences, and any such ephemeral educational experiment is bound to suffer when compared with a system backed by 1 JrrSt6, Nov. 17, 1797, Rccueil, I., sec. 2, pp. 87-88. 5 66 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS centuries of tradition. In spite of this, in some instances, notably at Besangon where the central school had live hun- dred pupils on its roll whereas the former college in its most flourishing days had had barely three hundred, ^ the new schools more than held their own with the old. further- more, the criticisms have all been made ex cathedra, for these schools lasted too short a time to allow one to judge of their real worth from the character of the students they sent forth. M. Picavet in a painstaking and impartial study of these schools which contains much hitherto unpublished material, ^ brings out the interesting fact that the leading professors of the imperial lyc^es had almost all been teachers in the cen- tral schools. This fact alone would seem to indicate that these institutions could not have been so much of a failure as some of the imperial and royalist critics would have one believe, for after all the teacher is more important than the curriculum. The law of May 1, 1802, completely reorganizing the scheme of public instruction, substituted thirty lyc^es for the central schools that were then in existence, ^hf^Modera and thus laid the foundation of the modern Secondary system of secondary instruction that we find System. ^ France to-day. This same law defines very clearly the exact significance of the term " sec- ondary school," "Every school established by the com- munes or conducted by private individuals wherein are taught French, Latin, the first principles of geography, of history, and of mathematics, will be considered as a second- ary school." This, then, gives us the origin of the commu- nal college. The lycdes and the special schools supported from the State treasury formed a class of institutions some- what higher than these secondary schools, and to-day the lyc^es still retain their superiority to the colleges in public 1 Lacroix, Essais sur I'enseignement en general, et sur celui des matMma- fdques en particulier, -p. 129, n. 2 Picavet, Les ideologues, essai sur Vliistoire des iddes, et des tMories scienti- fiques, philosophiques, religieuses, etc., en France depuis 1789, pp. 37-66. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 67 esteem, in the remuneration and position of the instructors, and in the character of then- work. According to the terms of that law, the lycees were essentially devoted to instruc- tion in Latin and mathematics. Wliile this new law was generally acceptable to Napoleon as consul, it was not at all satisfactory from the imperial point of view. Carried away with his zeal for organization and possessed with the idea of centralizing even the educational administration of the nation in his own hands, he established the University of 1808, and reorganized the secondary school system in accordance with this new plan. The opening sections of the organic decree of 1808 leave no uncertainty in the mind of the reader as to the centralizing notion embodied there. "Public Extreme instruction throughout the empire is confined Centializa- exclusively to the university." ^ As we read *'"°" on, we find that no school might be opened without the sanc- tion of the grand master, nor might anybody open a school or even teach in a school who was not a gi-aduate of the uni- versity. The educational hierarchy was thus very carefully built up. When one recalls further that the grand master was practically an absolute monarch in the educational world, and that he could be appointed and removed at will by the emperor, the extent of the centralization in this new plan is at once apparent. And these absolute powers ex- tended from the appointment of the general inspectors down to appointment of the scholarship holders in a lyc^e, or granting permission to open a primary school. This organiza- tion, w^hich was practically that of a civilian army imder full military discipline, reproduced almost exactly the idea put forth by Eolland about forty years before, that all degrees of public instruction should be subordinated to a single gov- ernment authority. This same general plan still exists in France, but the schools to-day are considerably removed from the stultifying uniformity which prevailed throughout the major part of the nineteenth century. 1 B^cret, Mar. 17, 1808, Title 1, par. 1, Recueil, IV., p. 1. 68 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS From the point of view of the curriculum these new lyc^es reproduced even more closely the pre-Eevolutionary conditions than did the first lyc^e of 1802. Currlralum. ^^^7 ^^^ ^ six-year course, subsequently extended to seven,^ with Latin and French running parallel throughout the first five, and Greek in the second, third, and fourth years. In the last year, the in- struction in philosophy might be given optionally in either Latin or French. History, with the merest modicum of geography, chronology, and mythology, is again in evidence. The scientific tendency, which had been very prominent throughout the deliberations of the Eevolutionary bodies, is beginning decidedly to lose caste, for instead of the six years devoted to mathematics and science in the first lyc^e pro- gram of 1802, we now find that the scientific subjects oc- cupy only one whole year and parts of three others. Five years later, these same scientific branches have entirely lost their independence and have had their identity submerged in the traditional classical program. Evidently the transition from the old regime had been too rapid. It requires a long period to change the ideals of a Reestablish- nation, and the change brought about by the ment of the Eevolutionary government had come all too Old Regime. ^^^^^^^ j^ ^^3 fi^.g^ exuberance of their victory the new leaders had reacted widely against the old conditions, and through the political numbness akin to that that follows a sudden severe shock to the nervous system, this change had prevailed. But now the old blood began cours- ing through the veins again. The old life reasserted itself. The old institutions reestablished themselves, as much as the changed outward conditions would allow. Some years previous to this time, upon coming away from Notre Dame on the Easter Sunday when the Concordat was published, Napoleon is said to have remarked to some of his generals : 1 With the addition of the eighth and seventh classes preparatory to "grammar" in 1810, the course was practically lengthened to eight full years before beginning the work specifically denominated philosophy. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 69 " Is it not true that to-day the old order seems to be revived ? " " Yes," replied one of them, " except for the two millions of French people who died for liberty and who cannot be revived." So we find a wide-spread clamor for a return to the study of the ancient languages. That dominance of the sciences had been merely transitory. But it was the foreshadowing of subsequent tendencies, whose substantial realization has only recently been con- summated in France in the changes in the secondary school program that have but lately been completed. In the same manuer, the Eevolutionary government foreshad- owed the separation of Church and State that has just been effected, an event that Napoleon by that very Con- cordat succeeded in delaying for almost exactly one hundred years. In restoring the old order of things, Napoleon stamped the impress of his own character on the discipline of the schools. It was essentially military throughout. The pupils were divided into companies of twenty- Discipline, five, and over each were placed a sergeant and four corporals ; the signal for all the exercises was given by drum tap ; and the internes were forbidden to appear outside the walls of the lycde except in full uniform. As a matter of fact, they were not allowed to lay aside any part of their clothing, even during the recreation period, without the permission of the sub-master. The subjoined figures ^ will give some indication of the extent of the devastation in the field of secondary education worked by the Eevolution and the succeeding years of uncertainty. Under the Empire these ^e°ol^tion^ schools seemed in a fair way to recover their on Secondary former prestige when suddenly the fall of ^ttp^jance Napoleon dealt them such a blow that the lycdes did not recover until just before the Revolution of 1830, and the communal colleges for more than a dozen years later than that. * ViLLEMAiN, Rapport au roi, 1844, pp. 77, 84, 95. 70 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS COMPARATIVE NUMBERS OF SECONDARY PUPILS 1789-1842 1789 1809 1813 1842 Number of pupils in the colleges . . Number of pupils in lyc^es or royal colleges Number of pupils in communal col- 72747 9068 18507 14492 29559 18697 26584 Total number of pupils in lycees and colleges 27575 44051 45281 It is only fair to add that if the number of pupils in private and boarding schools were included, the total number of those receiving secondary instruction in 1842 ^ would have approximately equalled that in 1789. Although Louis XVIII. allowed the university to continue, the years of the Eestoration can hardly be looked upon as Retrogression ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^ period of retrogression. The under the lycdes took the name of royal colleges, which Restoration, ^j^^^ retained until the Eevolution of 1848. The influence of the ecclesiastical power became more and more prominent. By an order of 1802 each lyc^e was re- quired to have its own chaplain. In 1809 the priest was ranked with the professors of the first class, while in the Statute of 1821, he was put on equal footing, both as regards position and salary, with the censeur or sub-master. The bases of education in the colleges were specifically stated to be " religion, the monarchy, the legitimacy, and the constitu- tion," and the bishop was given the right of supervision over religious instruction in all the colleges of his diocese. For the first time, the official regulations made a specific ^ KiLiAN, Tableau de I'instrudion sccondaire en France, p. 325, gives this latter figure for private and boarding scbools in 1840 as 30,482. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 71 assignment to religious instruction, and the Scriptural reading in the preparatory classes was to be in I'rench, in the sixth to the thu-d inclusive, in Latin, and in the higher classes in Greek. Although the course in philosophy was lengthened to two years (and had to be conducted in Latin), later in the same year, 1821, the completion of only the first year's work was required for admission to the candidacy of the baccalaureate in letters, and the second year of the phi- losophy course was given over to mathematics and science. The retrogression during the early years of the Restoration period was followed by a reaction toward its close, and in one respect, at least, it marked a great step in ad- vance. This latter was the creation in 1828 of ^^S"* the office of the Minister of Public Instruction whose incumbent was also Grand Master of the University. While educational affairs have not progressed uninterruptedly since that date, nevertheless this innovation recognized the fact that the educational interests of the nation were worthy to be ranked with the other great departments of the public service. Furthermore, the instruction in sciences was brought up to that in letters; the standard of qualifications of the teaching body was raised; modern languages, which since 1814 had been optional subjects on a par with dancing, fenc- ing, and music, and paid for by the parents as extras, were made a part of the regular instruction in the royal colleges ; the course in history was lengthened to five years after the preparatory classes ; and the philosophy was once more taught in French. The July Monarchy, which came into power under Louis Philippe in 1830 and was the outcome of a more liberalizing tendency in the political world, early applied -pj^^ Work of itself to the development of public instruction, the July but the great expansion that took place here Monarchy, was almost exclusively confined to the field of primary edu- cation. The elementary school law of 1833 marked M. Guizot's effort to establish the system of higher primary schools. Throughout the period, however, there was a con- 72 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS stant struggle between the university and the Catholic party wherein the latter sought to establish the parity between its own ecclesiastical schools and the royal and communal col- leges. Indeed, the strife was strongly suggestive of that be- tween those same two antagonists in the days of the old Jesuit college of Clermont-Louis-le-Grand, and under the reaction of 1850 the university was worsted much as she had been in her earlier contests. The ministry of M. Villemain (1840-1844) is noteworthy for the publication of the first report on secondary instruction . , in France. Napoleon had ordered such a re- Villemain s i i. Keport on Sec- port many years beiore, but for some mexpli- °"4^''y f"^^}^^' cable reason his directions had not been carried out, and under the Eestoration there was prob- ably no eagerness to bring out comparisons that could hardly have reflected credit upon the government then in power. Under Louis Philippe, in 1831, the task had been under- taken for primary education, and now some twelve years later under the same general auspices it was completed for secondary education. The figures already quoted ^ show that in point of attendance the secondary schools have barely re- covered the ground they lost at the time of the Kevolution. Although few of the advanced ideas of the most progressive leaders of the Convention are still to be found, yet the cur- riculum is far ahead of that under the old ante-Revolutionary order. But according to the notions of M. Villemain, sec- ondary instruction could never have more than a limited extension. " Distinct from elementary instruction, even on those very points wherein the two seem to resemble each other, and furthermore having a direction and an extent en- tirely different, secondary instruction includes the study of ancient languages, of literature, of mathematical and physical sciences, which ought to prepare for the learned professions, for great intellectual accomplishments, and for the principal occupations of society. It is intended particularly for those whom the sacrifices of their families or the liberality of State 1 Cf. supra, p. 70. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 73 or community put in position to devote themselves to study not only throughout their childhood, but during those years of youth which in other walks of life are devoted to remu- nerative labor." ^ " Fundamentally it is the ancient sys- tem of Port-Eoyal and of the University of Paris, the system which for two centuries has produced so many able and en- lightened men for the bench and for the business world. . . . Besides that dominant study of the ancient languages, par- ticularly useful for exercising and ripening the mind, the instruction in history has been strengthened, and variously graded classes in mathematics have been maintained, some preparatory, some advanced and complete. At the same time, the instruction in modern languages has assumed a more regular form which reinforces rather than antagonizes that of the classics." ^ Even at that time complaints were coming in about the overcrowded program of the colleges. In 1833 half of the secular holiday in each week was taken for regular work. M. Villemain, in commenting upon this, said : " The (school) day in its course of more than fifteen hours ^ is so filled with various occupations that one might fear it was overcrowded. But thanks to that very variety and to that exactness of discipline, never was the health of the children better, nor their work less fatiguing." * As has already been suggested, the reaction of 1850 dealt some heavy blows to the cause of education in France. It not only opened the way for the entrance of ^ T • 1 • 7. • 1 T T • • • Temporary political miiuence mto school administration. Ascendancy of but the former university standards with refer- Ecclesiastical ence to academic fitness for teaching and the power of inspection over private schools were seriously undermined. It was, so to speak, the last effort of the Church to maintain itself on an equality with the State as regards educational affairs in a struggle which has gone on i Villemain, Rapport au roi, Mar. 3, 1843, p. 5. 2 Ibid., p. 18. 8 This was essentially the same that prevailed in the time of Villemain. * Ibid., p. 20. 74 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS more or less consciously ever since the founding of the University of Paris. This last triumph of the Church, how- ever, was comparatively short lived. Thirty-two years later saw the loss of the power of control over public primary schools, and the abrogation of the Concordat and events of the last five years have completed the defeat. The State is now absolute and unique in its share in and its control over the educational interests of the nation. With the advent of the Second Republic in 1848, the old royal colleges resumed the name lyc^es (which they have The "Bifurca- retained ever since), and four years later their tion " in the curricula underwent a complete reorganization. Lycee Course, rpj^g^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ well-defined divisions of the course : an elementary or preparatory division of two years, a grammar division of three years, marked by the dominance of the classics, and like the first division required of all the pupils ; and an upper division where there was a " bifurca- tion" in the course, the pupUs being compelled to choose at the outset between letters and science. As far as the general subjects of instruction are concerned, there was apparently not much difference between these courses, but a careful study of the programs ^ shows very clearly that this bifur- cation meant almost an absolute choice between these two great areas of human knowledge, for the scientific branches in tlie letters section were treated most superficially, and the same was true, though perhaps to a less marked degree, of the literary subjects in the science section. The latter pupils, who up to the fork m the course had pursued Greek with their fellows in the other section, suddenly broke def- initely with that language after having studied it for two and a half years, a period but little more than enough to master the elements. This division of courses led to invidi- ous comparisons between the two groups of pupils, and the charge was undoubtedly true that opportunity was thus offered for the unsuccessful pupils in letters to abandon the work that they had found too difficult for them, and thus the 1 Programmes du 30 Aout, 1852, Recucil Fortoul, I., pp. 116-211. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 75 less able ones were precipitated into the science section. A sudden relaxing of rigid restrictions is very likely to cause a reaction of this sort. A little time is needed to bring about the proper adjustments. The same result happened with us in the United States at the time of the rise of the scientific schools, and again with the opening of the business and manual courses in our high schools. Under this divided course system, boys were compelled to choose their future careers, practically irrevocably, at the end of the fourth form, in other words, when they were about fourteen years old. The literary course, which led to the baccalaureate in letters (corresponding fairly closely to the bachelor of arts degree in the old American college during the ascendancy of the classical studies and before the elective system came into vogue), was required for entrance to the normal school, and to the arts and law work in the university, while the course in science, which led to the baccalaureate in science (corres- ponding to a general bachelor of science degree, if one may use such a term, based upon mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, natural history, and drawing), fitted for entrance to the courses of the faculty of science and the medical school of the university, to the scientific division of the normal school, and to the higher government technical schools. ^ Indeed, the previous insufficiency of the preparation afforded for this latter class of schools was largely responsible for the in- troduction of this bifurcated course. Nevertheless, this rad- ical change, which is generally looked upon as a decided loss, was a severe shock to the spirit of classicism, which even to- day is the dominating force in French secondary and higher education, and the return to the former conditions which Minister Duruy brought about in 1864 furnished welcome relief to the troubled situation. Yet under the reorganization at that time, the old humanis- tic training of the lycees was becoming less jealous of its pre- rogatives, for it gave way to a more liberal course in science, a more extended course in history, and showed clearly a grow- 1 Bdcrd, April 10, 1852, Arts. 3 and 12. Rccueil FoHoul, I., pp. 40, 43. 76 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS iug emphasis upon modern languages. After all, the experi- ment of the " bifurcation " had not been in vain. The Restoration haccalaureate in letters came as before at the of the Old conclusion of the philosophy form ; successful Course. completion of another year, called elementary mathematics, gave the additional degree of bachelor of sci- ence, and constituted the natural preparation for the military school at Saint-Cyr ; while still a further year, called special mathematics, was necessary for entrance to the Polytechnic School. Under exceptional circumstances, certain modifica- tions could be obtained in this course, but the arrangement here outlined was the ordinary method of procedm-e. Conse- quently the pupil was no longer compelled to choose between letters and science at an age when it was entirely doubtful whether or not he could select his life career with any degree of certainty, and thenceforth the unfortunate longitudinal cleavage in the lycee course was a thing of the past. At the same time opportunity had to be found for the ex- pansion of that mechanical and industrial spirit that dates ^ from the second third of the nineteenth century. "Modern" The leaders of the Convention had incorporated Secondary this idea in the program of the Central Schools, but these schools had not survived the change of empire. An attempt had been made at the royal college of Nancy (1829) and later at Versailles and la Eochelle to inaugurate a somewhat similar kind of professional training. Under the " bifurcation" of 1852 this instruction had been introduced into nearly all the lycdes outside Paris, and had been adopted by practically all the communal colleges. The reports of industrial development and consequent modifica- tions in the educational systems that had been coming from abroad ^ were sufficiently disquieting to indicate that Prance 1 Cf. Cousin, Mimoire sur Vinstruction secondaire dans le royaume de Prusse pendant Vann6 1831. Marguerin et Mothere, De V cnseignement des classes moyeymes et des classes ouvrieres en Angleterre, 1864. Baudoit^, Eapjwrt sur I'Mat actnel de V cnseignement special ctdc V cnseignement primaire en Belgique, en Allemagne, et en Suisse, 1865. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 77 must recognize that a new world was in the making, and she must put forth determined and definite efforts to keep pace with the march of events. Consequently a new departure was made in scientific teaching, and a course was organized under the name of " special secondary instruction." It was not professional education on the one hand, neither was it an extension of primary education as contemplated in the then defunct higher primary schools of M. Guizot, but its object was to supply the leaders of the great industrial army, just as the higher primary schools of a few years later were to pro- vide the under officers, and the lower primary schools the rank and file of this same civilian army. This new departure in secondary education was intended to establish that broad basis of general scientific knowledge, without in any sense becoming professional, which is indispensable for the leaders in the commercial, industrial, and financial world. It was, nevertheless, a complete education, " an education of another nature than classical education, but not of another order," ^ and, furthermore, the official program was sufficiently elas- tic to enable it to be adapted to serve the particular interests of the community in which the school was placed. For ex- ample, special attention would be devoted to geography and commercial law in the great maritime cities, to metallurgy or agricultural chemistry in the districts given over to mining or agriculture, to design in the lace or cotton centres. In a word, this special secondary instruction was intended to sup- ply the place filled by the Realschnle in Prussia. Although a new normal school was opened in 1866 exclusively for the preparation of teachers for this form of secondary instruction, the latter was not organized as in Germany in a special cate- gory of its own. Consequently it is perhaps true that it suffered from not being segregated and from not having a teaching force from top to bottom ardent partisans to support it in the inevitable struggle against classic training. Be that as it may, for the first years it was looked upon quite as an interloper in the lyc^es and colleges, and was unquestionably 1 Greaed, Enseignement secondaire, I., p. 78. 7S FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS on a considerably lower plane than the classical work with which it was competing. In 1881, however, the former cer- tificate which crowned the work of the course was replaced by a baccalaureate of special secondary instruction, and ten years later the whole course was considerably modified. At that time even the name was changed, and for the next decade it was known as " modern secondary instruction." The vi- cissitudes of this science instruction in the secondary schools mark the progress of the struggle between the scientific and the humanistic spirit. Although practically commg into the social life with the Eenaissance, the former did not make itself seriously felt in the secondary school until the period of the Kevolution. In this new program of 1891, it was still subordinate to the classical training, although more and more careers under the auspices of the State were opening up before its graduates. The latest legislation, in 1902, however, finally established the parity between these two disciplines, at least as far as official regulation could do so, and to-day the course in letters and the course in science extend side by side with the most liberal opportunity possible of passing from one to the other. From the beginning of the Third Republic to the entire reorganization of the whole scheme of secondary instruction Tendencies ^^^^ Occurred in 1902 and the period immedi- ■of Classic ately following, the reforms of classical in- diuin''"tho struction have been along three lines: (1) in Third cutting down an enormously overcharged pro- Republic, gi-ani ; (2) in greater emphasis upon the im- portance of the physical side of education ; (3) in improved methods of work. The first two of these are really phases of the same general tendency. The average number of hours of class work per week from each of the classes from the eighth to the philosophy forms inclusive was reduced from nearly twenty-six in the program of 1874 to a little less than twenty in that of 1890. There was furthermore a well defined tendency toward a sloughing off of old methods ; PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 79 the modern languages began to be taught more particularly from the pomt of view of speaking, and the classics from the point of view of reading. To that latter end Latin versification disappeared entirely, and composition work in the classic languages was greatly reduced. Latm and Greek were begun in the sixth and at the middle of the fifth forms respectively instead of in the eighth and the sixth respec- tively according to the program of 1874. Finally there has been a very definite division of the school course into three series or cycles: the elementary classes; the grammar classes ; and the higher classes. This division was intended to serve the same purpose in the secondary schools as the concentric circle plan that prevails in the primary schools, and was established with the idea of giving the pupil who is compelled to leave school before the end of the course certain definite notions that he can carry away with him. While the school-leaving problem has attracted considerable attention and has caused no little uneasiness in France, nevertheless it has not reached the acute stage there that it has with us, in the primary school on account of the more efficient enforcement of the compulsory school law, and the gi'eater commercial value of the leaving certificate, and in the secondary school because the tuition fee and the social prestige attached to this grade of school tend to make its pupils a selected class, and furthermore the bacca- laureate is the only key that will open the way to a pro- fessional career and to numerous branches of the government service. But of all the reforms in the field of secondary education that have been carried out under the Third Eepublic, the most significant has been the establishment of „ , -, , p . ■, , Secondary lyc6es for gnis under the law of December 21, Education 1880. With the possible exception of the of Girls, schools at Ecouen and Saint-Denis, which Napoleon had founded expressly for the education of the daughters of his . officers, whatever had been done up to this period had been undertaken either tlirough individual initiative, or else in 80 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the private institutions of the religious teaching bodies. At all events, in 1867, after the passage of the new law with reference to the establishment of primary schools for girls, in the words of the Minister of Public Instruction : " There yet remains one important thing to do : it is necessary to provide the girls with secondary instruction, which, strictly speaking, does not exist in France."^ Consequently he recommended the creation of a series of extension classes to be held in the city halls or other public buildings and to be taught by the professors in the boys' lycdes. This girls' secondary instruction was to include only a very limited number of subjects drawn from the new program of the boys' special secondary instruction (from which the dead languages were excluded), with altogether only one or two lessons per day extending over a period of three or four years. From the economic point of view, this was certainly a valuable suggestion, since the government was able to double the number of schools at no additional cost. The merely nominal running expenses aside from the remunera- tion of the teaching staff could be more than carried by the proposed tuition fee of fifteen or twenty francs a month, and a substantial amount would be left for free scholarships. But from the educational point of view its chief virtue lay in the fact that it marked the beginning of a radical de- parture in the traditional policy. The sviggestion of Minister Duruy was taken up with alacrity, twenty-four such courses being established the first year. But the enthusiasm quickly ran its course, for in the following year the number of new foundations fell to ten. At all events, by 1879, only fourteen of the forty-seven courses that had been started were still in existence,^ The movement cannot have made any very great stir in the educational world, for the statistics of secondary education published in 1876 contain no report at 1 Instructions mix redeurs, 30 Oct., 1867, in Circulaires et instructions offi- cielles relatives a I 'instruction puhlique, Ministhe de M. Duruy, p. 543. 2 Si';k, Rapport a la Chamhre des D4put6s, iu Lyc4es et colUges dejeunes fillcs, 1). 148. PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 81 all of the progress of the work, nor even do they make any mention of the experiment. Indeed, although there was a diploma for successful completion of the three years' work, it would have been rather surprising if success had come to such an adventitious undertaking, without special organiza- tion, without appropriate class rooms, without a regular teach- ing force of its own, without legislative sanction. But viewed in the light of subsequent developments, it cannot be con- sidered as a vain and profitless experiment, for it paved the way for the establishment of a real system of secondary education for girls. With the passage of the law of December 21, 1880, public state secondary education for girls, thanks to the efforts of M. Camille S^e, became a reality in France. Under the terms of this law, the secondary course, whether in a lycde or in a communal college, lasted five years, divided into two periods of three and two years respectively, and was open to pupils of twelve years of age and upwards. The studies of the first period were all required, but in the last two years only twelve or thirteen hours out of twenty were prescribed. On the whole the work corresponded fairly closely to the old English-modern language course that formerly existed in our American high schools. Save for the suppression of the single hour devoted to the optional study of Latin in each of the last two years, the increased emphasis put upon manual and gymnastic work throughout the course, and a natural improvement in methods, the program as it came through the last revision in 1897 is in all essential points substantially the same as it was originally. The detailed discussion will consequently be reserved for a ^ , . T , , ^ Girls' later chapter. Secondary Scarcely had these girls' secondary schools Normal been provided for than the government took the only logical step possible and voted to create a secondary normal school in order to furnish the recruitment of the teaching force of this new class of schools. The bill, intro- 6 S2 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS duced ill the lower house March 3, 1881, declared "urgent," reported and adopted without discussion on May 14th, was finally passed by the Senate and became a law on July 26th. With the establishment of the higher primary normal school for young men in December of the following year, The Third ^^^ government completed a period of enor- Republic aud mous educational activity. AVithin less than Education. ^j^^.^^ ^.^.^^.^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^|^^ ^^^^^^^, ^^^_ partments of the country, with the assistance of the State, had been required to provide adequate normal school train- ing for the future teachers of both sexes for its boys' and girls' elementary schools, the State had founded two great schools to train the teachers for these departmental normal schools, had created a system of girls' secondary schools and crowned it with a normal school of its own, had recreated the system of higher primary education both in special scliools of its own and in the extension courses (cours com- plementaires) attached to the lower primary schools, and tinally had passed those two great fundamental laws pro vidiiig for universal compulsory elementary instruction, and declaring that in the primary schools of every order, the in- struction should be not only gratuitous, but furthermore absolutely free from all ecclesiastical control. This is a series of educational achievements that stands without a parallel in history, at least within the same length of time, and it has enabled France to rise from a position of mediocrity in the educational scale to a place in the very front rank among the nations of the world. Durmg the period of the Third Eepublic, the budget of the Ministry of Public Instruction has increased from thirty-two millions of francs in 1870, to a little more than two hundred and seventy-one millions^ in 1908, and the marked decrease in 1 This takes no aocount of the millions spent by the towns and cities all over France, for which no accurate figures are available. Yet lari^e as these figures may be they are quite overshadowed by the budgets of the army and PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 83 illiteracy from twenty-five and thirty-seven per cent for men and women respectively in 1870 to four and seven- tenths per cent and seven and two-tenths per cent respec- tively in 1898 ^ gives convincing proof that this immense amount has not been expended in vain. navy departments which fell a little short of eleven hundred millions of francs that same year. Almanack de Gotha, 1909, p. 799. 1 Annuaire de lajeunesse, 1907, p. 22. CHAPTEE V THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL SYSTEM In many respects the French secondary school system of to- day still retains some of the essential features of the organ- ization imposed upon it by Napoleon a century Central^ation ^S°' ^^^ ^'^^ ^^^^ ■'^^^^^ significant of these ap- pears in its excessive centralization. This centralization, which has been at the same time one of its most characteristic peculiarities and one of its most strik- ing defects, was severely scored more than once in the testi- mony before the parliamentary investigation of the Eibot Commission a few years ago.^ This extreme centralization, however, is not unique in the department of the Minister of Public Instruction, but seems almost to pervade the national character, and it really results in a governmental centraliza- tion that is equalled in few other nations. The Napoleonic administration again is doubtless in no small means respon- sible for this condition of affairs, but it seems to present a decidedly anomalous situation for a republic. One must remember, however, that the French Republic is not a union of several independent states, as is the case in the United States, in Switzerland, and even in the modern German Em- pire, but it represents a homogeneous people subdivided into smaller units for purposes of administration. More impor- tant still is the survival of the monarchical ideas and ideals that are everywhere traceable. Indeed, it would require a fine discernment to differentiate the republican political and social life from that of a constitutional monarchy like Italy, 1 Enquete sur V enseignement secondaire, Paris, 1897, 6 vols. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM 85 for example. More than one Frenchman has said that if, by some political reversal, there should be a monarch at the head of the State instead of a president, the external evi- dences would be hardly noticeable. The changes in govern- ment in France during the nineteenth century were essentially political changes rather than social. The outward life of the nation still goes on as before. So centralization is not funda- mentally distasteful to the French idea. Viewed from the standpoint of civil and political control, and again that of educational direction, France presents two distinct systems of administration, though at ^-.j^jj ^^^^ several points these systems overlap. Politi- Political cally the whole country is divided into ninety Divisions, departments, each department being subdivided into arron- dissements, each arrondissement into cantons, and each canton into communes. The departments correspond roughly to our states, the arrondissements to our congressional districts, and the communes to our towns or cities. The canton, which is merely a judicial district, the subdivision of an arrondissement, and of some slight bearing in the system of primary education, does not figure at all in the field of secondary education, and need not concern us further. The Minister of the Interior at Paris appoints a prefect over each department and a sub-prefect for each arrondissement, while local self-government is restricted chiefly to the election of the municipal council whose members in turn choose the mayor of the commune. Through the medium of the pre- fects and sub-prefects the general government thus reaches out directly to the far corners of the country. Starting with the largest political subdivision of the nation, the departments, and grouping them in what was originally a more or less arbitrary fashion, we arrive at the academy, the largest educational unit. At the present time there are seventeen academies, each one nominally having a university of its own, and each one administered by a rector. For a brief period in the very middle of the last century there were as many academies as departments, each of these 86 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS with its own rector, but this arrangement, which was not of long duration, gave place in 1854 to the present scheme, most of the displaced rectors being retained as academy in- spectors and niade subordinate to the rector of the academy. These academies to-day vary in size from Paris with nine de- partments and approximately five and three-quarter millions of population to Chamb^ry with only two departments and under seventy-eight thousand inhabitants. At first sight the three degrees of education in France would seem to correspond exactly with the three degrees in America, for they follow a similar nomencla- of Educafiout^ ^^^'^' primary, secondary, and higher, terms that are perfectly familiar to us. It is this very similarity of terms that renders the deception more subtle, and a closer examination of the French system will dissipate some of our preconceived notions. The secondary and the primary systems are not superimposed one upon the other, but rather run along concurrently, for the primary system trenches upon what we call the secondary field, and the secondary system has extended its elementary classes down so that it is paralleling the work of the primary sys- tem. The new program of 1902 attempted to mollify this latter situation somewhat in changing the name of the tenth and ninth forms of the lycdes and colleges to the first and second preparatory classes, in grouping the eighth and seventh forms together in the elementary division and be- ginning secondary instruction proper with the sixth form. Although there have been certain internal modifications, the change thus effected has been more apparent than real. At the same time an attempt was made to modify the parallel- ism between the two systems and to coordinate them so that the primary school course should form a regular preparation for the secondary school,^ but this has thus far failed to real- ize the purpose of its sponsors. As a matter of fact, in most parts of the country comparatively few pupils pass from the 1 Dkret, May 30, 1902, Art. I., Plan d' eludes et programmes d' enseignement dans les lycces et colleges de gargons, 1907-1908, p. xxi. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM 87 primary school to the secondary school save the government scholarship holders who are selected by competitive exam- ination. Although the latter vary in different sections, in 1906 they amoimted to less than two per cent of the total secondary school population.^ " The middle class citizen' puts his child in a lyc^e, not in order to make him a learned man, but in order that his son should not be in the same institution with the son of his servant or his concierge." ^ This may be a rather strong statement, but it contains a good bit of truth, and in the last analysis the motive that sends one boy to the primary school and his neighbor to a secondary school is fundamentally sociological. Just as in New York City, where certain peculiar economic and social conditions have brought about a somewhat similar sit- uatioiL, one boy goes to a private secondary school so called, and another to a public primary school, yet in the elementary classes the courses of study are largely the same. This brings up the mooted question of the real significance of secondary education. Wherein is it differentiated from primary education below and higher education y^hax is above ? Formerly there was general agreement Secondary , ,, .\. c 4 A ^- Education? as to the connotation of secondary education : it unquestionably meant classical education. As the " mod- ern side " subjects fairly broke into the secondary school, we began to weigh our earlier distinctions and to find them wanting. In France the distinction between secondary and primary has always been drawn along purely social lines. Between secondary and higher, originally there was no dif- ferentiation, and now it may roughly be expressed as the difference between cultural and professional, for the great majority of students in the universities to-day are pursuing purely professional courses. In America the distinction seems to rest solely upon a chronological basis. It would appear much more natural to express the difference in psy- 1 Steeg, Rapport sur le budget de Vinstrudion publique de I'exercice, 1908, p. 73. 3 BiLLAZ, in RiBOT, Enquete, II., p. 107. 86 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS with its own rector, but this arrangement, which was not of long duration, gave place in 1854 to the present scheme, most of the displaced rectors being retained as academy in- spectors and made subordinate to the rector of the academy. These academies to-day vary in size from Paris with nine de- partments and approximately five and three-quarter millions of population to Chamb^ry with only two departments and under seventy-eight thousand inhabitants. At first sight the three degrees of education in France would seem to correspond exactly with the three degrees in America, for they follow a similar nomencla- ofEducafioir ^^^^> primaxy, secondary, and higher, terms that are perfectly familiar to us. It is this very similarity of terms that renders the deception more subtle, and a closer examination of the French system will dissipate some of our preconceived notions. The secondary and the primary systems are not superimposed one upon the other, but rather run along concurrently, for the primary system trenches upon what we call the secondary field, and the secondary system has extended its elementary classes down so that it is paralleling the work of the primary sys- tem. The new program of 1902 attempted to mollify this latter situation somewhat in changing the name of the tenth and ninth forms of the lyc^es and colleges to the first and second preparatory classes, in grouping the eighth and seventh forms together in the elementary division and be- ginning secondary instruction proper with the sixth form. Although there have been certain internal modifications, the change thus effected has been more apparent than real. At the same time an attempt was made to modify the parallel- ism between the two systems and to coordinate them so that the primary school course should form a regular preparation for the secondary school,^ but this has thus far failed to real- ize the purpose of its sponsors. As a matter of fact, in most parts of the country comparatively few pupils pass from the 1 Dkret, May 30, 1902, Art. I., Plan d' etudes et programmes d' enseignement da-)is les lycces et colleges de gar<;oHS, 1907-1908, p. xxi. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM 87 primary school to the secondary school save the government scholarship holders who are selected by competitive exam- ination. Although the latter vary in different sections, in 1906 they amoimted to less than two per cent of the total secondary school population.^ " The middle class citizen puts his child in a lyc^e, not in order to make him a learned man, but in order that his son should not be in the same institution with the son of his servant or his concierge." ^ This may be a rather strong statement, but it contains a good bit of truth, and in the last analysis the motive that sends one boy to the primary school and his neighbor to a secondary school is fundamentally sociological. Just as in New York City, where certain peculiar economic and social conditions have brought about a somewhat similar sit- uation, one boy goes to a private secondary school so called, and another to a public primary school, yet in the elementary classes the courses of study are largely the same. This brings up the mooted question of the real significance of secondary education. Wherein is it differentiated from primary education below and higher education what is above ? Formerly there was general agreement Secondary i. ^1- ^\- c J A ^- Education? as to the connotation of secondary education : it unquestionably meant classical education. As the " mod- ern side " subjects fairly broke into the secondary school, we began to weigh our earlier distinctions and to find them wanting. In France the distinction between secondary and primary has always been drawn along purely social lines. Between secondary and higher, originally there was no dif- ferentiation, and now it may roughly be expressed as the difference between cultural and professional, for the great majority of students in the universities to-day are pursuing purely professional courses. In America the distinction seems to rest solely upon a chronological basis. It would appear much more natural to express the difference in psy- 1 Steeg, RappoH sur U budget de V instruction publique del'exercice, 1908, p. 73. 2 BiLLAZ, in RiBOT, Enquete, II., p, 107. 90 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS tion of the portfolio, however, prevents the political charac- ter of the office, with the constant danger of sudden changes of ministry, from reacting harmfully upon the schools. During the thirty-eight years of the Third Eepublic, there have been thirty-seven ministers in power, although the five changes that have occurred since 1898 have been rearrange- ments of the portfolios rather than distinct party mutations. The traditions and the general policy are thoroughly secured by means of the numerous bureaus that in reality take care of the greater part of the business of the department. Save for a few of the higher educational officers who are named by the President of the Eepublic, the Minister directly or indirectly holds the power of appointment and removal over all his subordinates in the educational system. There are nevertheless sufficient safeguards so that no faithful officer may be unjustly discriminated against. The Minister is thus held responsible for the working of his department, and for the execution of the lois of the parliament, and the decrets of the President. The general regulations of his office in elaboration and application of the foregoing lois and decrets are known as arretes, while his special commu- nications to the rectors and prefects for the purpose of clearing up any uncertainty as to the interpretation of the above or in dealing with minor regulations of the service are issued under the name of instructions. To guide him safely through the legal difficulties of the questions that may arise, the Minister has a kind of personal cabinet of lawyers, known as the comitS du Committee ou - . • mi • i, i • j^ • i Litigation, coiitcnticux. Ihis body, sixteen in number, has purely advisory functions, and the Min- ister is under no obligation to consult it, or even to adopt its conclusions after he has consulted it. Composed, how- ever, of eminent lawyers, it renders valuable aid to the Minister who, pressed as he is on all sides, must depend largely on the counsel of his subordinates. Eeference has already been made to the bureaucratic organization of the educational system. There are in all ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM 91 thirty bureaus under the control of the Minister of Public Instruction, and of these seventeen are concerned with strictly educational affairs, distributed as fol- lows : cabinet of the Minister, one bureau ; higher education, five bureaus ; secondary education, five bureaus ; primary education, five bureaus ; and accounts, one bureau. The others are divided among the departments of fine arts, finance, the archives, and public buildings. Each of the three divisions of the educational system is under the control of a director, and these men are the real executive heads of the system. They are all conspicuous for their educational qualifications, for they have gradually made their way up the line, and promotion in France is slow, but merited. The five bureaus under the director of secondary educa- tion are occupied respectively with: (1) inspection, curri- cula, progi-ams, and discipline of secondary Direction of schools for boys and girls, examinations and Secondary scholarships; (2) teaching force of the boys' ^^'^^^tion. lyc^es ; (3) bursars, and financial administration of the boys' lyc^es, construction of boys' secondary schools; (4) teaching force and financial administration of the boys' communal colleges ; (5) teaching force, financial adminis- tration, and construction of girls' secondary schools. These bureaus were all reorganized a few years ago, so that they now represent a more logical and systematic division of function. Wlien we remember that even the minutest de- tails of all the lyc^es in France and Algeria are regulated from the office of the Minister in Paris, we begin to realize what an immense amount of work there is to be done there. In educational circles, at least, France has developed the functions of the advisory council far ahead of us in Amer- ica. The tendency with us for many years was to administer educational affairs through Councir committee control ; when that failed we turned to one man control; and we are but now coming to appre- ciate the advantages of the dovetailing of these two systems. 92 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS In France, the Minister of Public Instruction has his supe- rior council, and his consulting committee of public instruc- tion, while the rector has his university and his academic ^ councils. At the present time the superior council (conscil suijcrieur de Vinstruction jpuhlique) consists of fifty-four members, the majority of whom are elected by their peers. They are drawn from every department of public instruc- tion and form a body of men peculiarly qualified to handle intelligently the important questions that come before them, for they are in active contact with the departments of work which they represent. Aside from the nine members rep- resenting public instruction and the four representing pri- vate institutions that are appointed by the President of the Eepublic, they are all chosen by the teaching force in the various departments of higher, secondary, and primary ^ instruction from among their own colleagues. There are ten representatives of secondary schools ; one for each of the eight orders of agr^gds and two for the communal col- leges. Such is the constitution of this council that what- ever educational discussion may come up, there is at least one member that is vitally interested in its solution. If, for example, the question of cutting down the time for history in the lycdes is broached, the delegate of the his- tory teachers is on the ground and can protect the interests of his own subject ; if there is any attempt to alter the cur- riculum of the ordinary primary schools, there are six repre- sentatives at large to speak for the primary school interests. It may be worth noting, however, that the representation on this council from top to bottom is directly proportional to the academic rank of the work in question and inversely proportional to the number of individuals involved. That is to say, the members of the Institute, which is a compara- tively small body, have five representatives, while the pri- mary schools, whose teachers are counted by the scores of thousands, have only six representatives, and these are 1 Academic here signifips 'beloiigiiig to the academy, in its technical sense. 2 The suffrage in the primary system is decidedly limited. Cf. infra. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM 93 chosen from among and by the principals of the primary normal schools, and all the various inspectors that are attached to the primary system. This council has only two regular meetings per year, the bulk of the work being put into shape for the consideration of the full body by a sub-committee known as the permanent section. The nine presidential appointees together with six other members chosen by the Minister make up this perma- nent section. Among its duties are : (1 ) to study the pro- grams and the regulations before these are submitted to the whole council; (2) to give advice on the creation of faculties, lycdes, colleges, primary normal schools; on the foundation, change, or supervision of chairs ; on books which ought to be kept out of the public schools as texts, as library books, or as prizes ; and finally on all questions of studies, adminis- tration, discipline, and school affahs in general, that the Minister may refer to it. The powers of the council are administrative, judicial, and disciplinary. The Minister may consult the council on any matter he chooses, but upon the more vital questions of programs, methods of instruction, conduct of examinations, and administrative and disciplinary regulations that apply to the public schools, he can make no valid regulation without first submitting the question to them for discussion, and he is obliged to follow their recommendations.^ The jurisdiction of the council also covers the questions of the general regulation of examinations and the conferring of degrees ; it decides upon books, whether texts for general reading, or as prizes, that should be excluded from private schools as being contrary to good morals, the Constitution, and the law; it passes upon the applications of foreigners to teach in, to open, or to direct a school. The council is furthermore the final court of appeal against the judgments of the university, the academic, and the departmental coun- cils in matters of contention or discipline. The acts of the 1 Loi, Feb. 27, 1880, Gr^ard, La legislation de I' instruction primaire en France, V., p. 129. 94 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS council are issued in the name of the Minister, but with the legend corresponding to our " with the advice and consent of the council." The consulting committee (comitS consultatif) is a body whose functions, like those of the committee on litigation, are purely advisory. In reality it consists of Committee ^^''^^ec separate committees representing each of the three degrees of education. The secondary section is made up of the general inspectors of secondary schools, the general inspector of modern languages, the vice- rector of the Academy of Paris, the director of the higher normal school, and the director of secondary education. This section is not kept so busy as the primary section, for the former's functions are practically confined to advising the Minister on changes, promotions, and other questions affecting the teaching force of the secondary schools, but when one remembers that this body in the boys' lyc^es alone is considerably more than five thousand strong, even this is no small task. Surrounded as he is by advisory boards, the French Min- ister of Public Instruction would seem to have little oppor- tunity for the exercise of his own initiative. ^MMste?^ There is more or less truth in this criticism, but it requires a remarkable man to do more, and since the days of Victor Duruy and Jules Simon there have been few such. The Minister is essentially a politician in the better sense of the word. He is chosen not for any peculiar fitness for, nor for any particular interest in educa- tional affairs, but primarily for the strength he will bring to the cabinet. When he has done that for which he was chosen, when he has defended the government on the floor of the senate or the chamber, when he has fought for his budget in the deliberations of the cabinet and later before the parliament, when he has presided over the numerous bodies of which he is president, when he has made the scores of speeches at political and other gatherings that are demanded of him, and when he has performed the thousand ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM 95 and one duties that devolve upon him, he may be excused if he follows the advice of his counsellors and mechanically approves the papers that are put before him for his signature. It is one of the weaknesses of the French administrative sys- tem that too much of the time of the higher officials is taken up with petty details that might just as well be performed by trustworthy and qualified subordinates. By means of the general inspectors, four for science, seven for letters, three for modern languages, and two for accounts, the Minister is able to keep in reasonably close touch with the progress of secondary educa- ^ General •1 1,1 , ^ ,. Inspectors, tion throughout the country. On account of the multitudinous routine duties that he has to perform, this is unfortunately done in a more or less perfunctory fashion. These general inspectors are men of a high order of intelli- gence and ability, but under the present practice they are left to work somewhat alone. Under Minister Duruy there was a very definite attempt to unify the work of these in- spectors. ^ He called them together every fall before they left on their tours of inspection and gave them specific direc- tions for the work of that particular year. Since his time, however, the custom has been more honored in the breach than in the observance. It is rather unfortunate that this is the case, for with only fourteen inspectors and about four hundred and fifty schools to be visited at least once each year, no one institution can receive much attention. The frequent changes of district, it being the policy not to have an inspector visit the same schools more than two years in succession at the most, render the need of careful direc- tion all the more acute, for the inspector is thus unable to carry out any systematic policy for improving the effect- iveness of the teaching corps. Nevertheless, it must be ad- mitted that the teachers with whom these inspectors come in contact are on the whole an unusually efficient set of individuals. 1 Lavisse, Testimony before the Parliamentary Commission, in Ribot, Enquete, I., p. 35. 96 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Leaving the central authorities at Paris we come to the rectors, one for each of the seventeen academies. The rector necessarily holds the doctor's degree, and he is appointed by the President of the Kepublic on recommendation of the Minister. The latter is the titu- lary rector of the Academy of Paris, the actual duties being performed by an official known as the vice-rector, although the importance and the responsibilities of this latter are far greater than those of the heads of the other academies who bear the title of rector. The rector is the chief officer of all the educational institutions of his academy, responsible for the proper functioning of the most remote primary school as well as for directing the work of the university that is situated at the academy seat. In the main the faculties engross the major part of his personal attention, the second- ary schools being turned over to the academy inspectors, and the elementary schools to the primary inspectors who are under the immediate direction of the academy inspectors. By means of monthly reports to the Minister, the rector keeps the latter in close touch with the local educational situation, and in case of difficulty he asks for specific instructions. He is the medium of communication between the Minister and the public schools. All the ministerial circulars are ad- dressed directly to the rectors and are transmitted by them through the academy inspectors to the proper lower authori- ties. Even the humblest servant of the educational system has the right to address a communication to the Minister, but in every case it must follow the line of the educational hierarchy, and the response will retrace the same devious path. Every year the financial reports with the proposed budgets for the ensuing year for the various public institu- tions of superior or secondary instruction are sent to the rector and he transmits them with his comments to the Min- ister. The rector is president ex officio of the administrative board of each lyc6e and college in his academy, and he has the entire power of appointment and removal over the pro- bationary tutors of these schools. He is required to visit, ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM 97 either at first hand or else through the medmm of the acad- emy inspector, the private schools of his academy once a year, but this inspection is limited to the fields of hygiene and morals. The diversity of the work, covering the whole gamut of educational activity from university president to city school superintendent, is thus seen to make large de- mands upon the rectors, but they are all picked men, chosen alike for intellectual attainments and executive ability, and in the main they acquit themselves well of their tasks. The rector is able profoundly to influence the effectiveness of the whole school system. If he is a progressive man that is will- ing to accept new ideas, or better still if he is fecund enough to originate them himself, the educational activities of the academy expand beyond the ordinary old-time limits of schoolroom influence. As instances of this progressive spirit, one might cite the summer course that has been given for the last few years in Paris for gymnastic teachers, and the lectures on puericulture and infant hygiene that were inaugurated last year (1908) in the Academy of Lille. In this latter academy, the schools will average up well with those of Paris, if. indeed, they do not surpass them in some points. Reference has already been made to the fact that each of the higher administrative officers of the school sys- tem has his advisory councils. The rector has two, the university council and the acad- ^cademic emic council. The attributions of the former are restricted to superior education; hence they need not concern us further. The academic council on the other hand, although formerly possessing jurisdiction over the three degrees of education, is now almost exclusively occupied with secondary education. In spite of its change of function, the character of the membership has remained substantially unmodified for nearly thirty years. The mem- bers are of three sorts, ex officio, elective, and appointive. The first of these include the rector, the academy inspectors, the deans of the faculties, and the directors of the higher schools 7 98 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS or the preparatory schools for superior instruction ; ^ the sec- ond, a professor chosen from among and by the regular teach- ing force of each of the above faculties or schools, two professors of letters and two of science representing the ly- c^e, and one of letters and one of science representing the colleges, chosen under like conditions; the third, a head master of a lyc^e, a principal of a college, and two members selected from the general councils of the departments, and two from the municipal councils that contribute to the ex- penses of superior or secondary education, — all these six mem- bers receiving their appointments from the Minister. There are two interesting features about the composition of this council as contrasted with that of the superior council : first, that it contains no representative of primary instruction, and second, that it reckons among its membership four represen- tatives from political life. The method of ministerial ap- pointment, however, precludes the likelihood of these latter members being mere political workers, and it emphasizes again the influence of the centralized character of the educa- tional system, suggesting that in many respects France is yet far from being a pure representative government. Eepresen- tatives of the people are chosen, to be sure, but they are often as in this case " selected " representatives. The powers and duties of the academic council with refer- ence to secondary education within the academy are very similar to those of the superior council for all of France. They are administrative, judicial, and disciplinary. On the administrative side, they deal with regulations relative to lyc^es and communal colleges, with the budgets and the financial reports from these institutions, with all administra- tive and disciplinary questions that the Minister chooses to submit to it, and finally it reports annually on the public secondary schools, and the advisable changes to be instituted 1 These two latter classes of schools embrace the superior schools of phar- macy, and of medicine and pharmacy, the preparatory schools for medicine and pharmacy, and the preparatory schools for higher instruction in the faculties of arts and science. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM 99 therein. In judicial and disciplinary matters, it pronounces the suspension of secondary teachers for more than a year with partial or total loss of salary, it revokes temporarily or permanently their right to teach, and it has power to au- thorize the opening of private secondary schools. The superior council is the final court of appeal in these ques- tions. The council has two regular meetings per year, one just before the summer vacation, and the other just after the opening of the school year. At the first the reports of the previous year are examined, and at the second the budget for the next is considered. The precautions taken to shut out annoying discussions are interesting, and are rather typical of the educational procedure in France. At the opening of each session the rector distributes a schedule of the business to be taken up, and if a member wishes to sub- mit a proposition for discussion he must send it in writing to the rector before the meeting. The latter refers it to the proper committee, and this committee reports to the rector whether the matter should be taken up immediately, should be postponed until a later session, or should be considered at all. Inasmuch as the rector is an ex officio member of each committee, he is thus a powerful factor in "guiding" the action of the council, and he has ample opportunity to kill a bothersome question in committee. Although by force of circumstances, the academy inspector is compelled to devote the greater part of his time to the primary schools, yet in the field of secondary education he is the personal representative of i^g^gctor the rector. There are ninety-eight academy inspectors, at least one for each department except Haut Ellin, which so far as secondary inspection is concerned is joined to Doubs. In the departments of the Nord and the Bouches-du-Ehone where the population is considerably congested by reason of the cities of Lille and Marseille, there is an additional inspector who devotes all his time to the primary schools, and has practically the powers and 100 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS duties of our city superintendent of schools. The corre- sponding inspector at Paris bears the title of " director of primary instruction for the department of the Seine," but his functions are so specialized that he can hardly be considered as an academy inspector. In this same department there are seven other inspectors who are under the exclusive authority of the rector, and two of this number are wholly occupied with public secondary schools. From the academy inspector down, the appointment of the personnel of sec- ondary education rests with the Minister, but these positions are so fortified by examinations and service qualifications, that there is small chance of incompetents receiving the appointments, even if there were any desne to bestow them upon favorites. Theoretically the academy inspectors may be chosen from the executive officers or the upper grade teachers in the secondary schools, or from the primary in- spectors, in either case with the additional requirement of the master's degree or ten years of educational service, but in practice the choice is made from the lyc^e teachers who are agr^g^s. Kecent legislation ^ has attempted still further to assure the competence of the academy inspectors, for now nobody may receive a permanent appointment unless he has served for a probationary period of not less than two years. The effectiveness of this legislation will become apparent when the Minister refuses to make some of these provisional appoLQtments permanent. There are those who doubt seri- ously whether this will be done. Experience alone can furnish the answer. As was stated above, in the depart- ment of secondary education the academy inspector is the right-hand man of the rector, inspecting for him, presiding for him at the meetings of the administrative boards of the lyc^es and colleges, sending him annual reports on the ad- ministrative officers and the teaching force of these schools, especially keeping him informed on the relations between 1 Dicrct, July 10, 1906, WissEMANS, Code dc V enseignement secondaire, p. 235. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF SYSTEM 101 the municipalities and the schools, and acting as a trans- mitting agent and general intermediary between the rector and the subordinate officers of the public school system in all official communications. The academy inspector really occupies one of the most important positions in the educa- tional field. He reflects the policy of the rector and so of the central authority on the one hand, and yet in the exer- cise of his inspectorate duties he comes into personal contact with the rank and file of the teaching bod}^, and is likewise in position to feel the popular pulse. It must be recog- nized that by spu-it and training he is far more competent to deal with and improve the work of the secondary schools than to act as director of the primary schools, and it would seem as though the prevailing practice of choosing these in- spectors from the teaching force of the lyc^es would not be for the best interests of the elementary schools. Such is the administrative organization of the French secondary school system, essentially bureaucratic, and excessively centralized. Inasmuch as the ,, .^ „ ,, TA • 1 1 1 1 111. Merits 01 the Pans schools are taken as the standard, this French centralization has been of immense assistance Organization, to the provincial schools, and it is certainly true that the extreme variation in the character of these French schools is far less than it is in the United States. To be sure there is more homogeneity among the French people than there is with us, and the degree of centralization that prevails there would be absolutely impossible on this side of the ocean, nevertheless it is perfectly patent that a wise amount of centralization, if it only established a uniform standard of teaching qualifications, would go far toward raising the general level of our secondary institutions. In France there is one standard for the same grade of teacher all over the country, the qualifications for the inspectors are every- where the same, and these two things are significant forces in bringing about a uniform excellence of schools. It must be admitted, however, that this centralization has been carried to an extreme. Too little is left to the discretion of 102 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the head master and principals, for even the slightest details are regulated from Paris. The ideal would seem to lie somewhere between the excessive centralization of the French and the extreme decentralization of the American school system. CHAPTEE VI THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE TEACHING FORCE OF THE SCHOOLS Shortly after the Eevolution, the French national gov- ernment assumed the responsibility not only of directing, but also of supporting institutions of secondary learning. It naturally established these in Schools, the larger centres of population. The more progressive of the smaller communities that were not able to secure a government school were encouraged to found similar but less pretentious schools at their own expense. The public secondary schools thus fall into two general categories, the lyc^es and the colleges. The former are state schools pure and simple, being established, directed, inspected, and financed by the central government or its accredited representatives. " The establishments of the same nature, founded and supported by the communes, under the surveillance and direction of the State " ^ are called colleges. In this latter case, practically all the expense falls upon the community, save for the assistance that may be given by the department, and the subsidies granted by the central government. The national budget of 1908 carried an aggregate appropriation of upwards of seven millions of francs for that purpose.^ In 1907, there were one himdred and ten boys' and forty-two girls' lyc^es, and two hundred and thirty-two boys' and fifty-three girls' col- leges.^ Every city that wants a lyc^e must provide the site, 1 Decret, Feb. 25, 1860, Art. 1, Recueil des Mglements relatifs d Venseigne- ment secondaire, p. 27. 2 Budget general dc Vexercice, 1908. l*"* sectimi, p. 299 et seq. 8 Annuaire de lajeunesse, 1907. 104 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the building and the equipment, and assure the continuance of the funds necessary to their support. The State, however, looks out for the other running expenses. In order to establish a college, the community must do all this, and in addition must guarantee the salaries of the principal and the teaching force for at least ten years. In consideration of this agreement the State will often advance the money for construction purposes. Although these two classes of schools are nominally of equal rank, in practice the lyc^e is distinctly of a superior type. But there are exceptions to every rule and much depends upon the individual institution. For example, the two municipal colleges maintained by the city of Paris are probably far ahead of most of the provincial lyc^es, and in some respects they surpass even the lyc^es of the capital. In regard to the course of study and the method of the appointment of teachers, the colleges are subject to exactly the same restrictions as are the lyc^es. Each institution has its own board of government ^ with the rector, the academy inspector, the prefect or the sub- prefect, the mayor and the head of the school Government. ^^ ^*' officio members, and seven ^ other mem- bers, one of whom must be a professor in the lyc^e, appointed by the Minister for a term of four years. (In the case of a college, these appointive members are four in number.) The rector is the president ex officio of every board of government whether in a lyc^e or a college of his academy, but the academy inspector ordinarily has to take his place. The powers and duties of these boards are confined exclusively to the exter7ui of the school affairs, questions of curriculum, interior discipline, and the person- nel being specifically excluded from their deliberations. They inspect and direct the material administration of the 1 Decret, Jan. 20, 1886, Arts. 1-13, Recueil cit., pp. 29-35. 2 The addition of a teacher in the school as a seventh member of tlie gov- erning board was made in November, 1908. See dicrct, Nov. 25, 1908, Bull. adm., 1908, II., p. 928. ADMINISTRATION AND TEACHING FORCE 105 schools, satisfy themselves by the personal visitation of their own delegates once a month that the hygienic condi- tion and the nourishment furnished the pupils are up to the standard, and have general oversight of the installation and equipment of the buildings. They audit the accounts of the bursar, examine the budget proposed by the head of the school, and pass upon its provisions before transmitting it to the rector. The extreme centralization of the school system is again forcibly illustrated by the fact that the deliberations of the boards of administration of the com- munal colleges are effective only after they have been ap- proved by the Minister on the recommendation of the rector. To Americans this would seem an unwarranted interference on the part of the central government, but it is mainly a precautionary measure, and serves to safeguard the standard and the efficiency of the communal colleges. In each lyc^e there are three general administrative offi- cers, the provmur, or head master, who is responsible for the proper functioning of the school in all its de- partments; the censeur, or censor, a kind of Master, sub-master who is in charge of the discipline of the pupils both in and out of the classrooms ; and the econome, or bursar, a kind of combination chief steward, treasurer, and general financial agent of the institution. Since the reform legislation of 1902, all the new head masters have been agregcs, ^ save for a few promoted from among the censors, who, having reached their positions while a lower standard of academic qualifications prevailed, were assumed to have acquired a sort of vested right to advancement without being held to conform to the additional requirements. Unfortunately the head master is merely an administrative officer with little real power of his own. Most of his time is taken up with an enormous number of details, with fur- nishing information to his superiors, with examining the reports from all the pupils in the school which the censor 1 Decret, May 31, 1902, Art. 2, "VVissEMANS, Code dc V cjiseiynemcnt secon- daire, p. 164. 106 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS submits to him every morning, and with receiving visits from the parents. One of the parliamentary critics in 1899 declared that the head master was " a cliief that had neither stability of tenure in any given lyct^e, nor powers, nor ini- tiative ; that he had only the semblance of authority ; that whereas he ought to be everything in the lyct^e, he was al- most nothing." ^ M. Kibot, the chairman of the commission, dubbed him an official who " passed all his time like a Min- ister, in grantmg audiences." ^ The head master of one of the big Paris lyc^es thus characterized some of his own difficulties : " I see my professors and tutors as often as I can, but if I should devote one minute a day to each one, it would take me three consecutive hours. ... I receive the families, for it is one of the exigencies of the lyc^e. There are about thirty thousand visits a year. I receive from half past eight in the morning until noon, and from two until six." ^ Small wonder is it then that the head master when once he is promoted from the professorate practically cuts himself off from direct contact with the real educational work of his school. He is relieved from all class teaching, and, by tradition and force of circumstances, he is essen- tially an administrative director rather than an educational leader. For this very reason some of the best of the pro- fessors refuse promotion to the head mastership, for the advancement seems to them more apparent than real. As a matter of fact, save for the occasions when he goes to the various class rooms to read the standing of the pupils or to announce the quarterly marks, the head master's visits to his classes are almost as rare as the inspector's, and so far as I was able to find out his directing of the work of the school is all done at long range, so to speak. This is undoubtedly the best solution possible, for it is rather rare to find the professors looking up to their head master as their intellectual superior. As more than one of them said to me, 1 Eaibeuti, Jiegime dcslycies, p. 55, in Enquctc, VI. * KiEOT, Eiiquite Introduction genirale, VI., p. 10. 8 FouRTEAU, in Enqiicte, I., p. 565. ADMINISTRATION AND TEACHING FORCE 107 " As far as academic distinctions are concerned, many of the head masters are not our equals, nor even do they represent the best of the professors. I do not know that my own pro- viseur is competent to criticize my work." There is even more justification for this feeling on the part of the science teachers when the head master happens to be a classicist, as is usually the case. The head masters hold the regular teacliers' meetings required by the regulations, but it is the exception rather than the rule to find, as I found at Lille, one who gathered once in three months the teachers in every department or group of allied subjects to discuss pedagogical questions of vital importance. The head master there was keen enough to appreciate his own shortcomings and took pains previously to inform himself thoroughly on all points that were likely to come up at a given session. Thus although himself a former classical teacher he was able to take intelligent part in discussions affecting the progress of the science divisions. In the main, then, all the expert inspection in the secondary schools is turned over to the academy inspectors, and the real educational progress of the institution depends upon the teachers rather than upon the head master. Although the censor ranks next to the head master and discharges his duties in case of temporary incapacity, he is a sub-master with certain very special functions. He looks after the resident pupils when they go to bed and when they rise ; he looks after them at their meals ; he supervises their recreations, both within and with- out the lyc^e ; he is the immediate superior of the study room masters ; he is always in the courtyard at the opening of the sessions, and the laggards have to seek cards fi'om him before going to their class rooms. In a word he is a regular disci- pline master. Furthermore he is a general medium of com- munication between the head master and the school. The marks are turned in to him every night, and he reports to the head of the school in the morning on the general condi- tion of the lyc^e, transmitting to him the record of each boy lOS FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS as it came in for llie previous day. I'lie post of censor at Paris is generally considered more desirable than that of head master in the provincial towns, and not a few of the censors at the capital have come up in this fashion. The de])aiiment of the bursar, cconome, is quite distinct from tlie teaching force of the school. The bursar receives the fees, provides the fcjod and supplies, arranges the menus, and acts as a general iinancial agent. He is also a veritable superintendent of buildings and grounds, and so has charge of all the domestics on the premises. In one of the less im[)ortant lycces of Paris, the bursar lias no fewer than forty servants under his control. So in addition to being a good acct)initant, he must also possess considerable executive ability. The bursarship thus constitutes a career in itself. The regular progress of advancement begins with the tutor, and passes thence through the grades of book- keeper and assistant bursar. The teaching force proper of the lyc^es includes : ^ (1) Tho professors and the acting professors in charge of the classes; these are tho teachers down through tho sixth form ; (2) tho professors of the elementary classes, tho teachers of tho seventh and eighth forms ; (3) tho primary teachers, in the two years of tlie prej)aratory division and tlie beginning class (dasse enfanUm') ; (4) the professors and acting professors of drawing ; (5) tho ])rofessors of gymnastics ; and (6) tlie laboratory assistants. No one may be appointed a regular professor unless he is twenty-tive years old, has been live years in the educational „ , service of the State, and holds the title of aqreqe. Teachers. The acting professors in charge of classes re- ceive their a]ipointments only when there is a lack of acjrfycs for the i)ositions in question. They are required to hold only the master's degree in letters or science, or one of the certifi- 1 GoBRON, Ligislation d jurisprudence dc I' enscigncmcnt jniblic et dc ten- seignemcnt priv6 en Fraiice et en Algerie, ed. 1900, p. 510. ADMINISTRATION AND TEACHING FORCE J 09 cates for teacliing modern languages, and academically, at least, form a class distinctly inferior to the ayrejSs. Most of tliejii at first look forward to the agrcyation and a regular professorship, but after several failures to pass the c(jnipeti- tive examination they apparently accept the inevitaljle, and settle down. Their salary is five hundred francs less than tliat of an agreye doing exactly similar work, and it is not so easy for them to gravitate toward Paris, the Mecca of most French teachers. The professors of the elementary classes in the lyc(5es must hold the master's degree or a special certificate for teaching in these elementary classes. The men and women primary teachers are taken from the members of the teaching force of the primary system that hold the highest gi'ade certificates in that system. They re- ceive the same salary and continue to hold the same rights and privileges as though they were still attached to a regular primary school. The possession of the certificate for teach- ing English or German enables them to add three hundred francs per year to their salaries. Professors and acting pro- fessors of drawing nmst hold respectively the higher and the elementaiy cei'tificate for teaching that suljject. Tlie lal^ora- tory assistants (prcparateurs) for the science work nuist hold the master's degree in science. The French title is much more descriptive oi the character of the duties of these men than is the Englisli equivalent, for they are real " preparers " for the laboratory work. The French laboratory is quite bereft of all movable e({uipment, tlie Bunsen burner being about the only exception to this statement. Consequently, the apparatus and supplies for every laboratory period have to bo assembled in the general laboratory and brought in to the student tables. Besides this, the preparaUur per- forms the duties of an ordinary laboratory assistant during the class period. In one of the lycdes of Paris, which is especially devoted to scientific instruction, tliere are no fewer than four of these assistants, and they are all kept busy. The regular professors are tlie backbone of the French no FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS secondary system. Notwithstanding all the criticism to which the schools have been subjected, liardly a voice has been raised against the teachers. They are as fine a body ^ ^ of men as one is likely to find, and from the 1 roiGssors standpoint of academic qualifications, at least, are not to be surpassed. Certainly our American teachers are not serious rivals. One reason for this, perhaps, is that in France teaching is a profession; it is never the stepping stone to business or to anotlier profession. A man takes it up seriously as a life work. The preparation is long, and the competition strenuous, so that once he has put his liand to the i)low, he cannot afford to turn back. Many fall by the wayside, but once the goal is attained, the honor is large, the teniu'e is secure, and a retiring pension is assured. With us in America, we may fairly say that the tenure is reasonably secure, but for the very great majority of our secondary teachers the honor and the pension are still to be attained. From our own point of view, the French secondary teacher is lacking in personal sympathy with his pupils, or at least from the manifestation of it. He meets tliem only in the class room, iand altliough tlie Frencli educational writers are constantly contrasting education and instruction and are continually emphasizing the former, as far as my own observation goes, the French teacher devotes himself almost exclusively to developing the intellect of his pupils. It must be admitted that he succeeds in this task. In the lecture room he throws himself heart and soul into his class work, but outside he jealously guards his time as his own, and usually devotes it to his professional advance- ment. This, together with the very exclusive character of the French family life, explains why it is so rare that tlie professors can be induced to take secondary pu})ils into their homes. Thvis they never come into the same personal contact with their pupils that we find in the great English ])iiblic schools and at the corresponding American schools, such as Andover, Exeter, and Lawrenceville. Indeed, sucli relations would be beneath the dignity of the French pro- ADMINISTRATION AND TEACHING FORCE 111 fessor. This forces the employment of tutors and surveil- lants in the schools. There is a carefully arranged schedule of maximum work hours of service for each class of professors.^ In the depart- ment of the Seine and at Versailles the teachers of higher mathematics are liable for ten hours ; the other mathematics teachers and the upper form teachers, from twelve to four- teen hours ; tlie modern language teachers and the teachers of other than science subjects from the second tln-ough the sixth form, fifteen hours ; and the elementary teachers, nine- teen hours. The acting professors under fifty years of age are retpiired to teach one hour more than the regular pro- fessors doing the same work. Furthermore, every one must hold himself ready to give two hours additicmal, but for tliis lie receives extra remuneration. This supplement is always required from the higher mathematics teachers, and usually from the others. In the provincial lycdes, the same general conditions prevail save tliat the maximum weekly service runs one or two hours higher. In Paris, particularly, where the living expenses are heavy, the professors are often glad of the opportunity to put in even extra supplementary hoiu's. This works to the mutual advantage of the Ministry and tlie individual, for it saves the appointment of additional teachers, and enables the strong and vigorous men to add appreciably to their incomes. The surveillance of the pupils and the supervision of tlie study periods are (piite divorced from the class work. The general surveillant is an assistant to the censor, and relieves him of much of the yard super- vision. The bulk of the surveillance duties falls to the lot of the tutors {rrpHiteurs). These are of two orders, the pro- bationers and the regulars. The probationers are appointed by the rector for a period of three months. At the end of that time, if their work has been satisfactory, they receive a regular appointment from the Minister. These tutors with regular appointments fall into two grades ; those that come 1 ArrCti, Aug. 25, 1902, Wi.sskmans, op. ciL, p. 97. 112 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS up in llie way just described and hold the master's degree, and those that have been promoted from similar positions in the colleges and that hold only the bachelor's degree. We have nothing in our school system that is at all comparable to the work of these men. It is mainly supervision of study periods, although there is a little hearing of lessons, and a good deal of police duty. The tutors are responsible for the conduct of the boys and the maintenance of good discipline from ten o'clock in the morning until dinner time. There is a tutor in every study room (salle d'etudes). He supervises the study period, directs the work of the pupils, sees that they do their tasks neatly, that their lessons are properly prepared, and he transmits regularly to the censor and to their professors, marks on their study room work. He may even be assigned to give outside instruction to individual pupils under the direction of the regular teacher. The tutor certainly occupies an unenviable place. Every one probably entered his present position with the hope of making it a stepping stone to something higher, eventually of reaching a professorship, but nearly all of them have been doomed to disappointment. As one of them said to me : " Here I am in Paris within two hundred yards of the university, and my time is so taken up at the lyc^e that I have no leisure to attend lectures or even to advance my scholarship." And this was a young man only sliglitly over thirty years of age. One of the reports of the Parliamentary Commission con- tinues the story : " Out of 1,574 tutors in the lyc^es, 238 have less than five years of service ; 475 have from five to ten years; 764 from ten to twenty years; 97 have more than twenty years. Out of the same number, 531 are between twenty and thirty years of age ; 973 between thirty and forty; 109 between forty and fifty; and 111 between fifty and sixty. In other words, nearly two thirds of the tutors are already passed thirty years of age, and almost half of them have spent more than ten years in the service. Out of 1,574 tutors in the lyc<5es and 745 in the colleges, 2,319 in all, only 90 left during the year 1898-1899 either tlirougli ADMINISTRATION AND TEACHING FORCE 113 promotion or resignation or retirement. . . . They are either too yomig or too old ; if young, they are thinking only of their examinations ; if old, they have become embittered and discouraged." ^ Below the tutors are the ordinary surveillants, commonly known as the dormitory surveillants. These are chiefly young men that already possess the bachelor's degree and are carrying on their studies surveillants. in the higher faculties. They are not even classed in the regular force, but are selected and dismissed at the will of the head master. Tlie position is a good one for a student, for since he is ordinarily on duty only from seven o'clock at night until eight o'clock in the morning, he is able to support himself while he is study- ing and yet have a good working day at his own disposal. He sleeps in the dormitory where he can keep an eye on the boys, although he has a section that is at least curtained off from the rest of the room, and he is re- sponsible for seeing that everything goes well during the night. He likewise has charge of the boys during the first study period of the day, which comes before breakfast. In the university centres the recruitment of these dormitory surveil- lants is a simple matter, for the large numbers of students in the various faculties furnish the head masters with a supply of available young men far in excess of any pos- sible demand. Outside the university towns, however, the situation often presents considerable difficulty. There de- pendence has to be placed upon young men sometimes just fresh from the lyc^es themselves, who are able to prepare for some higher examination without following any regular lectures, together with occasional assistance obtained from the younger unmarried tutors. In many cases the dormitory surveillant is so youthful as to be in almost as much need of supervision as the boys over whom he is appointed. He is thus but little more than a monitor. In one school that I visited, the dormitories 1 Raiberti, Eigime des lycie, pp. 96-98, in EnquSte, VI. 114 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS were locked for the night, and ordinary egress was im- possible for the surveillant as well as for the boys. A key was enclosed in a glass wall box beside each exit for use only in emergency cases. The whole arrangement is a decidedly questionable contrivance, but it serves to indicate the measure of authority these surveillants enjoy as well as the amount of confidence reposed in them. It is amazing to us to see how many persons it requires to run a French lyc^e. In one of the Paris schools which has about 950 pupils enrolled, divided as Reqiifed!^ f oUows : boarding pupils 100; half boarders 250, that is, pupils that remain at the school from the opening in the morning untO. seven o'clock at night — these have the midday meal and a light luncheon in the middle of the afternoon at the school, and have the study room privileges of the boarding pupils ; day pupils that study at the school under supervision 80 ; and or- dinary day pupils 520 ; there are ninety-nine different persons in the administrative, teaching, and surveillance departments. This includes the bursar and his two assist- ants, but takes no account of the attendants under his direction, nor of the dormitory surveillants. It is safe to count on at least fifty domestics in this school. Of course, some of these are required exclusively on account of the boarding pupils and the half boarders, but when all allowances have been made the number seems rather formidable. From the head down, the standard of qualification of the personnel of the colleges in the main is distinctly inferior to that of the lyc^es, although the SrcoUe^ °s colleges are held to the same general pro- gram and are expected to do the same work. The reorganization of the secondary school system, in 1902, raised the minimum qualifications for these col- lege positions somewhat. Henceforth the new principals will be required to hold the master's degree or else to have been a regular professor in a college or an acting ADMINISTRATION AND TEACHING FORCE 115 professor in a lycde.^ In the municipal colleges, the duties of the censor, where there is occasion for such an official, are almost invariably discharged by a general sur- veillant. In many of the smaller schools one or more of the prafessors are designated to perform such functions. The professors of the colleges are divided into three orders. The first includes the agreges, those that hold the master's degi-ee, one of the special certificates for teaching in secondary schools or the diploma of the old Cluny normal school ; the second the holders of the simple bachelor's degree ; the third, the holders of the higher diploma (brevet supSricur) and the certificate of teaching ability {certificat cV aptitude pedago- gique ). ^ As in the lyc^es the tutors are divided into two groups, the probationers and the regulars. The former, simple bachelors, are appoiuted by the rector for a year's trial, and then if satisfactory they receive a ministerial appointment. Holders of the master's degree are relieved from this period of probation.^ The decree of December 28, 1903, * went a long way toward simplifying the very complex division into classes of the various grades of functionaries in the classes of secondary school system. Save for a few of Teachers and . the tutors and a small group of professors Pron^otion. agreges, all the functionaries of every order in the boys' and girls' lycdes and colleges are uniformly divided into six classes. Every new appointee begins in the lowest class of his order. At least two years of service are re- quired in the sixth class before the individual is eligible for promotion to the fifth; in the fifth class the minimum service is three years ; in the fourth class, four years ; and in the third and second classes , five years each. These minima are reduced one year in each case for the func- tionaries of the lyc^es of Paris and Versailles, for the 1 DScret, May 31, 1902, Art. 2, Wissemans, op. cit., p. 164. 2 D&cret, June 27, 1892, Arts. 1-2, ibid., p. 93. 8 Decret, Aug. 28, 1891, Arts. 10-11, ibid., pp. 83-84. * Wissemans, op. cit., pp. 189-190. 116 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS censors and the bursars of the lyc^es, and for the princi- pals of the colleges, and for the directresses and bursars of the girls' lyc^es. There are furthermore some mmor modifications on account of age. For the classes below tlie second, promotions are made, one half by reason of length of service, and one half from choice; for the sec- ond and the first classes, one third on the basis of ser- vice, and two thirds on choice.^ The table on page 117 based upon the decree of 1910 shows the salary schedule for the staff of the boys' lycdes and colleges. The head masters of the lycdes are classed as regular pro- fessors, and they are promoted under the same conditions. For their work as directors they receive from 2,000 to 4,000 francs per year extra, but the average of all such salaries must not exceed 3,0U0 francs.^ Under this schedule, the maximum salary for the head masters is 13,500 francs in Paris and 11,200 francs in the departments. Furthermore, tlie head master is given an apartment in the lycee and has a certain annual allowance of wood and oil. The censors, bursars, and general surveillants likewise have their lodgings at the schools and smaller allowances of the same nature for heating and lighting. In the case of the head master these amount to thirteen steres of wood and seventy-five kilograms of oil per annum. In Paris and Seine-et-Oise the censors receive either 8,000 or 9,000 francs, aside from the 500 francs bonus for the agrcgation. The bursars in the same lycdes are likewise grouped together and receive cD>o iO"0-t<^-*ico sassTJio -a5>>^ -^^>>> I asi 3 S 3 'E )ua 8- ui am JB as dj( s^aauiiJBdap > [BIOUIAOJJ II •3 2! O ID g^:2 g a gl il III? J:: ^ 2 p ^' 24 c^ OJ i & t •5 5 s c .3 ■« o o g 1 ?■ § :3 8 a ■§ S M ■^ ^ ■3 ^ UJ tj '^ § a •5 I 1 a § 1 1 S^ *^ c 1 1 il ^a o c 1- 'A ^ c^. -- 5 8 118 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS receipts, aud one tenth of one per cent on sums in excess of 200,000 francs. In noting the very small amounts paid the tutors in the colleges, it must be borne in mind that these men have their board and lodging at the school. The value of this is officially reckoned at 1,000 francs per year. By reason of the generosity of the municipal councils of Lyon and Marseille, the salaries of the lycce staffs of these two cities range from two hundred to seven hundred francs per year liigher than in the other provincial lycdes.^ Bordeaux and Lille did likewise (1913). In every case the salary is attached to the class and does not bear any relation to the school per se. Thus a teacher may be transferred from a small lyc^e in the south to a large lyc^^e in the extreme north or vice versa, yet his salary will not necessarily be affected in the least. If he is brouglit to l*aris, however, he falls into another category and benefits considerably thereby. It re(pdres only a glance at the fore- going scliedule to see how desirable the Paris appointments are. The salary of tlie regular professors of even the sixth class at Paris, including, of course, their agrcgation bonus, is ecpial to that of a principal of a provincial college of the first class. All of these salaries seem remarkably low from our point of view. After making due allowance for the rent, 13,500 francs, the very highest salary of the head mas- ter of a Paris lyc<3e, does not compare at all favorably with the salaries of the principals of the high schools in New York and our other large cities.^ Eemember, too, that the French head master, even under the most fortunate combina- tion of circumstances possible, cannot reach his maximum 1 D^crd, May 8, 1904, Wissemans, o?). cit., pp. 196-197. 2 Comparing the figures with the salary schiulules for Germany, given in EussEMi, German higher schools, Appendix F, we find that Paris head mas- ters begin at a salary exactly equivalent to that of the Berlin principals. In Paris the promotion is rather more rapid, and the maximum salary is consid- erably higher. For the most part the provincial principals in Germany are rather better off than the corresponding masters in France. Among the regu- lar teachers, however, the advantage is all with the French, save that after twenty-one years of service, the German country teacher is slightly to the good. ADMINISTRATION AND TEACHING FORCE 119 before he is forty-four years of age. In practice he is well over fifty before he receives this salary, aud if he did not gain the agrcgation in his youth, even this will always be beyond his reach. For more than half a century the French government has liad a national pension law ^ applicable to all officials paid from the public treasury. The basis of the pengjons pension fund is provided partly by laying a tax of the twelfth part of the first year's salary as well as a like portion of each subsequent increase, but chiefly from the pro- ceeds of a five per cent tax on all regular salaries. The teachers' deductions in pay on account of absence or punish- ments likewise help swell this fund. The major part of the in'imary school teachers are classed in the active division whicli makes them eligible for a pension when they have reached the age of fifty-five and after twenty-five years of service ; while the secondary and university teachers fall into the passive division and become eligible at sixty years of age and after thirty years of service. The time spent at tlie higher normal schools after the age of twenty is included in this service period. In the passive class the pension is reckoned at one sixtieth for each year of service, calculated on the average salary of the last six years as a basis. This gives the secondary teacher an ordinary retiring pension of one half this average sura, but in no case may it amount to more tlian two thirds of this figure nor exceed six thousand francs. Special regulations apply to cases where the indi- vidual is seriously injured or dies in the performance of his duty. In this latter event, tlie widow's pension is two thirds of what her husband's would have been. Under normal circumstances, a widow must have been married six years before lier husband's retirement in order to draw a pension. It is then one third of what her husband received. Orphan children divide the mother's share until they reach the age of twenty-one. The widow's or orphan's pension is never less than one hundred francs per year. 1 Loi, June 9, 1853, Wisskmans, op. ciL, pp. 10-18. 120 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Every member of the secondary teaching force is exempt from all matriculation charges in the faculties or other . state higher institutions of learning, as well as from all library, examination, certificate, and diploma fees for the master's degree. The children and wards of the functionaries of the secondary system re- ceive free tuition as day pupils or as day pupils studying under supervision at the boys' and girls' lyc^es, and at the boys' colleges. Through some oversight the same privileges do not apply to girls' colleges and secondary courses (co^irs sccondaircs), but inasnnich as the primary officials have free tuition privileges in all these various categories of schools, similar favors will probably be made general for the second-r ary teachers and administrative officers. The value of all such exemptions in the budget of 1908 amounts to more than a million and three quarters of francs,^ nearly one third being on the account of the officers and teachers of the secondary school system, and the remainder on the account of those in the primary school system. Like so many other questions in the school administra- tion, the system of punishments to which officials may be . subject is wonderfully complex but at the same time wonderfully explicit. There seems to be no doubt as to what may be done and under what author- ity. The regular teachers of both lyc^es and colleges are guaranteed the same protection that is accorded mem- bers of the faculties, and the punishments inflicted are comparatively rare. Disciplinary processes fall into three general categories, depending upon the authority that has the power to inflict them. (1) The Minister may pronounce a reprimand before the academic council or before the superior council, neitlier of these being subject to appeal ; or he may suspend tlie professor without loss of salary for a period not exceeding one year. (2) The Minister with the sanction of the permanent sec- 1 Budget ghi&ral,de I'excrcice, 1908, sec. 1, p. 313. ADMINISTRATION AND TEACHING FORCE 121 tion of the superior council may transfer a professor to a lower position. (3) The punishments that may be inflicted by the academic council are all subject to appeal to the superior council. They are of four sorts : suspension with partial or total loss of salary, removal, revocation, and permanent disbarment.-^ The disciplinary regulations to which the tutors are sub- jected are quite distinct from the foregoing. They are no fewer than nine in number, varying from the simple " warn- ing" of the academy inspector to permanent disbarment from teaching pronounced by the academic council, subject to the ordinary conditions of appeal to the superior council. Besides the perquisites above referred to, there are liter- ally thousands of distinctions awarded every year to the officers and teachers of the educational sys- . . tern. The French people seem almost to have a mania for decorations, for these range from membership in the Institute down to the bronze medal awarded for suc- cess in securing revaccinations among primary school chil- dren. The origin of the ordinary honorable distinctions dates from Napoleon's foundation of the University just a hundred years ago. There are two to which the staff of the secondary system is ordinarily eligible : officer of the acad- emy ; and officer of public instruction. These distinctions, however, are confined neither to the secondary schools, nor even to the officials of the educational system. They serve two general purposes : in the first place to offer public recog- nition to teachers and members of learned societies for work really meriting such recognition ; and in the second place to provide a means of extending the popularity of the govern- ment. Members of the secondary system must be proposed by the rector on recommendation of the academy inspector. In general one must have been officer of the academy for five years before being named officer of public instruction. The value of these distinctions necessarily decreases with 1 Loi, Feb. 27, 1880, Gobkon, Legislation de Venseigneinent, pp. 529-530, 122 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS their numbers. In the Paris lycee already referred to, of the ninety-nine persons in the administrative, teaching, and surveillance departments, seventy-five of them are either officers of the academy, or officers of public instruction, and fourteen of the remainder are merely tutors. It goes with- out saying that this proportion is likely to be larger in the Paris schools, but in a small lycde in the extreme south selected at random, aside from the tutors, exactly three quarters of the staff belong to one of these two orders. When the accounts have been cast, it must be admitted that the lot of the French regular secondary teacher is far from unsatisfactory. While apparently his salary is poor compared with many of those paid in America, relatively he is much better paid. He has labored hard to reach his position, but he has a government appointment which carries respect with it. His tenure is secure, promotion is slow but reasonably certain, and at retirement his pension is assured. Furthermore, he is able to live in the community comfort- ably on an equality with those of his neighbors whose tastes are similar to his own. CHAPTEK VII THE PROGRAM Even to the casual observer of the trend of educational thought in France during the last two decades, the struggle that has been going on in the field of secon- dary education has been plainly evident. The ^.j^^ classics. marked evolution in the ideas concerning sec- ondary education has followed closely upon the evolution in the economic and social world. It has been the strife between utilitarianism and mere culture, between realism and humanism. It has been the effort to force the second- ary school to set aside its former unique function of pre- paring for the university, and to assume the added responsi- bility of fitting for real life. All through the Middle Ages Latin was the very foundation of liberal culture. At times Greek appeared to dispute this ascendency, but in the main the Latin held its own. Eacked though it was by the forces of the Eevolution, it nevertheless quickly reassumed its old position as the dominant culture force. The ma- terialism of the nineteenth century again challenged its right of precedence, and this time a truce was arranged. Later, the program of 1890-91 bade fair to settle the strife, but this apparent solution was only temporary. The new " modern " instruction did not produce the anticipated results. Many of the families still looked upon it as in- ferior to the classical course, even for those pupils preparing for the great scientific schools. One thing that militated seriously against the success of the reform course was the fact that its baccalaureate did not sliare in the privileges of the old classical baccalaureate. This was rather surprising 124 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS in the case of the medical school, for the letters course practically neglected the science subjects that play so large a part in the preparation of the physician. It is almost un- necessary to add that the science course was no more liber- ally inclined toward the philosophical subjects. Just at that point came the parliamentary investigation commission of M. Ribot, and that committee overhauled the whole question from cellar to garret. In fact it is rather difficult to find any question affecting secondary education that was not touched upon during the course of that inquiry.^ The conclusions alone enumerate no fewer than fifty-two separate points. Without attempting even to outline the discussions that took place there, suffice it to say that they led up directly to the fundamental reform program of 1902. Save for minor modifications this is the program in force to-day in the boys' lyc^es and colleges in France. It certainly marks the passing of the classics, not as an instrument of general culture, but as the sole medium by which that general culture could be attained. • Germany has already struggled with the same problem and has solved it, at least temporarily. America has also wrestled with it, although we have not yet reached a position of equilibrium in the matter. England, too, has felt its influence, but the fact that secondary education as it used to be understood has been carried on there chiefly under private auspices caused it to present certain prob- lems that were not found in the other three countries. France has come out boldly and recognized, at least offi- cially, the exact parity between the scientific education and the classical education. "Scientific humanism has won the right of sitting side by side with literary humanism." ^ Mathematics, which up to that time had been merely a tool, is henceforth to be put upon an equality with letters 1 EnquSte sur V enseignement secondaire, 1899, six large quarto volumes, making in all three tliousand pages in double colnniu. Representatives from every branch of the service, from former ministers of public instruction to simple professors, were invited to present their views before the commission, and no detail was omitted. 2 CouYBA, Rapport du Budget g&niral, 1907, p. 73. THE PROGRAM 125 as an instrument of culture. This is no disparagement of the classics, to which the French are under peculiar obli- gation for the development of their taste and artistic nature, but merely makes open con- between^ fession of the fact that science is also to be Classical and recognized as a means of culture, distinct, to be Education sure, but none the less effective. The former can no longer be treated as subordinate, under the rubric of " spe- cial " or " modern " education. The old degrees of bachelor of arts and bachelor of science have ceased to exist ; henceforth there is only one baccalaureate. Whatever mention of sub- jects appears on its face, the privileges it confers are identical. It goes without saying that if certain secondary courses are followed, certain advanced work cannot be imdertaken. For instance, a student who has studied Latin but not Greek will be unable to come up for the master of arts degree, because that includes Greek. If he were will- ing to make up this Greek, however, there would be no other obstacle in his way, for the Latin and the other subjects in the classical course are practically identical with those in the Latin-modern language section or the Latin-science section. The official sanctions in civil life for all these sections are the same. Formerly the non-classical students were un- able to compete for certain careers. Now all are on the same basis. Furthermore they are now admitted alike to the professional schools. A student who passes his bacca- laureate without ever having studied a word of Latin is admitted to the law faculty or the medical faculty upon exactly the same footing as one who has devoted himself to Latin and Greek throughout his course. Neither has any ad- vantage to his credit nor any handicap to overcome. In either case he received a liberal education ; his professional education lies before him. The decree of the President of the Eepublic of May 31, 1902, as prepared by the Superior Council of Public In- struction, runs as foUows : 126 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Article 1. Secondary instruction is co-ordinated with primary- instruction so as to follow directly upon a normal four-year course of primary study.-^ Art. 2. Secondary instruction is given in a course of study which extends over seven yeai's and is divided into two cycles : one of four years, and one of three years. FIEST CYCLE Art. 3. In the first cycle, the pupils have a choice between two sections. In one section, aside from the subjects common to the two sections, Latin is obligatory from the first year (the sixth form), and Greek is optional beginning with the third year (the fourth form). In the other section, which includes neither Latin nor Greek, more emphasis is put upon the instruction in French, science, drawing, etc. Art. 4. In both sections the programs are arranged so that at the end of the first cycle the pupil is in possession of a certain fund of serviceable knowledge which is complete in itself. Art. 5. At the end of the first cycle, a certificate of secondary study of the first degree may be given to the pupils, on the basis of the marks they have had during the four years, and after the deliberation of the professors whose instruction they have followed. Candidates for the baccalaureate have the right to submit this certificate to the jury.^ It will be given the same weight as the report book in determining the candidate's standing at the written and at the oral examination. 1 " This is not exactly true. At the last moment the Minister and the superior council of public instruction could not resign themselves to eliminat- ing the study of modern languages in the eighth and seventh forms of the secondary schools. Thus the sixth form follows directly after the seventh, but not after the course of the primary schools properly speaking." Annuaire de lajeunesse, 1907, p. 187. In order not to give the secondary pupils any undue advantage, the competitive examinations for scholarships in the lycees and colleges are based exclusively upon the subject matter of the primary school program. 2 That is, the examination commission before which the bachelor's examina- tion is passed. THE PROGRAM 127 SECOND CYCLE Art. 6. In the second cycle, four groups of courses are open to the pupil : 1 . Latin and Greek ; 2. Latin with more extensive study of modern languages ; 3. Latin with more extensive study of science ; 4. Modern languages and science, without Latin. This last section, though intended normally for those pupils that have not had Latin during the first cycle, is nevertheless open to those pupils who have studied Latin during the first cycle, but do not care to pursue it further. Art. 7. For those pupils who are not coming up for the bacca- laureate, a course of study will be arranged in certain schools at the end of the first cycle whose chief aim will be the study of modern languages and the study of science in its practical applications. This will be a two-year course, and will be adapted to the needs of the particular community. The programs will be arranged by the academic councils and promulgated by the Minister.-^ At the completion of this course of study, and after a public examination on the subjects of instruction, a certificate may be granted which shall bear the name of the academy where the examination was passed, the subjects of the examination, and the marks obtained. The apparent effect of this decree was to separate con- clusively the real secondary course from the elementary or 1 This last provision marks an important step, for it is a definite attempt to get away from the almost absolute uniformity that dominates the secondary school system. It must be noted, however, that this confers on the academic council nothing more than the privilege of suggestion. The Minister still retains the power in his own hands, for he may accept, modify, substitute for, or reject any or every part of the jiroposed program. " In the terms of a ministerial circular of July 19, 1902, these courses were to be organized in only a certain number of important lycees where there was a real need for them. Furthermore, these lycees must be able to offer both from the point of view of the material equipment and of the teaching force all the resources necessary for a successful organization. We do not believe that any such course has yet been organized." Annuaire de la jeunesse, 1907, p, 181, note. 12S FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS primary course. Ostensibly it superimposed the secondary course, which begins with the sixth form, upon the primary school course as well as upon the elementary Refonn "^ work given in its own lower classes. But in practice this end has not been attained, due partly, as has already been pointed out, to the question of modern language instruction, but chiefly to economic and social causes. The former difficulties might easily be avoided by a stroke of the pen, but the latter are more deep seated in their nature. The division into two cycles is likewise of great signifi- cance. It provides a stopping place about the middle of the course which enables a boy to catch his breath, so to speak, Furthermore, if for any reason he leaves school at the end of that first half, he takes away with him a definite unity of ideas. He need not feel that he has begun a piece of work and left it unfinished. He has met the classic authors of his own literature, he has studied from one to three foreign languages according to the course he has chosen, for at least four years, he has covered all the common arithmetic, he has completed the geography of the world, he has glanced at every period of the world's history from the very beginning down to 1889, and this has in- cluded brief sketches of all the countries of the civilized world in modern times ; in a word he has touched practically all the subjects of secondary school study. The course is so arranged that this point forms a natural break, whereas under the old conditions it was admittedly worked out on at least a seven-year basis. It had to be carried all the way through or else the time was to a considerable degree ill spent. The most obvious advantage of this break in the course was the opportunity it afforded for flexibility, for allowing a change of course without loss of time, and the superior council was keen enough to appreciate this. Although other points will appear when we come to study the courses more in detail, this very flexibility is the most striking characteristic of the new program. THE PROGRAM 129 The program of 1902 with the modifications of 1905 provides for a twelve-year course of study, one year in the infant class, two years in the preparatory division, and two years in the elementary division, followed by the seven years of the secondary course properly speaking.^ The program of the infant class does not form an essential part of the curriculum any more than that of the kindergarten in our own school system, but it is nevertheless work of real school character resembling so far as subject matter is concerned our old first grade instruction. Beginning with the preparatory division, the week hours per subject are arranged as follows : WEEKLY PROGRAM — REGULATIONS OF 1902-1905 Preparatory Division I Year II Year HRS. HRS. French 9 French 7 Moral and civic instruction ^ Moral and civic instruction ^ Writing 2^ Modern languages .... 2 Simple history stories ... 1 Writing 2\ Geography IJ Simple history stories ... 1 Arithmetic 3 Geography 1^ Nature study 1 Arithmetic 3 Drawing 1 Nature study 1 Singing 1 Drawing 1 Singing 1 Total 20 Total 20 1 ArrHis, May 31, 1902, July 27, 28, and Sept. 8, 1905, Plan d'etudes et programmes d'ensdrjnement dans les lycies et collkjes, Delalain Freres, 1907-8, pp. xxiii-xxvi. 2 This instruction will be given in connection with the instruction in French, history, and geography, and is included in the time assigned to these subjects. Note: For new program of 1912, see Appendix N. 130 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Elementary Division (Eighth and seventh forms) French 7 Moral and civic instruction * Modern languages 2 Writing 1 History and geography 3 Arithmetic 4 Nature study 1 Drawing 1 Singing 1 Total 20 (Length, four years; Division A FIRST CYCLE from the sixth to the third form inclusive) Division B Sixth Form French Latin Modern languages . . History and geography Arithmetic Natural science . . . 3 7 5 3 2 1 Drawing 2 French Writing Modern languages . . History and geography Arithmetic Natural science . . . . Drawing Total 23 Total 22 Fifth Form French 3 Latin 7 Modern languages 5 History and geography ... 3 Arithmetic 2 Natural science 1 Drawing 2 French Writing Modern languages .... History and geography . . Mathematics and mechanical drawing Natural science Drawing . HRS. 5 1 5 3 4 2 2 Total 23 Total 22 1 This instruction will be given in connection with the instrnction in French, history and geography, and is included in the time assigned to these subjects. ^ One hour for mechanical drawing. THE PROGRAM Fourth Form * 131 Ethics 1 French 3 Latin 6 Greek (optional) — 3 hrs. Modern languages 5 History and geography ... 3 Mathematics 2 Natural science 1 Drawing 2 Total 23 + 3 optional Ethics 1 French 5 Modern languages .... 5 History and geography . . 3 Mathematics, book-keeping, and mechanical drawing . 5 Physics and chemistry . . 2 Drawing 2 Total 23 Third Farm ' Ethics 1 French 3 Latin 6 Greek (optional) — 3 hrs. Modern languages 5 History and geography ... 3 Mathematics 3 Drawing 2 Total 23 + 3 optional Ethics . . . : 1 French 4 Civil government and com- mon law 1 Modem languages .... 5 History and geography . . 3 Mathematics^ 4 Physics and chemistry • . 2 Natural science 1 Book-keeping 1 !2^ Total 25 ' The pupils who elect Greek are relieved of three of the regular hours, two of modern languages and one of drawing. 2 One optional hour of practical book-keeping in tliose schools where it is deemed advisable, the decision being made by the professors in general meeting. * One hour for mechanical drawing. 132 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS SECOND CYCLE (Length, throe years ; from the second to the philosophy form) Second Form French Latin Greek Modern history Ancient history Geograpliy . . Modern languages Mathematics Pliysics and chemistry " " " laboratory . . . Drawing Geology (12 lectures of one hour, common to all the sections) Totals '-''5 HRS. 3 4 5 2 2 1 24 HRS. 3 4 24 o'S HRS. 3 4 26 HRS. 3 27 • Tn Sections B and D one hour of special work for the language studied in the first cycle. 2 Four liours for the second language. 3 Two classes of one hour per week during the first semester. * Two hours for mechanical drawing. THE PROGRAM 133 First Form Section A Latin-Greek Section B Latin-modern languages ri CO =^ e III ill French Latin " extra hours . Greek Modern history . Ancient history . Geography . . . Modern languages Mathematics ^ . . Physics Physics and chem- istry Pliysics and chem- istry laboratory Drawing .... HRS. 3 3 2 5 2 2 1 2 1 +2* 1 2* HRS. 3 3 2* 2 2 li; 1 1+2* 1 2* HRS. 3 3 2 1 2 5 3 2 % HRS. 3 2 !!: 5 3 2 % Totals . . . 22 + 4 optional 20 + 6 optional 25 27 * Optional. 1 In Sections B and D one hour of special work for the language studied in the finst cycle. 2 Four hours for the second language. * Sections A and B, two clas.ses of one hour per week during the second semester, plus two hours optional throughout the year. * Two hours for mechanical drawing. 134 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Philosophy and Mathematics Forms Philosophy Mathematics Section A Section B Section A Section B Philosophy Greek-Latin Latin HRS. 4* HRS. 9* !l 3i 2i 3 2 2* HRS. 3 2 3i 8 5 2 2 24 + 2*6 HRS. 3 Modern langviages .... History and geography . . Mathematics^ Physics and chemistry . . Natural sciences Physics and chemistry, lab- oratory ^ 2* 3i 3 2 3i 8 5 2 2 Drawing Hygiene (12 lectures of one hour each)* 2* 24+2*6 Totals 19i+8* 22i + 4* 271 + 2* 2Si + 2* Save for singing, the subjects of instruction in the infant class are exactly the same as those in the first year of the preparatory division. Boys enter here nor- PiogranT i^ally at six years of age, though one some- times finds little fellows one or even two years younger. In all the lycees where an infant class is found, it is invariably taught by a woman. * Optional. 1 The pupils have the right to select for themselves the distribution of these two hours. 2 Mathematics, two hours ; cosmography, one hour during one semester. ^ Five or six of these periods are reserved for experimental work in natural science. This laboratory work will likewise be required of the Philosophy pupils in both sections. * Two liours for mechanical drawing. ^ Freehand drawing is optional. ^ These lectures are included in the natural science instruction for both sec- tions of the Mathematics Form, and for all four sections when the Philosophy and the Mathematics Forms have their science work in common. When the Pliilosophy and Mathematics Forms are not taught together, the work in hy- giene is given outside the natural science instruction for the Philosophy Form. THE PROGRAM 135 The same is often true of the first year of the preparatory division. It is exactly the same here as in the primary school system, men teachers for boys' schools and women teachers for girls' schools. In the primary system there are some evidences of a slight weaken- ing of this old established notion, but the tradition shows no sign of breaking in the secondary schools. Modern language study begins in the second year of the preparatory division. Theoretically the pupil may choose from English, German, Italian, and Spanish, but practically this choice is narrowed to Eng- Modern lish or German, with the chances in favor of Language the latter. The instruction below the sixth form is usually given by the regular class teacher, and it is rather rare to find one of these men that can teach English. The fact that formerly German was required in the secondary schools even now tends to perpetuate that language, though of late years the English has been gaining relatively. Now- adays, in the Paris lyc^es, the pupil may begin either English or German in the ninth form, but in the provincial schools it is comparatively rare that he can make this choice thus early. This modern language work in these lower classes is not of very serious moment. The administration is not heartily in sympathy with it, for if it is rigorously taught it will inter- fere seriously with the plan of co-ordinating the sixth form with the work of the primary system, the lower schools of that system having no modern language instruction. At the time of the revision in 1 902, this modern language work was left in these lower grades as a kind of concession to the parents, who perhaps disliked seeing the elementary classes of the col- leges and lyc^es too much like the classes of the free primary school system. Hence the modern language teacher in the sixth form is compelled to go back to the very beginning in his instruction. The poor grading of this class renders his task extremely difficult. One of the most important reforms in the new program was the increase in the amount of modern language instruc- 130 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS tion in division A of tlie first cycle. In the old classical course, it amounted to ten hours for the four years, whereas it is now sixteen for those that elect Greek, and twenty for those that do not. The total hours of modern language in- struction for all Latin pupils has been increased from sixteen under the old program to from twenty-two to thirty-seven, according to the course or combination of courses pursued. Furthermore there has been a radical change in the method of instruction. The science work has also been somewhat strengthened on the whole. In mathematics, the net change is practically null, for what has been gained in the science course has been lost in the classical course. The natural sciences have gained a few hours, particularly in division Vk This addition has been cliieily in physioh)gy and hygiene, and serves to round off the course of the boys who are likely to leave at the end of the first cycle by giving them some very definite and practical ideas of the care of the person. In i)liysics and chemistry, the instruction has been expanded over more yeais, especially in the second cycle, and laboratory work has been more than doubled both in sub- jects and in hours. Unfortunately it is restricted to the two science sections from the second form upward, but instead of a few hours for chemistry, it now embraces physics and natu- ral science as well, and has two hours per week during the last tln-ee years of the course. The time devoted to history and geography has been in- creased, particularly in tlie A division of the first cycle, but this has been due entirely to increases in the Gco^°raphy*^ former subject. As a matter of fact geography has lost a half hour in the classical course. The most striking modification in history has been the re- arrangement of the course whereby Greek and Eoman his- tt)ry have been moved from the second cycle to the first. This change luakes it possible to complete the history of France by the end of the third form, and gives those pupils that leave at tliat time a complete, though necessarily super- THE PROGRAM 137 ficial notion of the march of history down to the present generation. In the old program, French, Latin, and Greek were all grouped togetlier under one head. This was perfectly natu- ral, for in a given form they were all taught, as they are still, by a single teacher. The total ^and^Greek "' number of hours has fallen off only two in the new program as contrasted with the old. The slight loss in Latin and Greek has been almost offset by a small gain in French. In the course without Latin the time devoted to in- struction in the mother tongue remains practically the same. In each division of the fourth and third forms one hour a week is devoted to ethical instruction. This is an en- tirely new departure, introduced for the sake of those boys that may drop out at the com- philosophy pletion of the first cycle. It is naturally de- signed to play the same part in the first cycle that the phil- osophy instruction does in the second cycle. It needs but a glance at the detailed program to show how imperfectly their task is accomplished. This elementary instruction is very similar to the corresponding instruction in the primary school system, which savors too much of the reward and punishment idea. The efficacy of this instruction is ex- tremely doubtful. The philosophy of the philosophy form, which includes psychology, esthetics, logic, ethics, and meta- physics, is practically unchanged from the old program. In looking at the program as a whole, one is struck with the marked increase in the number of week hours. Not a single class in the entire secondary school sys- tem escaped the added burden, and this, too. Overcharged ^ 7 J J I'rograms. in spite of the hue and cry that is everywhere rising against the heavy loads that school children have to bear. Wliereas the old program carried ordinarily twenty hours of school work per week, under the new program the average has been raised nearly four hours, and in some of the science sections this is increased to twenty-seven and twenty-eight hours. It seems almost incredible that in sev- 138 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS eral of the higher classes beyond the baccalaureate where the boys are preparing for the government engineering schools even this latter figure is raised by ten hours. The wonder is that the boys do not break down under the strain, especially when one considers the restricted life that they are compelled to lead, with practically none of that free out- door exercise that forms the safeguard of the English and American boys. I am told that examiners for the baccalau- reate are already seeing the effects of these over-weighted programs in the mental condition of the candidates that appear before them. Eeference to the detailed programs will show that at several points in the school period certain optional courses are Flexibility in o^ered the pupils. The old program was so the Pro- inflexible that once a given line was started it g''^°i- -^as almost impossible to change without great waste of time. The new program is unusually flexible and offers numerous opportunities for a change of course as a boy's inclinations are modified or his tendencies are devel- oped. The elementary years of the secondary school present no difficulty. The course is the same for all for the first five years. When the sixth form is reached and the secondary course, properly speaking, is begvm, the parents have to decide the first question, whether or not their child is to study Latin. At that time the boy is only ten or eleven years old, and the choice is not always an easy one. If Latin is not chosen, the parent's subsequent task is considerably simplified. Save for a rather restricted option in the modern language work, his course is practically determined for him. In the second cycle he follows the science-modern language group and takes his baccalaureate in mathematics. On the other hand, if there is any serious doubt in the parent's mind, he ordi- narily elects Latin, for more options spread out before the boy and he is more likely to find congenial subjects. In the fourth form the Latin student has the opportunity of electing Greek. In case the latter is chosen, the natural course would be to keep on with the classical studies in the Latin-Greek THE PROGRAM 139 group of the second cycle and to reach the baccalaureate through the philosophy section. Such, however, is the flexi- bility of this program that if the boy is dissatisfied with Greek after two years' trial he may drop it entirely and change into any one of the other three sections of the second cycle. The Latin student who has not chosen Greek falls naturally into the Latin-modern language or the Latin-science section in the second cycle, although the science-modern lan- guage section is likewise open to him. At the completion of the first form the pupils come up for the first part of the baccalaureate examination, which is based upon the work they have had in the second cycle up to that point. Then there comes a final choice, although the normal progress is to pass from the first form A or B to philosophy A or B, and from the first form C or D to mathematics A or B. Nevertheless it is quite possible for some pupils that have passed the first part of their baccalaureate in one group to come up for the second in the other group, assuming, of course, that they have made their choice at the end of the first form. It seems a little peculiar that the science-modern language pupil has the widest choice of courses at this point. The four optional courses are practically narrowed down to two, for there are only two divisions in the second part of the baccalaureate, and the examination is limited to the re- • Oxainary passage. - Possible passage. - Possible passage if pupil knows a second modern language. • Passage ordinarily impossible. .0 quired subjects of the philosophy-mathematics form. The accompanying figure ^ will show more clearly the possibilities at the end of the first form. 1 Annuairc de la jcuncHsc, 1907, j). 202. 140 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS For the ordinary walks of business, for those looking for- ward to agricultural pursuits and the less important admin- istrative positions, division B and its natural theCrses. Successor the science-modern language work certainly gives the best training. On the other hand, the classical course is intended for those that expect to teach along the arts subjects, to enter upon a literary career, or to take up the law. The combination division A-section B appeals to those looking forward to the diplomatic service, and division A-section C prepares for the military and naval schools. Not all the four sections in the second cycle are to be found in every lycde, much less in every secondary school. Manifestly where the school population is small the authori- ties are compelled to make more or less arbitrary choice, but practically all of the big city lycees have complete courses. However much the new progi-am has been criticized, and its opponents are not few, it is decidedly more flexible than the old, it goes farther toward offering a liberal education, it re- sponds better to the demands of the time, it is France's contribution to the solution of the problem of secondary education. In order to be promoted from one grade to another, every pupil must demonstrate his ability to profit by the instruc- tion in the higher class. Toward the end of Examhmtkms ^^^^ school year each teacher prepares a rank list of his pupils for each subject. The grad- ing is all made up on a scale of twenty, and a mark of ten or better in any subject excuses the pupil from examination in that subject. This puts a premium on faithful conscien- tious work throughout the year, and relieves the good student of the annoyance and worry of promotion examina- tions. The others that have failed to attain this fifty per cent standard are compelled to submit to a series of examinations. At the completion of this test, the pupils are divided into three groups: (1) those that passed; (2) those that failed but are to be granted a re-examination in the fall ; and (3) those that proved conclusively that they were not THE PROGRAM 141 fitted to pass into the higher class. If a re-examination is allowed, the pupil is admitted temporarily into the upper class in the fall pending the final decision. If he fails agam, there is nothing to do but to repeat the previous year's woik. The decision in every case is made by the head of the school after conference with the teachers concerned. It is interesting to note that the teacher of the class into which the pupil would be promoted is ordinarily a member of the jury. Some of the teachers object to the leniency shown in these promotion examinations and complain that they are consequently compelled to carry along pupils that are mani- festly unfitted for the work. There is undoubtedly considerable foundation for this complaint, for the head of a school will put himself and his teachers, to say nothing of the other pupils, to no end of inconvenience in order to avoid losing a pupil solely on account of deficiency of mental qualifications. He guards his pupils almost as jealously as though he were conducting a private school. Loss of pupils means a larger deficit at the end of the year and consequent poor standing with the superior officials, so the head masters and principals are very chary about refvising to promote pupils whose parents threaten to remove them from the school. It is really a serious matter with the school, for the state and the local budgets are made up after due consideration of the previous re- ceipts. Inasmuch as the running expenses do not vary regularly with the number of pupils, a falling off in the receipts may lead to grave inconvenience, for there is not a single boys' public secondary school in France whose ordinary receipts pay its nmning expenses. This perhaps natural attitude of the heads of the schools necessarily cannot fail to have a deleterious reaction upon the schools. However this may be, the unworthy fellows are sure to be weeded out by the baccalaureate, for no financial questions enter into con- sideration here. The baccalaureate marks the end of the course at the lyc^e or college. It is, therefore, purely a degree of sec- 142 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS ondary education, and in this respect differs widely from our corresponding degrees. The question immediately arises then as to the relative worth of the two de- grees, and this is somewhat difficult to deter- mine. There is one satisfaction about the French degree : it stands for a very definite standard of attainment. Aside from the personal equation involved, the degree from the south is in every way equal to that from the north, while it is per- fectly well known that there is wide divergence among the bachelors' degrees from the American institutions. The French secondary course carries the pupil to a point that is reached by the American boy at our best colleges some- where in the course of his sophomore year, but in France this goal is attained from two to three years earlier. On the other hand, although the French youth possesses a more definite and a more exact array of information, the greater part of his thinking has been done for him. As I have visited scores of classes in the lycees and colleges, this fact has been most forcibly brought to my attention. The mind of the French student is receptive rather than creative or even independent. It is not until after the completion of the secondary course that the latter characteristics begin to come to the fore. They evolve in spite of the method of the educational system rather than on account of it. This is the heritage that Loyola and his followers have left, and their influence is still strong upon the French character, far stronger than the ardent republican of to-day would have you believe, or would willingly admit even to himself. In its outward characteristics, the French second- ary school system bears evidence of Napoleon's master hand, but deep down beneath the surface the methods of work and the fundamental ideals still reveal the impress that Jesuit control imposed upon them. The baccalaureate examination is held under the direct control of the Minister of Public Instruction. He appoints a special examining board of four, five, or six members, according to the subjects of the examination, divided evenly THE PROGRAM 143 in the first and last cases between members of superior and secondary education, and in the second case with the repre- sentatives of the lower order in the majority. There are two sessions each year, one at the end of one school year and the second at the beginning of the next, held in each of the fifteen university centers where there are faculties of arts and sciences, and at Alger in Africa. The ordinary minimum age is sixteen years, though in exceptional cases, the Minister may diminish that by a year. The examina- tion is divided into two parts, and there must be an interval of at least a school year between them. The first part comes at the end of the first form, and covers the subjects of in- struction during the first two years of the second cycle. The second part comes at the close of the philosophy-mathe- matics form and covers merely the subjects of instruction of that form. In each case the examination is partly written and partly oral. The student must pass the written ex- amination before being admitted to the oral part which succeeds. At the time of registering for the examination, the candidate indicates which section he is coming under, Latin-Greek, Latin-modern languages, Latin-science, or science-modern languages. The subjects of the baccalau- reate examinations together with the weight attached to each one will be found in the table on the following page. Three hours are allowed for each of the written examina- tions in the first part, except for those in mathematics and physics. Here the time is four hours. The mathematics section written examinations are each three hours in length, while those in the philosophy section are four hours for the philosophical dissertation and two hours for the science exam- ination. This latter includes physics, chemistry, and natural science. The oral examinations are all open to the public. Each candidate is kept on the rack three quarters of an hour, and he has no easy task in facing an inquisitorial body of four, five, or six august professors who take turns in ques- tioning him on the eight or nine subjects of the examination. 144 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS SUBJECTS OF THE BACCALAUREATE EXAMINATIONS WITH COEFFICIENTS OF EACH' Written French ' . . . . Latin Greek Modem lan- guages ' ■ • • Mathematics and physics . . . Oral Greek .... Latin .... French . . . Modern lan- guages . . . Ancient liistory Modern history Geography . Mathematics Physics . . Chemistry . Totals 15 20 Written Philosophy ^ . . Science ^ . . . . Mathematics ^ . Pliysics and chem- istry ^ . . . . Oral Philosophy . . . Philos. authors . . Contemporary hist. Geography . . . Physics and chem- istry Natural science and hygiene . . Mathematics . . Physics, chemistry, and cosmography 19 Totals . 11 HRS. 1 2 2 15 ^ Programme des examcns du baccalauriat de V cnseignement sccondaire, Bull, adm., 1902, I., pp. 705-719; 1909, II., pp. 337-343. * Three subjects are given. The candidate may select any one. " The paper must be written in the foreign language. The use of a dic- tionary entirely in the foreign language is peiniitted. * Each of the two languages in these sections has a coefficient of 1. One of these languages is necessarily English or German, the other being chosen from English, German, Italian, Spanish, or Russian. In Algeria, Arabic may be substituted for either of the modern languages required above. In fact, ac- cording to a decree of May 5, 1904, spoken and written Arabic may take the place of two separate modern languages at the oral examination. In this case, the test will be considerably less elementary than if two languages are offered. THE PROGRAM 145 A boy must have his information pretty well in hand in order to come through unscathed. Each examination is marked upon a scale of twenty, and fifty per cent of the total points are required for passing. In case of failure at the oral examination the certificate of passage of the first part is valid for the two following sessions, that is, for a year from its date of issue. The mortality at the two parts of the examination is rather heavy, for only about one half come through safely. In July, 1907, of the 20,885 candi- dates that presented themselves for both parts of the bacca- laureate, 10,048 were successful.^ The fees for each part of the examination are forty francs, with ten francs additional for the certificate that indicates successful passage, and forty francs for the diploma. Thus the total cost to the candidate amounts to one hundred and forty francs, by no means a small sum of money to pay for the ordinary bachelor's degree. From first to last this is entirely a state examination, neither the secondary schools nor the universities as such having any part in its conduct. The examiners are ap- pointed by the Minister, and the diplomas are conferred by the Minister. He may even send out the texts and the sub- jects for the written examinations, but in ordinary practice these are chosen by the deans of the faculties of letters and science. The examination for the baccalaureate is thus seen to be considerably more difficult to pass than any of the similar examinations in America, in the first place by reason of the oral character of the more important parts of it, and in the second place because of the large number of subjects that must be kept clearly in mind. On the other hand, the fact that eight or nine subjects must be covered in forty- five minutes necessarily reduces it to a decidedly mnemonic test, and consequently the burden is somewhat lightened. At all events the young man that gains the approval of the jury certainly deserves the degree. I L':^cho de Paris, Jan. 16, 1908. 10 146 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS The accompanying table shows the final results of the bac- calaureate examinations for the last six years. RESULTS OF BACCALAUREATE EXAMINATIONS, 1902-1908 Year Candidates Failed Passed Per cent passed Written Oral 1902 13251 4783 1723 6745 51 1903 13330 4779 1720 6831 51 1904 15193 5145 1980 8068 53 1905 12991 4090 1572 7329 56 1906 12007 3721 1293 6993 58 1907 11924 3692 1297 6935 58 1908 13374 4816 1418 6940 52 Since 1905, the new regulations of the program of 1902 have been in force. In that year the majority of the candi- dates presented themselves under the old conditions. Since then there has naturally been a rapid falling off, so that in 1908, only one hundred and fifty came under this caption, and next year there will be practically none. The sudden diminution in the number of candidates between the years 1904 and 1905 is probably due to the opportunity afforded by the new programs to break the secondary school course at the end of the third form and to leave the school with the reasonably complete notions given by the work of the first cycle. The total number of secondary school students cer- tainly shows no such corresponding decrease at this point. As a matter of fact the public secondary school population has been slowly increasing throughout this period. The number of pupils leaving at the end of the first cycle is sub- ject to wide variation. In the Paris lyc^es it is comparatively small, while in some of the provincial schools it frequently amounts to more than fifty per cent. Various causes are responsible for this : the changes of domicile and financial conditions of the parents ; the desire to have the young man THE PROGRAM 147 take up the business of the father ; the realization that the son is not likely to survive the severe competitive examina- tions he must pass in order to be admitted into any of the higher government schools (save the various university facul- ties). Although the noticeable increase in the per cent of successful candidates would appear to lend considerable color to this interpretation, the mortality even now seems very severe. The great majority of the unsuccessful keep coming back until they are finally successful or until they have reached the age limit that precludes their entering the par- ticular state school they had in mind. Then they drift off into some department of the government service where the possession of the baccalaureate is not indispensable. Besides the regular program of instruction already out- lined, there are several series of courses especially designed to prepare for the higher government schools. The most important of these schools are the Preparatory Polytechnic School and Saint-Cyr, both under Forms, the control of the War Department, the former an engineer- ing school that fits for both civil and military careers, and the latter a military school that corresponds to our own West Point; the Central School of Arts and Manufactures, an engineering school for all departments of industry and public works that do not belong exclusively to the State ; the Naval School in the harbor of Brest, corresponding to the naval academy at Annapolis ; and the Higher Normal School, of tener known simply as The Normal School, under the direction of the Department of Public Instruction. This latter is the training school for university teachers and for secondary teachers of boys' schools. It has two sections, one for letters and the other for science. The candidates for the latter together with those for the Polytechnic School are enrolled in a class called the special mathematics form. The back- bone of this course is naturally mathematics, and it includes advanced algebra, trigonometry, plane and solid analytic geometry, descriptive geometry, and mechanics, besides ad- vanced work in physics and chemistry. The preparatory 148 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS courses for the Central School, Saint-Cyr, and for the Naval School likewise include considerable mathematics, but they are not so severe as the special mathematics form. The preparation for the letters section of the Normal School is given in a class known as the upper first form. There is no published program of instruction for this form. The classes are conducted by some of the ablest teachers of liter- ary subjects to be found in the country. They know that their pupils have to face a very keen competitive examina- tion at the end of the year and they choose that work from the program in the upper forms of the secondary course that will best fit for this ordeal. These advanced courses are by no means found in every secondary school, nor even in every lyc^e. Out of the eleven lycees of Paris that have upper grade classes, seven prepare for the Polytechnic School and the science section of the Normal School, five for the Central School, seven for Saint-Cyr, two for the Naval School, and six for the letters section of the Normal School. For the first five of these schools, the successful candidates are ordinarily fairly well distributed over the country, but for the last, the Normal School (letters), it is practically necessary for the student to come to Paris to study. In 1905, out of the thirty-two intrants, twenty-nine of them came from the lycees and the University of Paris.^ For both sections of the Normal School, the work in these preparatory classes is really of university grade, for all these fellows already have the bachelor's degree and some have the master's. In fact, university students compete on equal footing with these advanced secondary students. The stand- ard for the Polytechnic and Saint-Cyr is slightly inferior, for here the baccalaureate is not absolutely required for entrance. Save for a few peculiar cases, the certificate of the first part of the baccalaureate is compulsory, and the possession of the full degree gives a handicap of from fifteen to sixty points. The result is that entrance to these schools is practically on a baccalaureate basis. ^Annuairede la jeunesse, 1907, p. 924. THE PROGRAM 149 The admission to all these schools is solely by competitive examination, as is universally the case in France in govern- ment appointments. If a candidate is unsuccessful one year, he usually keeps trying until he succeeds or else is barred out by the age limit. It of ten happens that many of the candidates for these higher institutions spend two and sometimes even three years in this secondary graduate work. In visiting these upper classes, one cannot help feeling that the compet- itive examination at the end of the year hangs over the class like the sword of Damocles. It absolutely determines the choice of subject matter as well as the character of the in- struction and makes the work more of a cramming process than a culture course. One very able teacher told me that the method he followed in preparing his class in history for Saint-Cyr was much different from that that he used in his other classes. He frankly admitted that there was less attempt to develop the minds of his pupils than to fill them with information by way of preparation for the examination. Now that the great general prize competition {le concours general) has been abolished,^ the renown of a school is measured largely in terms of the success of its pupils in these competitive examinations. In the general entrance halls of the lyc^es it is not unusual to find tablets contain- ing the names of former pupils that have thus reflected credit upon their school. Intellectual attainment in France com- mands a higher premium than athletic skill. 1 Abolished since 1904. CHAPTER VIII THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE It is almost a truism now to say that the early secondary schools on the continent were established as clerical training The Paris schools. Two of thosc in Paris that claim such Secondary a foundation to-day run far back in history ; Schools. Qj^g^ ^j^g present Lyc^e Saint-Louis, was the ancient College d'Harcourt, which dates from 1280, and the other, the Lyc^e Louis-le-Grand, was the original Jesuit college in Paris, founded in 1564-65. Although Saint-Louis was interrupted during the period between the time of the Convention and 1820, Louis-le-Grand has had practically a continuous existence ever since its foundation, and is conse- quently rich in famous students and in traditions. Both these schools are essentially upper form institutions, for the lowest class at Louis-le-Grand is the fourth form_, and Saint- Louis has only one class in the first cycle, one of the third form divisions. These two lyc^es are practically comple- mentary to each other, for they represent two different types of disciplines, the former having only Latin pupils, and the latter being exclusively a scientific school. They are both fed from the Lycde Montaigne, purely an elementary lyc^e of the Third Republic whose classes stop where those of the two older ones begin. Of the other Paris lyc^es, Henri IV., which is also on a very old foundation, Condorcet, and Charlemagne were in existence at the founding of the new University by Napoleon. The College Rollin, supported entirely by the city of Paris, and so nominally reckoned among the municipal colleges, is nevertheless the peer of the lyc^es in name and in fact. Although claiming a very THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 151 ancient descent from the old College Sainte-Barbe, it actually dates from the second decade of the nineteenth century. The Lycde Michelet at Vanves, just outside the walls of Paris, was established under the last Empire, while all the others, Janson-de-Sailly, Button, Voltaire, Carnot, and Lakanal, have been created since the advent of the Third Eepublic. The last named, like Michelet, is also outside Paris, although it is likewise reckoned as one of the Paris lyc^es. The remaining boys' public secondary school in Paris, the College Chaptal, on a municipal foundation, is a kind of hybrid institution. It is a combination secondary and higher primary school that is governed by special legis- lation ; from one point of view it is classed with neither, yet from another it must be reckoned with both. Thus there are, all told, in Paris twelve boys' lyc^es (in- cluding the lower form Montaigne) and two municipal colleges. These range in size from Lakanal with six hundred pupils to Janson-de-Sailly schTO°s. with twenty-one himdred. In these twelve lyc^es there are approximately twelve thousand pupils, while in the ninety-nine provincial lyc^es there are about forty- five thousand more. This gives roughly one thousand per lyc^e in Paris, and rather less than half that number for each of the country schools. No city except Paris and Lyon has more than one boys' lyc^e, although in cities of the second rank, like Marseille, the schools are badly over- crowded. The two municipal colleges in Paris have about twenty-five hundred pupils, and the two hundred and thirty others about thirty-four thousand. The ordinary communal college is thus seen to be a comparatively small school, aver- aging less than one hundred and fifty pupils each. There is considerable similarity about the general archi- tectural plan of the French secondary schools. Although the type was designed to accommodate board- ing as well as day pupils, the idea of placing of School", these schools outside the centers of population has not yet received any general recognition, and they are 152 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS still essentially city structures with all the disadvantages that such a situation implies. The lyc^es Michelet and La- kanal, which the government has established in the environs of Paris as an attempt to test the question of the suburban school, as well as several well known private venture schools have not attained the success one might have expected. The Paris parent still chooses to confine his boy within the cloistral precincts of the city lyc^e with its restricted life rather than to send him to the suburban lycde with its pure air and unlimited sunlight. In the city school he can easily see his child any noon or afternoon, while he is obliged to spend a half day in going out to the suburbs and back. The French are passionately bound up in the life of their chil- dren and cannot bear to be separated from them. In this case their intense love reaches over into the bounds of sel- fishness, for they do not realize that in gratifying them- selves they are at the same time jeopardizing the welfare of their children. The French lyc^e is the lineal descendant of the old college, although, thanks to the merging of many of these earlier foundations at the time of the expulsion of the Jesuits and the subsequent destruction during the an- archy of the Eevolutionary period, it is usually difficult to trace any direct connection between them. The old colleges were boarding schools, so it was not unnatural that the new lyc^es should continue this characteristic organization, especially in view of the large number of national scholar- ships, which included food and lodging as well as tuition, that were founded by Napoleon, The result is a public- secondary school organization that does not exist in Ger- many, England, or America. The last quarter of the nine- teenth century saw such an alarming falling off in the number of boarding pupils as to suggest a popular revulsion against that form of education, but since the reform pro- gram went into effect the boarding pupils have numerically held their own, although their numbers have not increased with the general growth of the schools. The urban situation of the schools and the necessity of THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 153 providing recreation facilities for the resident pupils have gone far toward determining the character of the buildings. In general each lyc^e occupies a whole city block, the buildings hugging the streets on each Lyc^T side and enclosing a hollow square within, that is more or less broken up by interior structures into separate courts for the different grades of pupils. The lyc^e Janson-de-Sailly, completed about fifteen years ago and situ- ated in the newer and more fashionable quarter of the city between the Trocad^ro and the Bois de Boulogne, may fairly be taken as one of the best types of lycdes in France to-day. It covers the greater part of a block and includes more than eight acres of ground, one third of it being occupied by the various buildings and the remaining two thirds being left free and divided into courts liberally supplied with trees. The buildings are chiefly three-story structures of brick and stone fireproof construction with the greater part of the ground floor given over to study and class rooms, and the second floor to laboratories and dormitories. Ten of the four- teen dormitories are on this second floor, the other four, together with the quarters for the domestics that are lodged at the school, being on the third floor. The gymnasium, the finest I have seen in all France, occupies the very center of the plot of ground. Between this and the entrance building, which contains the doorkeeper's apartments and the school parlors, lies the magnificent court of honor. The court of honor, an essential feature of every French secon- dary school, together with the head master's garden, is rarely profaned by the unholy steps of the ordinary young- ster. At Janson-de-Sailly, the entrance building, the court of honor, the gymnasium, a small service court, and the kitchen and boiler room, situated one behind the other, cut out a middle section of the lyc^e grounds. The adjoining buildings thus form a large oblong court on either side, which is further subdivided into two nearly square courts by a covered open-air playground containing the necessary toi- let accessories. These four courts are entirely separate, one 154 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS from the other, so that each of the so-called colleges^ that make vip the whole lyc^e has a playground reserved exclu- sively for its own pupils. There is still another court be- yond the outer quadrangle of buildings set apart for the very small children of the infant class, or as one teacher facetiously called them, the "microbes." The class rooms are ranged about each of these courts, those on the ground floor opening directly into it, and. those on the floor above opening into a long corridor that usually extends along the court side. This plan of construction certainly facilitates ingress and egress, and in case of need it would be possible to empty the class rooms in a remarkably short space of time. Most French class rooms are rather barren looking. Those at Janson-de-Sailly share the ordinary characteristics save that they are well heated from the French Arrangements, point of view, by a central steam heating S3^stem, and they are moderately well lighted. Here the chief source of light is from windows along the street side, ordinarily with a secondary source derived from one window and a glass top door opening on the court. The desks are so placed that this principal light is always at the left of the pupils, although its quantity is appreciably dimin- ished by widespread use of ground glass. The plain walls, bereft of ornamentation, are unbroken save by an occasional series of charts hanging on a couple of metal pegs in the rooms where geography or history classes meet, and a small blackboard, varying in size from 3 by 4 to 4 by 8 feet, over the high platform on which the teacher's desk is placed. The unhygienic cloth or the yet more unsanitary dry sponge still provides the sole means of cleaning this board. On very rare occasions one finds a wet sponge early in the morning, but this is so unusual as scarcely to merit men- tioning. The size of the blackboard necessarily modifies the 1 This word college has nothing in common with college signifying a muni- cipal secondary school, but it is used in much the same way that we speak about a college of arts, a college of science, etc., to indicate the various parts of a larger organization. THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 155 method of instruction, for it is practically impossible to send more than one pupil to the board at one time. The French teacher takes the position that whatever is worth putting on the board should have the constant attention of all the pupils. Apparently this sacrifices speed, but when one con- siders the total amount of work accomplished the real prog- ress does not seem to have suffered. Pupils' desks are*^ rarely found in the secondary schools, the ordinary substitute being a kind of " form " with occasionally a single shelf below for books. The form is built for four pupils, and the plain wooden benches without backs that accompany it are arranged for two pupils each. The seating accommodations would thus be uncomfortable enough for a short period, but the discomfort must be decidedly aggravated by the end of the fifty-five or sixty minute recitation period which prevails everywhere. The forms and benches in the science lecture rooms are ranged in a series of banks that rise rapidly from the demonstration table at the front of the room. It is by no means unusual to find a similar arrangement in the ordi- nary class rooms, although in the newer buildings they are evidently breaking away from that old custom. Scattered along the back and one side of the room is a series of hooks for hats and capes, for floor space is too valuable to be taken up with coat rooms. Some of the schools, however, have a combination dressing-room and lavatory near the main en- trance to each court, which is used in common by all the pupils belonging to that particular college of the lyc^e. One is struck by the absence of any assembly hall, but as there are no general student assemblies the reason for this omission is evident. The only occasion when such a hall might be of service would be at the annual distribution of prizes, and at this time the gymnasium or some public hall is called into service. Save for Henri IV., Condorcet, Charlemagne, and possibly Saint-Louis, all the Paris schools must be considered as modern buildings. The older buildings are really lamentable from the hygienic point of view, and in some respects the 156 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS new ones are not much better. For instance, Louis-le-Grand which was almost entirely rebuilt less than fifteen years ago Other Paris ^^ ^ cost of upwards of nine millions of francs Schools. and practically forms a part of the group of buildings of the new university, is outwardly a mag- nificent structure, architecturally considered, but for school purposes it is wofuUy disappointing. Either the archi- tect was ignorant of the essentials of a school building or else he deliberately sacrificed hygienic conditions to artistic effect. Out of the dozen or fifteen class rooms I visited here, I failed to find one that was even moderately well lighted. I have never seen so many pupils suffering from poor eyesight as I found in the schools of Paris. I was consequently quite ready to believe a prominent oculist when he told me that most French people still looked upon the theory of eyestrain as a physician's notion. The French people seem to prefer less heat than we do, so it is perhaps hardly fair to measure the temperature of their rooms by our standard. Sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit is very warm for a French class room, but I found one room in one of the Paris lycees where the temperature was under forty-five degrees. It was so cold the pupils could hardly hold their drawing pencils, yet the two stoves were absolutely unable to raise the temperature and there was apparently no procedure available either for sending the pupils to another room or for postponing the work entirely. It is gratifying to find an occasional voice raised in protest against the unsatisfactory condition of many of the lycees from the school point of view, and demanding that the architectural commission, to whom the construction plans are all submitted, should be more largely composed of practical school men. One of the Eibot commission declares that the failure to do this is re- sponsible for "those very beautiful buildings which have cost so dearly, but in which serious errors have been com- mitted from the educational point of view at the expense of that intellectual and moral activity which should be the center of an educational institution." ^ 1 Raiberti, Regime dcs hjctcs, p. 17, iu Enqidte, VI. THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 157 All the schools that have boarding pupils make some pro- vision for bathing arrangements. Some of the Paris lyo6es arrange to send their pupils to nearby public baths, and in this case each one has a hot tub bath at least as often as once a month, as well as more frequent foot baths. In some of the schools the tubs that were formerly installed there have been replaced by the more convenient showers. In one of the Paris schools, where unusual importance seemed to be attached to bathing, every interne had a warm shower every Wednesday and a warm foot bath every Saturday. The room for the latter presents a peculiar appearance with its row of a dozen or fifteen little tubs ranged along the walls in front of a long, low bench. The temperature of the water is regulated by an attendant, and the tubs are all filled and emptied simul- taneously by a mechanical contrivance manipulated by the same operator. The arrangements at this school and the op- portunities for use were decidedly the most favorable that I have found in all my experience in France. The bath does not play the same part in continental life that it does in our own, partly, perhaps, because the children are less given to those violent forms of athletic exercise that make such con- veniences essential. In France the shower never forms an accessory to the equipment of the school gymnasium. Although for some years now the gymnastic work in all the schools has been patterned almost exclusively after the Swedish system, each secondary school has its Gymnasium gymnasium well equipped according to the and French standard. The ordinary type is a good- y^iiiastics. sized hall, the smallest I have found being at least fifty by thirty feet on the floor, and two stories high, in the main well lighted, but not always well ventilated. In the better scliools about half the ground area is floored over, the rest, dropped somewhat below the ordinary level, being covered with eight or ten inches of sawdust or tan bark. All the fixed apparatus is on or over this latter section, where the soft surface forms an Inexpensive substitute for the gymna- 158 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS sium mat. Although the upper layer is removed from time to time and water used with reasonable frequency, it still leaves much to be desired fr-om the hygienic point of view. The apparatus is all simple, consisting chiefly of wands, dumb-bells, parallel bars, flying rings, climbing ropes, a hori- zontal bar, a horse, and a jumping board. In the larger schools with their numerous classes, it is not unusual to find two classes going on simultaneously, one working at the heavier apparatus in the pit, while the other is performing the Swedish evolutions on the floor. In good weather this latter work is often carried on in the open air. The hour and a half per week required of all except the candidates for Saint-Cyr (they have an hour extra) is cut from the rec- reation. It is ordinarily given in half-hour periods. One never finds any special dress for any of the gymnasium work, the boys merely divesting themselves of their coats and waistcoats ; there is consequently no call for the elaborate system of dressing-rooms, lockers, and showers that form such an essential feature of our own gymnasiums. In the smaller provincial schools, this gymnasium equipment is often very primitive. At times the building is open to the air on one side, and the floor is almost invariably covered with a thick layer of dry, mealy loam. As to any general widespread interest in athletics in the secondary schools, such a thing practically does not exist, partly because there is no time for such diver- sion, but rathef because whatever fondness for such activity one finds in France to-day is chiefly an acquired characteristic. There does not seem to be that innate love for the athletic life that forms such a marked trait of the Anglo-Saxon youth. Most of the Paris lycees have their Eugby and Association football teams, and even teams for some of the events that appear upon our regular track and field day programs, but a perusal of the weekly schedule of the French schoolboy will show how impossible it is for him to do any systematic work in these sports. On Sunday mornings in pleasant weather, one may often see groups of THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 159 boys journeying out into the suburbs for some inter-school con- test, but the athletic life of the school is limited to encounters of this sort, where general enthusiasm and the expression of strong school spirit are rarely found in any great degree. No secondary school for internes is complete, even in Paris where hospitals are plenty, without its infirmary. Either occupving an entire building or else far re- , ^ , „ , ,. r , . Infirmary. moved from the common living quarters, this infirmary with its separate kitchen and dining room, with its contagious ward, its nursing staff, and the one or more school physicians at a moment's call, is perfectly capable of handling any ordinary situation that is likely to arise. Of course in serious surgical cases recourse is had to the city hospitals, but in the simpler illnesses the pupil is much better cared for at the infirmary than he could be at a large hospital or even at home. The apartments of the head master, the censor, the bursar, the general surveillants, and the lodgings provided for some of the ushers and other members of the ad- ministrative staff as well as the domestics that PupiiT.^ live at the school, to say nothing of the accom- modations for the boarding pupils, necessarily make Janson- de-Sailly an establishment of considerable size. Although its dormitories were designed to accommodate four hundred and fifty pupils, there were only about two hundred actually in residence during the year 1906-7. A similar condition of affairs seems generally to prevail, so that there is a veri- table crisis in the boarding school side of the secondary school system. For many years now the number of such pupils in all the lyc^es has been growing relatively smaller, in spite of the efforts that have been made to ameliorate the situation. Consequently, the three newest lyc^es were not built to accommodate boarding pupils. At Janson-de-Sailly, the dormitories are fine, spacious rooms, with accommodations for thirty-two boys in each.^ These rooms are all high- ^ The only boys' state schools I found where there were private rooms were the College Rollin in Paris and the Lycee Lakanal just outside the walls 160 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS studded, light, and airy, with windows along each side, one between each two beds. Midway down one side are the surveillant's quarters curtained off from the rest of the room. These are nothing but a raised platform containing a chair, a bed, and a toilet table, and so placed that the surveillant can see every part of the dormitory. On either side of this plat- form is a door leading to the lavatory. Here each boy has his own marble wash basin with space for toilet articles and a hook for his towel ; he is not allowed to keep anything in the dormitory during the day. The only furniture in the dormitory is the single beds, with a small floor rug beside each and a clothes hook on the wall for use during the night only. The extra suits and shoes of all the boys in the dor- mitory are kept in individual, open lockers in a separate room opening out of one end of tlie dormitory, and the underclothes, handkerchiefs, neckwear, bed and table linen are neatly piled in a series of small lockers in still another room. These are cared for by a motherly looking woman who keeps everything in good repair. When the boarding pupils enter the lyc^e, each must be provided with an entirely new outfit of clothes and supplies, containing at least the articles enumerated below : ^ Period of ReNEWAXi 1 cape of blue cloth with detachable hood 3 yrs. 1 jacket (or frock coat, for pupils of first form and above), blue cloth, palm leaves embroidered in gold on points of collars, and gilt buttons of the lyc6e 1 J " 2 prs. winter trousers, blue cloth, one pr. each 1 " 1 pr. trousers, cheviot (for pupils of the little lyc^e only) . . 1 " 2 winter waistcoats, blue cloth, single row of small gilt but- tons, one every 1^ " 2 prs. summer trousers, of light wool, one pr. each If 2 summer waistcoats, of light wool, one pr. each ll ". at Sceaux. Here the old dormitories had been cut up into a series of cubicles, so to speak, by erecting a series of partitions about eight feet high between the beds. The upper part of the room was all open so as to facilitate the sur- veillance, but even this arrangement gave each boy some measure of privacy. * Prospectus of the Lycee Janson-de-Sailly, at Paris, p. 25. The variations between this and those of the other lycees and colleges are merely verbal. THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 161 2 winter coats, of wool, one pr. each 1 yr. 2 summer coats, of cotton and wool, one each 1 " 1 cap, blue cloth with gold palms, one each 1^ " 1 tam-o'-shanter, for winter 1 " 3 prs. lace shoes As necessary 6 linen sheets, 3m. 30 by 2m. 10 12 linen towels, Om. 94 by Om. 73 10 wliite shirts 4 night shirts 18 linen handkerchiefs 4 prs. cotton drawers 4 black cravats, one every 3 mos. 14 prs. cotton stockings As necessary 1 toilet set including comb, fine comb, hair brush, comb brush, clothes brush, nail brush, tooth brush, " " 1 stamp for marking clothes " " 1 laundry bag f " This clothing must conform to a particular type. The cost is 458 or 478 francs depending upon whether the boy- wears a jacket or a frock coat. The parents are at liberty to supplement this list with such additional clothing as the boy is accustomed to wear. If the parents so desire, the regula- tion supplies will be furnished by the lyc^e and charged upon the term bill. The lyc^e will also look after the re- pairs and the necessary renewals at an annual cost of 160 francs. No mention is fotmd here of collars or cuffs. If these are attached to the shirts, they are reckoned with the latter. If detached, as the collars are usually, the laimdry work is done outside the school and it is always at the ex- pense of the pupil. "Within the school, the boys are at liberty to wear ordinary clothes, but nobody may go out at any time without the full regulation blue uniform of the lycde. When the pupil severs his connection with the school, all his property is returned to him, save the sheets and the towels, which are retained for the use of the in- firmary. In applying for admission, every pupil must submit: 162 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1. Ilis birth certificate ; 2. A certificate attesting that he has been vaccinated ; 3. A class certificate, if he comes from a Paris lyc^e or college ; 4. A certificate of good conduct if he comes from any other school ; 5. A certificate testifying that his account at any other lycee he may have attended is paid ; and 6. A bulletin containing, besides the customary personal and family information, the address of his correspondent in Paris, the names of the persons whom the parents authorize to take him away from the school, the names of the persons authorized to visit the pupil at the school parlor, and finally the religious persuasion of the boy, and whether or not he is to attend religious services and to receive religious instruction. Some of these requirements, notably those in the last section, appear rather peculiar to one accustomed to the free open life of our American schools, but the orrespon e . ^^^,^ ^^^ g^^g ^j continental life, the more one is impressed with the innumerable restrictions that surround the individual from the moment he comes into the world until he takes his leave therefrom. Yet France is nominally a republic like our own. The correspondent referred to above is a person designated by the parent, in case he does not live in Paris, to act as his personal representative as far as his boy's relations with the school are concerned. The correspondent pays the pupil's term bills, agrees to take him away from the lycde at least once a month, and stands ready to receive him at any time in case it becomes necessary to send him away from the school for any reason whatsoever. The parents likewise designate to the head master all the persons who are authorized to call to take the sons away from the school. Each pupil is entitled by right to Absenc? ^ leave of absence every alternate Sunday, while on the other Sunday he is granted this by favor in case the character of his work and his conduct are above reproach. On ordinary days no pupil is allowed to leave the school except for very unusual reasons. On Sundays THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 163 even, the pupil may leave the school only between certain hours, between eight and eleven, between half past twelve and half past one, and between quarter past four and quarter past five. In any case he must be back by ten o'clock in tlie evening. Before leaving, each boy receives a card on which are inscribed the time of his departure and the time he is to come back. On his return he must deliver this to the general surveillant signed by the person at whose house he has been. Pupils under seventeen years of age must be called for by their parents, guardians, correspondents, or other persons specially delegated for this purpose by the parents and approved by the head master. In case any other person claims this privilege, he must present a letter dated and signed by the pupil's family. Under certain conditions and at the special request of the parents, boys under seventeen may be allowed to leave and return unaccompanied by an older per- son. In the case of boys over seventeen, this permission is granted only when the parents express such a desire. Such is the care with which these comings and goings are regu- lated that no boy is ever under any circumstances allowed to leave the school alone unless the head master is assiu-ed in writing, either by a note attached to the leave card of the previous week or by letter addressed to the school, that the proper person is expecting the boy on the following Sunday. Even when there are several consecutive holidays, the pupils are not allowed to sleep at home save at the written request of their parents. The boys in the schools in France are as much restricted in the matter of their correspondence as are the pupils in the most exclusive girls' boarding schools in Amer- Correspond- ica. The letters are all carefully inspected, and ence and parents are urged not only to countersign all Visitors, their own letters, but also to deposit with the school author- ities the autograph and the signature of everybody witli whom their children are authorized to correspond. In general the pupils' visitors are restricted to their relatives and " con-e- spoudents." If other friends wish to see them, they must 164 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS present to the school authorities a written request from the parents to that effect. All visits take place during the chief recreation periods, between half past twelve and half past one, and between half past four and five o'clock. Such is the strictness with which this school life is dominated that brothers belonging to different divisions in the same lycde are allowed to see each other only during recreation periods and in the school parlor. Although the presence of boarding pupils at the public secondary schools in France is probably their most striking characteristic to a stranger, not all or even the ^PupiL°^ major part of the students fall in this category to-day. In the original colleges practically all the pupils were in residence. Even at the time of the found- ing of the university by Napoleon, the internes still formed the major part of the secondary school population. Since that time there has been almost a steady decline in their relative number, as the table on the following page will show. There are four general categories of students : boarders, half boarders, supervised day pupils, and ordinary day pupils. In all the secondary schools save five lyc^es in the city of Paris, these four classes are all represented, although in the great majority of the municipal colleges, the boarding department is carried on at the private ini- tiative of the head master. The half boarders, as well as the day pupils, live at home, or else in certain private families or pensions sanctioned by the head master. The former enjoy all the rights and privileges of the boarding pupils, except that they have only two meals at the school and they sleep outside. Their books and school supplies are included in their regular fees, and they are likewise called upon to furnish their individual table linen. They come to school in the morning at eight or half past, ac- cording to the time of the morning class, and they remain all day until half past six or seven o'clock, the close of the last study period. During the intervening hours they are to aU intents and purposes regular boarding pupils, THE SCHOOL PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 165 POPULATION (BOYS) 1809-1906* Year Boarders Half Roardera Day Pupils S C s C S C 1809 5782 5312 145 276 3141 (2188) 12919 1811 5651 7177 248 580 5027 (2566) 16401 1813 5709 8931 427 848 8356 (4620) 19730 1816 4068 5461 172 499 4373 (2774) 12532 1821 4973 6185 251 577 6834 (4185) 15963 1826 5263 7051 328 603 8291 (4885) 17727 1831 5164 7557 299 711 8988 (4967) 16863 1836 5474 7484 433 842 8962 (4697) 14286 1841 6741 8996 586 1134 9950 (5175) 14905 1851 7011 8266 880 1183 11378 (7126) 16869 1861 13318 9742 2670 1674 12387 (9402) 18497 1871 14486 9950 3186 1500 17346 (15059) 18280 1881 19523 13980 5243 2441 22969 (21040) 24883 1891 17385 10235 5353 1652 29503 (27895) 20155 1901 12744 lUOVV 6008 2244 33571 (27766) 21051 (15194) 1906 12323 10772 5271 2359 40016 (32152) 23485 (17315) Totals S C 9068 I 18507 27575 10926 124204 35130 14492 {29559 44051 '8613 I 18554 27167 12058 I 22799 34857 13882 I 25490 39372 14451 I 25348 39799 14869 I 22925 37794 17277 I 25324 42601 19269 I 26318 45587 28375 129913 58288 35018 I 29730 64748 47889 ' I 41304 89193 52241 I 32042 84283 52323 I 33372 85695 57610 I 36616 94226 8 = State secondary schools, during the years covered by this table, first called lyc^ea, then royal colleges, and finally lycdes again. c = Communal or municipal colleges. The ordinary figures under "Day Pupils" from 1809 to 1841 do not fairly represent the real state of affairs, for they include those pupils living at institutions of various sorts who are brought to the school in the morning and taken away again at night. These latter are practically boarding pupils that live outside the school. For the years 1901 and 1906, the ordinary figures mclude also the supervised day pupils. In every case the figures in parentheses under the same caption indicate the number of ordinary day pupils. The break between 181.3 and 1816 is significant. If the figures for all the years were included, a similar state of affairs would be noted after 1830, 1848, and 1870, thus showing how quickly the school population reacts to political disturbances. 1 There is some discrepancy in the official figtires here. * Compiled from Villemain; Statisligue, 1876,1887; Enquele; and Budget, 1908. 166 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS both having their meals, their recreations, and their super- vised study periods in common. The ordinary day stu- dents take no part in the life of the lycee outside the regular class work, while the supervised day students enjoy the additional privilege of studying at the school after the classes of the day are over under the super- vision of the ushers. Except for the time between the close of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon classes, their hours at the school correspond to those of the half boarders, but they do not share in the text-book privileges of the latter. The parents of both these classes of pupils are kept in much closer touch with the work of their children than are those of the ordinary day pupils, by means of a system of daily report books. In these the usher in charge of the study room enters the marks that each pupil has received during the day, whether given by himself or by the class teacher, together with any communication the administration wishes transmitted to the parents. These report books are sent home every night and must be brought back the next morning, signed by the parent or his duly authorized representative. The pupils that come and go are strictly forbidden to under- take any commissions outside for the boarding pupils. Al- though boy-like this regulation is doubtless transgressed, it is not often. In fact there is little opportunity for any collusion, for they have no chance to see each other privately. In some of the largest lyc^es the internes are sometimes in classes by themselves, and in any case, whether in the class room, in the study room, or on the playground, they are under constant supervision. The fees charged by the State for this instruction show a very wide variation, especially in the provincial schools, but it is certainly questionable if the real worth of the instruction varies as greatly. The accompanying table shows the amount of these fees, according to the revised schedule, each amount being a multiple of nine in order to facilitate the book-keeping: THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 167 ANNUAL FEES IN PARIS AND PROVINCIAL LYCfiESi Schedule, December, 1912 (Amounts in Francs) Day Pupils Supervised Day Pupils Half Boarders Boarders Prov. Paris Prov. Paris Prov. Paris Prov. Paris Infant Class . . 4.5-81 90-153 63-126 135-243 243-396 495-603 405-720 909-1008 Prepara- tory- Seventh Form . . 54-171 108-324 72-243 144-414 297-423 504-765 534-891 1008-1215 First Cycle . . 81-225 306-423 126-315 396-513 396-621 801-1035 630-1107 1350-1557 Second Cycle . . 108-270 351-474 153-369 441-567 441-666 900-1134 711-1305 1530-1611 Special Prepara- tory Forms . . 126-477 351-720 180-621 441-810 459-873 855-1278 711-1404 1710-1773 Prov., Provincial Lycfies Paris, Paris Lyc^es The official regulations contain even more divisions than are represented here, but the table has been con- densed for the sake of simplicity. The very wide ex- tremes foimd for the preparatory- seventh form above may partially be explained on the score that these figures extend from the lowest priced tenth form to the high- est priced seventh form. In spite of all the care ex- pended in making an equitable distribution of charges, however, there are still some manifest inequalities. It is obviously unfair to charge some of the pupils in the second cycle in the Paris lyc^es 1,125 francs for their expenses aside from tuition fees, while pupils in the special preparatory classes at the same school are pay- ing only 1,026 francs for the same privileges. A careful study of the fees at some of the provincial schools will bring out even stronger injustices. 1 Compiled from Annuaire de lajeunesse, 1913, pp. 238 et seq., 586. 1G8 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS The fees of the boarding pupils cover instniction, text-books, and class room supplies, food and lodging, including bedding ( aside from linen ), washing, mending, simi)le drugs and medicines prescribed by the visiting pliysi(!ian, ami the ordinary repairs to the foot wear. The lycc'ie makes ample provision for pupils tliat desire private lessons outside the regular school subjects, for attached to every school are teachers of the piano and other nuisical instruments, fencing, special gymnastics, dancing, lK)xing, swimming, and riding, that are recommeiulcd by tl\c administration. Instruction in these accomplisliments is naturally an extra for which the families arrange directly with the teachers or through the mediation of the bursar as financial agent only. The time for this work is all taken from recreation pe- riods, but no boarding pupil is allowed to participate in any of these activities without the approval of the head master. Except for the fencing and the horseback riding, which are prescribed for the candidates for Saint-Cyr, no one of these activities engages the atten- tion of any large portion of the internes, tlie poor fellows being so crowded with work that the time would fail even if the inclination were present, but in walking about the grounds any afternoon during the recreation periods, one will commonly hear the click of the foils or the subdued scraping of a distant violin. The discipline in tlie French lyc^e of to-day is mildness itself compared to the conditions that existed prior to the re- form of 1890. At that time the rigor of the military code tliat had prevailed since the I'irst Empire was largely abolished, the roll of the drum as the signal to mark tlie liTuits of the classes and the various other activities of the daily life being perhaps the most strik- ing heritage of the former r(5gime. Nowadays the pupils are allowed to talk in a luiman fashion at meal time, while changing classes, and during the gymnasium period. Even though the teacher of the present has lost some of the char- THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 169 acteristics of the martinet of old days, it is decidedly unusual to find evidences of any close personal feeling between the teaclier and the i)upils to-day. The very great majority of the teaching staff seem to he interested in the life of the pupils in the abstract rather than in the concrete. Outside tlie narrow limits of the class the teacher is absorljed in his own work and in his own professional advancement, for he takes the position that in the long run this is the most effec- tive way of insuring the intellectual growth of his class as a whole. This makes the attitude of tlie devoted men I have met who take the opposite view of their own personal obli- gations in their teaching work stand out all . the more clearly. In the main the relationship between teacher and pupils seems to be intellectual and collective rather than social and individual. Theoretically the head master is the unifying element in all the influences brought to bear upon the pupils, but where the school population numbers hun- dreds, and even passes the thousand mark, as it does in several instances, the task is manifestly impossible of realiza- tion. Although this latter evil was very clearly indicated in the report of a committee appointed to study the (juestion twenty years ago,i no marked amelioration of conditions seems yet to have been effected. The chief incentive to stimulate the pupils to work is un- doubtedly y)rovided by the marking system. One can hardly spend a half houi; in any class without being i^unishments struck by the importance attached to this. and Every individual recitation is valued by the ^^'^'^^ ^' teacher ordinarily on a scale of ten, and the pupil eagerly awaits the measure of appreciation accorded his work, and usually records it in his report book. It must be noted in this connection that the conduct of the recitation in France presents certain marked characteristics. It is a most formal ordeal for the pupil, for he is ordinarily called up before the class and is subjected to a searching inquiry. The teacher 1 Rapport de la Sous-Commission de discipline, 1888, Eecueil dc rerjle- nicnts relatifs d Venseignement secondaire, p. 735. 170 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS is thus able to arrive at an accurate appreciation of the pu- pil's comprehension of the subject, or at least of his knowl- edge of the lesson of the day. Under this system, a mark of zero is seldom given. All written work is carefully val- ued, this time upon a scale of twenty, and the marks are usually announced to all the class when the papers are re- turned. It is not at all uncommon to see half a dozen boys taking down the marks of all their comrades, for thus they are able to keep track of their relative positions in the classes, and their chance for distinction at the regular periods. All the marks, whether for recitations or for written work, whether given by the regular teachers in the class room or by the usher in the study room, are sent to the censor every day and by him transmitted to the head master. In this way the administration keeps in daily touch with the work of each individual pupil in the school, and any slighting of work is promptly communicated to the parents in the case of the outside pupils or dealt with in the school itself in the case of the internes. Several poor marks are likely to draw down upon the pupil some more severe punishment. He may have to do his work over again partially or entirely ; he may have extra work assigned to be done ; or he may be re- quired to return to school on Thursday, the regular secular holiday in France, or on Sunday morning for one or two hours of work. In more severe cases the internes may be deprived of the regular Thursday or Sunday walk, or even be denied leave of absence on Sundays or holidays. This latter punishment is comparatively rare and is never imposed except in instances of real gravity. Pupils are sometimes excluded from the class or study room and sent to the censor with a note. This is rather a serious punishment and is likely to result in the infliction of one of the penalties just mentioned. Finally there is temporary or permanent exclusion from the school. The head master has control of all the severer punishments, save that of exclusion which is pronounced by the disciplinary council. This is a body com- posed of the head master as president, the censor, five pro- THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 171 fessors, and a general surveillant and two ushers chosen by their colleagues, which was instituted to secure the co-opera- tion of the various factors of the administration in cases where severe disciplinary action had to be taken. Exce^jt in most unusual cases, a warning always precedes the impo- sition of the extreme penalty. It is worth noting that the functions of this council are not confined to punishment, for pupils that have particularly distinguished themselves may also be called before it to receive its congratulations. Aside from the records of daily work already referred to,i formal reports are sent out every three months for the upper division and twice as often for the other pupils. These trimestrial reports are of considerable importance. They are made up for each class or each section by all the teachers of that particular group in common meeting. Fur- thermore the head master appears in person before each class to make public announcement of the grades received by the various pupils, and to add his personal comments of encour- agement or reproof. At these same teachers' conferences, one or two pupils are selected from each class on the basis of all-around achievement for inscription upon the roll of honor of the school. This is posted in a conspicuous place in the entrance hall in plain view of pupils, parents, and visitors, there to remain until a new selection is made at the end of the next quarter. The grand gala day of the whole year is the distribution of prizes which marks its close. Under the presidency of the mayor of the commune or the arrondisse- X riz6S. ment, it becomes a festive occasion of consid- erable local significance. The pupils receive much good counsel in a lay sermon preached by one of their masters or some invited guest along the traditional ethical or patriotic lines ; the parents are flattered if their child's name appears in the inordinately long prize list ; and a widespread feeling of good fellowship is engendered toward the State in general and toward the lyc^e in particular. The distinctions are 1 Cf. supra, p. 166. 172 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS awarded not only on the general average of the work of the year, but on the results of the marks obtained in the compo- sitions. These latter are no whit different from quarterly examinations, save that their chief function appears to be to furnish the basis for the distribution of the above distinc- tions. Aside from the hardship of laying so much stress on three single examinations, the chance for possible injustice is further enhanced by doubly weighting the last examina- tion in each series. Thus although these papers are all marked on a scale of twenty, the importance of this latter in the prize competition is determined by doubling the mark originally obtained. It is gratifying to find here and there a growing opposition to this system of comjJositions and prizes, although one has little ground for sharing the opinion of one optimistic censor who declared that the abolition of these two evils was already in sight. The prize list of one of the Paris lyc^es at the close of the year 1906-7^ contained nearly twenty-eight hundred names, accredited with various degrees of excellence varying from first prizes to mere hon- orable mentions. These were all gained by the pupils from the fourth form up, who make up about half the twenty-one hundred boys at the school. It would thus almost appear to be a mark of greater distinction not to have one's name upon the prize list. Such a custom seems quite incompre- hensible to an American, but the whole question becomes lucid enough when one recalls the role that the decoration plays in the French national life. The recipients of these state favors range all the way from the humble workman who receives a few sous per day added to his ordinary wage to the illustrious scientist or man of letters who is justly proud of being admitted to the " Immortals." In January, 1908, at the annual distribution of honors, the French gov- ernment conferred no fewer than five thousand three hun- dred and seventeen decorations,^ or one for every seven thousand five hundred men, women, and children in the 1 Lycie Janson-de-Sailly, Distribution solonnelle des prix, 31 juillct, 1907. 2 Journal Officiel, Jan. 20, 1908. THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 173 land. It is such a generally recognized means of stimula- tion to effort that the great number of honors conferred by the school above occasioned no surprise. The French point of view on the treatment of the question of prizes is clearly shown in a report on that subject in 1888 : " The prize is an excellent recompense in itself. To give a good book as an encouragement to a pupil that is fond of study, in other words, to put into his hands an opportunity for work and further progress, what could be wiser ? . . . The prize is only an addendum and a symbol ; the real recompense is the publication of the results of the work." ^ Although some of the very early colleges had a certain number of free scholarships, the system as it is at present administered owes its origin to Napoleon. At first the basis of selection (for the scholarship holders were to be appointed by the First Consul from among the children of soldiers or public functionaries who had died in the performance of their duty) furnishes a further indication of the tendency of his government to create an office holding class. The free tuition in the lyc^es and colleges to-day granted to children of primary and sec- ondary teachers, although nominally intended to provide an additional perquisite to a poorly paid class of individuals, is a survival of that earlier custom that is pointing in the same direction. The danger of such a tendency has already been signalized : " The great majority of the French asphe to a public calling, and it appears that among the young men whom the State is educating at its own expense the proportion of future functionaries is greater than it is any- where else. Out of a total of nine hundred and seventy-five scholarship holders that left the lyc^es during the years 1894, 1895, and 1896, only one hundred and seven had the wisdom to turn to commercial or industrial life." ^ In 1802 we find a new criterion entering into the basis of selection ^ Rapport de la Sous-Commiision de discipline, 1888, Eecueil de reglements relatifs Ci l' cnseigncmcnt secondaire, pp. 768-769. * AlAssife, Bourses nationales, p. 26, in Enquete, VI. 174 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS of these scholarship holders: the competitive examination. These two features together with a third emphasized by the Third Republic, the need of the family, determine the awards of these grants at the present time. The remission of tuition fees in the secondary schools accorded the children of primary and secondary teachers is not looked upon as a scholarship, although the actual effects in the two cases are exactly the same. This remission is granted by right up to the amount carried on the budget for that purpose,! and is dependent upon no examination. Chil- dren of primary teachers receive free instruction as ordinary day pupils, and children of secondary teachers are granted the additional privileges of supervised day pupils, although the enjoyment of such grants in no case precludes the possi- bility of the same pupils gaining regular scholarships in addition, in the first instance as supervised day pupils, as half boarders, or as full boarders, and in the second instance as half boarders or as full boarders. As has perhaps been inferred, the scholarships, whether pro- vided by the State, the department, or the commune, fall into four general categories : (1) full board and tuition ; (2) half board and tuition ; (3) tuition with the supervised study room privileges ; (4) simple tuition ; although these are often awarded as wholes or as portions of scholarships as the exi- gencies of the individual case render advisable. These are granted in every instance after competitive examination, and only to those children where the financial condition of the family justifies the grant, cognizance being taken of the ser- vices the family has rendered to the nation. The depart- mental scholarship holders are appointed by the general council of the department ; the communal scholarship hold- ers by the municipal council, with the approval of the prefect ; and the national scholarship holders by the Minister or the 1 The chapter in the budget for 1908 which includes exceptions granted children of the functionaries of the primary and secondary systems, in the boys' and girls' lycees and colleges, and the girls' secondary courses amounts to 1,775,200 francs. Budget g6n6ral de l'exercice,l908, chap. 81. THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 175 President after the results have been tabulated by a central scholarship commission. The scholarship examination committees for the boys' lycdes and colleges consist of an academy inspector and four other members appointed by the rector from among the present or past professors of secondary or higher education. Modern language professors may be added temporarily wherever modern languages form a part of the examination. The examinations are held during the first fortnight in April in the chef-lieu of each department. The candidates fall into one of six series with maximum age limits from twelve to fourteen, and sixteen to eighteen inclusive, respectively, when the examinations are based upon the work of the sixth to the first form inchisive. The examinations are both written and oral, a mark of at least twenty out of a possible forty being requisite for admission to the latter. The written examina- tion questions, formerly chosen by the departmental examin- ing boards, are now sent out by the central commission, thus tending as far as possible to put all the candidates upon equal footing. In the main, especially in the second cycle, the written examination bears upon the subjects which charac- terize the work of the section in question, while the two parts together cover practically all the subjects of instruc- tion in the form. Immediately at the close of the examina- tion, the results are tabulated and sent off to the central commission at Paris. Every candidate who receives half the possible maximum is credited with a certificate of attain- ment, which, however, carries with it no further privilege than favorable consideration by the central commission. Ptather more than one half of all the applicants are eliminated by these examinations, but still the task of the commission is by no means easy, for they ordinarily have yet to eliminate nearly two thirds of the remainder. Their decision is based upon two general sources of information : the pupil's intel- lectual potentialities as indicated by the examination he has just passed, as well as by his entire school career up to that time ; and upon the income, taxes, and the resources of every 176 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS sort that bear upon the ability of the parents to support the boy at school. This latter question is studied most exhaust- ively, the regulations requu'ing that every statement con- tained therein be certified by the mayor of the commune where the family lives. On the basis of these two general reports, the commission makes its recommendations to the Minister. Even when a scholarship is granted, it is awarded tenta- tively for a year unless the recipient has been at the school for at least a year. This trial scholarship may be renewed for another year, but at the expiration of that time it lapses automatically unless it is converted into a regular scholar- ship, technically known as a merit scholarship. This latter, if gained during the first cycle, is valid until the end of the third form, at which time it may be renewed, provided the holder has reached a certain standard of excellence in his work and conduct ; if gained during the second cycle, it is continued until the beneficiary reaches nineteen years of age, although in exceptional cases the grant may be prolonged for a year, or even longer after this point. The judgment of the commission is almost invariably borne out by the subse- quent school life of the pupil, for it is rare that a scholarship is forfeited,! and although constituting less than six per cent of the entire public secondary school population, these honor pupils invariably outnumber their non-scholarship classmates (sometimes by nearly two to one), in passing the competitive examinations for appointment to the various higher govern- ment schools.2 The number of scholarship holders in the boys' secondary schools was 1,288 in 1905, and 1,158 in 1906. The budgets for 1907 and 1908 each carried 2,767,000 francs for the total amount of such scholarships in both boys' and guis' schools,^ the boys' being about five and a half times as 1 For the years 1894-96, less than four tenths of one per cent per annum. Mass:^, op. cit., p. 35. 2 Ibid., p. 75. 3 Budget de Vexercice 1908, chap. 79. The annual appropriation of the city of Palis for this purpose is 180,000 francs. Bull, adm., 1903, I., p. 181. THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 177 numerous as the girls'. One of the most striking features about the award of these benefices is the very large propor- tion of holders found in families whose salaries are paid en- tirely from state funds.^ Although composing a relatively small proportion of the total population of the country, for the last two years at least they have been receiving about sixty per cent of all the scholarships in the secondary schools, and this entirely apart from the remission of fees previously indicated as granted to children of parents in the teaching service of the State. There are, furthermore, graduate honor scholarships (fifty in the Paris lyc^es and a few more in the most important departmental lyc^es) awarded to distinguished pupils of the smaller schools, already in possession of the bachelor's de- gree, who wish to go to the larger lyc^es to prepare for the higher government schools. The selection of these honor pupils is made by the head masters, but their choice is re- stricted to the holders of state scholarships. The school year in France is a long one, extending from the first of October until the first of August, broken by only one long vacation, nearly two weeks at Easter. This marks the end of the second trimester of Holidays and Vacations. the year, and after that the fellows that are facing the baccalaureate or a competitive examination at the end of the year settle down for the final struggle. For the other pupils, the last third is rather easier than the first two, and there is usually considerable opportunity for review and clearing up of the work of the year. There are of course no classes on Sunday, although the boarding pupils have a regular study period on Sunday morning. Oppor- tunity is granted for church attendance if the parents or children so desire, but after they have passed their first communion the number that embrace this opportunity is practically a negligible quantity. Thursday is the regular sec- ular holiday. In the morning, the pupils in the first cycle and 1 See Appendix I for occupations of parents of scholarsliip holdei-s appointed in 1906-7. 12 178 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS below are free from all regular school work, save for the luckless youngster sentenced to pay the penalty for exer- cising too much initiative from the conduct point of view, or too little enterprise from the intellectual point of view. For the pupils in the second cycle often, and for the can- didates preparing for the higher government schools always, Thursday morning is as full of class work as any other day. In fact some of these latter fellows are going at such a pace that it is a wonder they have any time to assimilate the work they are doing. Some of the prospective engineering students have thirty-four, thirty-five, and thirty-six hours of class work per week. The press of work with them cer- tainly must be fearful. On Thursday afternoon, all class work is suspended, and the boarding pupils have their regular supervised promenade. This is a most formal occasion when the boys in their blue uniforms march about in solemn procession indulging in nothing more frivolous than a subdued conversation. Some- times they go for a walk in the country, sometimes they are conducted to a neighboring museum, but they never escape the watchful eye of the censor or his duly authorized repre- sentative. Some head masters are liberal enough to allow their pupils to play a game of football at this time, and a very, very few so far depart from hoary tradition as to allow their boys to go off by twos or threes and trust them to re- turn at the appointed hour. But woe unto the master if by P any chance an accident should happen to one of the pupils "^ ■ during this half holiday ! Aside from the Easter vacation there is no class work on the regular legal holidays: All Saints' Day, Chiistmas, New Year's, Pentecost, Ascension Day, and July 14th, the national holiday. The rector may designate not more than eight special supplementary holi- days in the course of the year. These are ordinarily used up in a few extra days at New Year's and at Easter. One misses the regular Christmas vacation, so dear to the Ameri- can and English schoolboy, but in France the holiday season is connected with New Year's rather than Chiistmas. This THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 179 program gives a school year of about one hundred and ninety-five days, or slightly in excess of the figures for American cities of over eight thousand inhabitants.^ In France, during the past few years, there has been a movement on foot to increase the length of the long vaca- tion. While nominally leaving the dates of the beginning and ending of the vacation unchanged the professors could be required to cover the subjects required by the program before July 14th, and the parents might then be authorized to withdraw their children at that date. A motion to this effect passed the lower house more than four years ago,^ and it is likely to be put into effect before long. Although the life is not so severe as it was in the Middle Ages when the classes gathered in the old rue du Fouarre as early as half past four in the morning, yet even to-day everybody in a French lyc^e gets an Program, early start.^ Eising comes in summer at five o'clock, or at the latest half past five, and in winter half an hour later. I have even foimd schools where the candidates for the higher schools as the time for the competitive exam- inations drew near were out of bed as much as an hour earlier and hard at work over their books. The worst feat- ure about this early rising is the long work period on an empty stomach, but even the regulation time is long, and there is always a study period of at least a full hour before breakfast. The breakfast, which comes at seven or quarter past, is the typical French frugal first breakfast — a cup of coffee (sometimes chocolate) and bread, with butter occa- sionally. This latter is a luxury afforded only by some of the largest schools. After breakfast comes the first reci ca- tion period of the day which lasts until the beginning of the morning class at eight o'clock. The program for the little 1 Average length of school term in American cities of over eight thousand inhabitants, 189.3 days. Hep. Com. Ed., 1908, I., p. 417. 2 Annuaire de la jcunesse, 1907, p. 217. ' See Appendix H for daily programs at-Lycee Louis-le-Grand in 1769 and 1874. 180 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS fellows in the elementary classes usually rans about half an hour behind this of the older boys. Between bedtime the night before and the beginning of the after breakfast recreation period, at which moment they are turned over to the general surveillants, the boys have been in charge of the dormitory surveillants. These latter, often little older than the upper form boys themselves, sleep in the dormitories, watch over the pupils during their morn- ing ablutions, conduct them to the study room, supervise them during the first study period and during the break- fast. The dormitory surveillants, barring the fact that they ordinarily have to divide the supervision during the midday meal, are free from breakfast time until the evening meal. Eight o'clock sees every boy in the school hard at work in his class room, — that is, if his teacher has arrived; other- wise the class stands waiting outside the door, for nobody would think of entering, even if the door were open, without direction from the teacher. The ordinary situation of the class rooms on the ground floor around a big open court makes this a simple matter ; then the censor or the general surveil- lants can tell at a glance if any teacher has not appeared, and provision may thus be made for taking care of the class. In the larger schools, where the number of pupils justifies more than one section of a given class, the boarding pupils are kept by themselves, or at least are joined with the half boarders, while the externes are set off in another group. The dilatory fellow has an uncomfortable time of it. He must seek a written order from the censor before being allowed to join his class. The first offence is not very severely dealt with, especially if it is a question of two or three minutes, but old offenders are shown little consideration, and it usu- ally means an hour or more of work at school on a half- holiday. Nine o'clock marks the end of the first period, and the boys swarm out into the courts for a five-minute recreation. With the little fellows this is ordinarily stretched to ten minutes, and they chase each other about the playground as THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 181 a lot of American boys would do, but the youngsters that have reached the dignity of the sixth form take their pleas- ure in a' much milder fashion. French classmates of twelve or thirteen and upward greet each other in the morning with as grave a handshake as though they were men grown. The older boys march sedately about the court by twos and threes or stand in small groups conversing quietly together. At the end of this short intermission period they are back in their same class rooms again with the same teacher as before. Until the reform of 1902 the regular duration of a "class" was two hours, and the present program has simply cut five or ten minutes out of the middle for a breathing spell. The distribution of subjects makes such an arrange- ment very easy, for one teacher has all the Greek, Latin, and French in a given form, another the history and geography, another the mathematics, and another the physical sciences (wliich always include chemistry). Thus the first hour may be devoted to Latin and the second to French, the first to history and the second to geography. The two morning hours from eight to ten, and the two afternoon hours from two to four, or from half past two until half past four, are regularly occupied in this manner. At ten o'clock there is a fifteen-minute recreation period. The third morning hour, and in the large schools where the program is much con- gested, the first afternoon period from half past one to half past two are devoted to single-hour subjects like modern languages, arithmetic in the lower forms, natural science, and laboratory work. At the close of the morning class work, the ordinary day pupils go to their homes, not to return again until their first afternoon lesson. All the others gather in their respective study rooms, where they work under the charge of the tutors {rcpctiteurs) until luncheon time. These study rooms are no whit different from ordinary class rooms save for the row of book lockers around the walls. In some of the city schools the advanced mathematics students are fortunate enough to 182 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS possess a good-sized table and an individual bit of black- board for scratch work. In these upper study rooms the tutor is little more than a monitor, but with the smaller boys he is a real tutor, looking after them carefully to see that their tasks are completed, helping them when they are in difficulty, and even hearing their memory work. In some respects this relieves the regular teacher of much of the drudgery and allows him to spend more of his time in teach- ing, for he has to concern himself with the memory work of the ordinary day pupils only. Luncheon or dinner time, as the case may be, which comes at noon or half past twelve, sees the supervised day pupils away, and only the boarders and the half boarders are left. This midday meal is the first hearty repast of the day, con- sisting usually of an hors d'oeuvre, a meat course, a vegetable, cheese or dessert, with a bottle of wine^ for every four boys, and as much bread as they want to eat.^ The marble top tables (a tablecloth is an almost unheard-of luxury), together with the tiled floors, give the refectories a bare and cheerless look that is far from homelike. About the only redeeming feature in the general appearance of these dining rooms is the scrupulous cleanliness that universally prevails. A few years ago there were many complaints about the character of the board furnished at some of the lyc^es and colleges, but to-day I believe it is everywhere above reproach. Between the end of luncheon and half past one is one of the chief recreation periods of the day. At this time, as well as during the other recreation hour after the afternoon classes, the parents of the boarding pupils may call and see their children in the school parlor. This is a real play period for everybody. The older boys are often playing tennis or handball (wall-ball, as the French call it), and the younger ones divert themselves with a kind of old-fashioned scrub football, tag, marbles, or the various purposeless romp- 1 In the extreme North this wine is replaced by beer, and in the West by cider, according to the drink of the country. 2 For a specimen menu see Appendix J. THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 183 ings that serve to amuse the children of every country and clime. There are two hours of regular class work in the afternoon ; then a hasty luncheon, ordinarily of bread and fruit, at four o'clock. At this time comes the principal recreation of the day. Extra lessons, such as those on the piano or other musical instruments, gymnastics, dancing, boxing, fencing, and riding, must all be taken during these recreation periods. After this the older boys have three hours of study, some- times straightaway and sometimes broken by an hour for dinner. The evening meal comes at seven or eight, accord- ing to the circumstances just indicated, and by nine o'clock, or half past at the latest, everybody is in bed. It has been a hard day, and at least from the American point of view an inordinately long one, but it is somewhat easier than it used to be. In 1890, the Minister of Public Instruction cut down the working school day by fixing the maximum number of hours of sedentary labor at six for the primary and elementary divisions, at eight for the grammar division, and at ten or ten and a half for the upper classes of the secondary course. At the same time he regretted his inability to fix any similar limits for the pupils preparing for the higher government schools. "The average day of the schoolboy then," he went on to say, " wUl vary between fourteen and sixteen hours, the rest of the time being devoted to physical exercises, to recreations, to meals, etc." 1 This is the regular program for every day except Thurs- day and Sunday. On the morning of the former the smaller boys have a fairly free half holiday, that is, barring the fact that they have some lesson to make up or some punishment to work off, while for the three upper forms and for all the candidates for the higher government schools the program goes on just as before. In the afternoon, all the boarding pupils go out for a long walk under the direction of the censor or his assistants. Sunday afternoon is spent in a 1 Circ, July 7, 1890, Eec. dcs reg., p. 716. 184 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS similar fashion unless the boy is fortunate enough to escape entirely from the restrictions of the school life and spend the day with his family or his friends. When the boy first enters the lyc^e, he is assigned a number which conceals his identity in practically all his relations with the school outside the class School °Life!* room until his connection therewith is termi- nated. His caps, his clothes, his bed, his wash basin, his napkin ring, in fact everything he has or uses is marked with this number. He has absolutely no privacy any more than if he were a common soldier living in barracks. There is no place he can call his own, and he can never be by himself. He is in the dormitory, the refectory, the study room, the class room, or on the playground, and in any case he is surromided by fifteen or twenty others. This whole system forces the boy to live a collective rather than an individual life, wliich savors strongly of the orphan asylum if not of the penitentiary, or, to use a more euphe- mistic word which the French critics prefer, of the barracks.^ The time is practically all planned out for him from ten o'clock on Sunday night until eight o'clock on the following Sunday morning. He rises by the clock, he washes by the clock, he eats by the clock, he studies by the clock, he plays by the clock, he goes to bed by the clock. It would be interesting to know what would happen if he could not sleep by the clock. His incomings and his outgoings take place only at stated times and at fixed intervals, always near the watchful eye of some mentor. As long as he is within the scliool, he is practi- cally cut off from all contact with the outside world. There are no newspapers for him to read ; his mail is all minutely scrutinized to make sure that it bears the signature of parent or recognized correspondent ; and it is a serious breach of the regulations if one of his fellow pupils is detected in performing any commission for him on the outside. In fact he has little or no money to spend even if he coidd 1 See also Demolins, A quoi tient la sup6rioriU des Anglo-Saxons, \). 7. THE SCHOOL AND ITS LIFE 185 persuade one of his classmates to violate the rules for him, for his parents make a deposit with the bursar and give that official directions as to the amount of his advances to the boys. The authorities request that this allowance shall not exceed two francs per week, and the gate-keeper's supply of sweets provides ample opportunity for the expend- iture of this meagre pocket money. He has no time that he can call his own, and consequently he is not encouraged or even allowed to plan out his work for himself. So far as my observations and inquiries go there is an entire absence of all that training to fit a young man to meet situations, to handle his fellows, that the athletic activities and the freer atmosphere of our own institutions do so much to encourage. The very great majority of secondary school men believe that they cannot safely grant their boys any more liberties, and the small minority of head masters that hold other views and would like to give their boys more freedom are restrained by peculiar conditions. In other words, in case of accident while the boy is under the jurisdiction of the school authorities, whether on the playground or on an excursion, the State is liable for damages. If no school officer happened to be present, the head master himself may be sued for negligence in this respect. During the past twenty years the increasing activity of numerous unscrupulous lawyers in pushing such cases upon contingent fees has gone far to make the masters perhaps over cautious, and has seriously retarded the growth of any tendency toward reducing the strictness of the surveillance that might otherwise have been in evidence. The superior authority has thus far declined to relieve the masters of this responsibility ; hence the few instances where the pupils have any real freedom are all the more noticeable by their rarity. The life of the French secondary school is thus a most restricted and unreal sort of an existence where the absence of spontaneity and individuality commands a high premium. It is not surprising then to an Anglo-Saxon that when the French boy quits the lycde 186 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS precincts and realizes that he is no longer bound by the restrictions of his school life, he has less self-control, less poise, less executive skill, and in general is less able to solve the problems lie is called upon to face than are the English or American boys of the same age. CHAPTEE IX FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS At first sight it seems a bit strange to link the dead classics and the living French together, but it becomes perfectly clear when we recall that the instruction in the mother tongue is invariably intrusted to the teacher of the classics, that is, of course, from the sixth form upward. Although this is unquestionably a relic of the old r(5gime, and the vernacular has long had a place for itself among tlie recog- nized subjects of secondary study, occasionally one finds an echo of the past like the following: "I believe that the special study of the French language and literature ought not to figure in the program during the first two jx^'riods of sec- ondary instruction. . . . The mother tongue is the vehicle of all other subjects of instruction ; it is necessarily learned sim- ultaneously with them." ^ It is likewise worth noting that on the program in force at the time of the adoption of the present program in 1902, French was not assigned a special number of horns per week, but French and the classics re- ceived tliirteen hours among them in each of the first three years of the secondary course proper and twelve in the next three. In the days of the early colleges, Latin was everything. Little else was taught and the few other suljjects were all acquired through the Roman tongue. Scliolars wrote it, scholars spoke it ; it was the medium of^Lat'n'^ of diplomacy as well as of theological dispute ; it was the universal language of the literary world. What 1 Mankuvuiek, L' J^diicaiion de la bourgeoisie sous la r^publique, 3"'<= ed., 1888, p. 115. 188 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS more natural than that it should monopolize the instruction in the schools that trained men for these professions ! ^ Nearly four hundred years after the founding of the univer- sity, only a bold spirit dared attempt to teach in anything but this time-honored language. Under the Hatio stu- diorum of the Jesuits, no one of the classes had more than a half hour in the morning and an equal length of time in the afternoon for all the instruction in the mother tongue. The vernacular occupied relatively about the same proportion of the program of the Port-lvoyalists, and hardly more in the university schools of the seventeenth and eighteenth centu- ries, so far as we can judge from Kollin. In the meantime the Greek had made but little headway. Resuscitated by the Eenaissauce, it was still regarded as a mark of culture rather than an indispensable tool. The Revolution swept away the university as well as the colleges that had sur- vived the expulsion of the Jesuits, and practically all the classical learning disappeared at the same time. The little that was left in the so-called Central Schools is hardly to be taken seriously. In re-establishing the secondary schools, Napoleon foimded them on a basis of Latin and mathemat- ics : " Latin because it was customary ; mathematics be- cause he had been an artillery officer." ^ With the passing of Napoleon the Latin quite dispossessed its only serious rival and reassumed much of its former glory, so that one might truly have said according to popular ideas, " without Latin, there is no secondary instruction." This " popular notion " as expressing the inertia of tradition is undoubtedly largely responsible for the influence that Latin exerts even to-day. The modifications that have taken place from time to time show the efforts of the classicists to harmonize the force of this tradition with the needs of our modern society. 1 The cash account of one U. Filley de la Barre, 1706-1728, throws some light on the preponderance of Latin instruction at the Colle^'e Louis- le-Grand in the early part of the eighteenth century, at that time tlio most prominent of the Jesuit colleges, as well as upon the manners and customs of some of the younger students. See Appendix F. 2 FuAUY, La question da latin, p. -15. FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 189 We are becoming more and more convinced that questions of education and so of progi'am depend upon something inore substantial than sentiment and tradition. They are vitally and indissolubly embodied in the progress of society, in its material and intellectual and spiritual advancement. The old Latin was really the most intrinsically useful of subjects, for it was the passport for the church and the other professions, for a diplomatic career, or for polite society. With the evolution of our intellectual and industrial life it has lost nearly if not all of that characteristic.^ Intel- lectually its absolute value has remained constant, for time has brought no tarnish to the nobility of its thought or the beauty of its expression, but its recent loss of prestige is practically due to the recognition that its relative position has been considerably changed. The very close fundamen- tal relation between the French language and the Latin has been a potent factor in preventing the more rapid spread of this modifying tendency, and if it ever comes to a crisis ^vill probably be powerful enough to save the latter. On this account the position of Latin must always be relatively stronger in France than in any of the Teutonic or the Anglo- Saxon countries. The day of Greek as an essential instrument of general culture has plainly passed in France, for whereas the former inequality of privilege, as far as further uni- versity professional study was concerned, that of oreek!^ existed between tlie old baccalaureates, practi- cally made Greek compulsory, the new program has changed all that. Indeed, Greek enthusiasts are relieved that they did not fare worse. As one of the leaders said : " The new programs have restricted the part given to Greek in second- ary work, but they finally recognized its right to live, and we can hope its existence will not be discussed, at least for 1 Yet the question of Latin as the future international lanf^uajje was on the program for serious discussion at the Priino Congresso inter nazionale latino at Rome in the spring of 1903. Cf. also Andii^, Dans quelle mesure se sert-on encore du latin ? In Ilevue internationale de I'eiiseignement, 1902, II., pp., 503-512. 190 FHKNCII SMCONnAh'Y SCIfOOLS soiTiG time."' I^'orinor clasHical scliolars generally, unless tlieir jiidgnient is warped by prejudiee or by their own close connection with its instruction at tlie present time, are free to admit that (J reek is practically dead. Many are frank enougli to recognize that the day is not far distant when the (Ireek will have disappeared entirely from tlie colleges and will bo found only in the larger ly(;ces. Indeed, I came across a reasonably im])ortant provincial lycee where only eight of the thi-ee Innuh-ed and twenty boys in the school were studying (Jr(K^k, and the two boys in the begiiniing chiss tliis year had both l)egun the language in a ])rivate sdiool and were continuing it Iumc in order not to lose the time tliey had already sjjcnt upon it. Instances like the lyc/se at l>ijon, wlusre (Jreek still enjoys mucli of its former prestig(!, thanks in large measure to tlie personal inlluence and the good tiiaching t)f the j)rofessor in the beginning class, serve only to throw the ordinary situation into stronger relief. On the other hand, some teachers are rejoiced to lind a decided im])rovement in the (piality of their Greek pupils. This change for the better is not at all sini)rising, for now tliat (Jreek is an optional study it has been able to throw oil" that dc^ad weight of ])U])ils who took it with absolutidy no interest in the sid)ject matter, but merely be- caus(^ they coidd not get a regular baccalaureate without it. In other words the avenue toward the most desirable govern- ment preferment led through the (Jreek gateway. A study of the new ju-ogram suggests that tlie classi- cists may have sacriliced their deck load of (Jreek in order to save tlieir cargo of Latin, although it might EirortH to snvo ,^,,^ ^^^ ^^^ j|jjj ^^j^ who would admit this.2 tlio (JlasHics. •' 1 1 • 1 In the former jjrogram it was the classical course with both Latin and Greek verms the "modern" course without either of the ancient languages. The new program during the iirst cycle ostensil)ly oilers the same 1 (liutisKT, M. in /Icriir iiilrrnatMnalc tie I'cmriijnement, 1903, II., p. IS). '•• Vf. iilyo liANSuN, Jj'iniii'rrsi/i' ct lit socitHi muderne, \). 43. FRENCH AND Till': CLASSICS 1!)I choice, but whou wo coino to tlic fouitli and third forms thoro are ])ractically three oi)tions: (1) the ohl classical course; (2) tlie ohl modern com-sc;, both with certain modilications ; and (;>) the classical course without (ireeU. TTcie the tlu-ee liours of (Jreek are re])la('-ed by two adiUtional liours of the modiirn languajije already bej^un, and one hour of drawing. Thv. last named course by implication would appear to be the normal division A course, for according to the ollicial ])ro}fram, "the j)upils who taice Oreek will 1)0 relieved from three hours of class work, two taken from the time assigned to modern languages and one from drawing." While the ohl program odered a perfectly free choice between the classical and the modern courses, the lack of ollicral sanction offered the latter, by which the holders of its baccalaureate were eliminated from tlie bar and many other walks of professional life, forced ])iacti(ially all except the prospectivi! engincieis to select the traditional course with both (JrcH'k and Latin. The reform ])i()gram lias abolished this former incMpiulity, as far as ollicial regulations can do so, by pla(;ing both bacca- laureates u])on the same f»)oting with reference to uiKkuiak- ing future professional careers, or rather by establishing only one baccalaureate with mention of philosophy or math- ematics, together with whi(;hev(!r of the four sections they came under at the lirst part of their examination. JJut whereas under the old disixMisation there was but a single course that led to the baccalaureate, under the ])r(!scnt conditions there are four, with Latin as one of the important subjects in three out of the four courses. It is interesting to learn, moreover, that when Greek has to stand on its own merits, so to sjjcak, it no h)nger maintains its hold on the in- telle(;tual leaders of the class, for although the ])resent form of examination in the old classical course is admittedly the easiest of the four in the lirst ])art of the baccalaureate, more than once I have found the strongest jxipils in the (dass to be in the Latin-science scuition. Instruction in Latin which from time almost immemorial had been a part of the course in the elejneutary section of 192 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the lyc(^es and colleges was eliminated from the work of the lower classes by the program that went into effect in 1880, Latin and and since that time has been begun in the Greek in the sixth form. Five years later the single hour logtixm. assigned to Latin and Greek was cut out of the philosophy form, and since that date it has conse- quently been found in the first six years of the secondary course, properly speaking, or according to the present class nomenclature, from the sixth to the first form inclusive. As has previously been indicated, the program of 1902 cut down the number of week hours for Latin in every form ex- cept the second. Beginning Greek, which was formerly found in the sixth form, was changed to the fourth form by the program of 1880, only to be pushed back three quarters of a year into the fifth form five years later, and again subse- quently restored to the fourth form. The present situation, therefore, in the classical course of the secondary school gives a boy six years of Latin and four of Greek with an optional year of each in the philosophy form. The following are the Latin, Greek, and French courses for the lyc^es and colleges in accordance with the present regulations : SIXTH FORM Latin, 7 hours. Reading and translation of, and memory work from, Latin authors. (The reading and translation will form the prin- cipal part of the year's work.) Latin grammar. Latin composition, written and oral. Written translations (from the Latin). Programs of Instruction. Regular declensions and conjuga- tions. (Both these are begun simultaneously so as to introduce the pupils as soon as possible to the elements of the complete sentence.) Short sight exercises of translation from French to Latin and from Latin to French. (The teacher will read slowly a sentence in French or in Latin wherein all the words are known, and have the pupils translate it orally or in writing.) Authors. Selection of easy graded texts. Epiiome Historiae graecae (simple, graded edition). Viri Romae (2d semester). French, 3 hours. Division A. Reading and interpretation of, and memory work from, French authors. Grammar, syntax, language work, and spelling. Simple oral and written composition. (Rules are to be taught chiefly by use. The teacher will let no opportunity slip to re- FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 193 mind the pupils that they should learn the rules instinctively. Hence he will constantly base his instruction on the examples drawn from the written or spoken language of the pupils. The object of grammatical study is to formulate in precise statements the rules drawn from ex- perience.) Authors.' Selections from the prose and verse of the French classics. Selected stories of the prose writers and the poets of the Middle Ages put in modern French. La Fontaine, Fables (first six books). Fenelon, Telemaque. Buffon, selected descriptions. Selections from nineteenth century poets. French, 5 hours. Division B. [Program similar to that above. Tills being the non-classical division more emphasis is put upon the grammar. Also considerably more memory work.] * Authors.' Reading, explanation, and memory work. [The same list of authors as above, with the addition of stories from the prose writers of the nineteenth century.] FIFTH FORM Latin, 7 hours. Reading and translation of, and memory work from, Latin authors. (The reading and translation will form the prin- cipal part of the year's work.) Latin grammar, Latin composition, written and oral. Written translations (from the Latin). Program OF Instruction. Review of the grammar. Regular and irregular declensions and conjugations. First principles of syntax, agreement; principal uses of the cases; complements; principal and subordinate clauses. Arrangement of words by families. Root words, derivatives, and words in composition. Sight translation from French to Latin. Reading and translation of authors, at sight or prepared. Comparison of the Latin and the French construction based upon examples taken from the texts read. Reproduction from memoiy of selections read and translated in the class. Authors. Viri Romae (1st semester). Historical selections from secular liistory. Nepos (2d semester). Phaedrus, selected fables (2d semester). Justin, extracts. FIFTH FORM French, 3 hours. Division A. [Program similar to that of the sixth form above.] Authors.' Selections from the prose and verse of the French classics. Selected stories from the prose writers and the poets of the Middle Ages, 1 The teacher will choose from this list the matter to be explained in class. 2 The [ ] indicate the author's summary of the official text. 13 194 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS put in modern French. Selected scenes from Corneille and Moliere. Racine, Esther. La Fontaine, Fables (first six books). Fenelon, Tele- maque. Buffon, selected descriptions. Stories from the prose writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Lesage, Voltaire, etc.). Selections from the nineteenth century poets. French, 5 hours. Division B. [Program similar to that of Division A above, with added mention of outside reading upon which pupils are to be examined in class.] Authors.' Reading, explanation, and memory work. Selections from the prose and verse of the French classics. Chanson de Roland, put in modern French. La Fontaine, Fables (last six books). Boileau, Selections from the Satires, and Le Lutrin. Racine, Esther. Fenelon, Telemaque. Selections from the poets of the nineteenth century. Stories from the prose writers of the nineteenth century. FOURTH FORM Latin, 6 hours. Reading and translation of, and memory work from, Latin authors. (The reading and translation will form the principal part of the year's work.) Latin grammar, Latin composition, written and oral. Written translations (from the Latin). Program of Instruction. Review of the grammar. More detailed study of syntax. Reading and translation of authors. Comparison of the Latin and the French construction based upon examples taken from the texts read. Oral exercises on vocabulary. Prosody and versification ; hexameter and pentameter, scansion, and recasting in metrical form.^ Authors. Nepos (1st semester). Caesar, Gallic War. Cicero, De Senectute. Curtius. Virgil, Mneid (Books I, II, III). Ovid, Meta- morphoses (selections). Etliical selections from Latin authors. FOURTH FORM Greek, 3 hours (optional). Greek grammar. Written and oral exercises. Program op Instruction. Declensions (articles, nouns, adjec- tives, pronouns) and conjugations (verbs in «, contract verbs, verbs in fii, common irregular verbs). Invariable words. Elements of syntax. Authors. Chrestomathy. ^Esop, Fables. Lucian, extracts from Dialogues of the Dead, Dialogues of the Gods, True History. ^ The teacher will choose from this list the matter to he explained in class. 2 The teacher will select a number of verses in one of these familiar meters and trans])oso the words into the prose order. The pui)ils are then required to turn this back so as to give a correct metrical version. FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 195 FOURTH FORM French, 3 hours. Division A. Reading and interpretation of, and memory work from, French authors. (Outside reading upon which the pupils are examined in class.) Review of French grammar. Elementary principles of versification in connection with the texts read. Exercises in versification. Language work and spelling.' Simple compositions. (From time to time the teacher will touch upon the questions of histori- cal grammar that seem to be required by the texts read. This is in no sense to be a course in that subject, and the questions are to be treated only when they will make the present day language more intelligible.) Authors.' Selections from the prose and verse of the French classics. Selected scenes from Corneille and Moliere. Racine, Athalie. La Fon- taine, Fables (last six books). Boileau, Le Lutrin. Fenelon, selected dialogues and fables. Voltaire, Charles XII., SUcle de Louis XIV. Portraits and stories from the memoirs of the seventeenth and eigh- teenth centuries. Chateaubriand, stories, scenes, and sketches. Mi- chelet, liistorical extracts. Selections from nineteenth century poets. French, 5 hours. Division B. [Program similar to that of Divi- sion A above, except the attention devoted to versification.] Authors.* Reading, explanation, and memory work. Selections from the prose and verse of the French classics. Corneille, Le Cid. Moliere, UAvare. Racine, Athalie, Les Plaideurs. Voltaire, Charles XII. Michelet, historical extracts. Stories from the prose writers of the eighteenth century. Selections from the poets of the nineteenth century. THIRD FORM Latin, 6 hours. Reading and translation of, and memory work from, Latin authors. (The reading and translation will form the prin- cipal part of the year's work. Furthermore the pupils will be required to do outside reading upon which they will be examined in class.) Re- view of the grammar. Written translations (from the Latin). Latin composition. Prosody and versification; hexameter and pentameter, scansion, and recasting in metrical form.^ (Beginning with this class, a summary of the history of Latin literature will be put into the hands of the pupils.) Authors. Narration (selection of stories taken chiefly from Livy). Cicero, Against Catiline, Archias. Sallust. Latin Theatre, extracts. Virgil, Georgics, Mneid (Books IV-VIII). Latin anthology (except the works on the regular program). Ethical selections from Latin authors. ^ The teacher will choose from this list the matter to be explained in class. 2 See note under Fourth Form Latin, p. 194. 196 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS THIRD FORM Greek, 3 hours (optional). Reading and translation of, and mem- ory work from, Greek authors. Grammar reviewed and continued. Written translations (from the Greek). Greek composition. Authors. Lucian, extracts from Lucian's Dream, Timon, Menip- pus, Charon. Xenophon, extracts from Cyropaedia, Anabasis. Herod- otus, extracts. Ethical selections from Greek authors. THIRD FORM French, 3 hours. Division A. Reading and interpretation of, and memory work from, French authors. [Outside reading and historical grammar as in the fourth form above.] Compositions. (Beginning with this class a sketch of the liistory of French literature will be put into the hands of the pupils.) Authors.' Selections from the prose writers and the poets of the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Portraits and stories from the sixteenth century prose writers. Selected plays from Corneille, MoUere, and Racine. Boileau, Satires and Epttres. Selected letters from the seventeenth and the eighteenth century writers. Poetical masterpieces of Lamartine and Victor Hugo. Chateaubriand, stories, scenes, and sketches. Michelet, liistorical extracts. French, 4 hours. Division B. Reading, explanation, and memory work. (The outside reading for this section is chiefly taken from the French translations of the classical and modern masterpieces.) Reading and quizzes intended to acquaint the pupils with the great epochs in French literature. (Beginning with this class a sketch of the history of French literature will be put into the hands of the pupils.) Com- positions. Authors.* Reading, explanation, and memory work. Selections from the prose and verse of the French classics. Corneille, Horace, Cinna. Racine, Britannicus, IphigSnie. Moliere, Le Bourgeois Gentil- homme, Les Femmes Savantes. Bossuet, Oraisons funkhres. Chateau- briand, stories, scenes, and sketches. Victor Hugo, selected poems. Stories from the seventeenth and eighteenth century writers. Selected scenes from the comedies of the seventeenth and the eighteenth century. SECOND FORM Latin, 4 hours. (Program common to Sections A, B, and C.) Reading and translation of, and memory work from, Latin authors. (The reading and translation will form the principal part of the year's work. Furthermore, the pupils will be required to do outside reading upon wliich they will be examined in class.) Latin composition, and 1 The teacher will choose from this list the matter to be explained in class. FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 197 elementary exercises in original Latin writing. Reading, and qiiizzes intended to acquaint the pupils with the cliief Latin writers. (Begin- ning with this class a more complete grammar will be put into the hands of the pupils.) Authors. Cicero, De Suppliciis, De Signis, Scipio's Dream. Livy, a book of the third decade. Tacitus, Agricola, Germanicus. Pliny the Younger, Selected Letters. Latin Theatre, extracts. Virgil, Mneid (Books IX-XII), Bucolics. Horace, Odes. Latin anthology (except works on the regular program). Ethical selections from Latin authors. SECOND FORM Greek, 5 hours. Reading and translation of, and memory work from, Greek authors. Review of the grammar. Written translation (from the Greek). Greek composition. Reading and quizzes intended to ac- quaint the pupils with the cliief Greek writers. (Beginning with tliis class, a summary of the liistory of Greek literature and a more complete grammar vdW be put into the hands of the pupils.) Authors. Homer, Iliad, Odyssey. Xenophon, (Economics. Plato, Apology, Crito, lo. Plutarch, extracts from the Lives (Alexander and Caesar, Demosthenes and Cicero, Alcibiades and Coriolanus, Pericles and Fabius Maximus). Euripides, a tragedy (chosen from the two Iphigejiia, Alcestes, Hecuba, Hippolytv^, Medea). Ethical selections from Greek authors. SECOND FORM French, 3 hours. (Program common to sections A, B, and C.) Reading and explanation of, and memory work from, French authors. (Outside reading upon wliich the pupils will be examined in class.) Compositions. Reading and quizzes intended to acquaint the pupils with the principal writers up to the end of the sixteenth century. (Beginning with this class a more technical grammar will be put into the hands of the pupils.) Authors.' Selections from the prose writers and the poets of the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Chanson de Roland. Extracts from Villehardouin, Joinville, Froissart, and Comines. Chrestomathy of the Middle Ages. Montaigne, principal chapters, and extracts. Political masterpieces of Marot, Mansard, du Bellay, d'Aubigne, Regnier. Selected plays from Corneille, Moliere, and Racine. La Fontaine, Fables. Boileau, Satires and Epilres. Bos- suet, Oraisons funkbres. La Bruyere, Caractbres. Selected letters of the seventeenth and the eighteenth century. Readings on the society of the seventeenth century from memoirs and correspondence. Selections from Rousseau. Political masterpieces of Laraartine and Victor Hugo. Selections from the principal liistorians of the nineteenth century. 1 The teacher will choose from this list the matter to be explained in class. 198 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS French, 3 hours. Section D. [Aside from the fact that the sketch of French literature covers the writers of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, and that the list of authors is considerably more limited, the work is very similar to that done in the other three sections.] FIRST FORM Latin, 3 hours. (Program common to sections A, B, and C.) Reading and translation of, and memory work from, Latin authors. (The reading and translation will form the principal part of the year's work. Furthermore, the pupils will be required to do outside reading upon wliich they will be examined in class.) Written translations (from the Latin). Latin composition and exercises in original Latin writing. Reading and quizzes intended to acquaint the pupils with the chief Latin writers. Authors. Cicero, selected letters, Pro Milone, Pro Murena. Ex- tracts from and analysis of the principal speeches. Extracts from his etliical and philosophical writings. Extracts from his treatise on rhet- oric. Great addresses (chosen chiefly from Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus). Li\'y, a book of the tliird decade. Seneca, extracts from the Letters to Lucilixis, and his etliical writings. Tacitus, Annals, History, Dialogues on Orators. Latin Theatre, extracts. Lucretius, extracts. Virgil. Horace, Satires and Epistles. Latin anthology (except works on the regular program). Ethical selections from Latin authors. Extra work. Latin, 2 hours (required in Section A, optional in Sec- tion B). FIRST FORM Grkek, 5 hours. Reading and translation of, and memory work from, Greek authors. Written translation (from Greek). Greek com- position. Authors. Xenophon, Memorabilia. Plato, extracts. Demos- thenes, Philippics, On the Crown. Attic orators, extracts from : Lysias, Isocrates, ^Eschines, Hyperides. Homer, Iliad, Odyssey. Extracts from iEschylus and Aristophanes. A tragedy each from Sophocles and Euripides. Greek anthology (except works on the regular program). Etliical selections from Greek authors. FIRST FORM French, 3 hours. (Program common to Sections A, B, and C.) [Similar to that for the second form, save that the principal writers cov- ered extend from the seventeenth century to the end of the first half of the nineteenth.] FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 100 Authors.* Selections from the prose writers and the poets of the six- teenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Montaigne, principal chapters and extracts. Selected plays from Corneille, Moliere, and Racine. La Fontaine, Fables. Boileau, EpUres, Satires, Art poe- tique, extracts from prose works. Pascal, Pensees, Frovinciales (I, IV, XIII, and extracts). Bossuet, Oraisons funhbres, Sermons choisis, ex- tracts from liis various writings. La Bruy^re, Caracteres. Fenelon, Lettre a I'Academie, extracts from his other works. Selected letters from the seventeenth and the eighteenth century. Montesquieu, Con- siderations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur decadence. Extracts from L'Esprit des lois, and his other works. Buffon, ex- tracts. Voltaire, extracts from his historical writings and from his other prose works. Diderot, extracts. Rousseau, selections, Lettre a d'Alembert sur les spectacles. Readings on the society of the eighteenth century from memoirs and correspondence. Political masterpieces of Lamartine and Victor Hugo. Selections from the ethical writers of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Selections from the principal historians of the nineteenth century. French, 3 hours. Section D. [Aside from the fact that the sketch of French literature is confined to the nineteenth century writers and that the list of authors is considerably more limited (orators and politi- cal writers since the Revolution, and the principal scientists have been added), the work is very similar to that done in the other three sections.] PHILOSOPHY FORM Latin and Greek, 4 hours (optional) Section A. Latin, 2 hours (optional) Section B. The authors of the first form program. Cicero, extracts from his rhetorical treatises. Lucan, extracts. Thu- cydides, extracts. Aristotle, extracts from the Rhetoric and the Poetics. Theocritus, selected Idyls. In the graduate forms there is no outlined program nor even a suggested list of authors. The professor chooses from the preceding course the authors that seem likely best to prepare his particular class for the competitive examination that lies before them. In examining this classical program, perhaps the first thing that strikes our attention is the very large amount of time it requires, amounting to between thirty-five and rpj^^^g thirty-nine hours of Latin and eighteen hours Allowance of Greek, and this, too, representing what is for Classics, looked upon to-day as an almost "irreducible minimum," 1 The teacher will choose from this list the matter to be explained in class. 200 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS There is very general complaint among the teachers that the time for Latin is far too short. Even assuming that the French secondary school course covers at least the freshman year work in our best colleges, the number of hours still appears mordinately large. Taking the recommendations of the Eeport of the Committee of Ten as the basis of compari- son, and assuming that the Latin of the first year of college amounts to three periods per week, we still find that the Latin progi'am of the French schools occupies nearly twice as many periods as the American program which we have assumed to be reasonably comparable. On considering fur- ther that in America the time unit is ordinarily not over three quarters of an hour, while in France it is nominally sixty minutes (though in practice this is usually cut down about five minutes), the relative difference is still further increased. On the same basis, the Greek in the French schools with its sixteen or eighteen periods during the course likewise receives far more attention than we grant it. Looked at from another point of view, namely, the amount of time spent upon the classics as compared to the total length of the secondary course, there is considerably more similarity, for in the two countries the classics occupy about one third of all the time, the proportion being somewhat greater with us than it is abroad. The amount of time devoted to classical study in the French schools makes it possible to read the large number of authors, especially in Latin, that we find on Diversity of their programs. There are many works and even some authors that are nothmg more than names to most of our students who do not carry on their classical studies beyond the first year in college. With the one- course Latin diet that prevails in most of our American high school classes, it is not surprising that few of our students gain any adequate ideas of the development of the Latin literature. I had not even a word of explanation to offer when one teacher smilingly refen-ed to Ceesar as our Latin " daily bread." Every classical class in the French schools FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 201 in general is studying at least two authors simultaneously, and after the second year both prose and poetry are repre- sented. For example, the fourth form class (the third year of Latin) starts the year with Nepos, follows it with three books of the ^^leid and some books of Csesar running con- jointly, and completes the year with De Senectute and selec- tions from the Metamorphoses, contriving to work in a little Curtius and some extracts from purely ethical and moral subjects. The following third form scheme of work will give a clearer idea of the weekly distribution of time : Tuesday, 3.30-4.30 p. m. Memory work; dictation of the text for the Latin to French translation; reading and translation. Wednesday, 9.00-10.00 A. M. Memory work; correction of the Latin to French translation. 3.30-4.30 p. M. Grammatical review and prosody. Friday, 2.30-3.30 p. m. Memory work; dictation of the text for the French to Latin translation; reading and translation. Saturday, 8.00-9.00 a. m. Memory work; reading and translation. 3.30-4.30 p. M. Correction of the French to Latin translation. While this is a purely individual arrangement, for the official program merely states the amount of gi-ound to be covered and does not attempt to specify how the time shall be apportioned, it may be taken as a fairly typical distribu- tion. At the beginning of the year, each professor submits some such weekly schedule to the head master of the school in order that the work of the pupils may be scattered over the whole week, and that they shall not be unduly crowded on an}' one day. The methods in use in classical teaching, and in fact in all linguistic instruction, are strikingly different from our own. In the first place, one is impressed with the Method- emphasis placed upon memory work. The ]\leinory weekly program quoted above makes some pro- °^ " vision for this every day, and if the number of lines that I heard recited in that particular class is to be taken as a stand- ard (and I believe it may), those boys were learning about a hundred lines of Latin per week. The teacher of the same 202 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS form in one of the provincial colleges in discussing this question of memory work said : " Yes, I believe in it thor- oughly. I have these boys thirteen or fourteen hours per week (including French and ethics) and they have one hun- dred and fifty lines to learn. If I had them more hours, they would have still more to commit to memory. The boys never object." It was after the close of the lesson, so the mild expressions of disagreement with the last remark on the part of several boys gathered around, while not subver- sive of school discipline, showed a decided difference of opinion. The facility acquired by long practice, together with the fact that the Imes to be memorized are invariably carefully translated and explained in the class beforehand, makes it possible for the boys easily to learn the ten or twenty lines assigned for each lesson in about as many min- utes. Inasmuch as the French is always closely connected with the Latin in all this memory work, the practice cannot fail to give the pupils a great advantage in translating either from Latin to French or from French to Latin. It is an open question, however, if this emphasis upon committing to memory has not been carried too far. There are certain evidences, especially in the lower classes, that it has even trespassed on the domain of subjects like history and mathe- matics, where it should play a decidedly subordinate role. For one who has been accustomed to the modern pronunci- ation of Latin as found in the United States to-day, it is at first almost impossible to follow the class work in France. The old Erasmian method of pro- nunciation served as the point of departure, but except for the Eoman sound of e and the enunciation of the final con- sonants, the Latin is pronounced exactly as though it were French, The efforts to bring about a reform here have thus far failed to meet with any general sympathy, chiefly because the intimate relation between the Latin and the French is one of the strong reasons for studying the ancient language, and with the reform pronunciation, not only would the pupils have to master a foreign pronunciation, but the aural assist- FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 203 ance in discovering the relationship between the two lan- guages would be entirely eliminated. Latin prose is not looked upon as a kind of addendum or appendix that is merely attached to the outside of the regu- lar course, but it forms an integral part of the work. In fact, in the mmds of the French Com^Sion. teachers, these two are never dissociated. The teacher dictates the text to the class. The work is prepared outside, handed in, carefully read by the teacher and the errors noted, discussed at length in the class, and finally written correctly by each pupil in his note book. Through- out this whole process there is an amount of care and pains- taking that would astonish some of our American boys. There is unquestionably a great waste of time in dictating these texts, for one must reckon on ten to twenty minutes for each, and even with the reading and rereading mistakes are bound to crop out. It was consequently a great delight to find one or two teachers wide-awake enough to use some kind of a duplicating machine to prepare their texts for class use. Even the professor himself is compelled to keep a blank book for all the exercises of this kind he gives out, a regula- tion that certainly facilitates the work of the inspector when he makes his rounds. In the lower grades, the texts, like so many of our own, are mere translations from the Latin, but in the upper classes they are often chosen from the French classic writers. Just as in the German Gymnasium, considerable impor- tance is attached to written translations from Latin to the vernacular. They certainly call forth an ac- curacy and a nicety of rendition that is prac- translations tically impossible in oral work. The general method followed is similar to that just indicated for the Latin prose work. The same care is taken in correcting and rewriting, so that it may truly be said that this translation from the Latin is after all an exercise in French composition. In fact this correlation between Latin and French is every- where strongly evident, largely, probably, because the teacher 204 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS of Latin is always the teacher of French, and what he neg- lects in one class he will only have to correct in the next. This practice of teaching the mother tongue through the classics goes far toward helping the classical pupils make up the seven hours excess of French which the pupils of Division B have gained during the first cycle. Eeading and translation, or as the French call it, explica- tion des textes, is treated entirely differently from what it is in America. In the first place, the class work is free from that " choppy " sort of recitation that is so common with us, for the French teacher makes no effort to get around the class in any single period. He calls on very few boys, often not more than half a dozen out of a class of twenty or thirty, but he manages to find out pretty accurately what each one really knows about the lesson in hand. I have never yet heard an absolute failure in a French class, nor have I ever heard a boy say, " I am not prepared." Probably both these situations occur, but they are at least reasonably rare. As the program already given will show, the first part of the period where translation occurs is taken up with memory work and dictation for outside written work, so that about two thirds of the time remain for the translation proper. A pupil is called upon to " explain the text." This falls into four stages : first, reading in Latin a whole sentence or perhaps the entire assignment that he will be called upon to render ; second, he rereads the Latin by natural groupings of the words (that is, subject and predi- cate if it is a simple sentence, the subject and its modifiers, a clause at a time, etc.), but m the order required, hy the French idiom ; third, each of these groups of words is immediately turned literally into French ; and finally, the whole assign- ment is translated into good French. The second and third of these steps make up what the French call the " word for word " translation, really a sort of hybrid, for it is neither Latin nor French. This is a thoroughly artificial process and plainly a device of the translator which only emphasizes the bad habits that nine tenths of the people fall into who at- FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 205 tempt to translate from one language to another, and tends to nullify all eflbrt to induce the pupils to think in the foreign idiom. It would seem to be a confession of weakness thus to juggle with the order of the Latin phrases in order to make them intelligible in the mother tongue. To be sure, it eliminates numerous syntactical questions and explana- tions, for the teacher can discern immediately whether or not the pupil has grasped the meaning of the text ; and the rest of the class at the same time have most of their diffi- culties cleared up, but it must necessarily waste considerable time, for the method recognizes no differentiation of difficulty, and the same laborious and artificial treatment is expended upon the simple as upon the obscure. The movement for the suppression of this " word for word " translation is even now gathering headway,^ but much time and effort will be neces- sary to change such a deep-seated method of procedure. This is accompanied on the part of the teacher by a running comment and criticism, embracing questions of history, ge- ography, etymology, and style, which all serve to explain, illumine, and appreciate the text. The teacher sometimes monopolizes so much of the time in this commentary that it seems as though he were lecturing to the class rather than that the class were reciting to him. It is essentially a method of pouring in rather than of drawing out ; but it apparently characterizes the philosophy of education of the very great majority of the French teaching body. This whole method would fall far short of the mark were it not for the simplicity of all these explanations and the inseparable note book in the hands of the class. These comments are carefully jotted down by each individual pupil to be digested and absorbed before the next lesson. The general result is that time for time in his classical studies, the French boy covers just about as much ground as his American cousin, but on the whole he does his work more thoroughly and knows it better. 1 Cf. recent articles in the Revue universitaire by Lavand, Une petite r6- forme 2jMafjo(iiquc ; Comment rendre nos 6levcs plus fort en grec et en latin, 1904 ; CiiABERT, Simples notes sur la traduction orale des textes latins, 1907. 206 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Inasmuch as the Greek and the Latin are both handled by the same teachers, the general method followed in teaching these two languages is essentially the same. I was generally impressed, how- ever, by the carelessness of both teachers and pupils with regard to accent in pronunciation. One professor frankly said that as soon as he found his pupils could get along without the accents he no longer insisted on their mark- ing them in their written work, but it was quite impos- sible to discover what his standard of pronunciation was. In this same second form class, the text for the Greek composition was given out in Latin and the translation was to be made dhectly from one language to the other without utilizing the French as an intermediary, that is, without first translating the whole extract into the vernacular. The close relation between the teaching of the classics and the French has naturally influenced the instruction in the mother tongue to a marked degree, ^Tench.°^ in fact, one may fairly say that for many a generation the vernacular suffered under this baleful influence, for the dry method of teaching the dead classics was rigorously applied to the living French. As long as the intellectual life was practically bounded by the field already worked over by the sages of Greece and Eome, the vocabularies of these older languages were per- fectly adequate for the uses of medifeval scholars. For fourteen centuries the great desire had been to attain the summits once reached during the golden age of classic civil- ization. The Eenaissance meant not only a more and more successful attempt to regain this lost ground, but it marked also the stimulus to independent thought outside the traditional limits and the beginning of the modern scientific movement. Erasmus and a few other devoted classicists struggled manfully to make the Latin respond to the changing needs of the intellectual life, but all in vam, for the inflexibility of the ancient tongue was its undoing. In this dilemma, the vernacular, not one but half a dozen or FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 207 more, rushed forward to fill the breach. Thus while the Latin still served the purposes of the philosophers and remained a kind of international language in that field, the scientists were forced back upon their own resources, and they contributed materially to the development of the modern tongues/ However much our sympathies may have been aroused by Kamus's struggles to popularize French as a subject of instruction, we must admit that he failed in his purpose. The Oratorians, the bitter rivals of the Jes- uits, and the illustrious though ill-fated schools of the Port- Eoyalists, however, instituted a very important reform when they not only based the classical instruction upon the mother tongue and also began the latter subject first, but they even commenced to study the native language for its own sake.^ The progi-ess was slow, for it was not until toward the end of that century, the seventeenth, that Hersan and his more famous pupil Eollin introduced the study in one of the university colleges. The latter speaks with enthusiasm of the success he obtained in having his rhetoric pupils sum- marize their Latin lessons partly in Latin and partly in French, and of the stimulation in interest resulting from the introduction of this simple variation of method.^ Later this practice of EoUin's spread until we find the exception of the seventeenth century becoming the rule of the eighteenth, for EoUin's Traite des etudes largely represents the programs of the university colleges until well on toward the Eevolution. However much the French increased in importance, it was entirely dominated by the Latin. Even the short-lived Central Schools of the Direc- tory as they were actually organized gave comparatively little attention to French, and it was all confined to the last two years of the course. The first lyc^e program published by Napoleon in 1802 carried a somewhat simi- 1 Cf. Hartog, Teaching of the mother tongue in France, in Ed. Rev., April, 1908, XXXV, p. 335. 2 Lantoine, Histoire de V enseignement secondaire en France au xvii« si&cle, p. 170. 8 Quoted by Lantoine, op. cit., p. 212. 208 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS lar allotment of time for the native language and litera- ture. The revision of 1809 after the founding of the University, however, bears evidence of a return to many of the conditions of the old regime. Then for the first time we find a program that in outward appearance was very similar to the one in existence until the recent reform. At that time French and Latin appeared side by side throughout the course, not that the two were by any means on equal footing, but they were at least contem- porary. This juxtaposition remains much the same to-day, though on the classical side the native tongue has gained absolutely as well as relatively upon the Latin, and on the " modern " side, which the new program has estab- lished on a par with the classical instruction, the French stands alone. In the second cycle, French receives the same time allotment on the two "sides," but in the first cycle it has nineteen hours in Division B as against only twelve in Division A, an advantage which, as has already been pointed out, is largely made up by the fine correla- tion between classical and French instruction. In the elementary classes of the secondary school, instruc- tion in the mother tongue is confined to reading, language work, analysis, memoriter recitation, and simple written ex- ercises, anything approaching literary study even of a most elementary type being chiefly conspicuous by its absence. The emphasis upon the study of formal grammar and the aridity of this literary aspect of the program in comparison with that of the primary schools is explicable on two grounds : first, the tenacity of the influence of the traditional method of classical instruction ; and, second, the fact that in the lyc^es and colleges these years are looked upon merely as preparatory to the real secondary course which is to follow. The written exercises in these elementary classes are similarly barren, for there is a great deal of dictation work, a little letter writing, and only a very small opportunity for any self-expression on the part of the pupils. In fact, even FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 209 in the upper classes, great as has been the progress in the last thirty-five years, there is still a good deal of truth in M. Brc^al's criticism that the pupil acquires "the habit of expressing the sentiments of conven- tion; the literary exercises of the class are for him only what the theatre is for the actor," ^ In a first form class, the following was given out as the subject for one of the written compositions : " A pupil of EoUin has failed in some important piece of work he has undertaken. Write a letter of sympathy from the master to this pupil." I had the good fortune to be present in a third form class during the " correction of the task," as the French put it. One of the three periods per week is ordinarily spent in this way. The subject assigned had been this : "Toward midnight on the eve of the battle of Eaveaux (1746), M. S^nac, the physician of Marshal Saxe, who found himself alone in the tent with his commander, noticed that the latter was sad and pensive. On being asked the reason, the Marshal replied in these lines from Andromaque, III., 8 : * Soiige, songe Sephis, a cette nuit cruelle Qui fut pour tout un peuple nne nuit eternelle ; Songe au cris des vainqueurs, songe aux cris des mourants Dans la flamme 6touff6e, sous le fer expirant.' In writing what is suggested to you by this incident, make use of the following suggestions: (1) Historical introduction on Maurice of Saxony ; sketch his military career. (2) De- scription of the sleeping camp ; look up the picture of Du- taiUe ; the tent of the Marshal, the only one lighted ; entrance of S^nac. (3) Dialogue between the two men on the lines from Eacine, S^nac supporting the necessity for the war, Maurice presenting the humanitarian point of view. (4) The two men go out of the tent to look at the sleeping camp. Use here the scene represented in the sky of the picture, and imagine the words of the Marshal and his physician as they separate." 1 Br^al, Quclqucs mots sur V instr action puhlique en France, p. 241. 14 210 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS After reading two of the better papers and one of the poorer ones, the teacher made some very keen and incisive general criticisms on the papers as a whole, using the com- positions read to illustrate his points. He was particularly severe on the boys that used the cut and dried arguments of their ethics text-book in elaborating the dialogue suggested above. Both these examples are rather characteristic of the ethi- cal tendency that permeates the ordinary instruction, and the second shows strongly the influence upon the logical development of ideas. Furthermore, the second brings out very clearly one of the strongest features of French teach- ing : the effort made to prevent pupils from making mistakes. It is perfectly true that this may be carried to a point which is destructive of initiative and independence, but if our American teachers would give more attention to this phase of their work, they would not have to expend so much energy in rectifying errors already made. As we come to the upper classes, tlie elementary language work and the technical grammar are gradually sloughed off, and save for the ever present memorizing. Literature. ... , t • i , i , , , • i composition has to divide the attention only with literature. On the whole the latter is unusually well done, even tliough at times it is too intent upon fastening the established criticism upon the pupil's mind rather than of evoking from him an independent expression of his own personal and honest appreciation. From the third form up- ward there is an ever increasing amount of attention devoted to the history of literature, though not without protest on the part of some of the university professors who rather incon- siderately maintain that this study should almost exclusively be reserved for superior education ; thereby losing sight of * Lanson, L'universiti et la soci6t6 moderne, p. 111. M. Laiison is not quite so emphatic in his statements on this point a yoar and a half later. See his £tudes modernes dans V enseigncment sccondaire, in U hducation de la democratie, p. 178, a lecture delivered at the ^cole des hautes Mudes sociales, in the spring of 1903. FRENCH AND THE CLASSICS 211 the fact that a comparatively small proportion of the second- ary school graduates ever enter the arts faculties of the uni- versities. On the whole, then, reading and interpretation claim the major portion of the time. Except for a slight emphasis upon nineteenth century poets in the Latin sec- tion, and the additional inclusion of selections from the prose writers of the same century in the " modern " section, the literature course in the main follows a chronological order from the classic writers down. After the sixth form, as the program implies, each teacher has a rather wide range of books from which to choose his texts. This allows con- siderable leeway for the exercise of his own personal pref- erences and enables the teacher to select the things he likes best and will consequently teach most enthusiastically. Very little reading is actually done in the class, and one hears mere summarizing comparatively seldom. There is an evident attempt to take up the play, the poem, or the selection as a whole, rather than to follow the fragmentary method of treatment that has little place in real literary ap- preciation, and usually succeeds in stifling any love for litera- ture that might otherwise be aroused. As far as the French classics are concerned, the national theatres in Paris do nnich to supplement the school. Eegularly at the Comedie Fran- ^aise and frequently at the Odeo7i, one finds classic plays upon the boards, and at the latter theatre the prices are un- usually low upon such occasions, for in France it has not yet become the fashion to neglect the classics. The teachers are free to recommend these plays to their pupils, and at the Thursday matinee one may count on finding a goodly pro- portion of boys and girls in the audience. Of course not all the books in the program can be read every year, but when a boy has completed the first form (there is no French in the final year) one may unhesitatingly affirm that he has made the acquaintance of all the classic and the principal modern writers of both prose and poetry (save those authors whose wiitings are addressed to a more mature public), that he has read their best known works and has committed to memory 212 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS several thousand lines of their choicest expressions, that he has some intelligent notions of the style and characteristics of many of them, and that in the main he has acquired an appreciation of and a love for good literature. Surely this is an achievement of which anybody might be proud. To be sure it requires time (in the Latin sections three hours per week for six years), a consistently and progressively arranged program, and intelligent and skilful teachers, but with the possible exception of the memory work is it more than ought to be required of our own high school graduates ? CHAPTEE X MODERN LANGUAGES Within the purview of the French public school system, the expression " modern languages," or as their term is, " living languages," means English, German, Italian, ^. .^ ^. r » 1 • 1 T-. • mi 1 bigmncatiou Spanish, Arabic, and Russian. The latter is not of "Modern yet taught in any of the schools; the Arabic Languages." and its related language, the Khabyl, concern only the schools in Africa ; the Italian and the Spanish are practically limited to the lycees and colleges near the borders of these respective countries ; so that the observations which f oUow are based largely upon the languages of the nations immedi- ately east and immediately west, though, unless there are specific exceptions to the contrary, they must be understood as applying equally well to the two Romance languages. Modern language instruction in France is practically a creation of the nineteenth century, for although one finds spasmodic references to it, at least ever since the days of the Oratorians and the Port-Royal- Modern ists, these are interesting rather as showing Language the difficulty it found in making a place for itself in the progi'am than as chronicling any appreciable results definitely accomplished. It is probable that Rich- elieu, when he prescribed "the comparison of the Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish languages" among the subjects of instruction of the college he was responsible for establishing in 1640,^ was merely continumg what P. de Coudren had already begun in the colleges of the Orato- 1 Caillet, Dc V administrcdion en France sous Richelieu, II., p. 175, quoted in Hamel, Histoire de, I'dbbaye et du college de Juilly, p. 233. 214 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS rians. But however accurately this suggestion may have been carried out, it can hardly be dignified by the name modern language instruction. Very shortly after that time, the Port-Royalists were evidently doing something more worthy of the name. Lancelot published his Italian Method ^ and his Spanish Method in 1660, and Racine is said to have known both these languages when he was just fresh from the school.^ Both these quickly appeared in second editions, the former in 1664 and the latter in 1665. In the Spanish book, at least, he was apparently influenced by purely utilitarian purposes, for the object as set forth in his preface is " that it may be of service for the promotion of intercourse and commerce between the two foremost na- tions of Europe," and on account of the widespread use of the Spanish language, it will serve as a medium of communication in " the East and the West Indies, in Europe, in Africa, in Asia, and in America." The study of Spanish and Italian also appears in d'Agues- seau's Instructions a mcs enfants, dating from 1716, but not published until 1756, written with the idea of laying out a course of preparation for the magistracy, but whether the presence of the study of these two languages is due to any connection with previous efforts or merely to a personal conviction drawn from his own general learning and broad scholarship it is difficult to say. Be that as it may, his attention was directed toward higher rather than second- ary education, a point of view that may be reflected by La Chalotais when he says : " The modern languages are treated almost like one's contemporaries, with a kind of indifference and almost always slightingly. Circumstances and taste ought to fix the time for them. Ordinarily they are left for the years that follow education " ^ (that is, after 1 Nouvelle mUhode imur apprendre facilement et en pcu de temps la langiie Italienne. 2 CoMPAYR^, Histoire critique des doctrines de I'Mitcation en France dcpuis le seizibne siecle, II., p. 260. * La Chalotais, Essai d'Hucation nationale, 1763, p. 70. MODERN LANGUAGES 215 the age of seventeen or eighteen which he fixed as the normal limit), English and German were the two modern languages specifically named by La Chalotais, the former for use in scientific investigation, the latter for purposes of military study. Nevertheless, he gave them merely a pass- ing mention, apparently not thinking it worth while to discuss them at length. This same La Chalotais is inter- esting for evidently having had in mind a suggestion of the direct method of to-day, when he pointed out very clearly that in learning a living language, one made a direct association between the object itself and its name, whereas in learning a dead language the association was between the name in the foreign language and the name in the vernacular. As he put it, in one case it is the symbol of an object, in the other it is the symbol of a symbol.^ The movement for the introduction of modern language study into the curriculum grew but slowly, for it was not recognized as of sufficient general utility to warrrant assign- ing it a place on the college programs. Guyton de Mor- veau, writing in 1764, frankly declared that no country in Europe was interesting itself in the languages of its neighbors less than France,^ a neglect undoubtedly largely due to the position in the world of letters and diplomacy that the French language had by that time come to occupy. In following the "preceptor of our rival nation "(Locke), he recommends Italian, English, and German as useful for business, com- merce, and travelling, as well as for fine arts, literature, and scholarship. Although adducing such broad advantages for foreign language study, he proposed a very limited scope, for he advocated introducing it only in the schools of the provincial capitals, and of reserving it almost invariably until after the year of physics, which was the crowning study in his educational scheme. 1 La Chalotais, Essai d'ecliccation nationalc, 1763, p. 76. 2 GuYTOX DE MoRVEAU, Mimoirc sur V education puhlique, avec le prospectus d'un college suivant les principes de cet ouvrage, p. 119, 216 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Although demanded by some of the Cahiers de 1789} inserted in the proposed schemes of Talleyrand, 1791, the City of Paris, 1793, Romme, 1793, Lakaual, 1795, suggested furtively by Dauuou, 1795, for the Central Schools, tempo- rarily occupying a place in the program of the Prytanee, 1801, and in 1814 put on the same footing as the other " accomplishments," dancing, music, and fencing, to be paid for by the parents outside the regular school fees, modern language instruction finally found a regular place, but even then only as an optional subject, for the first time in the program of 1821.^ M. Vatimesnil's report to the king in March, 1829^ wherein he referred to the establishment of special sections in some of the royal colleges, for instruction in science, modern languages, the theory of commerce, and drawing, in an effort to make instruction respond "to the needs of the commercial, agricultural, industrial, and manu- facturing professions," a demand which the classical learning had utterly failed to supply, evidently bore some fruit, for modern language instruction was made compulsory in the fall of 1829, only to be relegated to the optional group in the following spring. It was still being taught on Thursdays or during the interval between the regular morning and after- noon classes. In the classical course since 1838, and in the "modern" course from the very beginning in 1847, it has been compulsory for everybody at some time, but the num- ber of years of prescribed work has been very variable. The maximum was reached in 1880, when modern language study appeared in every year from the preparatory form through the philosophy and amounted to twenty-nine week hours for the whole course out of a grand total of two hundred and forty- five hours for the ten years. At the same time French had fifty-one hours ; Latin and Greek, sixty ; science, forty- 1 Champion, L' instruction puhlique e7i France d'aprh les cahiers de 1789, in Remie internationale de V enseignement, 1884, II., p. 13. 2 For these various programs see Gr^ard, Enseignement secondaire, II., Annexes, pp. 238-250. 8 Quoted by Gr^ard, op. cit., p. 253. MODERN LANGUAGES 217 one ; history and geogi-aphy, thirty-six ; drawing, ten ; and philosophy, eight.^ Since that tirae there have been attempts made to abolish the modern languages from all classes below the sixth, but these have thus far proved abortive, partly on -. . .. 5 . ' XT J Instruction account of the opposition from the teachers in in the Lower those classes who saw themselves in danger of Classes, losing the extra remuneration granted to holders of the additional modern language certificate, but chiefly from the parents who still clung to this instruction in the second year of the preparatory division and in the eighth and seventh forms as constituting the only outwardly distinguishing characteristic between the program of the elementary classes of the lyc^es and colleges and the work given in the free public primary schools. The administration thus found itself confronting an annoying dilemma. The parents de- manded these languages in the lower classes ; the authorities were trying to co-ordinate the secondary school course proper with the primary school program so as to make an easy and natural transition from the latter to the former. Since the lower primary school program makes no provision for modern languages, to comply with this popular demand meant to defeat the very purpose of the administration along the line just indicated. The languages are still taught for three years preceding the sixth form, but only two hours per week, and a relatively small number of boys are entering the sixth form dhect from the lower primary schools. The result of putting these latter into the class with boys that have been studying a language for three years can readily be imagined. The confused grading reacts both ways : in the upper form in retarding the class and in immeasurably in- creasing the burden of the teacher; in the lower forms in emasculating the work of most of its virility and seriousness. Such a condition of mal-grading would not be tolerated for a moment in the ancient languages or in mathematics, but just ^ Arrets, Aug. 2, 1880, Greard, op. cit., Annexes, ^ip. 280-281. 218 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS at present there seems to be no immediate prospect of rid- ding the modern languages of this incubus. The unsatisfac- tory condition of modern language instruction in the lower classes is thus not entirely the fault of the teachers, although it must be admitted that one ordinarily finds here the most poorly equipped teachers, especially where the instruction is entrusted, as is usually the case, to the regular class teachers that have done the extra work necessary to gain the certifi- cate required for this purpose. To make matters worse, the ofiicial regulations contain no specific instructions as to the modern language program in these grades, merely dispos- ing of it with " two hours per week." The recitations that I visited in these elementary classes were distressingly dull, but what more could one expect when the recitations come only twice a week, and the teacher is limited to the most commonplace expressions within the vocabulary furnished by the class room and its immediate environment ? In the upper forms the official instructions are most spe- cific, the years devoted to modern language study being divided into three periods : the first covering the sixth and fifth forms, characterized by tlie acquisition of a simple vocabulary, the training of the ear and the vocal chords, and in accustoming the pupil to speak in the foreign tongue; the second period including the fourth and third forms, occupied in developing the conversational power, in enlarg- ing the vocabulary, in widening the basis of his grammatical knowledge, and in putting him in position to understand books and other publications printed in the foreign language as well as to express his own thought in the written lan- guage; the third period covering the entire second cycle, wherein the language is sufficiently well known so that reading no longer being the chief aim, the pupil may begin to learn about the country itself, and the life and the litera- ture of its people.^ 1 Instructions annexed to the circular of Nov. 15, 1901, in Plan d'4iudes et programmes d'enseignement dans les lycdes et colUcjes de gargons, 1907-1908, pp. 32-33. MODERN LANGUAGES 219 PROGRAMS OF THE FIRST PERIOD. SIXTH AND FIFTH FORMS 5 Hours a Week (Common to Divisions A and B) Pronunclation. — All the efforts of the teacher should be directed toward obtaining from the very first a good pronunciation and a correct accent. In order to obtain this he should pronounce the words slowly, separating the syllables, and should have them repeated after him, sometimes by one pupil, sometimes by several, and sometimes by all in concert. Not until then should he write the word on the board. Vocabulary. — The words should be taught from the objects them- selves, with as little recourse as possible to the mother tongue. The pupil acquires progressively the vocabulary related to the fol- lowing subjects: SIXTH FORM The Child AT School. Objects that he uses in class. Relations with the people around him. Principal actions in school (I write, I read, etc.). Movements about the class. Parts of the class room. Use of school furniture. Recreation. Games. Numbers (cardinal and ordinal). Simple reckoning. Weights and measures. Time and Temperature. Divisions of time. Heat and cold. Sea- sons (very general notions). The Human Body and its Physical Needs. Food. Clothing. The senses. Health and sickness. The Home and the Family. Parts of the house; different rooms; furniture and utensils. The members of the family ; their occupations ; family gatherings. FIFTH FORM The Country. Appearance of the country ; atmospheric phenomena ; seasons ; plants and animals. Occupations of the country : the farmer ; the vine dresser ; the gardener ; the wood cutter. The country house : principal parts. The domestic animals; use and services rendered. Farming implements. Pleasures of the country: hunting and fishing; walking and other modes of locomotion; festivities and diversions. The City. Streets (vehicles), railway station, post office, hotel, theatres, museums, libraries, large and small shops, markets. The prin- cipal occupations. Nature. The ocean, rivers, mountains, plains, forests, sky. Very General Notions of the Geography of the Country whose Language they are studying. 220 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS The teacher should not attempt to exhaust the vocabularies of the foregoing subjects, but should limit them to the words in ordinary use. He is especially cautioned not to use technical terms and to avoid naming in the foreign language objects or parts of objects unless the pupils already know the French name. Grammar. Thorough grammatical drill during the first period. The essential point is that the ear should be accustomed to the form before the rule is given, and that the rule, always clear and concise, should be a simple statement of a general fact. Conversation. Throughout the first period, conversation is at once the end and the means. The immediate aim is to fix the words in the pupil's memory, and to accustom his ear to require the correct form. The pupil should always respond in a complete sentence. The teacher should as soon as possible use the foreign language for whatever he has to say. Written Work. At first, this is of only secondary importance. From time to time dictation exercises may be prohtably used, but one ought always to be sure that the text is already understood. Text Bo(jk. . . . Explain new words by the aid of words already famihar. In any event avoid the word-for-word translation. The teacher will determine for himself when he will put a book into the hands of his pupils, but at all events not until they have acquired a good pronunciation. SECOND PERIOD. FOURTH AND THIRD FORMS 5 Hours (Common to Divisions A and B) 1. A book of selections containing pictures of the life abroad, prac- tical notions, in a pleasant and brief way, about commerce, the means of communication, the diversions and the institutions of the people; in other words, presenting the vocabulary of daily life in a series of con- nected passages. 2. Selected short stories and dialogues, as far as possible giving the pupils pictures of contemporary manners and customs as well as models of style for their own stories. This selection may include stories, legends, and poetry. English. Selections from such modern authors as : Marryat, Stev- enson, Miss Edgeworth, Miss Mitford, Miss Montgomery, Mrs. Burnett, Ouida, Kingsley, Hawthorne, Hardy, Thomas Hughes, Anstey, Rider Haggard, Mary Wilkins, Wells, Jerome K. Jerome, etc. Short poems and stories in verse from Cowper, Southey, Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Campbell, Kingsley, Longfellow, Morris, Mrs. Browning, etc. MODERN LANGUAGES 221 German. Selections from such modern authors as: W. Alexis, M. von Ebner-Eschenbach, Fontane, Freytag, Ganghofer, Gottscliall, Hacklander, P. Heyse, Hans Hoffmann, Hans Hopfen, Max Kretzer, D. von Liliencron, Raabe, Riehl, Rodenberg, Rosegger, Max Schmidt, Spielhagen, Stifter, Stinde, Storm, Sudermann, Wildenbruch, Wilbrandt, etc. Italian. A collection of the nature of Lapi's edition of Prose e Poesie italiane scelte e annotate da Luigi Morandi. L. Capuana, Cera una volta. Short stories of C. CoUodi, Emma Perodi, Ida Baccini. Spanish. Extracts from modern authors, such as the narratives, short stories, and anecdotes of Trueba, Fenian Caballero, Pereda, Fer- nandez Bremon, Carlos Rubio, Eduardo Bustillo, Narciso Campillo, Ruiz Aguilera, Castro y Serrano, Valera, Pardo Bazdn, Eusebio Blasco, Fernanflor, Palacio Valdes, Salvador Rueda, Blasco Ibdiiez, etc. If the teacher prefers to use a more connected text, he may choose one of the works named below : English. Hawthorne, Tanglewood Tales, Wonder Book. Kingsley, The Heroes, Water Babies. Halliwell, Popidar Rhymes and Nursery Tales. Swift, Gulliver's Travels. Kipling, First Jungle Book (extracts). Lady Barker, Station Life in New Zealand. Miss Montgomery, Mis- understood. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield. Johnson, Rasselas. Sir John Lubbock, Pleasures of Life. German. Grimm, Marchen. Bechstein, Deutsche Mdrchen. Hauff, Mdrchen. Goethe, Der neue Paris (W. u. D. II), das Puppenspiel (W. Meister I, 2-7), die gefdhrliche Wette (Wanderjahre, III., 8). Rosegger, Waldjugend, Als ich noch der Waldbauernbub war. Stifter, Granit, Der Waldsteig. Storm, Pole Poppenspdler, Geschichten aus der Tonne. M. von Ebner-Eschenbach, Krambambuli, Schloss- und Dorf geschichten. Wildenbruch, Neid, Kindertrdnen. G. Keller, Kleider Machen Leute. Italian. Silvio PeUico, Le mie Prigioni. Giovanni Dupr^, Pensieri suir arte e ricordi autobiografici. Emilio de Marchi, L'Etd preziosa. Giovanni Verga, Storia di una capinera. Edmondo De Amicis, Cuore, Alle porte d' Italia, La vita militare. Antonio Fogazzaro, Daniele Cortis. Ida Baccini, La storia di Firenze narrata a scuola. Spanish. Extracts from Don Quijote. Selected fables (Saman- iego, Iriarte, Jerica, Hartzenbusch, etc.). Ferndn Caballero, Cuentos, oracioncs, adivinas y refranes populares e infantiles. A. de Trueba, Cuentos populares, Cxientos campesihos. El libra de los Cantares, Narra- ciones populares, Frontaura, Las tiendas. Russian. Tolstoi, Tourguenev, Gogol. Lermontov, Bella. Pouch- kine, Boris Boulba. A newspaper may replace one of the above named books, but only on condition that all the pupils subscribe for it. 222 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS THIRD PERIOD. SECOND AND FIRST FORMS 2 Hours' (Common to Sections A, B, C, and D) 1. Reading based upon history, geography, science, arts, and in- dustry. 2. Selections from the masterpieces of the Uterature, or from one of the following works : SECOND FORM English. Sheridan, The School for Scandal. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer. Irving, Rip Van Winkle, Spectre Bridegroom, Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Stevenson, Treasure Island. Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn (extracts). W. Morris, The Earthly Paradise (extracts). Macaulay, Essays (extracts). Dickens, Christmas Carol. Gehman. Selections from lyric poetry: Burger, Goethe, Schiller, Tieck, A. W. and F. Schlegel, Chamisso, Uhland, A. Griin, Lcnau, Riick- ert, Platen, Heine, etc. Extracts from Goethe's prose works: Werther, Wilhelm Meister, Briefe aus der Schweiz, Italienische Reise. Italian. Selections from Ariosto, M^tastase, Goldoni, Mdnti, Gozzi, L'Osservatore. Alfieri, Vita. Manzoni, I promessi sposi. Spanish. Selections from classic lyric poetry. Anthology of modern and contemporary poets. Extracts from the Romancero. Short stories of Pedro de Alarcon, Valera, Trueba, Pardo Bazdn, etc. Selected scenes from the contemporary Saynetes (Javier de Burgos, Vital Aza, Ramos Carrion, Ricardo de la Vega, etc.). Cervantes, Don Quijote. Moratin, El si de las Ninas. Quintana, Vidas de espanoles cdebres. Mesonero Romanos, Escenas Matritenses. FIRST FORM English. Shakespeare, Jtdius Ccesar, Macbeth. Extracts from Milton, Addison, Goldsmith (prose and poetry), Wordsworth. Byron, Prisoner of Chilian. Coleridge, The Ancient Mariner. Dickens, David Copperfield (abridged edition). Macaulay, extracts from the History of England. Eliot, Scenes of Clerical Life, Silas Marner. Tennyson, Enoch Arden, The Brook, Ulysses, The Lotus Eaters. Thackeray, Eng- lish Humorists. German. Dramatic Poetry: Schiller, Wilhelm Tell, Maria St^iart, Jungfrau von Orleans, Wallenstein. Goethe, Iphigenie, I'asso, Egmont, 1 Besides this, Sections B and D have one hour per week additional on the language already begun, and four hours for the second language. In the latter case, the texts are chosen from the list indicated for ordinary use iu the fourth and third forms. MODERN LANGUAGES 223 Faust, I., Goetz von Bcrlichingen. Kleist, Prinz von Homburg. Grill- parzer, Historische Drarnen. Extracts from the prose of Wieland, Goethe {Dichtung unci Wahrheit, Kampagne in Frankreich, Die fran- zosische Literatur), Scliiller, Novalis, Immermann, Auerbach, Freytag, Sclieffel, G. Keller, K. F. Meyer, Heyse, etc. Italian. Selections from Boccaccio, Petrarch, Vasari, Alfieri, Cas- tiglione, II Cortigiano. Cellini, Vita. Parini, II Giorno, Le Odi. Tasso, selections from La Gerusalemme liber ata. Extracts from contemporary novelists (especially A. Fogazzaro, Renato Fucini, L. Capuana, G. Verga, M. Serao). Spanish. Cervantes, Don Quijote. Selections from Novelas ejem- plares. Extracts from the historians: Mendoza, Mariana, Solis, Melo, Quintana, Toreno, etc. Selections from the classic and the modern plays, such as: Castro, Mocedades del Cid. Alarcon, Verdad sospe- chosa. Calderon, La vida es sueno. Moreto, El desden con el desden. Moratin, El cafe. Selected scenes from Breton de los Herreros, Rubf, Eguilaz, Tamayo, Ayala, Echegaray, etc. Larra, Articulos de costumbres. PHILOSOPHY AND MATHEMATICS FORMS ^ (Philosophy A, 2 hours, optional ; Mathematics A, 2 hours ; Philosophy B and Mathematics B, 1 hour, and 2 hours additional, distributed according to the choice of the pupils.) 1. Extracts from the principal historians, critics, and philosophers. 2. Selected readings from nineteenth century literature: English. Emerson, English Traits. Spencer, Selected essays. Stuart Mill, Autobiography. Arnold, Culture and Anarchy. Ruskin, On the Nature of Gothic {Stones of Venice, II.). Carlyle, Essay on Goethe, and Essay on Burns. Seeley, The Expansion of England. Keats, extracts. Byron, Childe Harold, canto III. Extracts from Tennyson, Robert Browning, Mrs. Browning, and from the poems of Kipling. Italian. Selections from Dante, Foscolo, Giusti, Leopardi, Mach- iavelli, a collection of the nature of Finzi's Crestomazia machiavellica. Galilee, Prose scelte. A. Fogazzaro, critical and philosophical writings (L'Origine dell' Uomo, Per la Bellezza d'tin 'idea, II dolore nelV arte, etc.). Spanish. Extracts from the moralists (Guevara, Quevedo, Gracian, Granada, Leon) ; and from the critics (Quintana, Martinez de la Rosa, Lista, Valera, Menendez Pelayo, etc.). Contemporary lyric poetry (Espronceda, Zorilla, B^cquer, Compoamor, Nunez de Arce, etc.). Selections from the "Picaresques," and the contemporary novelists. Such is the list of authors from which the modern lan- guage texts are to be chosen for the last five years of the regular course. Asiele from the query that is likely to come into one's mind on the advisability of including such authors 1 See also page 236. 224 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS as Mariyat, Miss Edgeworth, Miss Mitford, Miss Montgom- ery, Ouida, Anstey, Rider Haggard, and Wells, that are Ne le t of fo^^d i^ the second period, in any such repre- American Au- sentative list of English authors for school thois, purposes,^ and the probable desire of most Americans to see more of our own authors represented, one finds a broad and on the whole a good selection from which to choose. One might reasonably expect, however, to find more than five American authors in a list of fifty-two Eng- lish-speaking writers, especially when the above-mentioned names are included. It would seem as though the present position of the United States in the commercial, industrial, and agricultural world would merit the wider acquaintance with the manners, customs, and ideals of the people that could only be obtained from their own literature. There may be some excuse for the common failure, even among reasonably intelligent people in France, to distinguish geo- graphically between an inhabitant of Rio Janeiro and one of New York, when one finds an English reading book issued from the press of an English publishing house that enjoys an international reputation, and now in regular use in at least one modern language class in France, the following sentence on the United States : " Bisons are being gradually driven westward, and are now never found east of the Mis- sissippi." On the other hand, it is a pleasure to read accu- rate though meagre information about the United States in some of the newer text-books ^ for use in the English classes. 1 The writer refrains from criticising the list of authors in the other mod- ern languages, but he feels reasonably sure that a similar criticism might be passed upon them. Certainly one has reason to question the exclusion of some of the German writers. 2 Gricourt-Kuhn, England past and present. Part I., Geography and History. Part II., Literature. These two volumes are mainly compilations of well-chosen extracts from the best English writers, together with just enough connecting material by the authors themselves to give as intelligent a notion of the development of the Anglo-Saxon race and literature from the very beginning down to 1907 as is possible, considering the extremely cursory nature of the material in hand. MODERN LANGUAGES 225 "All that we have just vsaid about teaching the ancient languages" (basing it upon a serious course in grammar) " can and ought to be applied equally to the . T c J c ■ 1 » 1 1 • Direct Method study of modern foreign languages, ^ explams _ Weakness very tersely the heavy burden that oppressed i" its Appli- modern language instruction until the reform instituted in 1901. Although preceding the new secondary school program by a few months, this change must never- theless be reckoned as a part of the general reorganization. Since that time modern language instruction has been vi- talized by the application of a new method that does not confound the teaching of a language whose chief benefit is attributed to the mental drill involved in its acquisition with that wherein the value consists primarily in the ultimate ability to handle the language practically. The modifica- tions in modern language teaching are thus unquestionably the most significant of all those effected by the reform program, for they not only indicate a radical change of practice, but, what is more important still, they show a fun- damental change of aim. One is impelled to question if the program in specifying that "the literary culture properly speaking will always be subordinate to the spoken or written use of the language, which remains the principal object of all its instruction," 2 is not too readily allowing proximate utility to dominate. The old instruction was certainly too grammatical, literary, and formal. Is not the new too crassly utilitarian ? Aside from the graduate classes preparing for the normal school, the instruction in most of the others that I visited reflected the evident desire of the professor who said, in criticising the methods formerly employed : " I read Byron in my year in the j^hilosophy form, and I should not have been able to order my luncheon in a London restau- rant." It is now doubtless true that " the pupils on returning from a trip abroad can teU us in confidence how, thanks to 1 ManeuvPvIER, L'Mucation de le bourgeoisie sous la ripuhlique, 3""= ed., 1888, 1). 192. 2 Instructions annex6es a la circulaire du 15 Novemlre, 1901, § 9. 15 226 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the recollection of the colored pictures commented upon in the lyc^e, they were intelligent guides and trustworthy inter- preters for then" families " ; but is this the goal of modern language instruction ? In the recoil from the undisputed evils of the old methods, has not the present exaltation of the immediately useful forced the student to forego that acquaintance with the great fundamental ideals that imderlie the expression of the national action, — an acquaintance that can come only from wide and wisely chosen reading? If the pupils could learn to know a goodly proportion of the books named on the program, such an end might be ap- proximated ; but even from the fourth form up through the higher classes many a class is limited to two or three books a year. The necessary reduction of reading matter to this minimum naturally forces one to characterize the direct method as it is ordinarily worked out in the secondary schools to-day as manifestly superficial. On the other hand, one occasionally finds an enthusiastic teacher who says with justifiable pride : " Oh, yes, in the course as a whole, some of my boys read forty or fifty books, for they are passionately interested in the work, but naturally I cannot require all to do that." The direct method, which is none other than a modifica- tion of that promoted by Dr. Victor of Marburg a little more „ . than a quarter of a century ago, is essentially a ' conversational method. Although one does not find every individual modern language teacher in the French secondary schools applying the official instructions as unre- servedly as the general inspectors might wish, yet even the older teachers in whom the habit furrows have been worn deep by years of practice along classical lines, are making sincere efforts to adapt themselves to the new order of things. In a few classes that I visited, not one word of the mother tongue was uttered from the beginning of the hour until the end. In fact even the pupils that came up after the class were compelled to confine themselves to the foreign language. In a still smaller number of classes I found considerable MODERN LANGUAGES 227 direct translation into the French intermingled with a goodly amount of conversation in the foreign tongue. In the main, however, save for occasional recourse to the vernacular to clear up difficulties, one might fairly say that the classes as a whole were conducted entirely in the foreign languages. The teacher spoke in the foreign tongue, the pupil read in the foreign tongue, and then used the same medium to ex- plain what he had just read. It is not always easy to use a foreign language to summarize or to give an abstract of what one has just read in that language, but when one is required to paraphrase or to give a word-for-word explanation without recourse to the vernacular, the difficulty is considerably en- hanced. Yet this latter is done from the very first. The best exponents of the direct method compel their pupils to act as much as possible like English, or German, or Italian, or Spanish boys throughout the whole of the hour. In order still further to carry out this illusion, many of the modern language teachers, especially the English, have fairly covered the walls of then- class room with maps of England, plans of London, posters, and ^Materilr^ notices of various kinds, all in the foreign lan- guage. Bill-board advertisements of plays (one that I saw must have covered at least forty square feet), military dis- plays, county fairs, bicycles, automobile accessories, etc., were frequent. " Cyclists and motorists — speed not to exceed five miles an hour," "Time is money," and other similar signs were on the walls of one class room. Sometimes these formed a mere heterogeneous collection, but at others the se- lection and arrangement displayed considerable taste on the part of the teacher. Photographs of London landmarks and scenes typical of English life, together with well-chosen sets of picture postal cards, gave evidence that the trips to Eng- land, which many of these teachers make regularly, had had some other aim than mere pleasure seeking. Not a little zest is added to the work of the upper classes by the foreign correspondence carried on by some of the pupils, a practice that is productive of much good on both 228 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS sides. Many a boy in the French lyc^es has a correspond- ent in England or Germany, or even in America, whom he knows only by letter and an occasional ex- Additional 1 i? 1 i. 1 T71 1 -J. • Aids to Lan- change of photographs. Each one writes in guage Acquisi- the other's language, and the best results are obtained when the recipient of the letter is will- ing to take the trouble to correct the errors of his friend across the border. One of the most interesting of these relationships that I found was that of an older pupil in a small but illus- trious provincial college who had a correspondent in Esper- anto in Portland, Maine. In the Academy of Dijon, where this college happens to be situated, there is a great deal of interest in Esperanto, largely due to the enthusiasm of the rector, so that pupils in some of the secondary schools, some of the normal schools, and even in some of the higher pri- mary schools have an opportunity to take up the study of this international language as an elective subject. The direct method enthusiasts practically neglect, or at least do not fully appreciate, one cardinal difficulty that must always stand in the way of the strict application of this method; even under the most favorable conditions the foreign environment may be simulated for five or at most ten hours a week, but for the other one hundred hours, approximately speaking, of his waking time, the pupil is surrounded by conditions that are exclusively French, In order to ameliorate this situation the Ministry has recently ^ arranged for an interchange of assistants by which prospective teachers of French in the other Foreign countries come to France for assignment to various lyc^es, and young French students are reciprocally sent abroad to spend one or more terms in one of the foreign schools. The arrangement is ordinarily for 1 In the girls' primary normal schools, a similar arrangement has been in vogue since 1894. The conventions between the Ministr}' of Public Instruc- tion in France and the corresponding authorities abroad with regard to secondary schools were signed : with Prussia and England in 1905 (the agree- ment with the latter country extending also to the primary normal schools and to the higher primary schools), with Austria, Saxony, and Spain iu 1907. MODERN LANGUAGES 229 a year, although it may continue for only six months, or it may be extended to two years. In France the foreigners receive their living at the lyc^e, and in return spend a couple of hours per day in conversing with the modern language pupils, taking them by turns in small groups. While the French official in charge of these arrangements receives applications for appointment to these foreign posts, and sends the papers of each candidate to the corresponding office abroad, his function is chiefly that of a discriminating forwarding agent, the actual choice being left to the foreign office. Similarly, it is the French official who selects the foreign assistants appointed in France. The minimum qual- ification of the French candidates is the possession of the master's degree, while the foreign governments require an equivalent academic standing from the young men they send abroad. This movement which began very modestly is now expanding rapidly, and is apparently meeting with success and consequent hearty support wherever the experiment is tried.^ It is bound to render valuable assistance in supply- ing a real foreign flavor and a point of view that must almost inevitably be lacking in a native foreign language teacher, however fluent may be his command of the spoken language. These foreign language assistants to a certain extent supply the place of modern language clubs. It has never been my good fortune to find such organiza- Modern tions in the secondary schools, though I am Language told they exist. It seems ratlier strange that ^^^^^- the idea of the English clubs in the lyc^e at Alen9on2 has not been more widely adopted. Here there were two organ- izations, one for the younger pupils and the other for the older. Each gi-oup subscribed to an English magazine, the older one in addition taking one of the Paris daily papers printed in English. Besides the conversation based upon the 1 According to the figures obtained from the office of M. Friedel wlio has charge of this work at the Musee pedagogique, Paris, in 1907-8, there were sixty-nine of these English assistants and seventy-five German. * Francois, La conversation ct la lecture dans Vitude des langues vivantes. in Revue universitairc, 1902, I., p. 46. 230 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS material obtained from these two sources, the dub meetings on Thursdays were further enlivened by recitations, songs, and dialogues. The one-franc entrance fee, together with weekly dues of ten centimes and absence fines of half that amount furnished the funds for the running expenses. The fact that there was no president, each member in turn pre- siding at the meetings, shows the typically French idea of such a school organization, wherein the direction is carefully centered in the hands of the class teacher. Where so much depends upon the skill of the individual teacher and where mere routine plays such an insignificant part, it is not surprising to find less similarity PP ica ion. jjg^^ggjj ^^o English or two German classes than between two classes in any other subject of the curric- ulum. Wlierever the direct method is tried consistently its results are certainly striking. Although the English th and the r constantly give trouble throughout the course, and the intonation of the sentence often leaves much to be desired, some of the French boys that I saw spoke remarkably well, and on the occasions when I was asked to address them, they succeeded unusually well in understanding what I had to say. Of course their vocabulary is limited, but when one confines himself to the words they know, they seem to have little difficulty in following. Many of those that I put to the test repeated in Enghsh the substance of what I had said, and the others, save for one or two exceptions, were all able to give it in French. One is compelled to admit that the direct method does enable the pupils to understand the spoken foreign language and does give a certain facility in its use. As a rule, however, the number of pages read by the class is comparatively small, in many cases not exceeding one hundred and fifty or two hundred during the whole year, but whatever is done is thoroughly done. The words con- tained therein become a part of not only the visual and the written vocabulary, but also of the aural and the oral. As in the acquisition of the mother tongue, the two latter come first and really provide the means by which the former are MODERN LANGUAGES 231 gained. The approach is made tlirough the utterance of the teacher and is subseciuently carried on through its repetition by the pupil before the latter is brought face to face with the written thought. In the final stage, the pupil is led to express himself on paper. From first to last the stress is emphatically upon the oral expression. It must be remem- bered that this ability, being so dependent upon special training of the ear and the vocal chords, aside entirely from the facility in idiomatic construction involved therein, and being consequently so much a matter of practice, most easily falls into desuetude if these particular language habits are not kept m training. Skill in reading, on the other hand, where this aural and vocal training are not involved, seems to pass much less readily. The question immediately arises : " Do the permanent results attained justify the distribution of emphasis between conversation and readmg ? " Such is the place accorded this oral work that throughout the whole first period, the sixth and fifth forms, the teachers have no oiiicial list from which to select their reading mate- rial. During these two years, effort is mainly directed toward forming a correct proumiciation, acquiring a working vocabulary, and learning enough grammar for intelligent and accurate oral and written expression. In pursuance of this purpose, the great majority of the teachers put into the hands of their pupils one of the several excellent beginning mod- ern language books that have appeared since the new pro- gram went into effect. The teacher does not hesitate, however, to depart widely from the limits of the text- book in order to find illustrative material as a basis for conversational, written, or memory work. Learumg by heart plays almost as important a part here as in instruction in the classics and in French, but an assignment is never set for memorizing without previously being read aloud by the professor and most carefully explained, always in the foreign language. This often taxes the ingenuity and skill of the teacher, particularly when it comes to the explanation of abstract nouns, but aided by pantomime and illustrative 232 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS example, he is seldom compelled to seek refuge in the vernacular. The following extracts from my note book will give an idea of the way this conversational method is handled in a beginning class. It shows the association of ^Practi^?'" action and speech. It was a sixth form of forty-five pupils. The notes were written in December, the class having begun the October before. Teacher — " Lift up your hand." Class (in concert and suiting the action to the word) — "I lift up my hand." T. — " Lift up your right hand, your left hand, both hands. Shut your right eye, your left eye, both eyes." The pupils obeyed each command of the teacher, telling at the same time what each was doing. T. — " Where is your nose, your cheek, your chin ? " Pupils — " This is my nose," etc. T. — " Point to the ceiling, the floor," and so on through various parts of and objects in the class room. Pupils — "I point to the ceiling, the floor," etc. One boy was called up before the class to go through the same process. Then the practice was varied by going around the class, each pupil telling his neighbor to perform some one of these actions, the boy doing as he was told and at the same time telling what he was doing. This was followed by short dictation of five or six lines, afterwards corrected by the writers with the open text before them. The memory work for the day was " Baa, baa, black sheep," first recited in concert and then by three or four individually, the teacher's corrections being almost exclusively applied to the latter. This collective work, which by the way is most inconsiderately used by many of the direct method teachers, is more objectionable in modern language work than in most subjects, for the details of pronunciation are nowhere else so important. In more than one English class that I visited where this concert method was in use, I was absolutely unable to catch more than an isolated word or phrase. Under these conditions it is per- fectly evident that the teacher could not notice and correct even a fair share of the individual errors. In this class in MODERN LANGUAGES 233 question, the last quarter of the hour was devoted to a very well developed preparation for the next lesson, which was on the progressive form of the verb. In a third form class, this conversational method follows along much the same general lines, but it is no longer mere parrot work, and correspondingly more is required of the class, as the following example will indicate: Teacher (in preparation for the next day's memory work) — "I will read the next lesson by myself." Class (in concert) — " You will read the next lesson by yourself." T. — "I will read it first, and you will read it after me." Class — " You will read it first, and we will read it after you." The teacher then read the whole stanza through, afterwards reading one line at a time and having the class read after him. Then he read it all through again, the class doing likewise, and finally the teacher went over it once more, carefully explaining in English all the new or difficult expressions. The most advanced and in many respects the best work I saw was in a higher rhetoric form, a class preparing for the normal school. The teacher, although a Frenchman born and bred, who, as I afterwards learned, had never spent more than a few weeks at a time in England, had a perfect mastery of English, so much so that at the end of the two hours spent in his class I was utterly unable to determine whether he were English or French. It was an unprepared lesson, which reproduced as nearly as possible the conditions of the examination the pupils would have to face at the end of the year. The text chosen was King Henry IV., Pt. II., Act IV., Scene v. Each one was given fifteen minutes to look over his assignment of ten or twenty lines. He read it through in English, then explained the text, interpreting the figures and allusions, and commenting upon peculiarities of form or expression that seemed to him necessary. In case of important omissions the teacher asked for explana- tion of particular words or phrases. Finally the pupil trans- lated the whole into the best French at his command. Aside from the last translation, the work was entirely in 234 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS English, and baniug certain weaknesses in pronunciation and inflection, it was all remarkably good. It must be noted in passing that these fellows were not ordinary lyc(5e pupils, for they were all one or two years beyond then- baccalaureate, and had consequently been studying English for seven or eight years ; they formed one of a number of preliminary groups from which the modern language teach- ers of five or six years hence would be recruited. It is still too early to pass judgment on the definite re- sults obtained under the application of the new method, for this year, 1908, is the first time when one will find pupils coming up for the baccalaureate that have been trained exclusively under this system. As far as one is able to judge from the expressions of indi- vidual teachers, I find very general satisfaction with the scheme, but, of course, the details of the method must be worked out each one for himself in accordance with the teacher's peculiar temperament and capability, and then adapted to fit the needs and capacity of the particular class. One of the general inspectors in collating the criticisms of his subordinates and in commenting thereon expresses gene- ral satisfaction with the results and assembles the criticisms under three heads ;! (1) the lack of homogeneity in the classes ; (2) the increased strain upon the teacher; and (3) the shortcomings due to a misapprehension of the programs and the official directions, on the lack of emphasis on the grammatical instruction, as well as a neglect of the culture aspect in the higher classes. The first of these, being due fundamentally to a failure to treat modern language instruc- tion as seriously as that in most of the other subjects of the curriculum, is quite apart from the method itself. The remedies suggested by the inspector — to set rigorous pro- motion exannnations, and to create supplementary classes for the weak pupils — will only palliate an evil primarily * Rapport d'un inspcdeur g6n6raL Situation de Venseignemcnt des lancfues vivantcs dajis I'cnseujncvient secondaire en 1905-1906. Ecvice universitaire, 1907, II., pp. 93-109. MODERN LANGUAGES 235 due to other causes. However valuable auxiliary aid these devices might render, the permanent cure can be effected only by abolishing the modern language study in the lower forms or else instituting it at least optionally in the corre- sponding classes in the primary schools. The other two criticisms, on the contrary, are intimately associated with the method itself. The nervous strain upon the teacher must always be reckoned with, for to the increased effort in speaking in a foreign tongue must be added the further responsibility for helping the pupils think likewise in a strange idiom and express themselves coiTectly. This is all carried on practically without respite for the whole hour. From my own observation, the teachers that apply the method most consistently are the most exhausted at the end of the hour. The weakness upon the grammatical side is imdoubtedly due to a misunderstanding of directions, but where the test comes exclusively upon ability to speak and write correctly, imperfections here become more readily ap- parent. The lack of literary culture in the higher classes is a well founded and serious objection, at least as the method is applied at present, and one that cannot be entirely or even in large measure attributed to misunderstanding on the part of the teachers. It is to be hoped that the vital char- acter of the criticism will result in a more liberal application of the official instructions so as to permit a greater emphasis upon reading and correspondingly less upon conversation during the third period.^ The report above cited signalizes a disquieting tendency on the part of Spanish and Italian, particularly the former, to displace the English and, to a less extent, the German in some of the southern schools. The reason assigned by the local inspector is due to the " application of the law of the minimum of effort." The 1 There are already evidences that, although the official regulations have not been modified, the authorities are not calling for a strict interpretation of the letter of the law quite so confidently as heretofore. It is even rumored in more than one quarter that the general inspectors have experienced a change of heart since the meeting of the Association of Modern Language Teachers in December, 1907. 236 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS German, required by so many of the higher government schools, is not likely to suffer materially, but there is already serious question of restricting the encroachment of these Romance languages, perhaps even by reducing them to the role of the second language studied, and so confining them to the second cycle of the course. In the words of one of the academy inspectors, " One is already beginning to ask one's self if, after liaving caused this Spanish infiltration, measures will not have to be taken to ' dike it out.' " ERRATUM (0 miss ion under Philosophy and Mathematics Forms, p. 233.) GERMAN AUTHORS READ IN THE THILOSOPHY AND MATHEMATICS FORMS (Philosophy A, 2 hours, optional ; Mathematics A, 2 hours ; Philosophy B and Mathematics B, 1 hour, and 2 hours additional, distributed accord- ing to the choice of the pupils.) German. Extracts from the critics, historians, and ])hilosophers : Lessing, Herder, Winckelmann, Humbold, W. and F. Schlogcl, L. Borne, W. Sclierer. — Niebuhr, L. von Ranke, Fr. von Raunier, Droyscn, Mommsen, H. von Sybel, Gregorovius, Janssen, Treitschke. — Kant, Schelling, Fichte, Hegel, Schleier- niacher, D. F. Strauss, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, etc. Selections from con- temporary poets : Anzengrulier, K. Busse, Geibel, Gilm, Greif, Hamerling, Hcnckell, Hebhel, G. Hiuiptniann, P. Heyse, Liliencron, H. Lingg, K. F. Meyer, Th. Storm, Wildenbruch, etc. CHAPTEE XI HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY However important a part history plays in the secondary school program to-day, this progress has in large measure been a development of the last hundred years. „. The amount of historical knowledge in the before the possession of the college student at the time R<^volution. of the Kevolution was decidedly limited. "A Frenchman of a century ago thought himself sufficiently informed if he was acquainted with the annals of his own country, with those of Judea, of Greece and of Rome, and with those of the different European people, but with these latter only so far as they directly concerned us." ^ Yet if one confines him- self to inferences from the printed programs, this modest amount is certainly not an overstatement of the case. Even tliis was too often mere formal memorizing of historical facts, learned in strict catechetical form.^ The Ratio studiorum contains no mention of history as a regular subject of instruction. Aside from the passing attention it may have received in discussing The Clerical the subject matter of the historians, it was Teaching evidently treated with but slight consideration, for it was accorded a place only on holidays.^ The absolute 1 FuARY, La question du latin, p. 230. 2 See Lk Ragois {PHcejdeur de Monseigneur le Due du Maine), Instruction sur I'histoire de France ct romairie, Paris, nonvclle 6ditio7i, 1777. This text- book written by Le Ragois, preceptor of the Due du Maine, son of Louis XIV., first appeared in 1684. It certainly enjoyed more than passing po]nilarity for it went through numerous editions and save for additions demanded by the progress of the years appeared substantially in its original form as late as 1830. * Ratio studiorum in Gki^akd, o}). cit., II., p. 285. 238 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS neglect of all modern history was due to no oversight on the part of the Jesuit fathers, but rather to a desire to elimi- nate from the program all subjects that might give rise to controversial discussions likely to disturb the tranquillity of the absolute control, intellectual as well as physical, exercised by the superiors. Their more liberal minded rivals, the Oratorians, however, assigned it a place more in keeping with its importance. From the very first, these latter schools seem to have had a special teacher of history and to have encouraged the study of modern as well as of ancient history. In fact the national history occupied three of the best years of the course, and, what is more noteworthy still, the instruction was given in the vernacular. Even as early as this, geography was a companion study to history. At Juilly, probably the most famous of the schools of the Oratorians, the first two years were devoted to sacred history, the next three to the study of Greece and Rome, and the last year to that of France.^ Unsatisfactory though this course may be with its unnatural emphasis upon Greece and Rome, it marks a point considerably in advance of that actually reached by the university colleges nearly a century and a half later. History occupied a yet larger place in Arnauld's study plan for the Port-Royal schools,^ being found in every class, both morning and afternoon, from the sixth to the rhetoric inclusive. The geography which accompanied it appeared only in the fifth, fourth, and third forms. Pierre Coustel, sometime a teacher at Port-Royal, and consequently reflecting something of the spirit of the education there, in enumerating geography among a group of sciences of which one must have at least a smattering, maintains that it is not only pleasant and useful, but " it is also absolutely necessary for all who aspire to sound learning," 2 useful alike for the merchant and the soldier, 1 Adry, quoted in Haaiel, Histoire dc Vabhaye ct du college de Juilly, p. 221. 2 GiiiiiARD, op. cit., II., pp. 286-287. ' Coustel, Lcs riglcs de I'cducation des cnfants, 1687, II., p. 214. HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 239 and indispensable for intelligent reading of sacred or secular literature. History to him meant something more than biblical and ancient history. France, Italy, and Spain were important enough to be given a place, and to these were to be added, if time permitted, Hungary, the Turks, Poland, Sweden, and Denmark. Furthermore he distinguished between reading an historian to ascertain what he said, and reading him in order to discover the real truth. In the latter case a critical and comparative study was mandatory.^ With EoUin a narrower humanistic influence prevailed, for he presents the curious anomaly of deliberately neglect- ing the very history whose value he admits. In offering the lack of time as his sole excuse Rolknd. for this omission he urges the necessity of inspiring in young men such a taste for the history of their own country that they shall be impelled to study it later when they will have more leisure.^ Surely a most specious and dangerous line of reasoning to set before young people, for how many of the lists of books collected with such infinite pains are ever even looked at again ! More than half a century later EoUand criticised most bitterly the plan that had long prevailed in the university colleges by which the pupils had history of the Old Testament in the sixth form, mythology in the fifth, Eoman history in the fourth, Greek history and geography in the third form, Bossuet's Discourse on Universal History, the revolution in Portugal, the Venetian confederacy, Montesquieu's Grandeur of the Romans, and a brief history of France in the second form.^ In demanding the reform of what he called an " abuse ''' he was merely voicing an opinion that was already becoming rife. EoUand himself went a step further and wanted to see local history introduced into each college, wherein the young men should be taught the memorable actions of the citizens of their own province with the hope that these 1 CousTEL, op. cU., II., p. 237. 2 RoLLiN, Tram des 6tudes, ed. 1881, II., p. 164. 8 RoLLAND, Plan d'Mtccation, note, pp. 103-104. 240 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS might serve as an inspiration to them to emulate the deeds of their ancestors. The course of history suggested by Eolland, extending from the sixth through the rhetoric (or first) form, is thus more comprehensive than any we have heretofore encountered, surpassing in extent and variety even that followed in the schools at Port-Royal. Almost without exception, history is recognized in the numerous projects for reorganizing the system of public in- struction that came up for discussion before the during'the various bodies of the revolutionary period. The Nineteenth so-called decree of Eomme, October 20, 1793,i ^" ^'^' contained an elaborate classification of history, dividing it into naval, political, industrial, and commercial, and emphasized its importance " for perfecting our industry and resources." History likewise appears on the program of the Central Schools, but seems strangely to have been slighted in the course of the military section of the Prytance in 1801. Geography, which had formed a kind of unnamed subject of instruction for generations and latterly had served as a handmaid to history, finds a distinct place for itself in the original program of 1802.^ For the time being it over- shadowed the history, for it was taught in four of the eight classes as against three for the latter subject. The second lyc^e program seven years later deprived the geography of its temporary advantage, relegating it to the subordinate place it has continued to occupy ever since that time. In the years immediately following the restoration of the monarchy there seems to have been a sudden awakening in historical thought, at least as far as the schools were con- cerned, which corresponds very closely to a similar move- ment in our American colleges. The program of 1814,^ in lengthening the morning and afternoon classes, from the first of April until the end of the school year, from two hours to two hours and a half, prescribed that the half hour so gained 1 Gr^ard, op. cit., annexes, II, p. 240. 2 Ihid., pp. 246-247. 8 ji,id., pp. 248-249. HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 241 should be exclusively devoted to geography and history. Four years later two arretes were passed, one in the spring and the other in the fall, entirely reorganizing the history course. The sacred history and the geography in the sixth form re- mained undisturbed, and continued to be taught by the regu- lar class teacher as before. From the fifth form upward, however, the work was put in charge of a specialist (a change that figures again in the reform of 1902 after many years of a different regime). In the fifth form, the program called for great epochs of ancient history, in the fourth, for Eoman history up to the Battle of Actium, in the third, for the period from Augustus to Charlemagne, in the second, for from Charlemagne to modern times, and in the rhetoric form, for history of France. Throughout the course, history had two lessons of an hour each per week, but it was compelled to share this time with geography. The second regulation of that same year introduced general history in the second form, thus entailing a slight modification in the work of the earlier years. In 1826, the ancient history introduced into the sixth form included, in addition to sacred history, the history of Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Greece. Geography had in the meantime been carried down as low as the eighth form. With the extension of sacred history to the eighth form four years later, we find history and geography practi- cally covering the entire secondary course, a state of affairs that has continued, though not without frequent and in some cases radical modifications, until this very day. There have been various attempts to correlate these two subjects of in- struction, notably in the plan presented by Villemain in 1843, and again in the reform under Minister Duruy a little more than twenty years later. In the main, however, each subject has been developed independently of the other, both follow- ing the lines of the logical order of instruction, the chief bond between them being that they were taught by the same teacher. By 1874, the amount of time devoted to history and geography, which had been increasing slowly and haltingly, reached three hours per week for each class 16 242 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS from the very beginning up through the philosophy form. The new program has increased this time allotment some- what in several of the sections of the second cycle, but the most significant changes appear in the fundamental reorgan- ization of the subject matter. The old program had been formulated on the assump- tion that once the secondary school laid hold of a boy, he was a fixture there until the end of the course. The course of study apparently took no cognizance of the possibility that he might leave before completing the work, and it certainly offered no encouragement to anybody to come in from the outside after the course was once begun. The whole scheme was logically planned in such a fashion that it could be cut at neither end without serious and perhaps fatal detriment to the pupil, at least as far as carrying away any well rounded notions of the unity of historical progress was concerned. The new program has succeeded in obviating these two fundamental defects by a single device which is none other than the concentric circle plan already pursued for some time in the primary school course. Under the program of 1890, the history of the sixth form began with Egypt, and thence covered the rest of the ancient world down to the beginning of Greek ^£courL.''^ history. Greece furnished the subject matter of the fifth form, Eome of the fourth, and France and Europe, down to 1789, were distributed chronologically over the work of the thkd, second, and rhetoric forms. In the philosophy form, France was treated at length from 1789 to 1889, together with some slight attention to the rest of Europe, England, and the United States. Under the new program the work of each of the two cycles is as nearly as possible complete in itself. Thus the boy that leaves the lyc^e at the completion of the third form, has covered all the history of the world from ancient Egypt down to his own day. , Not only has he gained some notions of the people that lived before the Christian era, but furthermore in his last and for him most important year, he has come to know HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 243 that Italy, Germany, Austria, England, the Balkan States, and the United States, to say nothing of the nations of the Orient, each has a past, and each is making history as well as his own native land, a fact that many of our American high school pupils are likely to ignore. The course in geography has been made similarly comprehensive. Tor the boy who passes through all the classes from the preparatory form up through the philosophy, this arrange- ment works no detriment. To be sure he goes over the history of France three separate times, but each time it is presented from a different point of view, and one correspond- ing to his superior intellectual development, a method which merely duplicates the child's normal way of getting in touch with the world about him. The new program limits the biographical stories of the preparatory class to the heroes of the national history, and also bridges over the gap that formerly existed in the work of the seventh form by carrying the work down from 1805 to 1871. In the second cycle, the modern history which is common to all four sections begins with the tenth century and is carried down to the present. The C and D section pupils thus cover the earlier histoiy only once, but the A and B sections review the history of Greece, Eome, and the other ancient nations, in a special two-hour course extend- ing over the second and first forms. The work of the philosophy-mathematics form is in some respects the richest of the whole course. It is closely connected with geography throughout and practically gives a survey of all modern his- tory from the restoration of the monarchy in France after the fall of Napoleon down to the events of yesterday. The extent of the field covered necessarily makes the work more or less encyclopaedic in its character, but it offers a magnifi- cent opportunity to show the enormous development that has taken place during the nineteenth century and the inter- relation and interdependence existing among the various peoples of the world. In the beginning class as well as in the two years of the 244 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS preparatory division, the history is almost exclusively anec- dotal and biogi'aphical, drawing its subject matter indiffer- ently from the domains of true and legendary Course in i^^^^q^v. One might rather call it a story tell- Lower Grades. . •/ . ,.,,,., 1 mg class m which the children have to recount to the teacher the narrations he has told them. The geogra- phy during these same three years is treated in a less happy fashion, for its formal side is constantly emphasized. In the third year the child is lost in a maze of geographical terms, mountains, rivers, seas, gulfs, isthmuses, straits, cliffs, defined in most abstract fashion, and only shown to the eye on a wall chart picturing these and many more, all huddled to- gether in most unnatural and appalling confusion. The ordinary teacher in the lower grades shows himself strangely unable to take advantage of the countless concrete situations of the life lying outside his very door in order to vitalize this elementary geography teaching. Home geography in the best sense of the word finds no place in this program. The more formal study of history and geography begins in the eighth form, the first class of the elementary division : ^ EIGHTH FORM History and Geography, 3 Hours a Week History. Summary notions of the history of France, emphasizing the essential facts, from the beginning down to 1610. Brief summaries dic- tated by the teacher and recited by the pupil. Short examinations, simple narratives repeated orally by the pupil. Geography. Elementary notions of general geography. The ocean. Hot and cold countries. Elementary descriptions of the five grand divisions. Form and extent of the continents. Principal countries with their capitals. Simple map drawing at the board and in the note books. 1 Lack of space prevents giving the official programs in full. For the eighth and seventh forms, only the general subject of the year's work is indicated. Beginning with the sixth form, the topical headings are given. HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 245 SEVENTH FORM History and Geography, 3 Hours History. Summary history of France in the modern and contem- porary period from 1610 to 1871. Brief summaries dictated. Simple narratives. Short explanations. [With very few exceptions, the sub- jects indicated on the detailed program are confined to the arts of war, campaigns, and the rise and fall of empire.] Geography. Elementary geography of France and her colonies. Physical geography of France. Old provinces and departments. Cities. City, department, and region where pupil lives. Means of communi- cation. Colonies. Free-hand map drawing. The work thus far constitutes the first stage of the course. It covers substantially the same ground as that in the public primary schools, although it is not handled in quite the same fashion. If ^^g^tfjge. by any chance, a boy were compelled to stop his schooling at this point, he would carry away with him a fairly good notion of the world in general and of France in particular, and he would have become acr quainted with the principal facts of the history of his own country down to the close of the Franco-Prussian war. With this general background the sixth form pupil is ready to undertake the further study of history and geography in accordance with the more logically developed programs of the secondary course proper. SIXTH FORM History and Geography, 3 Homis (Program common to Divisions A and B) History. I. Ancient. Egypt, Chaldea, and Assyria. Jews, Phoe- nicians, Persians. II. Greece. Troy to Alexander's conquest of Asia. III. Italy. Etruscans to Caesar's conquest of Gaul. IV. Augustus to Theodosius. Geography. I. General geography. The globe; relief; ocean; atmosphere; rain; chmate; coasts; animal and vegetable life; man. II. Polar regions. America: physical, political, and economic geog- 246 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS raphy (Canada, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentine Repub- lic). Australasia: Australia, New Zealand, principal archipelagoes of the Pacific (Oceanica is taken up in conjunction with Asia). FIFTH FORM HiSTOBY AND GEOGRAPHY, 3 HoURS (Program common to Divisions A and B) History. The Middle Ages and the beginning of modern history. I. Gaul, ancient and Roman. The invasions. Franks. Arabs. Frankish empire. France. England. Germany. II. The church in the Middle Ages. Crusades. Society. Western civilization. III. The Valois and the Himdred Years' War. France in the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries. Europe at the end of the fifteenth century. Geography. Asia and Oceanica. Africa. Physical, political, and economic geography. Relations with Europe and America. FOURTH FORM History and Geography, 3 Hours (Program common to Divisions A and B) History. Modem times. I. Maritime discoveries and establishment of colonies. Renaissance. Western Europe at the end of the fifteenth century. Struggle between France and Austria. Reformation. Religious wars. Characters and results of the Thirty Years' War. II. Establishment of the absolute monarchy in France. Louis XIV. Society of the seventeenth century. French art, seventeenth century. England, seventeenth century. III. France under Louis XV. England in the eighteenth century. Prussia. Austria. Russian Empire. Foreign politics in the eighteenth centxiry. France before the Revolution. Louis XVI. Geography. Europe. Physical, political, and economic geography ; area and population of the principal countries. Means of international commimication. HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 247 THIRD FORM History and Geography, 3 Hours (Program common to Divisions A and B) History. Contemporary history. I. The old regime in France. States General and Constitutional Assembly. Republic. Transformation of French society. Struggle against Europe. Consulate. Empire. Napoleon's foreign policy. Congress of Vienna. II. Restoration. Louis Philippe. Arts, letters, and sciences in France in the first half of the nineteenth century. III. Second Republic. Second Empire. Unification of Italy. Unifi- cation of Germany. The Eastern question in the nineteenth century. IV. Commercial and industrial progress. European expansion. The Orient. V. England. German Empire. Austro-Hungary. Russia. United States in the nineteenth century. France from 1870 to 1889. VI. Government of France in the nineteenth century. Geography. France and her colonies. Physical, political, and economic geography. At the end of the first cycle the pupil finds himself back very nearly at the same point he left four years before. In re-covering the same circuit, he has gone further ^, „,,,, -1, •• o Character- afield, he has thrown aside the restrictions of istics of the the former " drum and trumpet " history, he ^^"^^^ Cycle. has traversed a domain where wars and rumors of wars, em- pires and dynasties, no longer constitute the only salient features of historical development. He has gone back to the beginning of known history, and has followed the evolu- tion of human progress from ancient Egypt down to the nations of the present day. Not one of the great contempo- rary powers has been neglected; his interests have been centered, if only briefly, upon China and Japan in their relation to the development of the far East; and the last general topic, with its treatment of the central government, universal suffrage, the press, the democracy, popular instruc- tion, obligatory military service, and labor legislation since 1848, has put him in close touch with recent developments and with some of the future problems of his own political life. 248 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS From the sixth form up the history and geography in each class are confided to a special teacher, whereas in the lower forms these as well as the other ordinary sub- ^mstory?" J®^^^ ^^® ^11 handled by the class teacher. There is consequently a marked difference in the method of treatment that is even more noticeable than one is likely to encounter in passing from our grammar to our high schools. In the elementary division the teacher has followed a narrative method, telling the story to the pupils, and at the end of the hour dictating a summary of the essential points he has covered. The note book that contains these summaries thus constitutes the history text- book. From the sixth form upward it is almost exclusively a lecture method. The first twenty or thirty minutes of the hour are usually devoted to questions on the new work of the previous day. Few pupils are called upon, but each one is put through a searching interrogatory. These questions, however, are pm-ely fact questions, never, so far as my ex- perience goes, calling for any independent reflection on the part of the pupil. The last part of the hour is devoted to a purely formal lecture on the advance work. The boys take this down in their note books, and it serves as the basis of the question period the next time. These note books are on the whole remarkably neat and well kept. Occasionally one finds them embellislied with picture postal cards repre- senting historical buildings, the military and social dress of the period in question, in addition to the ordinary maps and sketches put on the board by the teacher. There is appar- ently no uniform practice as regards the use of text-books. Some classes have them, and some do not, but on the whole their use seems to be spreading, especially in the lower classes. The older teachers who have long depended upon the out and out lecture method are naturally slow to adopt a class text-book. The presence or absence of these, how- ever, has no very appreciable effect on the method. A teacher belonging to the former group used the book merely as a point of departure. In the presentation of the partic- HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 249 ular lesson that I heard he covered sixteen pages of the text-book in his lecture, emphasizing the important points, and at the same time speaking slowly and deliberately enough for the class to take down almost every word he uttered. A teacher of the other group, in response to my question as to what would be the result of putting texts into the hands of his pupils, replied : " They would not do the work assigned. If they did they would fail to get the proper perspective, and would be likely to emphasize the less important events. Even a lazy fellow will carry away something from the oral presentation of the teacher." This lecture method assuredly puts the pupils in possession of the facts, but it is of little value in developing in them any ability to select the wheat from the chaff for themselves, to cultivate that discriminative judgment so essential for serious historical work. The general method in geography is substantially the same as that pursued in history, as is perhaps to be expected from the fact that both subjects are taught by ^ ,1 .1 ^ . • T Geography. the same teacher. On one or two occasions I also found the picture postal cards very intelligently applied to the teaching of geography. One enthusiastic teacher whose boys happened to be studying Switzerland and the Alps country had a fine collection of cards illustrating the geographical features of that region hanging on the wall at the front of the class. Much of the geography teaching in the lower forms, however, was decidedly dry and formal. The program for the history and geography in the first cycle is as follows: SECOND FORM Modern History, 2 Hours (Program common to Sections A, B, C, and D) I. Europe from the tenth to the fifteenth century. Rise of the nations. Society. The church. Civilization. II. France from 1499 to 1559. European politics. Maritime discov- eries and establishment of colonies. Renaissance. Religious crisis of 250 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the sixteenth century. General pohtics of PliiUp II. England under Elizabeth. Civil wars in France, 1559-1610. III. Establishment of the absolute monarchy in France. European politics, 1610-1660. The United Provinces in the seventeenth century. England, 1603-1660. IV. England, 1660-1714. Louis XIV., absolute monarch. Foreign politics of Louis XIV. French society in the seventeenth century. Eastern Europe in the seventeenth century. Intellectual movement in Exirope in the seventeenth century. Ancient History, 2 Hours (Program common to Sections A and B) I. Prehistoric times. Egypt. Chaldea. The Jews. Phoenicia. The Persians. II. Greece. Early times. Myths. Sparta. The tyrants. Athens. Greek colonization. Civilization up to the fifth century. Persian wars. Formation of the Athenian Empire. Athenian democracy. Pelopon- nesian war. Spartan supremacy. Theban supremacy. Macedonian supremacy. Extension of Greek influence. Final struggles in Greece. Geography, 1 Hour (Program common to Sections A, B, C, and D) I. Discovery of the world. Geographical science. II. The world in the universe. Tlie terrestrial globe in its present state. The solid element. The liquid element. The gaseous element. Streams. Coasts. Minerals. Flora and fauna. Modifications of the earth's surface. III. Man. Present population of the earth. Man and nature. IV. Principal features of economic geography of the globe. Food products. Textiles. Fuel. Precious and useful minerals. Present economic world. FIRST FORM Modern History, 2 Hours (Program common to Sections A, B, C, and D) I. France under Louis XV. England in the eighteenth century. Russian Empire in the eighteenth century. Prussia in the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries. Austria in the eighteenth century. Continental politics, 1715-1763. Colonial politics. Rise of EngUsh colonies. The Eastern question up to 1795. General characteristics of the eighteenth century. HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 251 II. Louis XVI. France in 1789. Monarchical period of the Revo- lution. Republic. Struggle against Europe, 1792-1802. Consiilar and imperial government. Foreign politics of Napoleon. End of the Empire. Ancient History, 2 Hours (Program common to Sections A and B) I. Description of Italy. Primitive Rome. Religion. Roman army. II. Conquest of the Mediterranean basin. Consequences. Political life. Provincial administration. Gracchi. Marius and SuUa. Pompey. Caesar. End of the Republic. III. Augustus. The emperors. Roman Empire in the third century. Civilization under the Empire. Roman law. Christianity. Constan- tine. Last days of the Empire. IV. The barbarians. Frankish Gaul. Eastern church. Re-estab- lishment of the Empire. The Arabs. Byzantine Empire from the fifth to the tenth century. Geography, 1 Hour (Program common to Sections A, B, C, and D) I. Geological constitution. Beginnings of the French nation. II. Study of France by great natural divisions. III. Administrative regime. Economic geography. IV. The colonies. France in its relation to the world. PHILOSOPHY AND MATHEMATICS FORMS History and Geography, 3 hours during one semester and 4 hours during the other, one of the hours each week being devoted to geography. (Program common to Philosophy A and B, and Mathematics A and B) History, Contemporary. I. Restoration in Europe. Constitu- tional monarchy in France. England up to 1848. Intellectual move- ment in Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century. II. Revolution of 1848 and the reaction. Second Empire. National wars. Eastern question. III. Catholic church. France, 1870-89. German Empire. Aus- tro-Hungary since 1860. England. Spain. Belgium. Switzerland. Russia in the nineteenth century. Intellectual movement during the second half of the nineteenth century. IV. Commercial and industrial progress. European powers in Africa; Asia; America. V. General characteristics of contemporary civilization : respect of 252 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS person; religious liberty; political freedom; democracy; social doc- trines and labor legislation. Geography. Principal powers of the world : British Isles; Holland and Belgium; Germany; Switzerland; Austro-Hungary ; Italy; Rus- sian Empire; China and Japan; United States; Argentine Republic and Brazil. Principal means of communication. Thus for the third time the pupil completes his study of history and geography. The necessarily sketchy national Characteristics ^istory of the elementary classes has been of the Three elaborated and supplemented by the successive Periods. stages of the two cycles of the secondary course proper, and now France no longer stands forth as an isolated unity, but while retaining her national individuality, she ap- pears in her true light as intimately related to and closely dependent upon the other countries of the world. Through- out the whole course, at least of modern history, France has formed the point of departure, the background, so to speak, against which the developments in the other countries have been projected. These three stages are not simple reviews, though the warp and woof of the facts are necessarily the same, but each looks at the question from a different point of view from the preceding. One might characterize the dominant note of the history of the elementary period as biographical, gradually dissolving to militarj^ or dynastic ; that of the first cycle as political ; that of the second as social and economic. The following quotations from the official program will show the different method of treatment in the last two periods: THIRD FORM FIRST FORM The states general and the consti- The monarchical period of the tutional assembly. The constitu- Revolution. The states gen- tion of 1791. eral and the constitutional assembly. Abolition of the old regime. Transformation of French society by the Rev- olution. The constitution of 1791. The legislative assem- bly; resistance of the king; formation of the republican party; fall of the monarchy. HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 253 THIRD FORM PHILOSOPHY FORM The Eastern question in the nine- The Eastern question. Disor- teenth century. ganization and dismember- ment of the Ottoman Empire ; formation of the Christian Balkan States. Crimean war. Balkan war. Congress of BerHn. The Balkan States since 1878; Austria a Balkan power. It is instructive to note that every boy in the French secondary school proper has a comprehensive course in history from the very earliest times down to the present day, with the period from the tenth ^jf^ cmiree century covered twice. In addition to this, the Latin-Greek and the Latin-modern language pupils have a year of Greek and a year of Koman history during the sec- ond cycle. In the so-called graduate classes where the boys are preparing for the higher government schools those parts of the general field that are demanded by the entrance examination programs are still further reviewed, but in most of these classes inasmuch as the examinations make little or no call on their candidates for independent interpretation, the work is treated from a narrower point of view. One prominent and successful history teacher in Paris frankly told me that the method in the classes he was preparing for the military school at Saint-Cyr differed widely from that followed in his other classes. " There is less attempt to develop the mind," he added, " than to fill it with information by way of preparation for the examinations." The general result of the geography program is much less satisfactory than the history. Although geography receives a trifle less than one half the time Qg^^ra hv assigned to history, the distribution offers and its ' considerable ground for criticism. Of the Weakness. nine years devoted to the subject from the eighth form through the philosophy, France receives three years, gen- eral geography nearly that amount, commercial geography 254 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS one year, Europe one year, and Asia, Oceanica, and Africa together, one year. America, Australasia, and the polar regions are assigned a portion of the sixth form work, which is chiefly devoted to general geography. Even where the program insists upon confining the political and eco- nomic geography of America to Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and the Argentine Republic, the time devoted to the United States cannot be very extensive. The United States figures again in the program of the phil- osophy form where it occupies one of the ten paragraphs devoted to the principal powers of the world. There is thus good basis for the implied question in a recent mag- azine article: "Take a bachelor of to-morrow and ask how much that young citizen at the end of his studies knows of that enormous power, so menacing for Europe of the twentieth century, the United States of America. " ^ The author pointedly continues : " The history program per- mits us to show men at work but we have too little in- formation about what they are working on." There is no question but that in the French schools geography suffers from its association with history ,2 for the method of the 1 DiTTiL, Sur I'enseignement de Idg&ographie, in Revue universitaire, 1903, I., p. 249. Far more painful and serious defects appeared in the examination for the agr^gatmi in 1907. See Langlois, Agr4gation d'histoire et giographie, cmicours 1907, in Revue universitaire, 1907, II., pp. 277-296. The geography- question in the written examination was : "The Mississippi." M. Langlois characterizes the answers as " mediocre " and says that the characteristics of the river and the climate of the valley were the particular stumbling blocks. " A good half of the candidates did not know that the maximum rainfall oc- curred during the summer. Some thought that the Pacific was the source of the moisture, and one declared that the Rocky Mountains ' n' arretent nullement les eaux des vents pluvieux du nord-ouest.' " Another placed the source of the Mississippi in the Great Lakes, and explained at length their influence in regulating the flow. Such ignorance as this on the part of candidates for the teacher's certificate is vital. There is more than a mere question of fact in- volved, for the Mississippi Valley is the source of the greater part of the agri- cultural wealth of our country. What accurate conception of the significance of the results can there be in the face of such ignorance of the fundamental conditions ? 2 ViDAL DE LA Blache, La conceptimi actuelle de I'enseignement de lag6o- graphie, in Conferences du Mus6e pidagogique, 1905, p. 118. HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 255 latter dominates the former. History is essentially a sub- ject that must be studied at arm's length, so to speak. We can seldom come into personal relations with the great makers of history, or at least if we do, our ideas are almost inevitably distorted by our proximity. In his- tory, we need the perspective of time in order to assure sane, unbiassed judgments. Geography, on the other hand, is best studied by actual contact with the phenomena in question. Unfortunately, the conditions of school life make thorough application of this idea unattainable, but the resourceful teacher can find many opportunities for illuminating the dry pages of the text or lecture. There is absolutely no value in a child learning a verbal defini- tion of a spring or a river system, unless he has at the same time some clear conception of the natural phenome- non he is defining. Likewise it is much less important for him to be able to rattle off the names of the tribu- taries of the Seine, or to know that the silt carried down by the Loire amoimts to 375 cubic meters in a certain unit of time, whereas in the Seine it is only 300 cubic meters, and in the Rhine 1,450, than it is to understand the influence of these tributaries and the significance of this silt as affecting the character of these streams and their use- fulness. There are gratifying evidences among the younger teachers of a tendency to depart from these traditional formal methods that many of the older men cling to most tenaciously, but the secondary school teachers of geography are yet considerably behind their fellows in the primary system in employing any such simple device as the stere- opticon for vitalizing their formal teaching. Too often they lose sight of the fact that each of the two subjects they are teaching has a method peculiarly its own, and they thereby neglect the specific admonition of the official instructions that "they should devote all their efforts not only to the teaching of the geography, but also to educating through the geography. " ^ The hopeful sign ^ Instructions mncerna III hspjvgrammes de I'enscignevicnt classique, p. cvi. 256 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS about this whole matter is that many teachers are chafing under a situation that is already becoming intolerable. One ingenious writer ^ suggests the appointment of an assistant master or probationer in every school who should supplement the class work of the regular history and ge- ography teacher just as the modern language assistants do in their department. This, as well as most of the sug- gestions to ameliorate the situation, is merely a makeshift. To effect a permanent cure, either the program must be considerably restricted or the time substantially increased. 1 Machat, La classe cCune heure en g4ographie, in Bevue universitaire, 1906, II., p. 100. CHAPTEE XII MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE Saturated with humanistic ideas, and dominated by the spirit of classicism as it was, it is little wonder that the col- lege curriculum before the Revolution gave j,^^,, g^.^^ practically no place to instruction in mathe- tific Instruc- matics and the sciences. These two subjects *^°°- were stretching toward each other, — the one from the simple arithmetic of the elementary instruction, and the other from the physics of the philosophy course in superior instruction, until the connecting link as represented by algebra and ge- ometry should be slipped into place in the colleges. Abbd rieury, writing in 1686, complained that arithmetic was begun too early, and recommended that it should be post- poned until the " reason was entirely formed, as at ten or twelve years of age." ^ In the Jesuit schools, since the great majority of the pupils left at the end of the rhetoric form, there was comparatively very little training in the scientific disciplines, the latter being reserved for the philosophy course. This extended over three years: the first devoted to logic, the second to physics and mathematics, and the third to metaphysics.2 The physics, exclusively the physics of Aristotle, and therefore in the hands of the professor of philosophy, made up the major part of the second year's 1 Fleury, Traits du choix et de la inAthode des 4tudes, Paris, 1686, p. 180, In those days the arithmetic consisted of the four fundamental rules, the pupils being taught "to reckon with counters and with the pen, ... to handle the weights and measures in common use. . . . Later he came to the more difficult rules, . . , and finally, if time and ability permitted, he was taught the science of proportions." 2 jRatio atque institutio studiorum sodetatis Jesu, 1603, pp. 84-86. 17 258 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS work. Tlie relatively insignificant amount of mathematics was chiefly Euclid, eked ovit with " some notions of geogra- phy and of the sphere."^ Mathematics and science were quite beyond the reach of the influences tending to modify instruction in the humanistic branches during the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries, and the Kevolution found tliem practically as the Ratio studiorum had left them nigh upon two hundred years before. Physics was intimately associated with philosophy, and mathematics, since it was looked upon as essential for engineers and architects, and so of use for only a small number of those preparing for profes- sional life, was excluded from the ordinary course of study and left for institutions of special instruction.^ At the end of the old regime, mathematics and science as subjects of general instruction had made little progress. In 1782 Hol- land enumerated very few institutions that were offering special instruction in these subjects. He cites : chairs of mathematics at the College Mazarin and at Tours (1779); one of experimental physics at the College de Navarre in Paris, and two but just founded in Toulouse and Montpellier respectively (1782). To these he adds a chah in hydrogra- phy established the year previous at the college in Rouen, and one in natural history at the College Ptoyal (the College of Prance).^ A professor of mathematics and one of natural history had also been appointed a few years before at the College of Saint-Omer in Planders. By this time the course in philosophy had been cut to two years, the physics sharing the time with logic, metaphysics, and ethics. Instruction in all of these four subjects was given in Latin, and the scho- 1 PmHo atque institutio studiorum societatis Jesu, 1603, p. 93. "Physicae auditoribus explicet in schola tribus circiter horae qnadrantibus Euclidis ele- menta : In quibus postquam per duos menses aliquantisper versati fuerint, aliquid geogi'aphiae vel sphaerae, vel eoruni, quae libenter audiri solent, ad- jungat : idque cum Euclide, vel eodem die, vel alteinis diebus." This pro- gram was practically unchanged until 1832, when modifications were introduced in order to enable the Jesuits to compete with schools giving modern scientific instruction. 2 GxTYTON DE MoEVKAU, M&inoirc sur VMucation puhlique, 1764, p. 265. 8 Roll AND, Plan d' education, p. 117. MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 259 lastic method of the Middle Ages still persisted.^ The Ee vo- lution, with its abolition of the old order of things, opened the way for the entrance of the scientific subjects into the secondary school curriculum. Talleyrand's bill, the first great scheme introduced into the legislative assembly for educational reorganization, only reproduced the old ideals in a modified form. „ , , . p 1 p n • /-NT Condorcets In the sprmg of the followmg year Condorcet Revolt against ran quite to the opposite extreme, and his pro- Classicism. ject represents the almost absolute subordination of letters to science. The program of his Instituts, corresponding to the secondary schools of to-day, contained little else than scientific instruction, — science, mathematical and physical ; science, moral and political ; science pure ; and science applied to the fine arts and to the occupations of every-day life, — the dream of an extremist, but nevertheless the inevitable reaction in the mind of one of the great revolutionists against the narrow humanism of the Jesuits and the old university. He shows the radical nature of his position in saying that " science is the surest means for developing the intellectual faculties ; for teaching accurate reasoning and correct analysis of the thought ; " . . . that " against prejudice, against nar- rowness of mind, science furnishes a remedy more universal, if not more trustworthy, than philosophy itself;" . . . and the books of the ancient languages, filled as they are with inaccuracies, are more likely to be a hindrance than a help in developing the reason.^ The subsequent schemes of edu- cational reform presented to the various revolutionary bodies vacillated between these two extremes, though the prevailing tendency was naturally toward the more radical attitude. The breach in the old humanism had been made, and the entrance of scientific studies into the secondary program was henceforth easy. 1 RoLLANU, Plan cV Education, p. 114. 2 Condorcet, Rappm-t et projet de dicret sur I' organisation gindrale de Vinstriictioii publiqiic. Reprinted in Hippeau, L'instruction publique en France pendant la lUvolution, p. 203 et seq. 2G0 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Inasmuch as scientific studies were already monopolizing one of the three sections of the course in the Central Schools, Science in tlie ^^ could uot have been entirely unexpected Secondary when Napoleon decreed (1802) that the sub- °^^'^^' jects of the new lycde curriculum should be essentially Latin and mathematics.^ There were six classes in each subject which could be covered in three years, but the two lowest classes in Latin formed a necessary introduc- tion to the lowest class in mathematics. In the beginning Latin class, the classical teacher taught ciphering, and in the succeeding class, the "four rules of arithmetic," thus serving the double purpose of acquainting the Latin pupils with the essential elements of arithmetical knowledge, and of giving the mathematical pupils the fundamental princi- ples upon which their subsequent work could be based. This science course included besides mathematics: natural history, physics, astronomy, chemistry, mineralogy. At the conclusion of this regular program, there was a two-year additional course in mathematics, known as mathematiqiies transcendantes, which treated in the first year the applica- tion of differential calculus to mechanics and the theory of fluids, and the application of geometry to plan and map drawing; and in the second year the general principles of advanced physics, especially in their application to electri- city and optics. This extra course was the beginning of the advanced mathematics classes that we find in the secondary scliools to-day. Inasmuch as after the first two years of Latin, these two courses ran parallel, it was hardly a break- ing in of science into the classical curriculum, but rather an o]ition between two distinct fields of work, classics or science. The program of the Pnjtanee of the year before had offered a similar choice in the second part of the course between the civil and the military sections. This latter was the real pre- cursor of the definite bifurcation of the course that took place under Minister Fortoul in 1852. 1 Jiecueil dc lois ct reglemens concernant V instruction pitblique, II., pp. 305- 307. MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 261 The program of 1814 contains the following interesting provision with reference to science teaching, upon which un- fortunately we can throw no more light than • laid is found in the Statute itself : " The lessons in physics on Thursdays " (the secular holiday of the week, it will be remembered) " will be common to the pupils of the third, second, and rhetoric forms. The professor will teach throughout the three years the principal objects in natural history, their most striking properties, and the use to which they are put in the arts. One year he will study animals and vegetables; one year minerals and chemistry; one year experimental physics." ^ At the same period the mathemat- ics work, although restricted to the second, rhetoric, and philosophy forms, included arithmetic, algebra, geometry, plane trigonometry, statics, and mathematical physics. All this for classical pupils indicates a great advance in their liberal culture over what prevailed even in the first Ijc^e plan. Aside from devoting the second year of the philosophy form (added in 1820) entirely to mathematics and science in 1821, there was no real fundamental modification in this part of the progi-am until 1840. At that time Minister Cousin, believing that the science work was not only profit- less in itself, but was furthermore actually injuring the classical studies, boldly swept it all away from the sixth to the rhetoric form inclusive, and massed it in the phi- losophy form. This practically consisted of three sections : first the old philosophy ; second elementary mathematics, a parallel course in which the time assignments of phi- losophy and mathematics are exactly transposed ; and third an additional year called special mathematics, entirely devoted to mathematics and physics. The elimination of so much mathematics proved t(^o radical a measure, so, later in the same year, part of it was restored and made optional. Thus the scientific subjects strove against the classics with 1 Becueil de lois et rkglemens conccrnant Vinstruction puhlique, V., p. 516. 262 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS varying degrees of success, constantly gaining in prestige, if not in recognition in the program, until the bifurcation of Minister Fortoul in 1852 ^ practically put them on the same footing. It was a repetition of the tirst lyc^e program with a common course, this time for five years, and a bifurcated course for four years more, the letters section with compara- tively little science preparing for the baccalaureate in letters, and the science section with comparatively little Latin pre- paring for the baccalaureate in science. The science of the letters program was meagre enough, including only arith- metic, geometry, a little physics, chemistry, natural science, and cosmography. The real science course on the contrary was correspondingly rich, at least in subject matter, the pro- gram embracing arithmetic, geometry, algebra, trigonome- try, surveying, analytic geometry, plan drawing, physics, chemistry, natural history, cosmography, and mechanics. The preparation for the military and engineering schools was thus reaching a higher and higher level. In the mean- time, the creation of a " special " secondary course, begun in 1848, and carried to successful completion under Minister Duruy in 1863 and 1866, originally including a small amount of Latin, but in its final form entirely "modern," was an effort to satisfy the growing demand for adequate, practical, mathematical and scientific instruction. Although passing through successive modifications and demanding more and more time and ability on the part of its followers, it never gained the prestige enjoyed by the classical culture. In the eyes of the general populace it was always looked upon as subordinate to the ancient learning. The new programs have finally placed the scientific culture and the literary cul- ture on equal footing, at least as far as official prescription can do so. In the elementary classes, the science work is restricted to arithmetic and nature study, or more properly speaking, nature 1 Rlglement (Tdtudes des hjcdes, in Fortoul, Beforme de Venseignement, pt. I., vol. I., p. 99 et seq. MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 263 talks, for it seldom rises to the level of a real study of nature itself on the part of the pupils. The arithmetic covers a thorough formal drill in the four fundamental operations, both mental and written, some at- ^leinentary tention paid to fractions, a very elementary treatment of proportion and simple interest, and the applica- tion of the metric system to the measurement of surfaces and the simpler solids the parallelopiped, cube, prism, and cylin- der. The nature work includes, in the beginning class, ac- quaintance with the simple facts of common knowledge, direc- tion, time, seasons, distinction of animal, mineral, and vegeta- ble kingdoms ; in the preparatory classes, the occupations and the products that touch their daily life, the farmer, the miller, the baker, the vineyardist, clothing, fuel, metals, means of locomotion ; in the eighth form, domestic and wild animals, birds, fish, insects, the forest, the field, the garden ; in the seventh form, materials employed in construction, whence obtained and how used, the winds, the different forms of water, volcanoes, fossils. As far as practicable, the teacher shows the various objects to the pupils, and occasionally the Thursday afternoon walks are utilized to complete the knowl- edge thus presented, but on the whole the net result amounts to a good deal of information ahmt things rather than a thor- ough, first hand acquaintance with things. The French child finds in his parents an inexhaustible and ever ready source of information about the common things of life, and I am in- clined to believe that this nature work of the school is im- measurably reinforced by the parent in the home. In the two years I have spent in France, I have overheard more common knowledge instruction while passing along the streets than in all the rest of my life in America. The following detailed programs will give a clearer idea of the scope and character of the science instruction that is given in the secondary course proper : 264 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS SIXTH FORM Division A Arithmetic, 2 hours. Review of operations with whole numbers. Mental work in problems, whole numbers. Common fractions. Re- duction of fractions to common denoininator. Decimals. Natural Science, 1 hour. Zoology. About three lessons devoted to man and his place in the animal kingdom. Vertebrates : mammif er- ous animals; birds; reptiles; batrachians; fish. Articulates: insects; arachnids ; crustaceans. Molluscs. Worms. Sea urchins and star fish. Polyps and medusae. Sponges. Division B Arithmetic, 3 hours. [Same program as for Division A. ] * In addi- tion, metric system in its practical application to area, volume, weight, density, time, velocity. Proportion solved by reduction. Simple interest. Natural Science, 2 hours. [Exactly the same program as for Division A, the extra time allowing a more detailed study.] FIFTH FORM Division A Arithmetic, 2 hours. Metric system. Reduction. Proportion solved by reduction. Simple interest. Use of letters to represent unknown quantities. Simple problems leading to equations of the first degree. Natural Science, 1 hour. Botany. Elementary study of organs of a flowering plant. Root. Stalk. Leaf. Flower. Fruit. Seed. Great divisions of vegetable kingdom. Phanerogamous and cryptogamous plants. Division B Mathematics, 4 hours. Arithmetic [Except for the work in pro- portion and the extraction of the square root, substantially the same as for the fourth form. Division A]. Geometry. [The same as that for the fourth form. Division A, with rather more emphasis upon the construction side.] Mechanical Drawing. Constructions met in the geometry. Simple problems based on the geometry. Graphic solutions. Geometric de- signs apphed to the decoration of plane surfaces. Ink and color wash. Natural Science, 2 hours. Botany as given in Division A, and Geology as given in the fourth form. Division A. 1 The brackets [ ] used here and in the following pages indicate the author's summary, rather than the abbreviated form of tlie official program that is ordinarily followed. MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 265 FOURTH FORM Division A Mathematics, 2 hours. Arithmetic. Product of a sum or a differ- ence by a number. Powers. Divisibility by 2, 5, 9, 3. Prime numbers. G. C. D., L. C. M. Proportion. Practical rule for extracting the square root of a whole number or a decimal to within less than a given degree of accuracy. Geometry. Use of the ruler, square, compass, and protractor. Straight lines. Angles. Triangles. Perpendicular and oblique lines. Parallels. Parallelograms. Circle. Measurement of angles. Ele- mentary constructions on the straight line and the circle. Natural Science, 1 hour. Geology. Study of soil modifications, as far as possible from samples found in the neighborhood. Rains; their effect on the soil. Sediment. Detritus. Permeable and imper- meable strata. Snows. Winds. Rocks. Volcanoes. Hot springs. Earthquakes. Life. Peat. Coral islands. Division B Mathematics, Book-keeping, and Mechanical Drawing, 5 hours. Arithmetic. Common and decimal fractions. Practical rule for ex- tracting the square root of a whole number or a decimal to within less than a given degree of accuracy. Arithmetical and geometrical pro- gression. Commercial methods of computing interest and discount. Discounts. Accounts. Commercial Paper. Geometry. Division of a line in a given ratio. Proportional lines. Similar triangles. Definition of sine, cosine, and tangent of an angle. Similar figures. The pantograph. Polygons. Fourth proportional. Geometric mean. Areas of polygons. Area of the circle. Construc- tion of cissoid, conchoid, etc. Book-keeping. Commerce. Merchants. Middlemen. Shipping. Bills and day book.' Receipts and cash book. Commercial paper. Clearing house. Discount and bills of exchange. Mechanical Drawing. The same program as in the previous class. Graphical construction of geometric loci; tracing the curves with pen. Physics and Chemistry, 2 hours. Physics. Weight: first notions of force, plumb line, center of gravity, double weighing ; specific weights and densities. Equilibrium of liquids and gases: pressure; hydraulic press; elevators; principle of Archimedes: atmospheric pressure; Mariotte's law. Heat: specific heat; fusion; vaporization; boiling 1 The French system divides the actual book-keeping into three very distinct groups, entitled respectively comptahiliti des marchandises, dc la caisse, and du portefciiillc, which concern themselves respectively with the mere paper trans- actions of orders, bills, etc., with the receipt and disbursement of actual cash, and with other media of payment, checks, drafts, notes, money orders, etc., anel with the operations of the clearing house. 266 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS point ; distillation ; application to transmission of heat, and protection against heat and cold. Chemistry. Various states of matter. Air. Oxygen. Nitrogen. Water. Hydrogen. Hydrochloric acid. Chlorine ; its compounds and uses. Sodium. Sal ammoniac. Metals, metalloids. Law of definite proportions. Formulae. Acids, bases, salts. Sulphur. Saltpetre. Phosphorus. Carbon. Carbon dioxide. Silicon. Boric acid. THIRD FORM Division A Mathematics, 3 hours. Arithmetic. Exercises upon the metric system, and upon quantities directly and inversely proportional. Algebra. Positive and negative numbers. Monomials and poly- nomials: addition, subtraction, multiplication. Identity: x^ — a^ = (x — a) (x- + ax + or). Division of monomials. Numerical equa- tions of the first degree, one or two unknown quantities. Inequalities with one unknown of the first degree. Geometry. [Identical with the program in the fourth form, Division B, with the exception of the area of the circle, and the construction of the curves.] Division B Mathematics, 4 hours. Algebra. Positive and negative numbers. Monomials, polynomials: addition, subtraction, multiplication. Iden- tity: {x'" - a'") = (x - o) (x"'-i + ax'" -2 + . . . +a'"-i). Division of monomials. Equations of the first and second degrees. Relations between coefficients and roots. Grapliical representation of: ax + b; ax- + bx + c: -. r-.- Four-place logarithmic tables. Compound a'x + interest. Solid Geometry. Plane and line in space. Dihedral angles. Pro- jection of a polygon, a circle. Polyhedral angles. Surface and volume, prism, pyramid, cone, cyUnder. Tangent plane. Circumscribed sphere, cone, and cylinder. Projection shades and shadows. Surfaces of revo- lution. Surface and volume of sphere. Color work. Plan drawing, sur- veying, levelling. Physics and Chemistry, 2 hours. Physics. Acoustics. Optics: luminous and non-luminous bodies; reflection and refraction; images; vision; lens; composition of Hght; photography. Electricity: in- duction; electric machines; conductors; magnetic field; electrolysis; resistance; ohm; volt; watt; important appUcations of the electro- magnet ; induction ; atmospheric electricity ; Ughtning rod. Chemistry. Metals and alloys. Sodium. Limestone. Oxide and sulphide ores. Iron. Steel. Copper. Lead. Zinc. Aluminum. Porcelain. Glass. Silver. Gold. Money alloys. Organic Chemistry MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 267 (half the course). Hydro-carbons. Illuminating gas. Methyl alcohol. Acetic acid. Ether salts. Glycerine. Glucose. Starch. Phenol. Natural Science, 1 hour. Zoology. (In this course, the teacher, in showing the principal characteristics of the various functions, will pay particular attention to the biological principles relating to man's food supply and health: hunting, fishing, domestication and training of animals. He will treat briefly the animals associated with man's daily work, as well as the plants and animals that provide his chief clothing supply.) Digestion. Respiration. Circulation. Animal heat. Nervous system. Locomotion. Book-keeping, 1 hour. Open accounts. Theory of accounts. Bal- ance sheet. Inventory. Investments in securities. Brief study of the great commercial, economic, and financial institutions. The same purpose appears here that has already been noted in the case of the history and geography, namely : to provide for those pupils that may leave school at the end of the first cycle. Inasmuch ^Tvol^^mT as these are more likely to be found among of the two the non-classical pupils, this tendency is more Mathematics. marked in Division B. The scope of the mathematics and science is a little wider ; the subjects bear rather more strongly on the human side. On the other hand, inasmuch as these pupils are looking forward to becoming specialists in some field of science, their studies lay more stress on the theoretical aspect of the subject, a point typically exemplified by the following identities taken from the third form algebra : Division A : x^ - a^ z=: (x - a) (x^ + ax + a^) Division B : :c "^ — « "^ = (x — a) (.c »» — i + ax ™ — 2 -f . . . + « m — l) In spite of the two extra hours for arithmetic, Division B covers very little more ground than Division A, but the additional time permits a more thorough treatment of the subjects in question besides providing opportunity for more careful drill on the processes most frequently used in book- keeping. The mechanical drawing, which for some peculiar reason is associated with the mathematics in the sixth, fifth, and fourth forms, in the third form shifts over to the drawing caption where one would naturally expect to find it. 268 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Throughout these first years, it is very closely correlated with the mathematics, proving particularly useful in the solid geometry of the third form. The one hour of book- keeping in the fourth form with the possible additional hour in the third form finds no counterpart in Division A. Both divisions begin algebra in the third form, and the amount of ground covered is somewhat proportional to the time devoted to it. The advantage, however, is distinctly in favor of the " modern " division, for the Latin division does little more than make a start. Nominally it reaches numerical equations of the first degree in one or two unknown quantities, but in so doing many of the subjects treated in our beginning algebras are passed over hastily or else are omitted altogether. The work of the other division is much more thorough. The plane geometry as covered by the two divisions does not differ widely, but the solid geometry of the " modern " division is not studied by the Latin pupils until the next cycle, and then only in a most perfunctory fashion. It does little else than familiarize the pupils with a few of the elementary definitions of the subject, and teaches them the application of the formulas for the surface and volume of the ordinary figures. In natural science, both divisions cover the fields of zoology, botany, and geology, in that order. The course entitled zoology in Division B of the third form really treats of the physiology and hygiene of the human body, using its needs for nutrition and clothing as a point of departure for various digressions into the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. The Latin pupils have no physics or chemistry in the first cycle. If there is any one characteristic that stands out strongly in the French teaching of mathematics, that characteristic is thoroughness. Whether it is a little fellow Mlthematics ^^^^^ ^^^^ J^^^*' entered the sixth form or a young man in the liighest form who is on the eve of his examination for the P]cole Polytechnique, every one is held up to a rigid standard. The prevailing notion MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 269 throughout it all is not to correct the error after it is made, but rather to prevent it from being made, a decidedly sound pedagogical principle that more of our own teachers would do well to keep constantly before them. In order to attain this purpose, the French teacher keeps close control over the processes of the class room. It is a rare sight to see two pupils at the board at once. As a matter of fact, a larger number would be quite out of the question, for a blackboard six feet by four feet is a large board. The problem is given out, and the pupil goes to the board. Every step taken is in full sight and under the scrutiny of the rest of the class as well as the teacher, so there is small chance of anybody going very far astray. It is inevitable that the apparent progress should be slow, but it is this very deliberateness that makes possible the thoroughness which, in its turn, avoids the necessity of much repetition and saves time in the end. In the meantime, the rest of the class at their seats are working out the problem in their note books. These problems, together with the presentation of the advance work as given by the teacher, which likewise finds a place in the note book, provide the major part of the material for outside study. The endless round of interminable examples that are the bane of pupil and parent alike in our own schools finds no place in the French scheme of mathematical instruction. The following distribution of time that I found in one sixth form is representative of the prevail- ing custom : of the four hours of class work in mathematics, two were spent in teaching and recitation proper, one in the correction of the home task (devoir), and one in mechan- ical drawing. The teacher's estimate of the time spent outside the class room was : one hour on drawing, an hour and a half for the task, and half an hour apiece for the preparation of each of the other two lessons. This arrange- ment of two long and two short periods of preparation in mathematics is dovetailed in with a corresponding arrangement in other subjects so that the outside prepa- ration for no one day makes any inordinate demand upon 270 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the boy's strength. The home work on the so-called short days is merely a careful review of what was done in class at the preceding lesson, the driving home of the principles by practice being reserved for the weekly task. This total of three and a half hours per week for outside work is materially increased in the higher classes. The choice of salient processes is another factor, with the thoroughness, in enabling the Trench teacher to make haste slowly. In the first cycle particularly, the official instructions afford him every opportunity to follow the order that seems best and to use the method he deems most feasible for the class in question. The requirements of the baccalaureate examination at the end of the second cycle naturally impose some restrictions on this freedom during the latter part of the course, but in the first part he is quite free to devote himself unhampered to the intellectual de- velopment of his pupils. In algebra, for example, the pupil, having already been introduced to some of the elementary algebraic conceptions in connection with the arithmetic of the sixth, fifth, and fourth forms, skips rapidly over much of the preliminary formal work that cumbers most of our own texts (even factoring being very hastily treated), and pushes forward to the solution of the equation. He is taught to regard algebra as a tool, and not as an end in itself. In a third form that I saw on December 27th, after having spent only two hours per week on algebra since the previous October, one of the examples for tlie day with the entire solution was as follows : ^ 5 8 7 56ce - 105 = 280 - 80a; - 40 136a; = 345 _345 "^"136 * In another lycee a few days later, I found the third form boys solving the following problem in three unknown quantities: " Find the number the sum of whose digits is 14 ; the digit in the hundreds place is equal to the sum of the other two ; and 495 added to the number with the order of the digits reversed will give the original number." MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 271 The pupil called to the board worked rapidly and confi- dently, talking as he wrote, and soon reached the solution without unnecessary waste of time or figures. From the awkward fraction in the answer, it was perfectly evident that the equation had not been specially contrived so as to come out even, but there was no expression of surprise at the result. Another boy was called to the board to prove the answer, an operation requiring considerably more work than the original solution. Then the teacher urged them to look upon every equation as a problem, and finally with a little skilful guidance from him, the class worked out the translation of this particular problem as follows : " Find a number the fifth part of wliich if reduced by three-eighths would equal one, diminished by the seventh part of one more than twice the number." Yet with all this practical tendency, there is a goodly amount of theoretical work, as appeared later in the same recitation in discussing the ques- tion of equivalent equations. Throughout the mathematics course one is impressed with the intimate relations existing among the various subjects. Arithmetic is not carried to a certain point, there to give way to algebra, in its turn, perhaps, to be supplemented by geometry, but from the fifth form in one division and from the fourth form in the other, at least two subjects are run conjointly. Some of the difficulties of algebra are thus already discounted by the elementary notions of the un- known quantity that have previously been encountered in the arithmetic. Geometry is especially emphasized in its numerical aspect, and in the Division B, the mechanical drawing is closely correlated with them all. The result is that the mathematics work appears as a single unified sub- ject with several facets rather than as so many discrete studies of the school curriculum. In the physical and the natural sciences (the former in- cluding both physics and chemistry), the work in the first cycle is unquestionably less satisfactory from the pupil's point of view, for he practically never gets into any closer 272 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS than visual relations with the phenomena he is studying. The teachers try to make their subjects as practical as possi- ble, but without the assistance of student labo- ^SciencV" ratory work, with the immense fields to cover, and with the merest modicum of time in which to do it, it is not surprising that pure memory plays such a large part in this elementary science work. One can expect little more than a formal catalogue of names when the teacher has a single period of fifty or at most fifty-five minutes in which to complete the study of the human ner- vous system begun at the previous lesson, and to present the essential characteristics of the five senses and their func- tions. The most skilful teacher in the world might justly hesitate to undertake such an herculean task as this. The responsibility for any shortcomings should be laid upon the program and not upon the unfortunate teacher. The work in this particular sixth form that I saw was profusely illustrated with charts hanging on the wall and sketches put on the board during the course of the lectm-e, but with the exception of an experiment intended to show the image of a candle flame inverted by a lens (the actual effect of which was so hazy that the boys practically had to take the teacher's word for the fact) and two simple experiments to show- the persistency of the retinal image, the teacher con- fined himself exclusively to pictures of the organs and of the phenomena in question, never once bringing the class face to face with the reality itself. Practically every school that I visited had a well equipped natural history collection. The science teachers ordinarily draw liberally on these for specimens to carry to their class rooms, but so far as I could find out the pupils never had an opportunity to see the col- lection in its own room. That is reserved to delight the eyes of the professor in charge of the work or to excite the admiration of the casual visitor. The French point of view is perfectly clear. It is based upon the idea that these specimens can be most effectively studied only when isolated and considered in their proper places in the general develop- MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 273 ment of the subject, but it disregards completely the added interest and even inspiration that are likely to result from viewing the collection as a whole. Such a thing as pupils browsing freely about a museum of any sort is entirely foreign to the French conception of education. The physics and chemistry of the first cycle are decidedly elementary, serving merely to introduce the pupils to the study of these sciences, and constantly emphasizing their practical application to the uses of modern life. There is no text-book employed, the teacher proceeding entirely by the demonstration-lecture method. The following programs of the work of the second cycle will indicate the more advanced treatment of the scientific subjects : SECOND FORM Mathematics, 2 hours, first semester. (Program common to Sec- tions A and B.) Algebra. Exercises on equations of the first degree, and on the representation of the variations in the function ax + b. Solid Geometry. The plane and the straight Une in space. Dihe- dral angle. Definitions of polyhedral angles, pyramid, prism. Rules for surface and volume of the prism, pyramid, cylinder, cone, and sphere. Physics, 1 hour. (Program common to Sections A and B.) [The same general subjects as studied in the fourth form. Division B, a little less technically treated.] Geology, 12 lectures of one hour each. (Program common to Sec- tions A, B, C, and D.) Brief summary of present day phenomena : com- parison with early phenomena. Paleozoic period: chief animal forms; partition of oceans and continents. Mesozoic period : reptiles, first birds and mammiferous animals; flowering plants; rocks. Tertiary period: mammiferous animals; discoveries of Cuvier; formation of mountain ranges. Quaternary period : glacial formations; man; vol- canic phenomena of the tertiary and quaternary periods. Mathematics, 5 hours. (Program common to Sections C and D.) Algebra. [Practically the same topics as in the third form, Division B, with the addition of problems, inequahties of the first and second degrees, the derivative, arithmetical and geometrical progression. The- oretical discussions, especially in studying the progressions and expo- nents, begin to receive more and more attention.] Plane Geometry. Line and surface : angles; triangles, kind, equal- ity; locus; parallels; sum of the angles of a triangle; of a convex poly- 274 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS gon; parallelograms; symmetry; translation of a rigid plane figure. Circle: intersection of straight line and circle ; tangent; arcs and chords; measure of angles; rotation about a point; translation. Proportional lengths: divide a line in a given ratio; similar triangles; harmonic pencil; bisectors of a triangle; locus; centers of similarity; similar polygons; sine, cosine, tangent, and cotangent of angles between zero and two right angles; fourth proportional; mean proportional; regu- lar polygons; relation of circumference to diameter; calculation of v (using the perimeters of regular polygons). Area of polygons; of the circle ; ratio of the areas of similar polygons ; of two circles. Elementary principles of surveying. Physics and Chemistry, 3 hours. (Program common to Sections C and D.) Physics. [The same general topics as in the fourth form, Division B, the extra time together with the assistance rendered by the earlier study making it possible to treat each topic more fully.] Chemistry. [The same observation applies here as in the physics above.] Science Laboratory, 2 hours. (Program common to Sections C and D.) FIRST FORM Mathematics, 2 hours, second semester. (Program common to Sections A and B.) Algebra. Exercises on numerical equations of the first degree in one or more unknown quantities, and of the second degree in one un- known, graphic representation of the variations of x^ and -. Geometry. Measure of angles. Similar plane figures. Definition of sine, cosine, and tangent of an angle between zero and two right angles. Metrical relations in the triangle and the circle. Areas of plane figures. Rules for finding surfaces and volumes of prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones, and spheres. Physics, 1 hour. (Program common to Sections A and B.) [The same general subjects as studied in the third form, Division B, a little less technically treated.] Mathematics, 5 hours. (Program common to Sections C and D.) Geometry. Plane, and straight line; determination of a plane; parallelism and perpendicularity of lines and planes ; dihedral angle ; obliques to a plane ; projection of a plane; area; translation; rotation; symmetry. Trihedral angles ; similarity ; polyhedrons ; prisms ; pyra- mid ; symmetry of cubes ; volume of parallelepiped, of prism, of pyra- mid, of frustum of a pyramid, of truncated, triangular prism. Circular cylinder and cones, sphere ; area and volume of the foregoing. Tangent plane. Descriptive Geometry. The point. Distance between two points. Intersecting and parallel lines. The plane. Rabattement on a hori- MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 275 zontal plane. Angle between two lines. Distance from a point to a line. Intersection of lines and planes. Application to shades and shadows. Distance from a point to a plane. Angle between a line and a plane, between two planes. Representation of a point, a line, and a plane, by means of two planes of projection. Intersection of lines and planes. Parallel and perpen- dicular lines and planes. Rabattement. Practical applications. Tkigonometry. Trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, tangent, co- tangent). -, -, etc. Theory of projections. Formula for sin 2a, cos 2a, 4 3 tan 2a. Rational expression of all trigonometric functions of the angle a in terms of tan -. Given cos a= b ; to find value of sin _ and cos -. a Similarly for tan -• Sums or differences of the trigonometric functions of two angles in terms of products. Inverse problem. Express a cos {oo t + a) + b cos {ut + ^), where t is the only variable. Use of four or five place logarithmic tables. Solution of right triangles. Solu- tion or discussion of simple trigonometric equations. Relations between the sides and angles of a triangle. Solution of triangles. Algebra. Equation and trinomial of the second degree. Derivatives of simple functions. Variation and graphical representation. Recti- linear movement, using derivatives. Velocity and acceleration. Uni- formly accelerated motion. (Teachers should apply algebraic theory to numerous examples from algebra, trigonometry, and geometry.) Physics and Chemistry, 3 hours. (Program common to Sections C and D.) Physics. [The same general topics as in the third form. Division B, the extra time together with the assistance rendered by the earlier study making it possible to treat each topic more fully.] Chemistry. [The same observation applies here as in the physics above.] Laboratory work, 2 hours. (Program common to Sections C and D.) PHILOSOPHY FORM Mathematics, 2 hours. Cosmography, 1 hour for one semester. (Program common to Sections A and B.) Mathematics. Review of positive and negative numbers. Devel- opment: (a + b)-, (a + by. Identity: a" + i - 6" + ^ = (a - fe) (a" + a" 6 -H . . . + b"). Geometrical algebra of the Greeks: a number represented by a line ; a product by the surface of a rectangle ; figures equivalent to the identities : (o ± b)- = a^ ± 2ab + b", ^ " ^ V - I — - — j = ab. Construction : square on the hypothenuse ; rectangle having a given side and on given line equivalent to given rectangle; 276 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS rectangle equivalent to given square, knowing the sum and difference of its sides, followed by expressions of these sides. Solution of algebraic equation of the second degree, with application to the preceding problem; comparison of the results. Advantages of the modern notation, par- ticularly of positive and negative numbers. Determination of a point in a plane, given two numbers; inverse representation. Co-ordinates; latitude and longitude. Graphic repre- sentation of variation of phenomena with a single variable; curves of temperature, pressure; application to statistics. Functions; graphic representation of: y = ax; y = ax + b; y = x^; y = x^; y = -. Construction of straight line defined by a numerical equation of the first degree in x and y ; slope of the line. Co-ordinate paper. Solu- tion of two numerical equations of the first degree in two unknowns by intersection of two straight lines; of numerical equations of the form: x- + T^x + 2 = 0, x^ + px + 2 = by the intersection of curves whose equations are : with the straight line whose equation \sy -\- px + q =0. Plots of em- pirical railway tables. Curves drawn by self-registering machines. Construction of simple curves defined geometrically; their equations. Tangent and derivative. Tangent obtained geometrically as limit of a secant (circle, parabola). Slope of tangent; application to simple cases : y = x", 2/ = x^ y = -. Derivative in its relation to the variation of a function. Approximate area of curve by plotting and counting squares; con- trol of error. Area of triangle as common limit of sums of the areas of two sets of rectangles. Function with a given derivative. Area of parabola. Area of triangle or parabola by obtaining the function whose derivative is ax or ax'. Application of infinitesimal method to evaluating volumes or surfaces of bodies in elementary geometry. Cosmography, 1 hour for a semester. Copernican system. The sun: size, distance, constitution, rotation, spots. Planets. Earth: form, dimensions, rotation, poles, equator, meridians, parallels, longi- tude, latitude. Moon: movement, constitution. Comets; shooting stars; aerolites. Stars, nebulse, milky way. Physics and Chemistry, 3 hours. (Program common to Sections A and B.) Physics. [The topics of Division A of the second and first forms are here treated again, this time with more attention to their application: e. g., the principle of the pendulum as applied to the clock; conservation and dissipation of energy ; Gramme machine; telephone; microphone; MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 277 cathode and X-rays. Periodic movements with longitudinal and trans- verse vibrations, waves, and interference introduce a new topic. Hound and optics are more fully treated. Under the former are included: the phonograph ; velocity of sound ; music ; physiological qualities and the physical interpretation of musical sounds; vibrating chords (laws); harmonics; and resonators. Under the latter are treated: analogies between light and sound; hypothesis of light vibrations; radiation from ultra-red to ultra-violet rays ; phosphorescence and fluorescence.] Chemistry. [Except for the oxide and sulphide ores, some of the less important alloys, aluminum, porcelain, and glass, this program is identical with that of Division B in the fourth and third forms above.] Natural Sciencio, 2 hours. (Program common to Philosophy A and B, and to Mathematics A and B.') Animal and Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology. Life phenom- ena common to the two kingdoms. Elements of living things, multipli- cation, nutrition. Animal Anatomy and Physiology. Tissues. Type organizations of animal kingdom. Man ; nutrition ; digestion ; circulation ; absorption ; respiration; animal heat; elimination of waste. Nervous system. Sense organs. Locomotion. Larynx and voice. Paleontology, at least five lessons of one hour. General idea of conliguration of land and sea during the paleozoic, mesozoic, and ter- tiary periods. Animals of paleozoic, of mesozoic, of tertiary, and of quaternary periods. Evolution of mammiferous animals. Plistory of the horse. Man. VEciETABLE Anatomy AND PHYSIOLOGY. Typical forms of the vege- table kingdom. Physiology of phanerogams. Nutrition: root, stalk, leaf. Nitrification. Respiration. Parasitic plants. Reproduction: flower; fertilization and development; fruit and seeds. Germination. Reproduction of cryptogams and phanerogams. Vegetable evolution. Hygiene, 12 lectures of one hour. (Program common to Philoso- phy A and B, and to Mathematics A and B.) Water: spring, river, well, drinkable; contamination; purification. Air: amount necessary for health; renewal; ventilation; contamina- tion and change. Nourishment: meat, wholesome, decayed; parasites introduced into human body. Alcoholic beverages :2 fermented, dis- tilled, cordials; effects. Drunkenness and alcoholism. Exercise: under and over exercise. Principal contagious and infectious diseases: propa- gation. Transmission through excrement or expectoration : typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis. Receptivity and immunity; resistance; vario- loid and vaccine; revaccination ; inoculation against anthrax, hydro- phobia, diphtheria. The dwelling: salubrity of the house; aeration; isolation of the soil ; the sanitary and unsanitary house. Domestic ani- mals: transmitters of disease; their sanitation. 1 For laboratory work, reijuin-d of all sections, see under Science Labora- tory for the niatliciiiatics form, \i. 280. 2 At least oik; lesson shall be devoted to the consideration of alcoholic drinks. 278 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS MATHEMATICS FORM Mathematics, 8 hours. (Program common to Sections A and B.) Arithmetic. [General view of arithmetic, including measure of mag- nitude (demonstrate: the ratio of two magnitudes of the same kind is equal to the quotient of their numerical measures).] Determination of the upper limit of the error of a sum, difference, product, or a quotient, when given tlie upper limit of the errors of the constituent quantities. Algebra. [General review of algebra previously covered without developing the theory of imaginaries.] Variations and graphical repre- sentation of the functions: ax + b y = ax + b; y = — — —rr! y = ax^ + bx + c; y = ax* + bx- + c. Derivative of a sum, product, quotient, of the square root of a func- tion, of sin X, cos X, tan x, cot x. Application of the study of variation to finding the maxima and minima of certain simple functions, especially those of the form: ax^ + bx + c , o , ., ; — 7; x^ + px + q, a' X' + b' X + c' with numerical coefficients. Derivation of the area of a curve regarded as a function of the ab- scissa. (The teacher is to avoid undue rigor and freely appeal to geo- metric intuition in discussing derivatives.) Trigonometry. Trigonometric functions. Addition and subtrac- tion of arcs. Multiplication and division by 2. Solution of triangles. Applications of trigonometry. (No reference to the construction of trigonometric tables.) Geometry. Fundamental conclusions of plane and solid geometry. Power of a point with respect to the circle and the sphere. Radical axes and planes. Polar of a point with respect to the circle. Polar plane of a point with respect to the sphere. Inversion. Applications. Peau- cellier's cell. Stereographic projection. Vectors. Projection of a vector. Geometric addition. Linear mo- ment with regard to a point. Moment with regard to an axis. Appli- cation to couples. Perspective. Of a point, straight line, curve. Vanishing point of a line. Perspective of two parallel lines. Vanishing line of a plane. Con- ception of the line at infinity. Conic Sections. Ellipse: construction; tangent, problems; equa- tion of ellipse with reference to its axes; considered as projection of a circle. Intersection of ellipse and straight line. Hyperbola: con- struction ; tangent, problems ; asymptotes ; equation of hyperbola with reference to its axes. Parabola: construction; tangent, problems; equation of parabola with reference to its axis and the tangent at the vertex. Common definition of these curves by means of focus and directrix. Plane sections of cone or cylinder of revolution. Descriptive Geometry. Angles between planes and straight lines. Distances between points, lines, and planes. MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 279 Projection of a circle. Sphere; plane section, intersection with a straight line. Circular cone and cylinder; tangent plane passing through a point, or parallel to a line; shadows; plane sections. Cir- cumscribed cones and cylinders ; shadows. Representation of a surface by contour lines. Co-ordinate of a point on surface whose horizontal projection is given. Slope of a line drawn on a surface. Lines of equal slope; of greatest slope. Topographic maps. Planimetry and levelling. Conventional markings and colorings. Map reading; use in the field. Kinematics. Units of length and time. Motion. Trajectory of point. Rectilinear motion; uniform motion; velocity of a vector. Variable motion ; mean velocity ; velocity at an instant. Acceleration; acceleration at an instant, a vector ; mean acceleration. Uniformly ac- celerated motion. Curvilinear motion. Resolved velocities. Hodo- graph. Uniform circular motion; harmonic motion. Composition of veloci- ties. Applications. Translation and rotation about an axis of a rigid body. Helicoidal motion. Simple machines. Dynamics and Statics. Of a particle. Inertia; force; mass; re- sultant. Equilibrium of a particle, free, on a curve, on a surface, on a friction plane. Vertical and parabolic movement of a particle. Slid- ing friction. Work ; unit of work ; work of a constant, and a variable force ; virtual work ; total work ; indicator diagrams ; energy. Of a rigid body. Parallel forces; center of gravity; examples. Couples. Resultant of a system of forces. Conditions of equilibrium of a rigid body. Equilibrium of a rigid body turning about a fixed axis, about a point. Of simple machines. Relation between power and resistance. Theo- rem of vis viva. Friction. Efficiency. Fly wheels, and brakes. Cosmography. Celestial sphere : zenith; theodolite; laws of diur- nal movement; meridian; pole; sidereal day; right ascension and declination. Earth: geographical co-ordinates; dimensions and relief of the earth ; world maps ; charts. Sun : apparent movement along the ecliptic; inequality of days and nights in various latitudes; seasons; tropical and sidereal year; sidereal time; mean time; civil time. Julian and Gregorian calendars. Moon: apparent movement ; phases; rotation; variation in apparent diameter. Lunar and solar eclipses. Planets: Copernican system; Kepler's and Newton's laws. Distance, dimension, physical constitution of the sun, planets, and their satel- lites. Comets; meteors; meteorites. Stars; constellations. Nebulae. Milky Way. Physics and Chemistry, 5 hours. (Program common to Sections A and B.) Physics. [The program is very similar to that in the philosophy form, save that the topics are taken up a little more technically, and with greater emphasis upon their applications in the fields of mechanics and electricity.] 2S0 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS ('moMiHTRY. General principles of clicinicul combinations. Qualita- tive analysis. Review of the ciiaracteristics of the elements anil com- pounds so as to recognize their existence in chemical combinations. (Quantitative and volumetric analysis. (Quantitative chemistry. Sym- bols; formula). Molecules: determination of molecular weights. Atoms: determination of atomic weights. Valence. Acids, bases, and salts. Alkaline metals and alkaline eartiis ; ordinary compounds. Iron : iron sulphate. Zinc: zinc sulphate;. Lviul: red lead, white lead. Copper: sulphate of copper. Mercury: chlorate of mercury. Classi- fication of the metalloids. Distinctive characteristics of: oxides, sui- phi(l(!s, the principal kinds of salts (chlorides, carbonates, sulphates, nitrates), ('hemical ecjuilibrium (experimental). Dissociation. Ber- thollet's laws. Heat of combination. Thermo-chemistry. ()u(;ani(; Ciikmihtry. Principles of organic analysis. Synthesis. (!ra|)hic formuhe. Functions in organic chemistry. Hydro-carbons. Halogens. lOthyl alcohol. Ether. Aldehyde. Acetic acid; ether salts; urates. (Cyanogen, (jlyccrine, oxalic acid, lactic acid. Benzines. Ph(>iiol ; aniline. Nitrogenous substances. Albumen. NA'i'uiiAii S(!ii;n(.'io, 2 hours. Same program as in the Philo.sophy form. S<;ii;n(M'; Lahoiiatouy, 2 hours. Physics, (chemistry, Natural Science. (Program common to Mathematics A and H.) In tlu! mathematics form, a certain number of laboratory exercises will review the most important topics of the second and first forms. Five or six of these will be set apart for natural science. These will be com- mon to the four sections of the philosopliy and mathematics forms. IlYfiiioNK, 12 lectures of one hour. Same program as in the philoso- phy form. Until 1904, the ])r()graiiis in tlic graduate classes known as the special inatliomaLics form were more or less confused. ,, , . Tlie entrance examinations for tlie JiJcolc Poly- Matliomatics , , . . , ; • ji • ji i ami Si^icncd tri'iintqiie required certain things that were not ill Mio Higher tlemaiuled by the JiJcole Ce7itralc and vice versa. While this diversity caused no particular inconvenience for the Paris schools where the classes were large enougli to have special sections for each of the various government engineering schools, it was decidedly awkward for the ])rovincial lyc(5es where the classes were considerably smaller. In accordance with the report of a special com- mission appointed for that purpose, the program of these graduate classes was revised so as to obviate most of tliese dilliculties. Now the recpiirements for these schools ])resent no very great variation, so that a pupil who has failed in the MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 281 competition for one can readily present himself for another without any material loss of time. The reforms tend in gen- eral toward minimizing the emphasis iqion pure theory, the teachers being specifically urged not to give any theory without making numerous a]iplications, choosing them pref- erably from those which will be eiu^ountered later in the fields of physics and mechanics. Analytic geometry has consequently been considerably simplified, and mathemati- cal analysis correspondingly developed. The program in- cludes a more exhaustive study of the subjects of the ordi- nary mathematics form : advanced algebra, trigonometry, plane and solid analytical geometry, mechanics, descriptive geometry, physics, and chemistry. The general method of procedure in mathematics instruc- tion m the upper classes does not differ materially from that already described for the first cycle. A mere ^ , , casual study of the detailed program will seope of the show that it still follows the concentric circle Mathematics plan, the work of each succeeding class gradu- ally broadening the field already covered. In Sections C and I) of the second and first forms, we find for the first time courses in plane geometry, solid geometry, and trigonometry that resemljle very closely the corresponding courses in our American high schools, whereas in the preceding and in succeeding forms, these same subjects are treated respectively in a more elementary and a more advanced fashion. The greater freedom accorded the teachers under the present conditions results in more or less diversity in topical se- quence, a diversity materially enhanced by the prevailing concentric circle plan of instruction. In the main the teachers adhere reasonably closely to the order of topics of the official program, yet from time to time one finds orig- inal spirits venturesome enough to depart from this very rad- ically. If their plans succeed and their pupils stand the test, they receive official support and naturally make more rapid progress toward a Paris appointment. On the other hand, the results are correspondingly disastrous in case of 282 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS failure. I found one teacher in the mathematics form dis- tributing his work in the following intensive fashion, con- centrating all the eight hours per week on a single subject from the beginning of the year practically until the beginning of the general review at Pentecost : October, geometry ; No- vember and December, algebra ; January, kinematics of the point ; first half of February, conic sections ; last half of February and first half of March, kinematics of a rigid body, machines ; from the middle of March until the Easter vaca- tion, descriptive geometry ; May, cosmography, and finally arithmetic. Trigonometry monopolized the attention at no particular period, but was brought in from time to time as the occasion required. This by no means indicates that it was neglected. On the contrary it seems fairly to permeate the whole program, and it is utilized in some form or other in the great majority of the problems in the mathematics examinations. The above plan of work also shows roughly the relative amount of time devoted to each of the various branches, algebra receiving approximately two months, mechanics a month and a half, arithmetic, geometry, and descriptive geometry, a month each, and conic sections and cosmography a half a month each, the rest of the year being given over to review. This particular teacher spent a period or two a week on the general review from Easter to Pente- cost. From this latter date, which in 1908 came at the end of the first week in Jime, the time was exclusively devoted to reviewing the work of the year. To some this may seem a disproportionate amount of time for review, amounting as it does to nearly a fifth of the actual school year, but it is typical of French educational practice gener- ally, showing unmistakably the importance attached to this phase of instruction, and it goes a long way toward guaran- teeing not only that the pupils know thoroughly the work they have been over, but furthermore that they shall have that knowledge where it is readily available. By the end of the reg- ular course for the baccalaureate, the French science student has advanced about as far as has his American cousin at the MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 283 completion of the freshman year in our best technical schools. The instruction in the following special mathematics form which prepares for the government scientific schools carries one considerably farther than that, and is quite on a par with that given in the science faculties of the universities. Throughout it all one is constantly impressed with the pre- vailing unity that has been already noted more than once. The teacher is not teaching algebra, or geometry, or trigo- nometry, but he is teaching mathematics, these various branches being mere subdivisions of the general science, and invariably subordinate to it. The science course in Sections C and D is considerably vitalized by the introduction of laboratory work, although the other two sections are still handicapped Methods in by the more formal nature of the instruction in Science the lower forms, thereby suggesting that some Instr^i^^tio^- of the more practical of Eousseau's educational ideas are still imperfectly appreciated by his own countrymen. The fail- ure to apply at least a part of this science instruction to the practical affairs of iife was very forcibly brought to my at- tention. The program of the lectures in hygiene requires the teacher to discuss the subject of fresh air, the necessity of ventilation, and the dangers from contamination, yet in the great majority of the class rooms I visited the air was atro- ciously bad, and in but few cases did the teacher make any effort to improve it. One is justified in questioning how ef- fective the lecture method ever is, as far as practical results are concerned. The science lectures in general are supplemented by prac- tical demonstrations of the principles involved, though in all the class work that I saw in optics, these were restricted to diagrammatic sketches put on the board by the teacher. In Sections C and D this particular lack is partially compen- sated for by the laboratory experiments which involve a few of the more fundamental principles of light. The effects of the lecture room demonstrations of the teacher were partially vitiated by the fact that the pupils were quite content to take 284 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS his statement of the progress of the experinieut and seemed to evince little inclination to verify this from their own ob- servation. As far as my own experience goes, science in the French secondary schools is an informational rather than an observational study. In the words of the otticial instruc- tions : " The aim is not to make professional physicists of our pupils, but to acquaint them with the great laws of nature and to put them in position to understand what is going on in the world about them." ^ The former is obviously the dominant aim, especially in the so-called letters sections. The laboratory work in physics and chemistry in Sections C and D presents a slightly different phase of the question, although even here there is no intention of beginning the practical training of independent investigators. Since it serves primarily to impress and reinforce the principles al- ready encountered in the lecture room, it is rare for the pupils to have a problem even in chemistry, that has not been already worked out and demonstrated in the lecture room. This probably accounts for the general satisfaction among science teachers themselves with the time allotment for experimental work. Most of them would like more time for lecture work, but nobody that I met found the laboratory exercises relatively undervalued. The equipment for science teaching is on the whole remark- ably complete. Although the amount of apparatus naturally varies from school to school, I failed to tind a E^urinent single school that did not seem adequately sup- plied, and in several instances the laboratories represented an expenditure of thousands of dollars. The magnificent science equipment at the College Eollin in Paris, a secondary school supported at municipal expense, is cer- tainly superior to that at many an American college. The physics and chemistry departments at that school receive 3,500 francs for annual expenses other than salaries. The major part of this being devoted to physics, the professor in 1 CoHScils g^n4raicx, in Plwi d'dtudcsd programmes d'enseigncment danslcs lyc6cs et colleges de gar(-ons, 1907-8, p. lit). MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 285 charge of the work has been able to provide a small but very complete equipment for student laboratory work. In the particular second form that I had the good fortune to visit, there were twenty boys working in pairs. In order to econo- mize expenses for sets of apparatus, the teacher had arranged his work so that five different experiments, naturally bearing upon as many phases of the same general subject, should go on simultaneously. At the end of five weeks, there being only one laboratory period per week, each pupil will have performed all the five experiments, and then a new series is given out. This school was particularly fortunate in having besides a number of small rooms for experiments in light and other subjects where isolation is desirable. In nearly every other school that I saw, the pupils have to perform their ex- periments in physics in the chemical laboratory. The fact that laboratory work in physics was introduced for the first time in the program of 1902, accounts for this apparent partiality for chemistry. Many of the science teachers have been able to find among the numerous domestics attached to their schools some with a decidedly mechanical turn of mind, and they have drawn upon this source of supply for assistance in the construction and repair of physics apparatus. In some schools one such domestic devotes all his time to this work. Thus ingenious and ambitious teachers that were not fortu- nate enough to be placed at a College Rollin have been en- abled to supply their laboratories with many sets of simple and inexpensive apparatus, accurate enough for all practical purposes. The student chemical laboratories with their less expensive apparatus are better equipped than those for teaching ex- perimental physics. Many of the chemical Laboratory laboratories are really excellent, considerably Work in superior, in fact, to the character of the work Chemistry, done in them. No chemicals are ever kept at the pupils' benches. These are all brought in by a domestic from the teacher's laboratory, the apparatus and supplies for each pair of pupils being on a separate tray. These various 286 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS outfits have all been previously assembled by the laboratory assistant for each successive class. When the pupils reach the laboratory, everything that they use for the experiment of the clay is on the desk before them, and when the hour is over they have simply to leave the material where they found it. They thus have no more responsibility for getting their supplies together nor of clearing up their apparatus be- fore they leave than if they were sitting down to dinner. At the beginning of each laboratory period the teacher gives careful directions for the experiment of the day. The pupil thus knows exactly what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and generally what results he should obtain. When this is done and the results written in his note book (with fair luck the good pupils can complete their work in half or three quarters of the period), he can devote the remainder of the time to annoying his neighbor. If for any reason the experi- ment is not finished by the end of the hour, the whole time is practically lost, for there is no provision for completing or making up the work. Indeed why should there be, since the experiment is merely confirmatory of what he already knows ? The lack of aprons or other special laboratory dress, the ab- sence of responsibility put upon the pupils, the mere confirm- atory character of the work, all tend to engender the idea that this is a kind of playing at experimentation, rather than serious laboratory work. Even among some boys that I saw who were in the middle of their third year in the laboratory (to be sure they had spent only one hour per week on chemistry), the general lack of " at homeness " in handling apparatus was strikingly apparent. Yet when all these criticisms have been passed on the formal nature of science teaching, the emphasis upon memory, the lack of student responsibility, the mediocrity of the laboratory work, this very system has produced results ; whether despite or on account of the system, scientists have nevertheless been produced. Witness the long line of illustrious names from Descartes down to Pasteur, a group of men that puts France second to MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE 287 no other nation, men that have not only vitally contributed to the world's store of knowledge of fundamental scientific principles, but that have applied these principles to the expansion of the field of human endeavor, to the alleviation of human suffering, and to the elevation of the human race. CHAPTER XIII OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION Philosophy, Morale, Law, Drawing, and G-ymnastics In order to complete the topics under the various subjects of instruction in the secondary school curriculum, it will be necessary to bring together in this chapter a rather fragmen- tary discussion of several subjects that do not readily fall under any of the great heads already treated. Such are philosophy, elementary ethics, common law, gymnastics, and drawing, all except the last two appearing for a very limited time in the course of study. Philosophy Philosophy was originally essentially a subject of higher learning. The failure to differentiate clearly between higher ™ ., , and secondary education that characterized rliuosophy •'. before the French education for centuries, a haziness that Revolution, g^Qj lingers in the frequent inclusion of the lyc^es and colleges in the university system and that renders the mutation from the teaching staff of the lycde to that of the university proper a matter of no very great difficulty, facilitated the settling down of philosophy into the curric- ulum of the secondary schools, especially since these very schools assumed the function of providing a complete liberal education. Philosophy as the crowning study of mediaeval scholarship thus found a sympathetic welcome in the lower institutions of learning. The philosophy of the Jesuit col- leges, reaching as it did only a comparatively small portion of their students, for the great majority of them left at the end of the rhetoric form, was still further circumscribed by OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 289 the extremely narrow scope of its field. Not only was it re- stricted to Aristotle, but it did not include all of that author, and even then placed interpretation of the words on a par with that of the subject matter, ^ Thus the logic of the first year of the philosophy course and the metaphysics of the third become considerably attenuated in the light of the accompanying directions. Although Descartes published his Discours sur la metJiode in 1636, it was not until after the opening of the eighteenth century that Cartesianism really made any appreciable headway even in the university col- leges. The temper of the time is reflected in the projected reform of the Statutes of the Faculty of Arts in 1720, wherein Descartes, who a quarter of a century before had been proscribed in the schools, appears side by side with Aristotle among the classic texts. ^ Although Eollin reproached him- self for having studied philosophy only superficially, he ac- corded it but faint praise in recognizing the advantages accruing from its study and in almost the same breath contrasting the " arid, rough, and thorny region " of philosophy with the " gladsome, gay, and flowery land of the belles- lettres, " ^ a point of view not at all surprising when one re- calls that Eollin himself was a rhetorician rather than a philosopher. Philosophy with him, as heretofore, included not only the whole round of scientific knowledge of the learned, but even what he was pleased to call " physics for children," * an approach to our nature study of to-day. In the last years of the old regime, despite Eousseau's attempt to differentiate the physical sciences from their foster parent, philosophy still included the time-honored four-fold division of logic, metaphysics, ethics, and physics. The course which extended over two years and represented the real 1 Ratio atquc institutio studiorum, ed. 1603, p. 87. ^ Reformatio statutorum celeberrimae artiicm facuUatis universitatis studii Parisiensis, caput III., xxii., in Joukdain, Histoirc de V UniversM de Paris, Pi&ces justificatives, p. 173. 8 RoLLiN, Traits des etudes, III., pp. 160, 173. 4 Ibid., p. 204. 19 290 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS work of the Faculty of Arts of the University ^ continued to be given in Latin. With Napoleon's organization of the University, philos- ophy became definitely attached to secondary instruction, „, ., , although in those classes it was treated in an Plulosojihy a '^ ^ , . Subject of elementary fashion which by no means tended Secoiidary In- j^q diminish its importance as a subiect of structioii higher instruction, and the trend toward a cleavage between philosophy and science that had appeared in nearly every proposed program since the beginning of the Eevolutionary period was recognized as an accomplished fact. Save for a few months during the year 1821, and again for a brief period from 1847 when special conditions were made applicable to the Paris schools alone, the philos- ophy course has been restricted to a single year, since 1830 the instruction being given exclusively in the mother tongue. Philosophy has been relatively little affected by the new program of 1902. It still occupies eight hours a week dur- ing the first semester and nine hours during the second, thus consuming about one third of the student's time in the phil- osophy form. In the mathematics form, it is relatively almost insignificant, for it is allotted only three hours per week throughout the year, apportioned evenly between moral philosophy and philosophy as applied to science. The fol- lowing paragraphs will show something of the scope of this philosophy program : PHILOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHICAL AUTHORS 8 hours, first semester ; 9 hours, second semester. (Program com- mon to Sections A and B.) I. Philosophy 2 Introduction. Object and divisions of pliilosophy. Psychology. Real characteristics of psychological facts. Con- 1 RoLLAND, Flan d' Education, p. 114. 2 The accompanyiug order imposes no restrictions upon the teacher. It is sufficient that he treat all the questions indicated. OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 291 Intellectual Life. The phenomena of consciousness. Sensations. Images. Memory and association. Attention and reflection. For- mation of abstract and general notions. Judgment and reasoning. Creative activity of the mind. Rela- ^'"p^?P^^y "^ tion of language and thought. Development and role ^'^^ ^01™°'^^ of rational principles. Formation of the idea of extension. Perception of the external world. Emotional and Impulsive Life. Pleasure and pain. Emotions and passions. Sympathy and imitation. Tendencies. Instincts. Habit. The will and the character. Freedom. Conclusion. Mind and body. Psychic automatism. Personality; idea of self. tEsthetxcs. Summary notions of beauty and art. Logic. Formal Logic. Terms. Proposition. Forms of reasoning. Science. Classification and hierarchy of the sciences. Method op Mathematical Science. Definitions, axioms, and postulates. Dem- onstration. Method of Natural Science. Experiment; observation and experimentation. Hypothesis; theories. Induction and deduction in natural science. Classification. Method op Moral and Social Science. Processes of psychology. History and social science. Ethics.' Object and character of ethics. The phenomena of moral consciousness; obligation and sanction. Motives of conduct and the end of human life. Pleasure, feeling, reason. Personal and general in- terest. Duty and happiness. Individual perfection and the progress of humanity. Personal Ethics. Feeling of responsibility. Virtue and vice. Personal dignity and moral autonomy. Domestic Ethics. Ethi- cal constitution and social role of the family. Authority in the family. Social Ethics. Equity. Justice and charity. Co-operation. Rights; respect of life and personal liberty; property and labor; freedom of thought. Civic and Political Ethics. The nation and the law. The country. The State and its functions. Democracy; civil and political liberty. Metaphysics. Value and limits of knowledge. Problems of early philosophy; matter; the soul; God. Relations of metaphysics to science and ethics. II. Philosophical Authors ^ Xenophon, Memorabilia, one book. Plato, Phcedo, Gorgias, one book of the Republic. Aristotle, one book of the Nicomachean ethics, and one of the Politics, 1 In the treatment of personal as well as social ethics, the teacher will emphasize the danger of alcoholism and its moral and social effects : moral degradation, race weakness, misery, suicide, criminality. 2 The teacher will choose four texts from this list. These will be discussed in class and will serve as a basis for expounding the systems of philosophy whiidi they represent. 292 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Epictetus, Manual. Marcus Aurelius. Lucretius, De natura rerum, Book II. or V. Seneca, Extracts from the Letters to Lucilius and the Essays. Cicero, De ojficiis. Bacon, On the advancement of learning. Descartes, Discourse on method; Meditations; Principles, Book I. Pascal, Thoughts, and minor works. Malebranche, On the search for the truth, Book I. or II. Talks on metaphysics. Spinoza, Ethics, one book. Leibnitz, New essays, introduction and Book I. Theodicy, extracts. Monadology. Discourse on metaphysics. Hume, Treatise of human nature, one book. Condillac, The sensations, Book I. Montesquieu, Spirit of the laws. Book I. Rousseau, Social contract, one book. Kant, Foundations of the metaphysics of ethics. Prolegomena. Jouffroy, Extracts. A. Comte, Course of positive philosophy, lectures I and II. Discourse on positivism. CI. Bernard, Introduction to the study of experimental medicine, part I. Stuart Mill, Logic, Book VI. Utilitarianism. Liberty. Spencer, First principles, part I. Introduction to sociology. Locke, Essay on the human understanding, Book I. Cournot, Materialism. Vitalism. Rationalism. The course in the two sections of the mathematics form, three hours per week, is divided into two parts entitled respectively Elements of scientific philosophi/ ^In the '^ and Elements of moral philosophy. With the Mfithematics exception of an introductory paragraph for "'^'"" each they are identical with the work under Logic and Ethics of the philosophy form. It is the presence of this philosophy instruction that most strikingly differentiates the curriculum of the secondary p, ., , schools in France from those of the other great in the nations. It owes its introduction primarily to Curricuhnn. ^^iQ absence of any clearly defined rift be- tween the fields of secondary and higher learning. It owes its continuance in large measure to the peculiar function the secondary school performs in the intellectual life of the OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 293 country, namely, that of providing not an introduction to, or preparation for, liberal culture, but that of supplying that liberal culture itself. The Polytechnic School, the Military School at Saint-Cyr, the Higher Normal School, the medical schools, the law schools, — none of these can be considered as schools of general culture; they are essentially profes- sional schools. It is even reasonably certain that many of the students of the arts and the science faculties are fol- lowing purely professional courses. Of the thirty-four thousand native men students enrolled under the various faculties and in the other medical and pharmaceutical schools on January 15, 1908, only nine thousand, or slightly more than a quarter, were found in the arts and the science faculties,^ and when account is taken of the students in the professional engineering schools of various sorts, this proportion is relatively decreased. In other words, for more than three quarters of its pupils, the lyc^e provides the only liberal culture. There are no official figures available for determining this proportion accurately, but it is certainly not an overstatement of the case, for it has made no allow- ance for the number of young men who quit school entirely on obtaining their bachelor's degree. With this view of the role played by the secondary school in the educational scheme, the presence of philosophy in its curriculum is amply justified. Absorbing as it does in the philosophy form a great part of the time and the thought of the stu- dent, it has an opportunity to unify, to synthesize in his mind, the instruction of the previous years. Whether or not it embraces this opportunity is largely dependent on the teacher. I have seen some very good teaching, and I have seen some very bad teaching, that is, from the pupils' point of view. In other words, some teachers treated the sub- jects in a most abstract fashion, apparently unmindful of the difference in intellectual power between themselves and their pupils. In such classes, a small number would grasp the significance of the discussion, a few more would ^Bull. adm., 1908, I., p. 423. 294 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS strive with evident efl'ort to follow, wliile the great ma- jority would sit quietly by, nonchalantly awaiting the sum- mary of the discussion which they could memorize for next time. On the other hand, I came across other teachers that, by aptness of illustration, by tlie practical ai)plication to the affairs of every-day life, succeeded in arousing an eagerness and interest in discussion that augured well for the general grasp on the subject. As the detailed program will show, the psychology is entirely of the older static or analytical type, experimental P .\ , psycliology, except so far as it may be touched ill iii(! upon in the lectures of the teachers, having no I'liiiosopliy place in the course. It seems to be the gen- eral feeling that tlie whole field must be fairly well in hand before any experimentation is feasible. One seldom finds a text-book in the hands of the pupils, and then it is used only as a reference book. The following questions that formed the review work in one class 1 visited will convey some notion of the sequence of topics and the geneial metliod of questioning: (1) "Discuss percex^tion." The (irst boy called upon had evidently done nothing more than memorize the analytical summary given at the end of the last hour. He recited very glibly tlie schematic outline with its divisions into the pliysical, physiological, and men- tal asj)ects, but that represented the extent of his knowledge. The next boy called up liad a good grasp of the subject and gave a very creditable recitation. (2)"Ex])lain Fechner's law." (8) " Discuss the tliresliold of sensation." (4) "Ana- lyze the sensations." The inlluence of the memory was again strikingly apparent in response to the third (juestifjn above, for tlie numerical measures of the threshold of sensa- tion for touch (Jii the tongue, the fore finger, and the back were strongly emphasized. It was the 1 mm., the 2 mm., and the G9 mm., rather than the significance of these differences that seemed to have made the deei)est impression on the pu- pil's mind. Although only iive boys were called upon, this review of the lecture of the previous day consumed nearly OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 295 forty minutes of the first hour. It was essentially almost a personal matter between the teacher and the pupil reciting, for the others were chiefly occupied in reading over their own notes, and the first boy that had failed so signally set about preparing a lesson in some other subject. At this point, the topic for the written paper to be handed in five days later, " The psychology of desire," was assigned, and with the careful preparation that characterizes all French instruction, the teacher threw out numerous helpful sugges- tions for the jjroper handling of the subject. A process of this sort not only reduces to a minimum the chance of getting a worthless paper, but it saves the average pupil much profit- less groping about for a method of attack and thus repre- sents the highest type of teaching. The remainder of the first hour, and, after a five-minute intermission, the whole of the second hour were given up to a further consideration of perception and its relation to sensation. The teacher was an unusually clear lecturer and he stirred up a lively dis- cussion, unfortunately confined to only three or four out of the fifty boys in the class, when he broached the subject of the dreaming and the waking life. In view of the extreme freedom granted the teachers of philosophy, it is rather presumptuous to attempt to give any standard arrangement of the work. Here is a scheme that is followed by one of the teachers in a Paris lyc^e, which is fairly representative of what one would find in the better schcKjls : October, general introduction to the philosophy course; November, December, and January, psychology; February and the first half of March, logic ; from the middle of March to the middle of April, metajjhysics ; May and June, ethics. This covers four periods of two hours each per week, three of them being devoted to lectures and recita- tions, and the fourth to correction and discussion of the written papers. During the second half year, there is an additional hour per week devoted to an exposition and dis- cussion of the philosophic authors of the program. There is no attempt to give any connected history of philosophy, but 296 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS merely to interpret the particular philosophical doctrines of the authors in question. The teacher contrived to set apart an additional half hour per week during the first half year for this same purpose. Descarte's Discourse on method is always taken up by this particular teacher during the first semester, the authors of the second semester varying from year to year. This year the others were Comte, Montesquieu, and Aristotle. The philosophy course in the mathematics form is consid- erably more limited in scope having only three hours per . week as opposed to eight and a half in the let- osophy. Math- tcrs scctions. Here psychology and the phil- ematics Form, osopliical doctrines are omitted, the time being shared by logic and ethics, the former with particular refer- ence to its bearing on the special scientific work the pupils are doing. In one class that I visited, the subject was " The philosophical basis of biology," the teacher showing the ev- olution of the present day biology from the old natural his- tory, and bringing out clearly the advances in modern method. The class was extremely wide-awake, the exercise at times assuming the form of an open discussion rather than a lecture. In touching upon the general biological theory toward the latter part of the hour, the controversy became more animated, one pupil rather insisting upon an answer to his question as to whether an evolutionist was a " believer " or not. The teacher avoided a direct reply for some time with many protestations that he was not compe- tent to answer the question categorically, but finally said he saw no reason why the two positions need be at variance. In response to my mild expression of surprise after the class at the quasi-theological aspect the discussion had assumed, especially in view of the somewhat delicate state of the religious question in France at the moment, he replied that the French students were particularly fond of turning these discussions either toward religion or politics, and so long as they did not touch upon dangerous ground he for one saw no harm in it. OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 297 There seems to be a growing dissatisfaction among the philosophy teachers themselves with the character of the work in the letters sections. The feeling is more or less wide-spread that the pupils are rhilosophy. approaching the problems in a less truly philo- sophical spirit, that they are too willing to accept unques- tioningly the dictum of the teacher, an attitude that betokens a decreased interest in the subject itself. Agreement as to the facts has nevertheless brought no unanimity as to the fundamental causes. The new program cannot be held entirely responsible for all this changed attitude, for the trend was already well marked before the change became effective. It is probably a contributory cause, however, with the real reason lying deep down in that utilitarian tendency that thrusts aside speculative, philosophical thought for the more alluring practical pursuits. It is worthy of note in passing that coincident with this decadence of the phil- osophical spirit in the letters section, the former apathy toward philosophy in the scientific section has been corre- spondingly modified. It must be borne in mind, nevertheless, that there much of the philosophy is very closely related to the science work of that course. In appreciating the philosophy instruction in the second- ary schools, one must keep in mind the spirit and purpose underlying it all. The psychology is not taught to make psychologists ; the logic, "'^Cou^.ge^^ logicians ; the ethics, moralists ; the meta- physics, metaphysicians ; the philosophical doctrines, phil- osophers ; but rather with the hope of giving these }'oung men toward the end of their liberal education some notion of what philosophy reaUy means, a notion that shall serve as a fitting introduction to the later consideration of the subject if they pursue their studies further in the arts faculty of the university, or if they enter upon their pro- fessional training or go directly into the world of affairs, that shall send them into life with an insight at least into some of the intellectual problems that have held the atten- 298 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS tioii of tlioufrlilful men ever since the race began, all tlie time considering the |»liilo,sopliy not as a S])ecial science, but as an element ol' and a means toward general culture. Morale A sul)ject tliat is very closely allied to the i)hiloso])liy instruction of the lirst year is the morale of the fouiih and tliird forms, to wliich tlie a})plicati()n of tlie English term "ethics" would ])e a little misleading, but wliich is really nothing less than an elementary treatment of that subject adapttid to the comprehension of lads of tliirteen or fourteen years of age. It is placed thus in the last two years of the lirst cycle with the avowed intention of fullilling a [)urpose I)artially similar to that of the pliilosophy at the end of the course, in order to show those pupils tliat may leave tlie lyc(5e at tliat point some of the resi)onsibilities devolvuig upon them as members of present day society, and to give tliem some formal, delinite standards t)f conduct which shall govern tlieir furtlier attitude toward themselves, toward their fellow men, and toward tlie State. The detailed ])rogram given below, whicli is reciuired of all j)iii)ils in the fourth and thinl forms, will show the topics discussed : FOURTH FORM MouAi>R, 1 liour. Lccturoa, recitations, systematic conversations suit- able alike for strenKtheninf? the feelings favorable to the moral develop- ment and for overcoming tlie contrary tendencies. SiNCiKiUTY. Frankness and the spirit of deceit. Truth and falsehood. Being and seeming. Hypocrisy. Couuacjio. Bravery and cowardice. Vigor and laziness. Perseverance and lickleness. Courage against sulTcring, against pleasure, to resist opinion for conscience's sake, to recognize one's faults, to confess. Moral weakness. Mohal DKf.iCACY. Disgust at vulgar pleasures. Upukmitnioss. Stealing, fraud, injustice. Keeping one's word. Uprightness of the school hoy. (Jooonkhh. Af- fection for parents, brothers. Comradeship. Friendship. Politeness. Pity and cruelty. Cienerosity. Kindness toward animals. Education OF SioLK. F(H'ling of moral dignity as opposcvl to dishonor. Self-control. Strength of character aiul disinterestedness. Authority of conscience and respect for law. The upright man. OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 299 THIRD FORM Morale, 1 hour. Lectures, recitations, systematic conversations adapted to enable the pupils to understand the value of human and social aims. Solidarity. Action and reaction of individuals upon each other. Individual's debt to society; influence of his actions upon his social en- vironment. Duties resulting from solidarity. Obligation created by the instruction one has received. Juhtice and Fraternity. Rights of the individual. Freedom of thought ; tolerance. Relief (of the poor). The Family, its social and moral role. Vocation. Moral and social obliga- tion of work. Vocational activity as a social function. Vocational up- rightness. Spirit of initiative, of association. The Nation, idea of country. Inculcation of patriotism; love of country as a vocational duty. The State and the Lawh. Legality. Functions of the State. Democracy and the principles of 1789. Humanity. International re- lations, justice. Civilization. Individual Liberty and Social Dis- cipline. The good citizen. As to whether or not this instruction attains the desired end there is no unanimity of opinion. Time alone can answer, and long before the reply is ready, countless other forces play upon the individual and so complicate the problem that no answer is ever re- turned. At all events, one is inclined to be sceptical of the success of any attempt to inculcate by a direct method feel- ings which nmst be worked out in action, like truth, courage, perseverance, integrity, politeness. The fact that a spcciiic period of one hour per week is set apart for such a series of lessons would seem likely to militate against the very pur- I io.se for which it is given, namely, that the mind sliall become so permeated with these higher feelings that all those tendencies of a baser sort will forever be inhibited. The conviction expressed by M. Croiset, the distinguished Dean of the Faculty of Letters of the Sorbonne, that " the best lesson is perhaps that which occupies no fixed time in the school program, but which comes forth spontaneously, naively from the very personality of the teacher and from all his words " has not yet found general acceptance. Contrast with this the feeling expressed by one of the head masters wlio would have morale in the program if only for policy's 300 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS sake : " If this instruction does not figure in the program under a special rubric, it is strongly to be feared that many- families and a great number of the pupils would believe in good faith that it was not found in the lyc^es." ^ As a matter of fact, the subject occupies a place in the curriculum in response to a general feeling that some pro- vision must be made for accomplishing the work formerly attril)uted to the religious instruction. Since the complete laicization of public instruction in the early eighties, all the religious training in the lyc^es has been optional, the govern- ment continuing to maintain the chaplains there just as before. The recent dissolution of the Concordat, however, is just now beginning to have its effect in the lyc^es, and the positions of those resident priests are being suppressed; so that not long hence they will have all disappeared, and the Catholic clergy will then come in from outside the schools, just as their Protestant and Jewish brothers have long been compelled to do, in order to give religious instruction to the boys of their faith. In the meantime this " moral " instruc- tion, imposed upon all, sets before itself the peculiarly diffi- cult task of establishing for boys of thirteen or fourteen years of age a certain standard of ethical principles that shall serve as the basis of conduct throughout the rest of their lives. Common Law The common law which receives one hour per week in the third form Division ]> is another subject introduced for the purpose of orientating the pupils that leave at the end of the first cycle with respect to some of the fundamental legal principles upon which the national life is based. These are treated from the point of view of the individual's rights and responsibilities with respect to the State and with respect to the family. The accompanying program is sufficiently explicit to show the general method of handling, so that no further comment is necessary : 1 Quoted in Darbon, V enseignement cle la quorate au lyc6c, in Eevnc uni- versitaire, 1907, II., p. 12. OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 301 Introduction. Law. Custom and law. Relation between ethics and law. Public law : constitutional, administrative, criminal, international. Private law : civil, international, commercial, civil procedure. Codes. I. PUBLIC LAW Rights of a French Citizen. Civil liberty. Individual liberty of conscience, of religious belief. Liberty of work, of trade, and of manu- factures. Liberty of meeting and of association. Liberty of the press. Voting taxes. Military service. National Sovereignty and Uni- versal Suffrage. Constitutional laws of 1875, revision of 1884. Public powers : legislative, executive; why and how separated. Leg- islative: senate and deputies. Executive: President, ministers, par- liamentary government. Administrative Organization. Division of France. Department: prefect and general council, departmental com- mission. Arrondissement : sub-prefect and arrondisscment council. Commune: mayor and municipal council. Judicial Organization. Publicity and gratuitousness of justice. Jurisdiction in civil and com- mercial cases : (1) justice of the peace; (2) courts of first instance ; (3) court of appeal; (4) courts of business; (5) trade councils; (6) supreme court of cassation. Ministry. Officers of justice: barristers, attorneys, notaries. Summary notions of administrative jurisdictions: prefectoral councils, council of State. The audit office. General Principles of Criminal Law. Infractions and penalties. Charge and guilt ; attend- ant circumstances. Courts of repression : preliminary examination at examining jurisdiction; courts of punishment: police CQurts; assize courts ; court of cassation. II. CIVIL LAW Individual and the Family. (1) Nationality; citizenship. (2) Constitution of the family: marriage. Blood and marriage relation- ship. Family rights and duties: parental and marital authority. (3) Protection of incompetence: minors, insane, spendthrifts, and weak- minded. (4) Establishment of the principal facts of civil life; legal papers.' Possessions. (1) Property, how acquired. Inviolability (dis- possession for public purposes). Principal divisions : usufruct, charges against the property. Copyrights and patents. (2) Laws of credit; different kinds of obligations. Incomes. Private incomes; sources of obligations; contracts and defaults. Summary explanations of the most common contracts (sale, lease, transportation, business). Proof of contracts. Privately executed deeds. Creditors' rights. Negotiable securities. (3) Means of obtaining credit; secured debt, mortgage, commercial paper. Inheritance. (1) Interstate inheritance. Classes of heirs. Share disposable and reserved ; equality of distribution. Ob- ligations of the heirs: inventory fee. (2) Testamentary inheritance. Forms of wills; varieties of legacies. 1 Birth, marriage, and death certificates. 302 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Drawing Drawing is one of the most extended of all the courses in the French secondary school program, commencing in the infant class and continuing until the very end. The fact that it is optional in the letters sections of the first and philosophy forms subordinates it slightly to French, history, geography, mathematics, and science, but in the science sections it is second to none, surpassing there even the mother tongue, for in the final year of the course that disap- pears entirely as a separate subject of instruction. To be sure the drawing never occupies a very large share of the time, in the letters sections never more than two hours per week, but its constant presence suggests the importance of the role played by the aesthetic in the French philosophy of education, a phase of general culture alas ! too universally neglected in our American courses of study. Artistic feeling and appreciation are too subtle to be evaluated. We have no definite unit in terms of which we can even approximate their worth. Tliey certainly liave no direct commercial value, at least for the great majority, and the average Ameri- can school board is too much engrossed, in the tangible results to afford more than grudging sujjport to the fine arts. Small wonder, then, that France far surpasses us in the wide-spread appreciation of and love for the beautiful. The place given to drawing in the public schools is one very potent factor in the creation and development of this artistic spirit. However much one may object to the formal char- acter of the course, it certainly accomplishes results that are strikingly apparent not only in the superior excellence of the drawing itself, but that reach over into the mathematics and science note books of the school course and even stretch out into the life beyond. Here, also, the French artists receive their preliminary training, and the suggestive and selective function of this elementary art work cannot be overestimated. The following })rogram will sliow the development of the course with its extremely logical organization of subject- matter : OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 303 Infant Class. Line combinations. Elementary exercises on co-ordi- nate paper, including also drawing from memory and from dictation. First Pj{i;pakatoky Fcjhm tiikough thio Sioviontii I*\>um, 1 hour per week. I. Sketching and division of straight lines into equal parts. Evaluation of the comparative relations between straight lines. II. Re- production and evaluation of angles. III. Elementary principles of decorative drawing. Circumferences. Regular polygons. Star shaped rosettes. IV. Regular curves other than the circumference. Elliptical curves, spirals. Curves taken from the vegetable kingdom. Stalks, leaves, flowers. V. First notions of the representation of objects in their real dimensions (elements of geometrical drawing), and in their apparent form (elements of perspective). Besides this, exercises in free- hand drawing, drawing from memory, and from dictation. Sixth and Fifth Foum, 2 hours per week. I. Geometrical drawing in outline and perspective drawing with light and shade, of geometrical solids and simple common objects. II. Drawing from ornaments in relief,' non-living forms, such as: mouldings, egg shaped and heart- shaped ornaments, pearls, denticles, etc. III. Drawing from ornaments in bas-relief, living forms, such as : ornamental leaves and flowers, palm leaves, foliage, etc. IV. Drawing from architectural fragments, such as: dadoes, pedestals, bases anfl shafts of columns, door facings, cornices, etc. V. Drawing of the human head. Elementary notions of its gen- eral structure and the proportion of the different parts. In the course of the sixth, fifth, and fourth forms, some lessons are set apart for architectural drawing with the aid of ruler and compass. Fourth Form, 2 hours per week. I. Drawing from architectural fragments, such as: capitals, masks, claws, griffins, theatrical masks. Vases, decorative animal heads. II. Drawing of the whole and of the proportions of the human iigurc from engravings and from bas-reliefs. III. Study and drawing of parts of the human body. Elementary no- tions of anatomy. The extremities and details of the human figure from engravings and from plaster models. Except for the simple mechanical drawing which has been given one hour per week to the Division B classes of tlie fifth and fourth forms by the mathematics teachers, and the loss of one hour per week for those that begin Greek in the 1 These subjects are all taken from classic models chiefly from Greek and Roman art and architecture. The human figures used in later work include tlie well known colossal head of Juno, the masks of Dante, Mazarin, Francis I., and Na])oleon, and the statues of the Venus de Milo, the discus thrower, and Michael Angelo's slave. Tims the course lays under tribute the finest masters of ancient and modern sculpture. 304 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS fourth form, the drawing has all been the same up to this point. From now on the two groups of pupils begin to sep- arate somewhat as the emphasis upon mechan- thrcourses* ^^^^ drawing in the science sections becomes more and more pronounced. The free-hand drawing program, two hours per week, identical for all the sections of the third and second forms, is as follows: I. Drawing from architectural fragments. Decorative figures. Caryatides. Vases ornamented with figures. Ornamental friezes. Third and Ensemble and details of the Doric, Ionic, and Corin- Second Forms, thiaa orders. II. Drawing of the human figure and Free-hand of animals from engravings and especially from high Drawing. relief models. In addition to the free-hand drawing, the scientific stu- dents from the third form up have mechanical drawing quite distinct from that of the mathematics ^TawinT^ classes of the lower forms. The program is a^ follows : THIRD FORM Division B Mechanical Drawing, 1 hour. Theory of shades and shadows, with wash-drawings of the simpler bodies, surfaces of revolution, and machines. Details of the simpler machines. Elevation of the same, and their geometrical representation to scale. Some of these draw- ings will be washed. SECOND FORM Mechanical Drawing, 2 hours. (Programs common to Sections C and D.) Use of instruments for drawing straight lines and circles (ruler, compass, square, protractor). Instrumental drawing of constructions explained in the geometry. Geometrical designs: tiling, parquetry, mosaic flooring. Use of India ink and water colors for some of these drawings. Free-hand elevation drawings of common objects.* ^ The common objects in tliis and subsequent classes include: articles of furniture, kitclien utensils, joiner's and locksmith's tools, hardware and tiling, mouldings, balustrades, and grille work that concern building operations. OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 305 The four sections of the first form and the two of the philosophy form have a common program for free-hand drawing, two hours per week, required in the First and scientific sections of the first form, but optional YoimT'^Frle- in tlie others. hand Drawing, The program is as follows : I. Development and application of the preceding work (some les- sons may be devoted to a study of the head from nature). II. Study of landscape from engravings. (When circumstances permit, the pupils may have practice in drawing landscapes and buildings from nature.) FIRST FORM Mechanical Drawing, 2 hours. Elevation of the details, and geo- metrical representation in outline, to scale, of the geometrical solids and the common objects. Shadows, together with the theory and practice of wash-drawing. Elevation of the details and geometrical representation to scale of the parts of the simpler machines (some being washed). Free-hand elevation drawings of common objects. MATHEMATICS FORM' Mechanical Drawtcng, 2 hours. (Programs common to Sections A and B.) Continuation of exercises of previous year on .shading and wash drawing. Spiral surfaces. Notions of perspective. Machine and construction drawing. Free-hand elevation drawings of common objects. Below the sixth form the drawing teaching is in the hands of the regular class teachers, but from that point on it is all done by highly trained specialists, most of the teachers being old Beaux-Arts students. The result is that these men are not mere drawing teachers, — they are artists. The equipment for the drawing is uniformly excellent, large, high, and well- lighted rooms with northern exposure, and a bountiful supply of plaster models, the walls of some of these studios being fairly covered with material. In one of these rooms that I visited there were two classes, a third form and a group of upper class boys each ranged in a series of concentric circle 1 There is no program outlined for the two hours optional course in free- hand drawing in this course. 306 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS arcs and each working under its own teacher. As is fre- quently the case, the third form boys were divided into two groups according to ability, one sketching the bust of a man, and the others still working on a low relief rosette. Occa- sionally one finds some of the cleverest fellows modelling their own designs in plaster, but this is quite apart from the official program, and is encouraged only in exceptional cases. Happily the ideas of the independent school have not suc- ceeded in divorcing modelling from a thorough grasp of the fundamental principles of drawing. Gymnastics Although gymnastics and gymnastic instruction have formed the basis of decrees, orders, and ministerial instruc- tions from time to time, the subject does not seem to have found a regular place on the official programs. The work is still given in accordance with the official circular of 1890 and the Manuel d'exercices gymnastiques et de jeux scolaires published in the following year, for the joint ministerial commission appointed in September, 1906, at the instance of the Minister of War, to draw up a new uniform program of gymnastic instruction to be followed in the schools, in gymnastic associations, and in the army, has not yet sent in its report. Until a little more than twenty years ago, the sum total of the work in physical education was limited to gymnastics, Development ^^i^cing, and a 'much supervised and restricted of the kind of target shooting, the first named receiv- instruction. ^g formal recognition in the official program, the two latter being entirely optional, and paid for as extras. The gymnastic work was in the hands of special teachers, for the most part former instructors of the old military gymnastic school of Joinville. Classed as irregulars, these teachers had little authority over the boys, and exercised still less control. The exercises were all taken bodily from those in use in the army, where mere muscular development seemed to be the prime object. The result was that these various movements OTHER SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION 307 were executed blindly, without any regard to the physiologi- cal influence upon the pupils. The introduction of the Ling system of Swedish gymnastics, however, marked a decided advance over the former conditions. The system at present in vogue is that of M. G. Demeny. M. Demeny proceeded in a logical fashion, studying the physiological effects of the various movements upon the growth and the functioniug of the hu- man organism. His cardinal principle was not to use a single movement that he did not know to have a beneficial effect upon the boy. This eliminated much of the former work which was decidedly special in its nature and of value to the soldier class, and furthermore was adapted to the needs of the adult rather than those of the young. Free use was made of the larger movements that are conducive to proper carriage and general sound bodily vigor rather than to those that tend to develop the athlete. Throughout it all the aesthetic, the economic, and the moral influences are constantly kept in view. In order the better to realize these ideals, the Minister of Public Instruction organized a course in physical education in the summer of 1903, under the direction of this M. Demeny. It has been given every year "^For^g"^ since that time in one of the Paris lycdes, and it attracts teachers from all over Prance. The course consists of a series of lectures by specialists in this field of work, largely physicians who not only know the anatomy and the physiology of the human body, but who also know " the boy," and this theory is supplemented by a large amount of practical work in the school gymnasium. Those that pass the examination at the conclusion of the course receive the higher diploma for gymnastic instruction. As fast as the old teachers retire their places are filled by the holders of these special diplomas, so that before very long all the physical education will be upon a distinctly higher and saner plane. To the eye of the ordinary visitor, the method of M. Demeny seems to follow substantially the Swedish system, though most 308 FRF/NCII SECONDARY SCHOOLS of lh(3 inovein(3iil.s are performed without even the light wands in use there. As long as the weather permits, tliese exeicises are mainly conducted in tlie open air, tho School"' ^'^^' UyJ""'^'^'i''fi serving cliielly in periods of in- cliiinent weather, and for the juini)ing, clind^ing, and liar work wliich furnish an oj)portunity for comi)etition and so serve to vary the dull routine of marches, rounds, and ordinary corporal movements. Gynniastic work occupies one and a lialf hours per week, commonly (hvided into three half- hour periods in every class excei)t tlie Saint-Cyr preparatory. In view of tlic jjhysical examination re(|uired of all candi- dates for this military school, these hoys have two additional periods per week, aside entirely from the liorseback riding wliicli is likewise re([uired of them. Although even to the casual observer there has been a marked increase in the athletic spirit in France during the Lack of ^^^^ ^^^^ years, I have never yet seen a gym- IntoHist in nasium class where there was any live, spon- I 1 1 otics. taneous interest in the work. In fact most of the boys seem to go through the movements in a most non- clialant sort of fashion, as tliough it were some task that had to be done, and the sooner it was over the better. In spite of tlie growing interest in scholastic sport, it will jjrobably be many a year before any game even ap))roximatcs tlu; ])osition occu[)ied by f()otl)all and cri(dvet in England, or football and baseball in the United States. CHAPTER XTV THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS Up to this point there has scarcely been even passing reference to the education of girls. When one recalls that in May, 1907, were held the commemorative qj,.!^. Lyc^es exercises celebrating the twenty-lifth anniver- ofKocont sary of the foundation of the iirst girls' lyc<^e, the significance of this omission at once becomes ap- parent.^ In December, 1880, the law providing for public secondary education of girls under state control passed the parliament in spite of strong opposition, whicli in the case of the senate seriously jeopardized the passage of the bill on more than one occasion. Not that there had been no secondary education of girls before that time, but it had been exclusively under private jurisdiction, the major part of the schools being in the control of the religious teach- ing })odies of the church. Even in the early years of the nineteenth century very little had been actually accomplished toward girls' education. " It is only within fifty years," says Madame „ , Campan, writing about 1812, "that attention during the has been paid to the education of women ; E^'htcenth the progress of this phase of public instruction has been really ntjtable only since the crisis of the French Revolution. Twenty-five years before that epoch, almost all the girls spent only a single year in the monasteries, and that year was the one destined for a thorough study of the catechism, for the retreat, and for the first commun- 1 The whole June (1907) number of L'cnseu/ncme7U secondaire ties jeunes fillea ia devoted to the (quarter ceuteuuial celebratiou. 310 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS ion. . . . But the practice has long been abandoned of leaving girls behind the convent grating up to the age of eighteen whence they come forth without knowing how to write two words of French." ^ The great social reforms of the Revolutionary period, in spite of their efforts toward levelling the existing inequality of the sexes educationally speaking, had really accomplished nothing for the secondary education of the gentler sex. " They resulted only in phil- osophical speculations, and for anything beyond primary instruction, their projects are silent ; from the year IV. until the year VIII. (1796-1800) the administration re- ports of the department of the Seine make no mention of any public instruction of a higher order for girls." ^ The school at Ecouen, founded by Napoleon in 1807, resembled in some respects the old school at Saint-Cyr established by Louis XIV. more than a cen- Ecouen. ^^^7 previous and so intelligently administered by Madame de Maintenon. Saint-Cyr was des- tined for the education of the daughters of impecunious noblemen; Ecouen was intended for the daughters and sis- ters of members of the Legion of Honor. A public school drawing its pupils from all ranks of society but neverthe- less from a very narrow vertical section of society, the chief claim to the secondary character of Ecouen rests upon its segregation from the ordinary primary schools then in ex- istence and upon the fact that it intended to retain its pupils until they reached the age of eighteen years. Out of regard to the objections of the general officers to the very democratic character of the school, a similar establishment was opened at Saint-Denis, two years later, which was set apart for the children of officers above a captain. Ecouen was soon absorbed by Saint-Denis and under the Restoration disappeared entirely. The instruction and board at both these institutions as well as those subsequently founded for a similar purpose were free, but there was some provision for 1 Mme. Campan, Del' education, Mition Barriere, 1824, I., p. 225. ' Gki^ard, Enseignement secondaire, I., p. 104. THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 311 board and tuition fees from those in position to pay. At one time Ecouen had as many as five hundred pupils. In accordance with Napoleon's express direction, religious in- struction occupied the first place in the course of study ; he sought to turn out "believers rather than reasoners." The other instruction embraced French history, geography, arithmetic, writing, dancing (merely to give a proper car- riage), drawing, music, sewing, mending, and a kind of household economy. This latter included the home ac- counts, care of the linen, bed making, cleaning and sweeping the class rooms, and laying and serving the meal. The attempts to teach washing, ironing, and putting up pre- serves were not so successful, for Madame Campan " prompt- ly repented of entrusting muslins to their hot irons, and fruits and sugar to their inevitable epicurism." ^ She con- cluded that this sort of instruction could not profitably be given to young women under eighteen years of age. They were furthermore taught to look out for their comrades in the lower classes, and to give them certain instruction with a view to teaching their own children later on. How- ever much Madame Campan may have tempered the severity of the discipline found in other girls' schools of the period and however practical this instruction may have been for the young women, it was not always received by them with good grace, and some protested vigorously against the regime of the school in words that might almost seem to have been written by a newly arrived pupil of yesterday : " The cruel bell has just made itself heard again ; it ceaseth not to sound for the beginning of class work, the writing lesson, and the instruction period. I could pardon its infernal noise if it would only ring oftener for play time. It rings ten minutes before dinner so that we, like servants, may fulfil the disagreeable duty of cleaning out our desks and sweeping the class room ; then it rings for dinner, for supper, and for bed; but the most detestable of all these sounds is that in the morning : everything 1 Mmb. Campan, op. cit., p. 283. 312 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS goes like clockwork here. O ! liow I long for my little room at Valma, so calm, so remote from the noise of the street ! How unjust I was when I murmured against a poor rooster that woke me up, of a truth too often, but he at least left me free to go to sleep again ! Here three hundred people have to move as one, in accordance with a single will, in a set fashion ; there aie details, too, that disgust me." ^ These schools for the children of the mem- bers of the Legion of Honor do not indicate any very widespread interest in the cause of girls' public secondary education on the part of the Stale, but they represent the sum total of its efforts in that direction. The First Empire had thus accomplished nothing of a gen- eral nature ; its immediate successors were no more fortu- Private ^^^^- In the meantime private enterprise had Venture not been idle. The number of lay and clerical Schools. institutions multiplied rapidly, so that by 1848, in the department of the Seine alone, there were two hun- dred and ninety-four with a population of more than fifteen thousand.^ Twenty-eight of these schools were convents. The ordinance of the king in 1821 ^ had recognized an order of instruction above that given in the primary schools, di- viding establishments of this sort into two categories, board- ing schools (pensions), and " institutions." As prescribed by regulation in 1837,* a document which Greard considers "as 1 Mmk. Campan, Lcttres dc deuxjeunes amies, (.Uvcs d' ^coucn, p. 51. 2 GKiiAUD, Enscignement secondaire, I., p. 117. 3 Ordunuancc, Oct. 31, 1821, reprinted as Annex I. to RkgUments et ar- rHi^s coiiccrnant Ics maisons d'Mucationdefd/cs, 1844, ])p. 488-489. * Ibid., p. 490. This regulation is significant as for the first time distin- guishing clearly the scope of these two types of girls' higher schools. The differentiation here is plainly along the lines of subject matter. The divergence between the boarding schools and the "institutions" seems to have become less marked a few years later. See Marik Sl.N(;ki;n (Mme. Ko- Minu), Lcs pensionnuts dc jciinea filles, 2d edition, 1854, p. 10, where the in- struction in these two kinds of establishments is said to be exactly the same, the distinction between the two depending solely upon the grade of diploma possessed by the mistress of the school. The head of the " institution" lield a full diploma from the city hall autliorities or from the Sorbonnc, while tho head of the boarding school had merely a second class diploma. THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 313 the first charter of girls' secondary education," the subjects of instruction in the boarding schools included : " moral and religious instruction, reading, writing, French grammar, arithmetic through proportion and the rules depending thereon, history of France, modern geogi-aphy, elementary notions of physics and natural history in their practical ap- plications, drawing, music, sewing, and modern languages." In the more advanced schools, the " institutions," the pnj- gram embraced all these subjects, together with "the elements of literature and the principles of taste as applied to style, ancient geography, ancient and modern history, and the elements of cosmography," Both these grades of schools were essentially boarduig schools. With a view to regulat- ing the abuses that had crept in as a result of the rapid de- velopment of these private venture enterprises, the prefect of the Seine, with the confirmation of the Minister in 1844, appointed three women to inspect these girls' schools of the department.^ Their responsibilities were extended so as to include religious as well as lay schools, but in the case of the former the official inspection was ordinarily made in co-opera- tion with an ecclesiastic appointed by the archbishop. These newly appointed women inspectors evidently did their work well, for in the next few years there was an appreciable decrease in the number of these lay institutions, the less desirable of them being forced out of existence. For the moment, it seemed as though definite results would evolve out of this widespread interest in the education of girls. In 1847 the report was noised abroad nj^g ^nd Fall that a commission had even then been ap- of Public pointed to consider the question of establish- Interest, iug girls' colleges that would take rank beside those already in existence for boys. The following year an elaborate plan ^ was presented to the Minister of Public Instruction for 1 Riglements et arrit^s, supra, pp. 487-488. See also Journal g4n6ral de I'instruction pub/ iquc, Sept. 13, 1845, p.482 ; and Mme. Bachellkiiy, Zc<K^H> y- history stories, although in the last year there is a very summary acc(nmt of ancient history down to the end of the Koman Empire. In the secondary course proper, the work of the fiist year covers ancient Gaul, and European history through the period (jf the lleformation ; the second year, Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the third year, France, and a very little attenti(jn to general nineteenth century history. The last two years, the period 1 Arabic is taught in the two coUcgos and in the secondary courses in Algeria. 2 This l)a.sis of computation unduly favors the German. No official figures are available, 1)iit with very f(;w exceptions, according to common report, the number of pupils in the girls' schools studying English is far in excess of the number studying (Unmau, In the boys' schools, on the other hand, thanks to the requirement in Gernuui for entrance to the Ecolo Polytechui(iue and Saint-Cyr, the conditions are quite reversed. 328 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS that might almost be called the second cycle, are entirely given over to a history of civilization. The geography pro- gram follows more nearly the scheme that prevails in the primary school system: the first year, the world except Emope and xisia ; the second year, Asia, and Europe except France; the third year, France and her colonies. In the fourth and fifth years it includes physical and economic geog- raphy, the former period with general treatment, the latter with detailed consideration of the various world powers. The mathematics program is not very extensive, the required work being limited to arithmetic and plane geometry. There is a good deal of very help- ful constructive geometry in the first year that not only paves the way for the demonstration work of the third year, but furthermore provides a thorough drill in the application of the metric system. The optional work of the last two years includes arithmetic, a thorough re- view of plane geometry, a little solid geometry, enough algebra to solve simple equations of the first and second degree, and cosmography in its more apparent phenomena. In spite of the thoroughly formal character of the sewing in the girls' schools, they certainly attain remarkably creditable results. Beginning with the Froe- belian exercises of folding, weaving, and braid- ing in the infant class, it continues among the required subjects until the end of the third class of the secondary course. In the elementary section it is almost exclusively mere needlework, but in the upper classes the girls design, cut, and make articles of clothing for themselves. I saw one girl of thirteen or fourteen years of age at the Lyc^e Eacine in Paris who was wearing a shirt waist entirely her own make that for fit, finish, and style would have done credit to a professional dressmaker. Such work as this, however, is entirely optional with the pupils. Not all of them have the skill nor all of them the inclination, but they are given every encouragement in this direction if they are interested enough to provide their own material. Other- THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 329 wise the underclothes and the children's garments that make up the major part of the practical work are sent to the various charitable societies and the hospitals of the neigh- borhood. The national economy is very strongly marked by the importance attached in this course to repairing. The mending of the French housewife is really beautiful to see, and the school exercises in this field not only include plain darning, but they also extend to imitating the knitting stitch of ordinary underwear, as well as the pattern weave in table damask. Graphic representation of the stitch on paper and the working of a sampler are the inevitable preliminaries to the actual work. There is some instruction in machine sewing, but this is naturally reserved for the higher classes. The population of the girls' schools is drawn from a rather more limited cross section of society than is that of the boys' schools, for the pupils of the ,,. former come almost exclusively from the the School middle and the professional classes. The upper Population, middle class (haute bourgeoisie) and the remnants of the no- bility send their daughters to private schools, while the lower classes send theirs to the primary schools, where the tuition is free. The consequence is that the girls' secondary schools do practically nothing toward the recruitment of the industrial and the commercial army. These ranks are filled from the primary, the higher primary, and the professional schools. In these secondary schools rather more than half the pupils drop out after the third class on completing the first cycle. In fact, the number leaving at any other time than here and at the end of the whole course is com- paratively insignificant. It is impossible to ascertain what proportion carry their studies on beyond the regular fifth year of tlie course ; there are no official figures available, and the estimates vary so widely. It is safe to assume that these are the ones that have to earn their own living ; some turn toward the university and the higher professional schools, while others begin their practical preparation for a 330 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS teaching career. It is to satisfy this latter demand that some of the lyc^es have added the sixth year which fits directly for the higher normal school at Sevres. The whole atmosphere of the girls' schools is strikingly different from that of the boys'. In the latter there is a prevailing feeling of repression, of a lack Atmosphere. °^ individual freedom, of a coldness in the very air itself, of an ultra barrack room regime that more than one boarding pupil has foimd well-nigh unendurable. In the former, on the contrary, things are light and cheery ; there are everywhere evidences of a cordial good feeling, almost of comradeship, between the teachers and the pupils; the life at the school is freer; there is more time for recreation on ordinary days, and more frequent opportunity for the pupils to get outside the grounds. All in all, it is a most pleasing contrast to the rigidity of the regime to which the boys are subjected. In most of the schools that I visited, each girl had a room for herself, a kind of cubicle, to be sure, formed by constructing a series of partitions seven or eight feet high within the old- time spacious dormitories, but it gives each one a sense of privacy and individuality that is not possible where twenty or thirty sleep in a single large room. Furthermore, each one was responsible for the care of her own room, and opportunity was freely granted to decorate it with cards and pictures according to individual taste. Most of the schools still adhere to the regulation black pinafore, but occasionally one finds a directress, like Mile. Ecolan at Auxerre, who recoils at the monastic severity of the traditional dress. At Auxerre the girls wear dark blue in winter, and in summer white aprons large enough to answer the purpose of a frock, thereby avoiding the sombre similarity of the prevailing black. In the girls' schools as a whole there are evidences of a consistent attempt at school decoration. This same lycee at Auxerre is noticeable for the progress in this direction. There are flowers in profusion, and every class room has fine photographic reproductions of well- THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 331 known paintings or plaster casts of bits of classic sculpture. The same spirit of academic independence, so to speak, pervades not only the program, but its application as well. In the boys' schools, even from the very start, practically everything is focusing upon a single point — the baccalaure- ate. This is the gate through which everybody that aspires to a professional career must pass, and all energies are consequently bent, and all efforts subordinated, to attain- ing this goal. The certificate at the end of the girls' secondary course, on the contrary, occupies no such domi- nating position. It is rather an evidence of work accom- plished than a passport to future preferment. Since the organization of girls' lycdes, the teaching force has been composed of both men and women. For a time the men were in the ascendancy on account of the lack of women competent to do the work, Teaching but since the normal school at Sfevres began sending out its graduates in 1883 the women have rapidly overtaken the men, so that to-day only thirty of the one hun- dred and seventy teachers in the purely secondary classes of the girls' lyc^es in the Academy of Paris are men, while the number for the rest of France is practically negligible. The academic qualifications of the teachers in the early schools were considerably lower than they are at present. At first practically the highest standard attainable was the higher diploma (brevet supcrieur) of the primary school system, but the precaution was taken of demanding a con- siderable period of successful teaching experience in addi- tion. To-day, as in the boys' schools, the agrcgation is required for appointment as a regular professor, although lower qualifications, such as the certificate for teaching in girls' secondary schools, the master's degree in letters or science, or the certificate of modern language teaching, are accepted for appointment as acting professors. In the colleges the standard is necessarily somewhat lower. There is not the close specialization in the girls' schools that one finds in the boys'. When the competitive examination for 332 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS the girls' agreg at ion was instituted in 1884, there were only two orders, one for letters and the other for science. Ten years later each of these was divided into sections, the let- ters into the literary and the history sections, and the science into the mathematical and the physical-natural sciences, but this was shortly followed by a circular in which the Minister specifically stated that an agregce of one section could not thereby refuse to teach classes in the other section of the same order, in case the exigencies of the situation demanded it.^ Hardly had the law providing for the establishment of girls' secondary schools been promulgated before the spon- Foundation ^^^^ *^^ ^^^^ movement set about creating an of the School institution that should assure the preparation at Sevres. q£ competent teachers for the new schools shortly to be established. A new bill was quickly drafted, rushed through Parliament, and only seven months later the complementary law to that of December, 1880, was placed upon the statute books. The school founded in pursuance of this law was finally located at Sevres in the old eigh- teenth-century chateau that had long served for the famous state pottery factory. The building was entirely remodelled within, and with its simple architecture, its spacious park, its commanding position overlooking the valley of the Seine, with Paris in the distance, it serves admirably as the home of the highest institution in the land that is devoted exclu- sively to the education of women. The work of reconstruc- tion was quickly completed, so that by December, 1881, the school was ready to receive its first pupils. The severity of the later competition must have been lacking in these first entrance examinations, for, in the words of one of the candi- dates, " the examiners tried to find out not what we knew — alas, we knew so little ! — but what we were worth . . . the chief effort of these men seemed to be to find questions which we could answer. When our answers were good they » Circ, Aug. 17, 1884, in S^E, oj). cit., pp. 693-694. THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 333 were positively enchanted." ^ The course at first was only two years, the pupils being divided into two sections, one for science and the other for letters. The subjects of the former included mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural history, and botany, with ethics, literature, elocution, draw- ing, and hygiene occupying a relatively subordinate position. Those of the latter included literature, French, philosophy, ethics, history, geography, and elocution. The two sections had classes in English or German, common law, cutting and dressmaking in common. With the institution of the new order of agregation in 1884, the course was extended to three years, the examination for the certificate for teaching in girls' secondary schools coming as before at the end of the second year at the school, and the agregation at the end of the third year. Admission to the school is solely by competitive exami- nation. Applicants must be French, not less than eighteen nor more than twenty-four years of age in January first of the year in which they present „ Entrance •i 111 T T -CiXamination. themselves, and nobody may be a candidate more than three times. Besides the regularly attested legal papers that are required of all French citizens at almost every turn, each competitor must have the secondary di- ploma, the bachelor's diploma, or the higher diploma of the primary system. The examination is partly written and partly oral, the first or written part being held simultane- ously in each center of departmental government throughout the country. The papers are all sent on to Paris to be read by two examining boards, one for letters and the other for science, of the teachers at Sevres. There are five examina- tions for each section, most of them being four hours in length. For the letters section the papers are as follows : French literature, four hours ; grammar, two hours ; history and geography, four and a half hours (three for historj', and one and a half for geogiaphy ) ; elements of ethics and psychol- 1 Mlle. Lejeune, quoted in S6e, op. cit., p. 988. 334 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS ogy applied to education, four hours ; English or German, four hours ([1] translation, and [2] short composition in the foreign language with the aid of a dictionary entirely in that lan- guage). For the science section the papers are as follows : arithmetic and geometry, four hours ; physics and chemistry, four hours (two and a half for physics and one and a half for chemistry) ; natural history, four hours (two and a half for zoology and one and a half for botany) ; English or German, as above. The specific programs for these examinations are care- fully delineated each year by ministerial order.^ In general they follow rather closely upon the programs of the last two years of the secondary course, although a more mature handling of the subject matter is demanded, the breadth of the work in geometry being notably more extensive. In lit- erature, history, geogi'aphy, ethics, and psychology, these pro- grams show considerable variation of topics from year to year, but in the scientific subjects the scope is necessarily less variable. For example, the history in 1908 was based upon Greek civilization, modern European civilization, con- temporary France, and Germany and Italy from 1848 to 1871, subjects drawn from the regular programs of the third, fourth, and fifth years. In geography the topics were : (1) the coasts of France; (2) Italy; (3) the United States; and (4) the British Empire. In ethics and psychology a dozen or fifteen of the books assigned for philosophical reading in the philosophy form of the boys' lycdes were suggested to guide the reading of these candidates. The modern language examination is based upon the authors read in the fourth and fifth years of the girls' secondary programs. The results of these examinations are sent to the Minister, who publishes a list containing the names of the "admis- sibles." This is ordinarily about twice as long as the final list will be. Every fall, soon after the opening of the academic year, the Minister issues an order in accordance 1 See Programmes des conditions d'admission d, Vicolc normale sec07ulaire de Sevres en 1908. Collection Delalain, no. 63. THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 335 with the probable needs of the service, specifying exactly how many places there are for each of the competitive examinations for the coming }'ear. At Sfevres in 1907 and 1908 there were sixteen in letters and fourteen in science, rather above the average for the last few years. In July, 1907, then, thirty-two young women in letters and thirty-one in science were summoned to the school, the government paying the expenses of the railroad trip to Paris and return, and allowing them in addition six francs per day during the examination period. As a result of the oral examination, which is' based upon the same subjects as the previous written, the best and most promising candidates are selected for appointment to Sfevres. They must contract to serve in the department of public instruction for at least ten years, or, in case of failure so to do, to reimburse the State at the rate of one thousand francs for each year spent at school. Once admitted to Sevres, they are practically supported at government expense for three years, provided of course they keep up their work and pass the necessary examinations. They live at the school with ^schoor'^ no fees for board, lodging, or instruction, and with all expenses connected therewith defrayed. In distinc- tion from the practice at the primary normal schools, how- ever, they must furnish their own clothing and renew it as occasion requires. The life at the school certainly ought to be delightful. They live here amid pleasant surroundings, in a comfortable, homelike, sympathetic environment, in the midst of eighty or ninety other young women all working like themselves toward a common end, and each one can devote herself unreservedly to preparmg for her life work. There is the utmost possible freedom ; each student has her own room, which she decorates and arranges according to her taste and wliere she is as much at home as if she were with her own parents. Judging by the rooms I had the honor of seeing, the life here does not differ very materially from what one would find among the more serious-minded of the students at our American women's colleges. They are at 336 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS liberty to go walking if they choose on pleasant days between six and seven in the evening in groups of not fewer than three, while Thursday afternoons and Sundays are quite free. Mile. Belugou, the present head of the school, is a charming woman, vitally and socially interested in the per- sonal welfare of the young women committed to her charge, and far enough removed from tlie traditional convent regime to appreciate that she is dealing with mature young women who have a serious purpose in life and who no longer need to be kept under constant surveillance. The teaching staff falls into two general classed, the pro- fessors and the tutors. The former, twenty-seven in number, and all men, with the exception of the two Staff"" modern language, and the one sewing teacher, are a very distinguished body, drawn almost entirely from the professors at the Sorbonne and the College of France. They meet their students ordinarily once a week for a lecture which is supposed to last an hour and a half, but which is sometimes extended to nearly twice that length. This work practically forms a regular university course. In addition to this the tutors meet these same classes again during the week in order furtlier to explain the lecture work, to quiz the pupils, to assign papers to be written, and in general to supplement the regular teaching. Since these tutors are all women who live at the school, they are in position to be of constant service to the students. In the letters section there is one tutor for each of the first two years, while in the science there is one for each of the great fields of instruction, mathematics, physics-chemistry, and natural history. In the experimental sciences the tutor is in charge of the laboratory work, which ordinarily occu- pies one half day per week, and the tutor in natural history arranges frequent botanical excursions in the neighborhood. These five tutors are all ayregfes, chosen from among the best in the lyc^es. The two modern language tutors, however, are not of the same rank. They are prospective teachers in the lyc^es, young women who already possess the certificate for THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 337 modem language teaching in secondary schools and who are working toward their agregation. They receive no salary, but live at the school on the same financial basis as the students. The appointment itself carries with it a certain honor, and the holders have considerable time to themselves for study, and even for following courses at the Sorbonne. They have no regular classes, but meet the students at table and in small groups of three or four for conversation in the foreign language. The fact that Sevres does not attempt to prepare modern language teachers,^ and that the English and German are studied there purely from the cultm-al point of view accounts for the difference in status of these teachers as compared with those in letters or science. For each of the first two years all the letters pupils and all the science pupils have identical programs. The weekly schedule on the following page will show this more in detail. The work of the first year is relatively easy, thus giving the young women an opportunity to recover from the severe strain they have been working under for several years back, and enabling them to adapt themselves gradually to their new regime. The work of the second year is determined by the program of the examination for the certificate for teaching in girls' secondary schools. At this examination the normal school j^oung women have to compete against students from the outside who have been preparing at private schools or even at the Sorbonne or at provincial universities, but it is perhaps unnecessary to state that the Sevres pupils usually head the list of successful candidates. In 1907 there were about a hundred competitors for the twenty-five appointments in letters and the sixteen in science,^ while in 1 Inasmuch as the certificate for modern language teaching is the same for both men and women, the details for this examination will be found later. Cf. infra, \)\x 373-374. 2 Bull, adm., 1906, II., p. 868. As a matter of fact, advantage was taken of the elastic provision in the Ministerial order allowing for an increase in the number of {ilaces if the exigencies of the service and worth of the candidates make such a modification desirable, so that there were thirty-one appoint- ments iu letters. Bull, adm., 1907, II., p. 367. 22 338 FHENCH SECOND A liY SCHOOLS GIRLS' NORMAL SCHOOL AT SEVRES I'ltOfiKAM OF THK FIRST AND HI-XJOND YIOAUS First Year Second Yeae Letters Science Lettera Science Monday a. m. Geography (every two w(!(!k;B) Elocution Sewing Elocution (every two weeks) History Chemistry p. M. English or Gennan Lit<;rature Tuesday a. m. Pliysics Etiiics Ethics I'. M. LiUTiiture History (first third of the year) Mathematics Wkdnesday a. m. History (second third of the year) Botany p. M. Grammar Mathematics Grammar 'J'lIIJItMUAY A. M. Sewing Chemistry History Fuiday a. m. History Natural history Literature Physics p. M. Literature (every two English or German Geograpliy lOnglish or German weeks) Literature (every two weeks) . Literature (every two weeks) Saturday A. M. English or German Mathematics r:nglish or German Natural history p. M. Psychology Psychology Mathematics THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 339 1908 the number of applicants was considerably greater with no increase in the number of places. In case a normal school student is not successful, however, she loses her appointment and is obliged to leave the school to begin teaching at once in one of the provincial colleges. The few that are thus unfortunate usually come back after two or three years to try the examination again. If successful this time, they are reappointed for their third year at the school. The examination for the certificate for teaching in girls' secondary schools is a competitive examination,^ partly written and partly oral, according to the usual Certificate for fashion. The written examinations are held Teaching in annually in the department centers ; the orals tiiil«' Second- are always at Paris. There are four papers for ^'^ ' ^ each of the two sections, letters and science, with four hours allowed for each. The letters papers are : (1) a literary or a grammatical subject ; (2) ethics or psychology applied to education; (3) history; (4) a modern language (P^uglish, German, Italian, Spanish, or Arab, translation into French and into the language chosen). The science papers are: (1) mathematics ; (2) physics and chemistry; (3) natural sciences ; (4) literature or ethics. Tor the oral examination various periods from half an hour to three hours are allowed for preparation of the subject after the topic is assigned. The response is thus in some cases practically a short lecture before the examining jury. The subjects for the letters examination are: (1) reading a selection in French, with historical, grammatical, and literary commentary ; (2) devel- opment of a topic in history or geography; (3) questions on the subject not assigned in (2) ; (4) questions on ethics and the methods of education and instruction ; (5) interpretation of a modern language selection, followed by questions asked and answered in that language. The oral examination for the science candidates covers the strictly scientific subjects in the written, together with a modern language examination 1 See Appendix K for the program of this examination for the letters section in 1908. 340 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS as in the letters section, and the interpretation of a bit of literature. The various subjects of the examination are not all equally important. They are weighted with certain co- efficients, the final mark for each subject being obtained by multiplying the mark actually received on the examination by the coefficient for this particular subject. For the letters section the written and the oral examinations in modern languages are each weighted at three, while for each of the other examinations the coefficient is five. In other words, the modern language is relatively only three fifths as impor- tant as is each of the other subjects of the examination. In the science section the mathematics coefficients are five, the physics and chemistry, four, the natural science, three, the literature or ethics, two, and the modern language only one. Once safely through the examination for the certificate, the student settles down for her final year's work, the prep- aration for the aqreqation, the highest diploma Sevres : Third ■ ^ t a t- \. A^^i--^ Year's Work, required of secondary teachers. At this pomt the letters students are subdivided into two groups : (1) those preparing for the agregation in literature; and (2) those preparing for the agregation in history. The science students are likewise divided into the mathematics and the natural science groups. Thus each one is able to concentrate her attention almost exclusively upon the sub- jects of the examination that is awaiting her at the end of the year. The program for this third year at Sfevres is found on the following page. In the letters section the students take either literature and grammar, or history and geography, according to the agre- gation they are seeking, but they have all the other subjects in common ; while in the science section, history of art and common law are optional, ethics and literature are pursued by both groups alike, and the line of cleavage runs between the mathematics on the one side, and the physical and nat- ural sciences on the other. The training during this last year is partly a continuation of the lecture method of the two THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 341 GIRLS' NORMAL SCHOOL AT SEVRES PKOGRAM or THE THIRD YEAR Letters Science Monday a. m. p. M. Ethics Elocution (every two weeks) English or German Ethics Chemistry Tuesday a. m. p. M. History of art Common law History (second half year) History of art (optional) Common law (optional) Physics Wednesday a.m. p. M. Literature Grammar Mathematics Thursday a. m. History (first third of the year) Friday a. m. p. M. Literature Geography English or German Mathematics Botany Natural history Literature (every two weeks) Saturday a. m. History previous years and partly a series of lessons prepared by the students for presentation to their classmates following as nearly as possible the general method of procedure they would use before a lyc^e class. The number of these lectures, for that is practically what they are, naturally depends upon the size of the class and the attitude of the teacher, but probably in no case exceeds four or five during the year, not a very extensive amoimt of even semi-practical work. The lesson is criticised by the professor in charge of the course immediately following its presentation. As class room expe- rience, this really counts for very little, for its value has been thoroughly emasculated by the absence of real second- ary pupils. Some of the students come a little nearer prac- tical teaching in tutoring backward pupils at the near-by lycde at Versailles. Such work, however, is entirely unofficial ; it 342 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS forms no regular part of the training at the school ; and it is entirely a personal matter between the directress of the lyc^e and the individual students. The latter naturally welcome this opportunity, for not only is it an honor to be selected, but furthermore they are paid by the lycde for the tutoring they do. The year 1907-1908 witnessed the commencement of real practice teaching, an innovation at Sfevi-es, but an experience that has already been required for many years iCachin^. ^^ ^^® joxmg men's normal school. The stu- dents at Sfevres were sent to the girls' lycdes in Paris. The work was begun so late in the year that each student had only about half a dozen lessons. It is conse- quently impossible to judge of the success of the scheme. It is reasonable to suppose, however, that it will be continued, and that successful experience of this sort will eventually become one of the prerequisities for candidacy for the agrSgation. The examinations for the agrcgation, like those at the end of the second year for the secondary certificate, are competitive, with a very limited number of appointments.^ , '?'^^ The number of candidates is likewise limited, Agregation. . ' for only holders of the secondary certificate or the master's degree are eligible, and these in turn, especially as far as the possessors of the secondary certificate are con- cerned, represent the survival of the fittest after a series of selections. The written examinations are held simultaneously at various centers all over France. For the letters candidates these are three in number, one in ethics or education, four hours, and one in a modern language, two hours, both required of all candidates, with an additional literary paper, four hours, for the letters section, and a history paper, four hours, for the history section. On the science side there is likewise an ex- 1 For 1908 the number of appointments in letters was thirteen (nine for the letters section, and four for the history section) ; in science, eleven (five in mathematics, and six in physical and natural sciences ). Bull, adm., 1907, II., p. 607. THE PUBLIC EDUCATION OF GIRLS 343 amination in ethics or education for all candidates, and two papers, one in arithmetic and algebra, and one in geometry and cosmography for the mathematics section. The physical and natural science sections also have two additional papers, one in physics and one in natural science. All the written papers for the science students are four hours in length. The oral examinations, held only at Paris, resemble those for the secondary certificate already described. All the letters can- didates have one in a modern language, with twenty minutes for preparation. The special examinations, essentially lessons as they would be taught before a class, consist of one each in literature, ethics, and grammar for the letters section, and one in history and one in geography for the history section. From one to three hours are allowed for the preparation of each of these lessons, and a half hour for the presentation. The mathematics candidates have one lesson in each of the two gi'oups of subjects indicated for their written examina- tion ; while the physical and natm^al science candidates have one in physics, one in chemistry, and one in natural science. They have three hours apiece for the preparation, and three quarters of an hour for the presentation of these topics. Such, in brief, is the preparation for teaching in girls' second- ary schools. The examinations have occupied a relatively large place in this account, but they likewise Refinement occupy a relatively large and important place in of the the preparation itself. The prospective teacher Product, is constantly confronted by examinations ; she meets them at every turn, with every one carefully prescribed as to eligi- bility conditions, requirements, and scope. To one who is ac- customed to the free and easy ways of entering the teaching ranks in America, the whole system seems remarkably formal and unnecessarily complicated, but the survivors represent a highly refined product, one which on the academic side, at least, could with difficulty be improved upon. We have seen that the specialization has gradually become narrower and narrower as the student advanced, until at length it is con- fined almost exclusively to the subjects she intends to teach. 344 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Such specialization is of course possible only in a highly or- ganized system under a central control like that which exists in France, but it certainly produces a body of teachers of a high degree of intelligence and eminently qualified for the work they have to do, a body of teachers who must bear the brunt of the burden in realizing the conviction that M. Lavisse had in mind when he said : ^ " Thus France has need of all her children. The time is passed when we can afford to scorn the assistance of the half of France." 1 Lavisse, Address at the Trocadero, May, 1907, in L' enseignement desjeunes filles, 1907, I., p. 287. CHAPTER XV THE HIGHER NORMAL SCHOOL AND THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS Although it is now almost exactly one hundred years since the professional training of secondary teachers has been a reality in France, even at the time of the Normal School of the Convention, this idea Beginnings ' in France. was by no means new. As early as 1645 the rector of the university, Dumonstier, had proposed to " train up at university expense a certain number of promising chil- dren {enfants de bonne esiJerance) who could thereby become regents or preceptors," ^ but the suggestion does not appear even to have been discussed. The expulsion of the Jesuits from France in 1762, depriving the country as it did of a large part of its secondary teaching force, necessitated a thorough reorganization of the existing educational system, and plans for such a reform were reported in several of the provincial parliaments.^ Rolland, in following out the sug- gestions of Abb^ Pdlissier, was especially specific in his de- mands for the establishment of institutions in connection with each university for the preparation of young men for the teaching profession.^ The most that resulted from this ^ JouRDAiN, Histoire de I'UniversM de Paris, p. 157. Dupxty, Le centen- naire de I'ecole normale, p. 8, cites other more successful efforts during the seventeenth centurj'. 2 Cf. La Chalotais, Plan d'Mucation ou d'6tudes i>our la jeunesse [in Brittany], 1763. GuYTON DE MoRVEAiT, M€moire nur I' Education publique, avcc Ic proqiecius d'un college suivant les principes de cet ouvrage [in Burgundy], 1764. Rolland, Compte rendu aux Chambres assemblies, Paris, 1768. 8 Ibid., pp. 59-68. 346 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS general interest was the establishment of agregations in phi- losophy, rhetoric, and grammar in 1766. In the meantime the training school idea had already become firmly estab- lished on the other side of the Ehine, thanks to the efforts of Francke, Felbiger, Basedow, and their successors, whence it was destined to exert a powerful influence on the subse- quent plans of the Convention leaders. M. Dupuy^ has traced very clearly and convincingly the channels through which this Teutonic influence spread to France and finally bore fruit in the Normal School of the year III., or Normal School of the Convention. This first real but short-lived normal school in France was in existence only through the spring months of 1795,^ and its formative influence was prac- ticably negligible. Although the present scliool held a cen- tennial celebration in 1895, this was really a little premature, for the only thing in common between the existing institution and the revolutionary experiment was the name. The earlier school was intended to train teachers of teachers, but at its close left nothing to posterity but a tradition. The present Higher Normal School, to give its official title, in reality dates from Napoleon's founding of the University. The School '^^^ decree of 1808^ provided for "the estab- of the First lishment of a normal boarding school intended Empire. ^^ accommodate as many as three hundred young men, who should there be trained in the art of teach- ing the letters and the sciences." Thus Napoleon, with char- acteristic foresight, planned for training the teachers and administrative officers of the educational institutions called into existence in consequence of this same imperial fiat. In some respects the new school which was opened in 1810 re- sembled the school of the present day rather than the one in existence before the reform of 1903, for it was closely affiliated with the College of France, the ^cole Polytechniqiie, and the Natural History Museum, and in 1810 was made an 1 DupuT, op. cit., pp. 22-32. 2 Cf. supra, p. 62. 3 Dicret, March 17, 1808, art. 110. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 347 annex of the faculties. The students of the school registered with and followed the courses of three professors in the fac- ulty of arts or the faculty of science, according to the sub- jects they were preparing to teach.^ This university work was supplemented by conferences and quizzes at the school in charge of the tutors, which assumed, during the last months of the course, the form of lectures by the students themselves, intended to demonstrate their teaching ability. Under this plan the academic training was chiefly in the hands of the professors of the faculties at the university, while the pro- fessional was intrusted to the tutors at the school itself. The academic standard of the school was considerably lower than it is at present, for in those early days the students came up for the bachelor's examination at the end of the first year, and for the master's at the end of the second, failure in the former case entailing forfeiture of the appointment. The ten best students were allowed to remain a thhd year, in order still further to perfect themselves for their profession. They were immediately given the title of agrege, ordinarily granted only to the lower masters in the lyc^es and the regents of the colleges after competitive examination, and they served as tu- tors for the other classes. During the two years of the course the student lived at the school at government expense. This included board, lodging, and ordinary university charges, but examination and diploma fees as well as expenses for books, paper, ink, and pens were at their own charge. This, then, was the real beginning of the present school. The entrance was entirely dependent upon competitive examination ; the function of the school was to recruit the teaching force in the secondary schools ; and the number of intrants was de- termined each year in accordance with the probable needs of the lyc^es and the colleges. These characteristics have been retained until the present day. Although the Napoleonic university would have been shorn of much of its power had the ordinance of February, 1 Statut, March 30, 1810, § III. Eecucil de his et rkjlements concemant Vinstmction puhliquc, V., pp. 172-175. 348 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1815, ever been enforced, the Normal School was left in un- disturbed possession of its former prerogatives. Its course would even have been augmented by an addi- E^T^^^t*^^ tioual year, the agregation being conferred by the Royal Council of Public Instruction after ex- amination at the completion of the third year. The value of this distinction, nevertheless, had been considerably cheap- ened by the abolition of the competitive examination, espe- cially since it could also be granted to ordinary teachers in the lycdes and colleges after five years of service provided they were willing to assume the obligations toward the uni- versity that were imposed upon the normal school students, that is, to contract to teach for ten years.^ Toward the close of 1815, however, there was a radical change in the course, whereby it was definitely lengthened to three years, with the subject matter of the first year common to letters and science students alike. This extra year in a way preceded the old course, for the work consisted in a review of the ground previously covered in the college (the lycees at that time were called royal colleges), together with a course in logic, and one in mathematics. The normal students were required to pass the baccalaureate in letters at the end of the first year ; those in science to pass the baccalaureate in science at the end of the second year (the letters degree was prerequisite) ; and all had to pass the master's examination at the end of the third year. The privilege of the former complementary year was still retained as an additional incentive for the ten best students. The school for the first time appears to stand forth as a separate institution, and to assume some of that independence that characterized its position for the last half of the nineteenth century. The courses given by the profes- sors of the two university faculties play but a relatively small part in the work of the school, the greater part of the instruction being given at the school itself, and under the control of the director. In those days the school year was long and strenuous, for " it opened the second day of Novem- 1 ArreU, Nov. 30, 1814, ibid., p. 618. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 349 ber and continued without interruption until the fifteenth of September." Even during the short vacation which followed there was little chance of the students acquiring habits of indolence. Before they left the school, they were given a list of topics for the fourth quarter upon which they would be examined on their return at the opening of the year.^ The internal regulations of this same period, ^ which repro- duced almost exactly the prescriptions of 1810, are interest- ing at this distance, but they must have been decidedly u'ksome to the young men of eighteen or twenty who were subjected to them. § 42. " When a student has obtained permission to go to another's room, the door must remain open all the time he is there." § 43. " While the students are in their rooms, the key must be on the outside" (as the regulation of 1810 added, "in order that the surveillant may enter as often as he deems it necessary"). § 44. "There is never a fire in the private rooms; but during the severe weather the students may study in the hall of their division which is warmed by a stove." § 56. " The students are allowed to go out alone once a month." (This last indicates enormous progress since 1810, for then such permission was never granted.) During this same period the letters students came up for the master's degree at the end of the second year, and shortly afterward, 1821, the third year for these same students became specifically the preparation for the agregation. There were then three orders : (1) in science ; (2) in the advanced classes in letters ; and (3) in grammar. For the first two of these competitions, the master's degree in the corresponding faculty was prerequisite, while for the agregation in grammar the simple bachelor's degree sufficed. One of the early acts of the ultra-catholic reaction that grew stronger and stronger as the third decade of the nine- 1 mglcment, Dec. 5, 1815, iUd., VI., p. 75. 2 Reylement, Dec.l4, 1815, ibid., VI., pp. 75-90. 350 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS teenth century progressed was the suppression of the normal school. The royal ordinance says with legal bluntness : Q . , " The great Normal School at Paris is sup- Suppresaion and " ^ Re-creation of pressed ; it will be replaced by the partial nor- the School, j^^j schools of the academies." ^ These so-called partial normal schools which had been ordered established the year before in Paris and at the various academy seats were nothing more than appendages of the colleges. The number of students in each "school" was limited to eight, witli a four-year' course which in reality could have carried the pupils but little beyond the ordinary course, for pupils were eligible to compete for tlie appointments after completing the third form. They were to remain two years longer in the capa- city of study-room masters. The inadequacy of this prepara- tion, especially in contrast with the work that had been done at the Paris school, at once becomes apparent, so it is not sur- prising that after a brief interval, which in reality was no experiment at all, for the schools were not put in practice, a substitute for the normal school was established in the "preparatory school" attached to the College Louis-le-Orand in l*aris.2 Placed under the direction of the head master of the college, this school reproduced some of the characteris- tics of tlie earlier school of 1810, for the course was practically reduced to two years, and the major part of the instruction was given at the university. Four years later under the new government, its old name was restored, to be changed in 1845 to its present official title. Higher Normal School. Shortly after the advent of the July Monarchy in 1830, the school was thoroughly reorganized and soon assumed Assumes a ^^^*^ general type form tliat existed prior to Pcrnuuient 1903. The Jengtli of the regular course was °''"' fixed at three years ; the courses of the literary and scientific sections were distinct from the outset; the master's examination came ordinarily at the conclusion 1 Ordonnance du lioi, Sept. 6, 1822. Recucil delois et r(:glemenii, VII., p. 205. 2 Arrm, Sept. 5, 1826. Eecucil de his et HgUmens, VIII., p. 79, THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 351 of the first year's work, although the student was allowed until the end of the second year in which to pass it ; the third year constituted a special preparation for the par- ticular agregation the student had in mind together with a kind of practical work. Since 1828 there had been four orders of agregatiori : (1) letters; (2) philosophy; (3) grammar ; and (4) sciences. The agregation in history was added at this time, and two years later the science agrega- tion was resolved into the mathematics and the physics- natural science divisions. After the reform of 1830, when the school once more became independent, its relations with the faculties became more and more attenuated, particularly as regards the letters section, although this transition took place more slowly in the case of the scientific students, largely on account of the inade([uate opportunities at the school for instruction of that character. A noteworthy innovation was introduced in the spring of 1839.^ The "practical work" of 1830 became a reality, and the third- year students were sent out into the lycees for six or eight weeks of contact with real scliool conditions. How much actual teaching they did, we have no means of knowing, but the same order of the Council authorized them to act as substitutes for the regular teachers who were detached for other service during the period of the general prize compe- titions. Another innovation that followed a few years later was the beginning of modern language instruction, a chair of German being established in 1841 and one in English in 1846. The reactionary period about the middle of the nineteenth century, marked by the passage of tlie odious Falloux Law, was fraught with significant modifica- tions in the regime of the normal school. Much of the ground gained since 1830 was rapidly lost. The change of ministry in 1856, however, brought a turn for the better. Things gradually resumed their former shape, so that with tlie restoration of the agregation in philosophy in 1863 (the decree of 1852 had reduced the number of agregations to 1 ArrH6, Aug. 14, 1838, Bulletin universitaire, 1838, p. 353. 352 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS two, one for letters and the other for science) most of the old conditions were re-established. In 18G9 the passage of the master's examination became a definite requirement for tlie end of the first year, and at the same time the normal graduates were relieved of their previous requirement of the three-year teaching period before being eligible to compete for the agregation. This last examination was thrown open to them immediately upon completing their course at the school. From this period until the reorganization in 1903 the school was in a state of relatively stable equi- librium. The rigorous disci])line was gradually modified, and the regime of the school became comparatively liberal. In the meantime the Higher Normal School had come to occupy a unique position in the educational world. Germany was definitely training secondary Refonn teachers, but training them professionally, at least, in a few selected Gi/mnasien, while England and the United States were doing little or nothing of a similar nature, at least nothing worthy to be ranked with the efforts of Germany and France. Here, then, was a secondary normal school that combined within its own walls the high specialized academic training of the German universities with the subsequent purely professional training. To a large extent, however, it was paralleling the work of the Sorbonne, althougli it was handling a smaller and more select class of students. Its courses prepared for the master's degree, the university courses prepared for the master's degree ; the normal school prepared for the agrega- tion examinations, tlie university did likewise. Under the circumstances it is hardly surprising that the Parliament began to question the necessity of continuing an institution that was costing the State more than lialf a million francs per year.^ This parallelism had not been of long standing, be- cause for many years the normal school had borne the brunt of the burden of preparing young men for the master's degree and for the agregation, but from the period of the university 1 Of. llapport du budget, 1903, p. 82. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 353 reform of the early eighties, especially since the two score yearly graduates of the school were no longer sufficient to supply the needs of the rapidly expanding system of secondary education, all this had begun to change. The opportunities at the Sorbonne widened ; courses were estab- lished tliere which prepared directly for the examinations f(jr the master's degrees and the agregations ; the university students often competed successfully against the normal students, so much so that in 1901 the former won thirty- nine of the eighty agregations as against only twenty-two for the latter,! whereas when the preparation of these same students began three years before that time the most promising had been appointed to the normal school, while many of their unsuccessful rivals had enrolled in the university courses. In the interim changes had naturally taken place, so that at the time of the agregation examina- tion the conditions were somewhat reversed. Even then the normal students won out, as they always do, in the per cent of successful candidates. Tor some years previous there had been a decided difference of opinion in the teaching ranks themselves as to the efficacy of professional training. Indeed no less distinguished a person than Fustel de Coulanges himself, the director of the normal school from 1880 to 1883, had declared: "It is useless to learn to teach." The testimony of his successor, the late director of the school before the Eibot Commission in 1899, reflected a somewhat similar feeling, although M. Perrot couched his conviction in more veiled terms.^ In view of such expres- sions on the part of its directors, it is not surprising that the normal school was giving itself almost exclusively over to purely academic culture, the professional training having become practically insignificant. The six or eight weeks of lyc^e experience of 1838 had long since been reduced to a paltry two weeks, and even this was most superficially done. 1 Lanson, La riorganisation de I'ecole normalc, in Revue de Paris, Dec. 1, 1903, p. 525. 2 Enqjiite sur Venseignement secondaire, I., p. 140. 23 354 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS The student ordinarily selected one of liis former teachers, who perhaps might be quite incompetent to direct a beginner. Some of this work was undoubtedly very skilfully administered, while on the other hand some of the teachers started the normal student in liis task and then took advantage of his presence to enjoy a vacation for the rest of tlie fortnight, merely returning in time to gather a little material for a report to the head master on the character of the neopliyte's efforts. The criticism against this generally recognized lack of real professional training was crystallized in one of the ctjnclusions of the Eibot Commission as reported to and adopted by the Chamber of ]Jeputies in 1902. "The liigher normal school will be organized and directed in such manner as to be not only a school for advanced study but a veritable pedagogical institution." ^ The internal moditicatiou of the courses of instruction for the year 1902-1903''* came too late to save the identity of the school. The presidential decree of November, 1903, fused it into the University of Paris, thereby putting an end to a rivalry that was ra]jidly be- coming more and more acute and that boded no good f(jr acadenuc harmony in the secondary teaching pnjfession. V>y the terms of this decree, the normal school was made an integral part of the university, subject to tlie autliority of the vice-rector, although still letaining its own Schoofa^ independent budget. Its director and assistant Professional director, one of whom nuist be a letters man School of the i j v j i • • . University. ^^^*^ ^^® other a Science man, were given seats in the con-esponding faculties of the university. This amalgamation with the university and the strength- ening of the professional side of the work was not so much an innovation as a return to the original plans of 1795 and 1808, from which the school had long since widely departed. The reform was less significant for the science students than for 1 EnquHe, sur V enseignement secondairc, VI., p. 81, paragraph 21. * See Extract from a report by M. Pkiikot to the Minister of Public In- struction, in Ecvue internulionale de V enseignement, 1902, II., pp. 51G-523. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 355 tlie letters men, for the former had long followed courses at tlie Sorbonne, the work at the schocjl being rather more complementary, as it is to-day. The immediate most ai)i)arent effects were the sudden increase in the number of students, tliirty-two for letters and twenty for science as against twenty and thirteen respectively in previous years, and tlie removal of the greater part of the instruction from the school itself to the lecture rooms of the university. The latter has since given occasion for the appellation " the col- lege " and even " the hotel " of the scliolars of the university. The former is certainly the more suggestive title as far as Anglo-Saxon readers are concerned, for the present organ- ization corresponds fairly well to the external organization uf tlie English college. Unfortunately there is room at the school for only one hundred and five students, the others who are forced to live outside receiving au allowance from the State of twelve hundred francs per year, the estimated cost of board and lodging within the school. The first-year men are given the choice in the order of rating at the admission ex- amination between living at the school and living outside, that is, until all the vacancies are filled. Those toward the bottom of the list thus have no choice in the matter. Admission to the school is solely by com])etitive exam- ination, the number of places being determined each year by the Minister of Public Instruction. This num- ber has been the same for the last two years, ^ji'J! ^00!? thirty-five for letters and twenty-two for science.^ The examination, divided as ordinarily into the written and the oral part, is identical with the scholar- ship com])etition for the master's degree. As commonly happens, the written examinations are held simultaneously in each of the academy seats of the country, but the successful candidates are obliged to come to Paris for the oral test. The first on the list are appointed to the normal school, the next in order receiving scholarship appointments during their year of study for the master's degree. The scholarships 1 £ull. adm., 1908, I., p. 319. 356 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS may be whole, three quarters, or half, on the basis of twelve hundred francs, the amount of award in each case depending upon the financial standing of the candidate's family. A can- didate must be not less than eighteen nor more than twenty- four years of age and must hold the bachelor's degi-ee. As a matter of fact, so keen is the competition for appointment that in practice considerably more than this degree is re- quired. Certain lyc^es have special graduate classes, so to speak, that fit expressly for this examination. For the letters section this is known as the higlier rhetoric form, a name derived from the former appellation of the present first form ; in tlie science section it is called the special mathematics form. The students remain in these forms one, two, and sometimes three and even four years, ^ for it is the exception for one to be successful after only one year in these special classes. Formerly it was not at all unusual for prospective normal school candidates to pass the master's examination during this period of preparation so that they had a considerable ad- vantage over their comrades at the very outset of the school course. Under tlie present regime and with the new pro- gram of the master's examination that went into effect in July, 1908, this is hardly likely to continue. For the letters section the written examination includes French, translations from and into Latin, philosopliy, history, and one of the three following : a Greek trans- Exc^ihuuLis. lation, a paper in a modern language (English, German, Italian, Spanish, Kussian, or Arabic), and a paper in mathematics and physics. The three papers in Latin and Greek are each allowed four hours, the others six hours apiece. The science candidates have a choice between two series of papers, — the examinations in mathematics (based upon a si)ecial program, includhig algebra, analytic geom- etry, vector analysis, something of the calculus, and meclian- ics), Frencli, and modern languages (two translations chosen from Latin, English, and German), with four hours for the 1 See article by a former normal student in tlie lievue Internationale de I'enseignement, 1907, I., pp. 230-240. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 357 first, three for the second, and two for the third, being com- mon to both series. In addition, one series has a second paper on mathematics and one on physics, both six-hour tests and both based upon the topics of the regular lyc^e course ; while the other series has papers on physics, chemistry, and natural sciences, drawn from a special program. The phys- ics lasts six hours, the chemistry and natural science four hours each. The relative values of studies are still further provided for in the system of coefficients to which reference has already been made.^ In the written examination in let- ters each Latin paper is valued at two, and each of the others at three ; in the science the coefficients in one series vary from one for the French essay to seven for the physics, and in the other from one for the French essay to five for the physics. In any case these written examinations constitute a long and exhausting test covering a total duration of from twenty-one to thirty-two hours. Only those who pass the written examinations are admitted to the oral examinations at Paris. Each candidate further- more covenants to reimburse the State for the amount of his scholarship in case through any fault of his own he fails to serve ten years in the service of public instruction. The oral examination in letters includes a series common to all, con- sisting of French, Latin, philosophy, modern history, and a modern language (this latter must be different from the one chosen for the written), and a series following along the lines of the three Latin sections of the baccalaureate. The exami- nation for the Latin-Greek section covers Greek and the history of Greece and Rome ; that for the Latin-modern lan- guage includes the same ancient history, together with the modern language submitted for the written examination ; that for the Latin-science bears upon natural science and physics. For the science students the oral examination comprises : mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and either (a) additional mathematics or (b) natural science. In the letters examination the coefficients for history and physics 1 Of. supra, p. 340. 358 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS are one, and for each of the other subjects two ; while in the science examination they vary in one group from one for the additional mathematics to eight for the ordinary mathe- matics, and in the other from three for the chemistry to five for the physics. The scholarships for the master's degree ^ in letters, phi- losophy, or history are granted for one year ; in modern lan- guages and in science for two years, although of "the in the latter case it is often possible to obtain Scholarship an extension for a third year. At the expira- tion of this scholarship period the students that gain the master's degree are granted, without further exami- nation, a scholarship for the diploma of higher studies ^ (diplome d'etudes siqjcricures). This varies in amount from fifteen hundred to six hundred francs, and likewise runs for a year. If the candidate passes this examination he receives a scholarship for the agregation'^ as before without further competition. This also is granted for a year, but may be renewed in the case of students who pass the written part but fail on the oral. These last two scholarships, for the diploma and the agrcgation, are sometimes granted to stu- dents holding the master's degree who did not enjoy a schol- arship for that first advanced degree. Under this system, once a young man succeeds in the competition for the mas- ter's scholarship, he is given every possible encouragement and all reasonable State support in order to enable him to continue his studies until he wins the agrcgation. Not every one reaches this goal, for the residuum becomes finer and finer as the coarser products are elimmated in the process. With only the master's degree, however, he is eligible for appointment in a college, and it is still possible for him to 1 Aside from the normal students, it is ordinarily possible for these scholars to pursue their work in Paris or in any of the provincial universities that they may indicate. Of course the great majority of them are enrolled at the Uni- versity of Paris. The whole system has given rise to considerable recrimina- tion on the part of the provincial institutions on the ground that the Sor- bonne is unduly favored. Most of these contentions are ill advised, although prompted by a pardonable pride in the local university. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 359 pass the other two harriers. Every year men are succeeding in this. After two or three failures his chances of success become smaller and smaller, untU finally he gives up the fight and resigns himself to his lot, never able to become a regular professor in a lycde, but still with the whole range of the college field before him, and with the possibility of reach- ing an acting professorship in a lycde. The successful candidates for the normal school seldom begin their course immediately. They almost invariably arrange to work off one of the two years of military service now required of all able-bodied Military male citizens. Formerly those preparing for certain professional careers were compelled to serve only a single year in the army in place of the three years ordinarily demanded, but since the reduction of the service to two years in 1904 this amount has been rigorously exacted from all. The first year the normal student spends as an ordinary sol- dier in the ranks. During that time, in common with his fellows from the military and the polytechnic schools, he receives additional instruction destined to prepare him to become an officer. He has a special examination to pass at the end of this year. Throughout his three years at the school this same technical military instruction is carried on one hour a week, supplemented by numerous excursions into the country on Sundays in summer for topographical and other field work of a practical nature. Then at the end of the course there is another examination along lines similar to the former one. Those who are successful here receive officers' appointments. Thus, with their standing as reserve officers, this second year of service is considerably more agreeable than it would otherwise be. The arrangement, however, has been made not so much from the point of view of the normal students as from that of the actual needs of the service. With their first year of military service behind them, the students prepare for the real work of the school ; barring accidents, three years of delightful association in an Intel- 360 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS lectual environment, such an experience as no other institu- tion in France affords. Here, under the present liberal regime, the students are treated like young men capa- Scliod*.'^ ble of looking out for themselves, a freedom that stands out in striking contrast to the system of repression they have just passed through in the lycdes. Twenty-five years ago at the normal school every- thing was conducted under the strictest military regime. Long after the old conditions had changed, however, the former regulations were still officially in force, only to be honored more in the breach than in the observance. Since the advent of the present administration, the students are no longer required to obtain permission in order to go outside the school precincts. The gates are locked at one o'clock in the morning and after that hour the belated theatre-goer has the alternative of climbing the high iron fence or of spending the night outside. Save for the opportunity of eating and sleeping at the school, the rights and privileges of the internes are in no respect different from those of the externes. The latter may even arrange to take their meals in the common hall if they so desire, and thus derive practically all the advantages of the life in common at the school, which is really its salient characteristic. The spirit of conn-adeship is further fostered by a system of study rooms called in the scliool vernacular " tournes." Each of these holds from two to five fellows, drawn together by common interests or congenial natiii-es, each one with his own study table, books, and easy-chair. The alcohol lamp with its accompanying row of cups and saucers half hidden by a curtain are strongly suggestive of one's own college days. The couch in the corner, the pic- tures and plaster casts upon the walls still further enhance the illusion, so that if some genie were suddenly to whisk an American into one of these rooms, he would readily believe himself in one of his own college dormitories. The sleeping accommodations are quite apart, for the students sleep in the traditional fashion that still prevails in the lyc^es already THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS 361 described. The tour7ies of each class are grouped together, the rooms being assigned by lot at the beginning of the year. Those of the third-year men, at the top of the building, far- thest removed from the noise of the street, go by the familiar title of the " palace of the cubes." The first-year student is a " conscript," the second-year a " square " (that is, the second power), and the third-year a " cube " (that is, the third power), while the surveillant, although from no spirit of animosity, is commonly known as the "caiman." With three years of such familiar association, it is small wonder that the normal students are bound together by an esprit de corps that grows even stronger with the gathering years. Many of the graduates feared that the recent reform would tend to weaken these old bonds, but except for widening the circle a little, their fears do not seem to have been realized. Aside from the personal contact with his fellows and with his professors, one of the highest-prized privileges of a nor- mal student is his library opportunities. He has within his reach a magnificent collection of some 200,000 books among which he can browse to his heart's desire. In the morning it is reserved for the professors and the former students, but all the afternoon it is open for the almost unrestricted use of the student body. Each one seeks out his own book on the shelves, and thus gains the inspiration that only such contact with books can give. The work of the first year reproduces exactly that which is required from the ordinary possessors of the master's scholar- ships, save that those actually enrolled in the school enjoy the added distinction and privilege '^^Yea^^* that always attach to the normal school stu- dents. They are required to pass the master's examination at the end of the first year, and to gain the diploma at the end of the second. Failure at either point means exclusion from the school just as a similar failure in the case of the outside students working for the same degree entails dis- continuance of the scholarship. In France the State is gen- erous with its scholarships, but it bestows them from no 362 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS 2 1; 2 - 2 ■"is S ^ - .S c S S' rt 2 8 §j a5*-E |co£ &M5'^'5 1 1 C >,C OJ 5 >-■ c -^ t§i . g >>!":; gif-3 < < iIk^ Latin and (ireek and the author, on huc- liilr. i:,-i \ |ir,.elioa (.■[raiiiniar II:: c(\sHive (layM 1 h. 'I'ran.slation of a Latin of ( H. thor, alternatelv every ()vii,scusHion and acces- sictation of the subject of an oration . 1 h. For the principles of rhetoric, ('icero and (Juintilian. No spec^ial dire<'tioris as to the Latin authors to be translated. (J reek: Demosthe- nes, Plato, Thucy- dides. Homer, He- siod, Pindar, St. Gregory of Nazian- zu.s, St. Basil, St. (;hrysostom. (;n holidays one of the historians or some passage of his- torical significance is explained. APPENDIX F l']XTRA(T FROM Tlll<: (JASII A(;(X)nN'r OF MONSIEUR FILLKY l)K l;A 15AJiREi 170(5-1728 'I'm; yomi;^ Filloy ul tlio w^o of iiim! wan Hont, to Paris to l)oard witli liiH i^Mijinliaii, DoiiIh Loroiix, puyiiij^ thorcfor 'MH)L'^ por yoar IVoin 17H to 171U, 3G0/. in 1720, 400/. in 1721, and 450/. in 1722. " Tliii JchuIIh ^,'iivi' no cltiiiKiiitury iiiHlriic.Moii and took pupilrt only from the sixth lonii. So l'"illfy vv.is untriiHlcMl, April 23, to a school- inaHtor or tutor iiiuiicd Dii.sonHoi.s. 'IMic. latter received 21. per month, and 3i. hej^'inniii},' willi the i'ollowintf October. Fiirthermoro he received variouH New Year'w ])reHentH: two capoiiw (c.oHtiuf^ 21. Wh.) in 1715; one capon (I/. Hs.) in 17U); two jmlU'tH (1/. Hi.v.) in 1717; one turkey (!/. IHs.) in I7IH; two pnli(^tM (I/. lOs.) in 171!); one capon (2/.) in 1720. The lirHt Htudien of the youn^' ])upil were linnted to reli^don and (.(ranunar ; liin books were hwitation of Christ (21.) and a I'mdm hook (12.v.). Diniujf tliu next two years lie liad two RndimcnU (ttliauentary Latin {.framuiarH) at lO.s. and Kw. respectively; two I'raynr Jhoh at Kk. (1714-1715); two Jiiidimmtit ni 10.?. (1715- l7Hi). The boy did not troubh; himself with work, and lu! was so careless that ins books were soon ruined or lost and had to be replaced. To these e.\p(Mises must be added tlie cost of heating,', which amounted to 1/. 5«. or \L 10.S-. for all winter, and the fees of the danciu",' teacher, 41. ]Hiv month. Tluise lessons lasted from A))ril, 1715, to May, 1710. The little Killey did not take life too seriously. From July, 1714, lio sjient ICm. monthly in pleasure. Besides this, thanks to the t,'ood 1 Diiiuioux, tnuis(!ril)0(l from tlio Archh'ca (f/par/.ementales dca ArdmnvH and piibliHlKid in tho llrvitr univtrsitaln; T.XHi, I., j)]), 31C-320. '^ Tlid nidiKitiuy valii(M)f tiu! livro, (^oniposod of twenty hous, was practically (■(|iiividnnl ti) tiiat ol' tlin franc of to-diiy. It is alinobt ncodlcsa to add that its purcliaainy powor was cousiJurubly greator. APPENDIX F :m nature of ]\\h f,'u;ir(li;iii, Ik; H])fiit, .'it Uic Siiirit-Laurciiit (air, Spptfinhcr 13, 1714, 21. \7h. for Hii^(inv.(l jiIiiioiuIh, a Suiiit.-I;i)iiiH, a UiiU(!, mid Mm; iiiarioiKilloH ; in Auj,'UHt,, 171}, aiitl I7ir), I/. 1()«., and Kk. I'ur lifkctH to a irn^vAy played l)y tliu JoHuitH ; Noveinhcr Ifj, 1714, 1/. lor a tickcit to tli(! fircworltH; Fclniiary 21, I7ir», 1.0,s. lor tlic; rope daiicera ; j\uf,MiHt IK, Cs-. lor a ])lace on tlic occaHJoii of tlie ccjiniii}^ of tli(! i'orl,U|^Mi(!H(! aiii- haKHador. lit; had liiH ])urHe filled at New Year'H. liJH niotlier j^'ave liiin 2L lOs. in I7ir), and '.U. in 1710, and IiIh Mother (Marline; in the convent at Dinant, 5/. in Hlf). " In October, 17 H5, without diHcontinuint^ the IcHHonH witli his tutor, l*'illey entered the Hixtli foiia at the ('olWif^e LouiH-le-Grand. IiiHtruc- tion beiiif^ ^ratuitouH, IiIh ex|)enHes included ordy the fee of tlie Hervant that Hwe|)t out tlie claHH room (3«. per month, heHideH Now Year'w presentH) ; the candle for li},ditin<,' (15». in winter) ; jireHentH given to re},'(Mit of the coUe^'e (2/. in 1715 and 171(3 for a bouquet of urtilicial IIowcih) ; and the ])urchaHe of text-l)Ook8. Tlie following uro the pur- clianeH with the datcH of the hiuik! : "SIXTH FORM (I7l(i-1717), October 1 : Latin-Fniiich dictionary, 21. 15». ; liudi/raent, 12«. ; J'arlirMiH, Hh. ; l)eHpaut(>re (one of tint bookHof liiH treatiHe on grammar, written in Latin, and coiiHiHting of liudimfirds, Gmmmatica, HyrUaxis, J'rosodia, Dn jUiuru ct l/rojm), 12s. November 20: (Jalecimm, 4«. April 1 : I'hacidriiH, I/. 10«. ; R'iMmcnt, 12s. Oreek grammar, lOs. ; LeaveH of (Jicero (Hpecially arranged ho that the pupiln could write interlinear or marginal noten), 3s. AugUHt 25: Jiudiimnt and J'ariidcH, \L 2.V. "FIFTH FOliM (17I7-I7IK), Octo1)er : (Jicero and ()vin(larmc-s iind forcHt j^uards State, departmental, and conununal oflicora JhiyinesH emi)loy6s Railway employes Jjiberal jirofessions: doctors, pharmacists, barristers, architects, men of letters, art- ists, etc Mercliants Agricnlturists, farmers, and small proprie- tors Artisans and lahortirs ClerKynuMi Notaries, baililTs, and court ollicers Miscellaneous Total functionaries paid from tlit> public treasury Boys No. of schol- arship,- 1>I1 1)1 90 2()<) 7S 1(11 K) 1,16S Per cent IS. 20 7.Si 7.7r) 2;i.22 o.7;{ 2.<);{ 1.12 i.;{7 G»IL8 121 Per cent 27.1 1.!) :{.:{ 17.1 2.4 1.4 4.*) S.3 1.4 1.4 1.4 M.O Budget g&tiCral de I'exerdce, 1908, p. 77. APPENDIX J MENU. lyc/:e lakanal, sceaux* Sunday Breakfast Luncheon Dinner Monday Breakfast Luncheon Dinner TUKHDAY Breakfast Luncheon Dinner Wkdnksday Breakfast Luncheon Dinner Thtjusday Breakfast Luncheon Dinner January 20 to February 1, 1908 Coffee; butter. Calf'H head, with oil; breaded veal cutlets; wit!) maBhed potatoes; apples. Vej^etable Houp; mutton cutlet; mixed vegetables; salad with eggs; (jruy^re cheese. Coffee; butter. York ham; fricassee of veal; fried potatoes; pineapples. Crdcysoup; roast sirloin of beef ; rice with gravy; jam. Chocolate. Fillets of herring; roast pork; macaroni with grated cheese; cream clioese. Peasant soup; mutton stew, with early vegetables; fried oyster plant; assorted nuts, figs, and raisins. Coffee; butter. Beef salad; roast veal; tomato sauce; potatoes with butter and parsley; cheese. Potato soup; leg of mutton; Brittany beans; stewed prunes. Coffee; butter. Maine patties; rabbit stew, with white wine; string beans; apple marmalade. Parisian soup ; roast beef, bordelaise ; gratin dauphinois ; small cakes. 1 From the menu posted in the entrance hall of the lyc(5e. The official regulatioHH rcfiuire that the menu of the current week Ije signed by the head master, the school physician, and the bursar, and be posted in some conspicu- ous place. In this way, visiting parents may readily satisfy themselves as to the variety, at least, of the food that ia set before their children. 404 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Friday Breakfast Chocolate. Luncheon Potato salad; hard boiled eggs and cabbage; lentils with white wine; jam. Dinner Pea soup; potato omelet; rice pudding, with fruit; Camembert cheese. Saturday Breakfast Coffee; butter. Luncheon Pressed meat ; beefsteak with water cress ; baked cauli- flower with cheese; cream cheese. Dinner Onion soup; roast veal; coffee custard; small cakes. This is the menu for the sixth form boys and upward, but the younger children live a little more simply. Each boy has a quarter bottle of wine at luncheon and at dinner, and bread in abundance at every meal. Lakanal is said to be the pleasantest of all the French lycees at which to live, and so far as my own experience is concerned this reputation is justly deserved. The fees are relatively high there, and this naturally allows a wider and more varied menu than is possible at the less expensive schools in the country. As evidence of the strict economy of the French kitchen, it may be observed that every particle of meat that goes into the dining room is carefully weighed by the chief cook, and every scrap has to be accounted for. In some lycees each individual portion is weighed, while in others the eight or ten portions required at a table are cut together and the boys left to divide them at the table. In the best schools the boys receive from one seventh to one fifth of a pound of meat each, according to their age, at a meal, but in the smaller schools this quantity is somewhat less. There is ordinarily an abundant supply of bread and vegetables. So, too, in the largest schools, the wine allowance for the oldest pupils is all pure wine, while for the younger it is diluted. In either case the boys, according to the universal French custom, mix it with water to suit their taste. As the price of board de- creases, we are likely to find the purity of the wine decreasing at least as rapidly proportionally. APPENDIX K PROGEAM OF THE EXAMINATION (LETTERS) FOR THE CERTIFICATE FOR TEACHING IN GIRLS' SECONDARY SCHOOLS ^ Ethics In ethics the subject will be chosen from the programs of the girls' secondary schools. The following summary will serve as a guide to the candidates for the preparation of the questions of education and instruction : ^ 1. Aims of education and means of attaining the same : habits, prin- ciples. The education of women. The education of girls in our estab- Hshments of secondary instruction in France. 2. Physical education; exercises and games. Physical education of girls at the lyc^e. 3. Moral education. Education of the will and the feelings. The different aspects and methods of character formation. Education of the moral conscience. 4. Intellectual education according to age. Formation of the judg- ment and the taste. 5. Domestic education. 6. Instruction. Relative values of literature, history, poetry of the arts, the sciences, in secondary education of girls. 7. Methods of instruction : the class, the course, the art of question- ing, the reading of texts, the choice and correction of home work. 8. Discipline. 9. What should be the spirit of the school? How attained? 1 Bull, adm., 1907, II., pp. 341-343. 2 Candidates may furthermore consult with profit among other books the following : FfiNELON — TraiU de V Education des filles ; RoussEAU. — L'^mile; Spen- cer. — L'^ducatimi intelleduelle, morale et jjhysique; Mme. Necker de Saussure. — Vltducation progressive ou ilude du cours de la vie ; Gri^ard. — L'^diication des femmes par les femmes. Instructions, programmes et rkjlements de I'enscignement secondaire dans les lycees de gar<;ons. 406 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS French Literature 1. Extracts from Mathurin Regnier. 2. Corneille. — Don Sanche d'Aragon, act I.; act II., sc. i.; act V. 3. Moliere. — Les Fdcheux. 4. Racine. — Britannicus. 5. Boileau. — Saiire III. {he repas ridicule). Art poetique, chants I. et III. 6. Mme. de S6vign6. — Lettres choisies; n° 20 & 30; n° 43; n° 55 k 63; n° 67, 68, 84, 94. 7. Buffon. — Discours sur le style. 8. Voltaire. — C/ioia: de lettres; n° 18 a 21; n° 100 k 125; n° 134, 137; n° 143 a 147. 9. Mme. de Stael. — Pages choisies. Extracts from Considerations sur les principaux evenements de la Revolution fran^aise, pp. 291-335. 10. Choix des moralistes fran^aises, Bougie et Bcaunier, ed. — Ex- tracts from Malebranche, Nicole, Rollin, Rcnan, Bersot. 11. Poesies domestiques : la Famille, pp. 60-129, dans les Extraits des poHes lyriq-aes du XIX^ siecle. History 1. Roman institutions and customs during the last two centuries of the republic. 2. French royalty, civilization, and arts of the thirteenth century. 3. Russia, from the death of Catherine II. to the death of Alexander II. 4. The Second Republic. Geography 1. General. The progress of ocean exploration. Great oceano- graphic expeditions of the present. Purely geographical results of these explorations: state of our knowledge of ocean depths, currents, climates, fish and fisheries, and of the polar seas. 2. France. Savoy, Dauphiny, and Provence. 3. Europe. Spain and Portugal. 4. Outside Europe. Japan and its dependencies. English Authors Shakespeare. — Macbeth. Tennyson. — Idylls of the King (abridged edition by A. Baret). William Morris. — News from Nowhere. Milton. — L' Allegro. — II Penseroso. German Authors Goethe. — Schweizerreise. Schiller. — Die Kraniche des Ibykus, der Taucher, der Gang nach dent Eisenhammer, Wiirde der Frauen. APPENDIX K 407 Korner. — Zriny. Von Wildenbruch. — Neid. Italian Authors Machiavel. — Storie Fiorentinie, books I. and II. Tasso. — Jerusalem delivree, cantos VII. and VIII. Alfieri. — Saill. Massimo d'Azeglio. — Niccolo dei Lapi. Spanish Authors Quintana. — Vidas de Espanoles celebres. El Cid. Cervantes. — Don Quijote, part I., chapters VII., VIII., and IX. Moratin. — El si de las nihas. J. Zorilla. — A buen juez mejor testigo. APPENDIX L dipl6me D'ETUDES supeeieures de philosophie University de Paris Faculty des Lettrea Session de juin 1908 Noms' Sujets de Mdmoires Note Oa20 Explication Critique de Textea Note 0a20 1 Interpretation et modifica- Lucrfece, De natura re- tion du Kantisme, par 1 14 rum livreV. Ai 7 32 K. D. ReLnhold 2 11 2 L'exp^rience par illumi- Berkeley, Dialogues en- nation int^rieure chez 1 16 tre Hylas et Philonous. Trad. Beaulavon- Roger Bacon 2 15 Parodi. B 14 45 3 La philosophie morale de Th. Green 1 16 Alexandre, de anima, p. 2 14 60, livre I de I'edition de Bruns jusqu'a p. 100, lignel7. C 13 43 4 Les gestes stereotypes 1 10 Platon, Sophiste, du dans la demence precoce 2 10 chapitre 24 a la fin. C Kant, De mundi sensi- 10 30 5 L' influence de Jules Le- quyer sur la philosophie de Ch. Renouvier 1 14 bilis atque intellegibi- 2 16 lis forma atque princi- piis. D 15 45 6 Ficin traducteur et com- 1 12 Rousseau, Contrat social. mentateur de Plot in 2 13 livre let 11. E 8 33 7 Pathologie de la croy- 1 15 Plotin. vi, 9. De l'un- ance 2 14 ion du bien. F 14 43 8 La nature et la variation Epictfete, Dissertations, livre II du chapitre I au chapitre XII in- de retat de la matifere vivante appeiee " indi- vidu " (d'aprfes les 1 13 clus. D 12 39 , vegetaux inferieurs) 2 14 9 Etude sur introduction en France de la philoso- Lucrfece, De natura re- rum, livre III. phie de Kant, depuis les 1 15 F G 7 36 origines jusqu'en 1820 Psychologie de la folie 2 14 10 Aristote, Physique, livre communiquee (Con- VIII du chapitre 4 a tribution a retude de 1 17 la fin. C 13 46 la contagion mentals) 2 16 11 L'union de lame et du Platon, Republique, livre V, depuis 475 B jusqu'- corps dans la philoso- 1 14 phie de Spinoza 2 15 h, la fin et livre VI entier. D 11 40 1 The names of the candidates have been replaced by numbers, and of the examining professors by letters. APPENDIX L 409 Noms Sujets de Mdmoires Note 0a20 Explication Critique de Textes Note 0a20 Is 12 Le Dieu de Spinoza et ses 1 17 Platen, Ph^don, du cha- originea chez Descartes 2 17 pitre XV inclus au chapitre LXVII ex- clus. C 17 51 13 Contribution h. I'^tude de 1 16 Aristote, Ethique i Nico- la religion de Descartes 2 15 maque, livre I. H 15 46 14 L'esthetique de I'abb^ , Dubos Etude critique de quel- 1 2 6 Spinoza, Ethique, livre 15 Comte, Cours de philos- ques theories contem- ophie positive, 48 et 49 poraines relatives au 1 11 lecons. B 8 30 moi 2 11 16 L'expression chez les 10 Spinoza, Ethique, livre m^lancoliques 2 10 I. H 6 26 17 La psychologic des Pas- sions en France depuia la Renaissance jusqu'- en 1650. (Introduc- tion au traits Des Pas- sions de Descartes) 1 2 15 15 Platen, Menon. C 13 43 18 Du principe de causality Aristote, Politique, livre et de la liberty chez 1 10 in. E 13 30 Spinoza 2 7 19 Macrobe et N^oplaton- 1 13 Schopenhauer, Critique de la philosophie kanti- isme 2 13 enne dans "Le Monde" comme volenti et re- prdsentation. B 14 40 20 Effeta dynamiques de la 1 14 Cic^ron, De natura re- sensation 2 13 rum, livre I. F 7 34 21 La psychologie de J.-L. 1 11 Kant, Critique de la rai- Vives (1492-1540) 2 10 .son pure, Pr(^faces de la 1 et dela 2 Edition. Introd. A 11 32 22 Analyse critique de la m^- thode dans la Physique de Descartes 1 6 Renouvier, Science de la morale, t. I, livre I 23 La philosophie sociale de 1 14 Malebranche, Recherche Spinoza 2 10 de la v^rit^, livre IV. G 10 34 24 La thdodicde de Fdnelon 1 17 Aristote, Physique, I. 2 16 C 16 49 25 Nos connaissances sur la Descartes, Mi^ditations, mati&re d'aprfes les II, III, IV. B 14 44 faits recemment de- couverts et les iddes 1 15 nouvellement mises en ceuvre (1895-1907) _2_ 15 This will give a fairly comprehensive idea of the character of the questions and the general conduct of the examination for the higher diploma, the intermediate stage between the master's degree and the agregation. Each part of the examination is marked upon a scale of twenty. The first gives the valuation of the written essay, the second the 410 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS grade obtained at the oral quiz upon that essay, the third the mark received upon the interpretation of the special text, assigned to the candidate three months before the examination, and the fourth the sum total of the other three. A mark of at least thirty is necessary in order to pass. APPENDIX M BIBLIOGKAPH Y The character of this account of the French Secondary .ScIiooIh and the circumstances under which it was written necessitated the almost exclusive use of French authorities. An effort has heen made to cite the more important of the later articles in the Report of the United States Commusu/ner of Kducation for the benefit ot the reader to whom this foreign material will not be availaVjle. For further literature relating to education in France, see Columbia University Library Bulletin No. 2. Books on Education in ttie Libraries of Columbia University. N. Y., 1901; CuBBEULEY, Elwood P., Syllotjus of LextuTcs on the History of Educa- tion. 2d ed. N. Y., 1904; and Farrington, Frederic Ernest, The Public Primary Schf)ol System of Frarux. N. Y., 1906. The unusual and rather arbitrary classification of the subjoined bibliography has been adopted with the view of rendering it more readily available for the reader. Under I. and II. will be found the historical material of both classes ; under III., the general secondary material (other than historical) that deals with phases of the subject not readily falling under the succeeding rubrics. The significance of the other captions will be self-evident. The bibliography makes no claim to completeness, especially on the method side under Subjects of Instruction. On this phase of the study, however, the author has consistently depended upon personal observation rather than upon the works of other writers in these fields. The following additional abbreviations are used in this bib- liography : Rev. int. for Revue Internationale de I'enseignement. Rev. univ. for Revue universitaire. The other abbreviations will need no interpretation. 412 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS I. SOURCES Annnaire de I'instruction publique et des beaux-arts. Delalain Fr^rea, publisliers. Paris. Publiished yearly since 1851. Baluze, l&TiENNE. Capitularia regum Francorum. 1780. 2 v. BuissoN, Ferdinand. R&pertoire des ouvrages p6dagogiques du XVP siMe. Paris, 1886. xvi+ 733 pp. Chaptal, J. a. Rapport et pro jet de hi sur I'instruction publique. Paris, An IX. (1800.) 134 pp. Chevalier, Michel. De I'instruction secondaire, a I'occasion du rap- port au roi de M. Villemain. Paris, 1843. 35 pp. CoNDORCET. Rapport et projet de d6cret sur I'instruction publique, pr6- sentes a I'Assemblee nationale au nom du Comite d'instruction pub- lique. Reprinted in Hippeau, q. v. Denifle, Henricus, ET iEMiLius Chatelain. Chartularium univer- sitatis Parisiensis. Parisiis, 1889-1897. 4 v. This monumental work, all source material, covers the period 1200-1452, the untimely death of the moving spirit having stopped the publication at that point. Denifle, Heinrich. Die Entstehung der Universitdten des Mittelaltera bis 1400. Berlin, 1885. xlv+ 815 pp. Documents : L' administration de I'instruction publique, de 1863 d 1869, sous le ministtre de S. Exc. M. Duruy. Paris, 1869. xxiv+ 932 pp. Bulletin administratif du ministbre de I'instruction publique. Paris, 1850- Published monthly until 1881, and weekly since that time. The official pub- lication of the Minister. Bulletin universitaire contenant les ordonnances, rtglements, et arrct6s concernant I'instruction publique. Paris, 1829-1838. 7 v. Circulaires et instructions officielles relatives a I'instruction pub- liqiie. Paris, 1802-1900. 12 v. Circidaires et instructions officielles relatives A I'instruction pub- lique publi6es sous le ministbre de S. Exc. M. Duruy (1863-1869). Paris, xxiv + 716 pp. Journal general de I'instruction publique, 1831 d, 1870; 1879 d 1882. Lois et actes de I'instruction publique, 1848-1855. Paris. 8 v. Rectieil de lois et rtglements concernant I'instruction publique de- puis I'edit de Henri IV., en 1598, jusqu'a ce jour. Paris, 1804-1828. 9v. Ends with 1827. Very incomplete for the pre-Revolutionary period. For continuation, see Reniju, injra. APPENDIX M . 413 Recueil de rhglements relatifs d I' enseignement secondaire. Paris, 1900. ix+888pp. Contains all the regulation.s in force in 1900. Reforme de I' enseignement, recueil des lois, decrets, arretSs, cir- culaires, instructions, et notes ministerielles, concernant les modifi- cations apportees a I'instruction publique pendant le ministbre de M. H. Fortoul du 2 decembre 1851 au pr juillet, 185G. Paris, 1854- 1856. 4 V. Rendu, Ambroise, Code universitaire, ou lois, statuts, et rbglements de I'universite royale de France, 1793-1845, mis en ordre par. Paris, 1846. xxiv+ 1107+ xiv pp. Continuation of Recueil des lois, svpra. Unsatisfactory as a source on ac- count of the form and arrangement of the material. Ecoles centrales, in volume entitled Instruction publique. Address by BiNET at opening of the school year 1798-1799, and two addresses by Arnault at the prize distributions of September, 1803, and September, 1804. 32+32+ 30 pp. Enquete sur I' enseignement secondaire. Paris, 1899. 6 v. Known as the Report of the Ribot Commission. Enseignement moderne. Enseignement et baccalaureat. Reforme de 1891. Paris, 1891. (No pagination; between 350 and 400 pp.) Felibien, Michel. Histoire de la ville de Paris. Revue, augmentee et mise au jour par Guy- Alexis Lobineau. Paris, 1725. 5 v. Two volumes of history and three of documents. Fleury, Abbe Claude. Traite du choix et de la methode des Uudes. Paris, 1686. xiv+ 365 pp. Genie de la Revolution considere dans I'education, ou m4moires pour servir a I'histoire de I'instruction publique depuis 1798 jusqu'd nos jours. Par I'auteur de la Regence a Blois. Paris, 1817. 3 v. GoBRON, Louis. Legislation et jurisprudence de V enseignement public et del' enseignement prive en France et en Algerie. Paris, 1900. vi + 995 pp. Hippeau, C. L'instruction publique en France pendant la Revolution. Discours et rapports de Mirabeau, T alley rand-Perigord, Condorcet, Lanthenas, Romme, Le Peletier, Saintr-Fargeau, Calh, Lakanal Daunou, et Fourcroy. Paris, 1881. xxiii+ 520 pp. Instructions concernant les programmes de V enseignement secondaire classique, suivies du rapport et de I'arrete relatifs a la discipline dans les Uablissemcnts d'instruction secondaire. Paris, 1901. ccxvi pp. JoLY, Claude. Traitte historique des ecoles ipiscopales et eccUsiastiques. Paris, 1678. .592 + pp. Statuts et rkjlemens des pctites Ecoles de grammaire de la ville, cilf,, university, faux-bourgs, et banlieu'e de Paris; Avec quelques arrests 414 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS de la cour de parlement, touchant les dites 6coles; Ensemble, les quartiers reglez et assignez aux maitres et maitresses d'6coles. Paris, 1672. 436 + pp. JouRDAiN, Charles. Le budget de I' instruction publique et des Stablisse- ments scientifiques et littdraires depuis la fondation de I'universitS impdriale jusqu'd nos jours. Paris, 1857. iv + 340 pp. Histoire de V University de Paris au XVIP et au XVIIP si^cle. Paris, 1862-1866. viii + 516 + ccxciii pp. Continues the history of Crevier, q. v. From the reform of Henry IV. (1598— 1600) to the suppression of the Lfniversity, 1793. Journal de I'instruction publique, r6dig6 par Tliiebaut et Borrelly. Paris, 1793-1795. 7 v. JouvENCY, Joseph. De ratione discendi et docendi. Traduction fran- 5aise par H. Fert6 : De la manitre d'apprendre et d'enseigner. Paris, 1892. The original treatise, in Latin, was intended to complete the Ratio studiorum. It appeared anterior to 1719. La Chalotais, Louis Renk de Caradeuc de. Essai d'6ducation nationale, ou plan d'Mudes pour la jeunesse. Geneve, 1763. 152 pp. Compte rendu des Constitutions des Jisuites. Paris, 1 762. 288 pp. Lacroix, S. F. Essais sur I'enseignement en g^niral, et sur celui des matMmatiques en particulier. Paris, 1816, 2'* <5d. vii+ 358 pp. Much good material on the Icoles centrales, foundation, courses, and causes of their failure. Discours sur I'instruction publique, prononcS d la distribution des prix des Scoles centrales du d^partement de la Seine, le 29 thermidor, an VIII (Aug. 17, 1800); Suivi de notes stir I'Mat actuel et le regime des 6coles centrales. Paris, An IX. (1800.) 42 pp. Lakanal, J. Convention nationale: projet d' education du peuple fran- gais, pr6sent4 d, la Convention nationale au nom du Comite d'instruc- tion publique, le 26 juin 1793, Van II de la republique. Imprimi par ordre de la Convention nationale. Paris, 1793. MSmoire sur I'education de la jeunesse par une mMhode d'enseignement tout dfait opposie d, la routine actuelle. Adresse d I' AssembUe na- tionale. (No author.) Paris, 1789. 29 pp. MImoires et documents scolaires du Mus6e p6dagogique. Note sur I'instruction publique de 1789 a 1808, suivie du catalogtte des documents originaux existant au Ministbre de I' instruction publique et relatifs d I'histoire de I'instrtiction publique en France durant cette p6riode. No. 71. Paris, 1888. 40 pp. Schola aquitanica: Programme d'6tudes du colUge de Guyenne au XVP sitcle, r6imprim6 avec une preface, une traduction fran^aise, et des notes, par L. Masscbicau. No. 7. 77 pp. APPENDIX M 415 MiGNE. Patrologia latina. Paris, 1863. Volumes c and ci contain Froben's edition of Alcdin. MiRABEAU, Hon. Gabr. Riquetti Ci* de. Travail sur I'iducation pit- hlique, trouv6 dans les papiers de Mirabeau I'aine; publi6 par P.-G.- J.-Cabanis. Paris, 1791. 206 pp. Pasquier, EsTiENNE. Les recherchcs de la France. Paris, 1665. 910 + pp. Plan d'etudes et programmes d' enseignement dans les lycees et colleges de garqons. Paris, 1907-1908. xxvi+248pp. See Instructions concernant les programmes de l' enseignement secondaire claS' sique for detailed suggestions as to the application of these programs. Programmes et r^lements des etudes de la Societe de Jisus (Ratio atque institutio studiorum societatis Jesu), comprenant les modifications faites en 1832 et 1858. H. Fert6, trad. Paris, 1892. xlii+ 144 pp. Programs of admission conditions for the various examinations: Baccalaureat. (Session de 1908.) Collection Delalain, No. 1. Bourses de I' enseignement superieur. Collection Delalain, No. 26. L'ecole normale superieure, et Bourses de licence. Collection De- lalain, No. 33. Licence h lettres, et doctorat es lettres. Collection Delalain, No. 51 bis. Licence hs sciences, et doctorat h science. Collection Delalain, No. 13. Ordres d'agrigation. Collection Delalain, No. 18. Ramus, Pierre. Avertissements sur la reformation de I'UniversitS de Paris au Roy, 1562. An undated reprint, paged 117-163. Ratio atqv£ institutio studiorum societatis Jesu. Superiorum permissu. Tournoni, 1603. 198+ pp. For translation, see Programmes et riglements des itudes de la Sociiti de Jisus. Rever, F. Voyage des dkves du pensionnat de I'icole centrale de I'Eure dans la partie occidentale du departement pendant les vacances de Van VIII (Sept. 1800), avec des observations, des notes, et plu^ieurs gravures relatives a I'histoire naturelle, I' agriculture, les arts, etc. fivreux. An X. viii+ 179 pp. RoLLAND d'Erceville. Compts rendu aux Chambres assemblies de ce qui a ite fait par MM. les commissaires nommSs par les arrets de 6 aout et 7 septembre 1762. Paris, 1763-1764. 2 v. Recueil de plu^ieurs des ouvrages de Monsieur le president Rolland, imprimS en execution des deliberations du bureau d' administration du Collbge Louis-le-Grand, des 17 Janvier et 18 avril 1782. Paris, 1783. Ix+ 951 pp. 416 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Seances et debuts des ecoles normales, recueillies par des stinographes et revues par les professeurs. Nouvelle edition. Paris, 1800. 13 v. The term ecoles normales is erroneous, for there never was but one school established. The lectures actually delivered at the school appear in the first six volumes, the next four volumes containing the lectures prepared in connec- tion with the work of the school, but never delivered there. The last three volumes are composed of the discussions. Statistics : Statistique de I'enseignement secondaire: 1840-1854, 1865, 1876, 1887. These four reports are all that have appeared despite the efforts of Napoleon (decret 17 mars 1808) and Louis Philippe (ordonnance 3 mars 1843 ordering such a report to be prepared every five years). Statistique en 1865. Paris, 1868. clvi+ 481 pp. Statistique en 1876. Paris, 1878. cxxxi+ 470 pp. Statistique en 1887. P^ partie, gargons; 2^ jeunes filles. Paris, 1889. 2 V. See also Ribot, Enquete, vol. III. Steeg (Depute). Budget general de I'exercice 1908. Rapport fait au nom de la commission chargee d'examiner le projet de loi portant fixation du budget. Paris, 1907. 439 pp. Talleykand-Perigord (ancien 4veque d'Autun). Rapport sur V in- struction publique, fait au nom du Comite de constitution a I'Assemblee nationale, les 10, 11, et 19 septembre 1791. Paris, 1791. 196 pp. ViLLEMAiN. Expose dcs motifs et projet de loi sur I'instruction secondaire, presente a la Chambre des Pairs, le 2 fevrier, 1844. Precede du rap- port au Roi sur I'etat de cette instruction en France, 3 mars, 1843. Paris, 1844. 203 pp. WissEMANS, A. Code de I'enseignement secondaire. Documents concer- nant le personnel des lycees et colleges de gargons. Paris, 1906. xix + 288 pp. II. HISTORICAL WORKS: SECONDARY d'Arvert, Franck. L'humanisme et la reforme au XV® et XVIP siMe. Rev. int., X., pp. 1-38. Babeau, Albert. Uecole de village pendant la revolution. Paris, 1881. La village sous I'ancien regime. 2^ 6d. Paris, 1879. 393 pp. La ville sous I'ancien regime. Paris, 1880. viii + 564 pp. Baitdrillart, H. La famille et I'education en France dans leur rap- ports avec I'etat de la societe. Paris, 1874. xi+ 430 pp. Bayssieres, Edmond. L' enseignement secondaire frangais de M. Bigot et I'enseignement special. L'ecole de Cluny. Paris, 1886. 200 pp. Bersot, Ernest. Lettres sur I'enseignement. Paris, 1857. 28 pp. Contains a very good short account of the baccalaureate from 1808 to 1857. APPENDIX M All Bloch, G. La vie intellectuelle et morale, in Lavisse, Histoire de France, V. I., liv. III., ch. II., pp. 391-398. A good short account of the early schools of Gaul from the Christian era until the end of the fourth century. BoissiER, Gaston. La reforme des etudes au XVI® siMe. Revue des Deux-Mondes, Dec, 1882, pp. 579-610. BouRCHEMiN, P.-Daniel. Etude sur les academies protestantes en France au XVP et au XVIP sitcle. Paris, 1882. 480 pp. BuissoN, Ferdinand. Dictionnaire de pedagogic et d' instruction pri- maire. 2 pts. 4 v. Paris, 1880-1889. Cadet, Felix. L'Mucation d, Port-Royal. Paris, 1887. 316 pp. Carre, I. Les pedagogues de Port-Royal. Paris, 1887. xxxvi+ 348 pp. Champion, Ed. L'instruction publique en France d'aprhs les cahiers de '89. Rev. int., 1884, II., pp. 1-19. Chauvin, Victor. Histoire des lycees et colleges de Paris. Paris, 1866. 304 pp. Christie, Richard Copley. Etienne Dolet, the martyr of the Renais- sance. A biography. Lend., 1880. xxiv+ 559 pp. Compayre, Gabriel. Abelard and the origin and early history of uni- versities. Lond., 1893. xiii+ 315 pp. Histoire critique des doctrines de I'education en France depuis le seizikme sihcle. Paris, 1880. 2^6 ^d. 2 v. Cormenin. L'education et enseignement en matihe d'instruction secon- daire. Paris, 1847. 125 pp. Cournot, a. a. Des institutions d'instruction publique en France. Paris, 1864. Cousin, Victor. Memoire sur l'instruction secondaire dans le royaume de Prusse. Paris, 1837. 195 pp. Contains an account of the rise of enseignement special in France. Cousin, Victor, ed. Ouvrages inedits d' Abelard, pour servir d I'histoire de la philosophie en France. Paris, 1836. cciii+ 681 pp. Cramer, Friedrich. Geschichte der Erziehung und des Unterrichts in den Niederlanden wahrend des Mittelalters. Stralsund, 1843. Iviii + 338 pp. Crevier. Histoire de V University de Paris, depuis son origine ju^qu'en I'annee 1600. Paris, 1761. 7 v. This is hardly more than a reproduction of Duboullai. Continued from 1600 to 1793 by Jodkdain, q. v. 27 418 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Davidson, Thomas. Rousseau and education according to nature. Lend., 1898. vii+ 253 pp. Despots, Eugene. Le vandalisme revolutionnaire. Paris, 1868. viii + 380 pp. DouARCHE, A. L' University de Paris et les J6suites (XVP et XVII* sibcles). Paris, 1888. ix+ 327 pp. DuBARLE, Eugene. Histoire de I' University depuis son origine jusqu'd nos jours. Paris, 1829. 2 v. Dubois, L'Abbe. NouveUe question: Est-il possible d'etablir dans tous chef-lieux de departement un college royal, etc. Orleans, 1818. 64 pp. Dubroux, C. Un colUgien de Louis-le-Grand (1716-1722). Rev. univ., 1906, I., pp. 316-320. Duhamel, Joseph. Le collbge deNormandie. Paris, 1901. viii+ 285 pp. DuEUY, Albert. L'instruction publique et la revolution. Paris, 1882. :fiMOND, G. Histoire dulycee Louis-le-Grand. Paris, 1845. iv+436pp. Fischer de Chevriers, Ph. Histoire de l'instruction populaire en France depuis les premiers si^cles jusqu'en 1789. Paris, 1884. iii + 393 pp. France, I'ancien. L'ecole et la science jusqu'd, la renaissance. (No au- thor.) Paris, 1887. 330 pp. Gasc, p. E. Etudes historiques et critiques sur l'instruction secondaire consider6e dans ses rapports avec I'etat, I'universite, le clerge, et lea families. Paris, 1844. xvi+ 596 pp. Gaskoin, C. J. B. Alcuin: His life and his work. Lond. xxii + 275 pp. Gaufres, M. J. Claude Baduel et la riforme des etudes au XVI^ sibcle. Paris, 1880. x+ 354 pp. Gautier, Paul. La reforme de I'enseignement secondaire sous le con- sulat. Rev. univ., II., pp. 218-230. Greard, Octave. Education et instruction. Enseignement secondaire. Paris, 1889. 2 v. Guillaume, J. Article Convention, in Buisson, Diet, de Pedagogic, V> partie, t. I., pp. 520-571, for Plans of national education pre- sented to the Convention nationale. APPENDIX M 419 GuizoT, F. Histoire de la civilisation en France depuis la chute de I'empire romain. Paris, 1879. 4 v. See volume II. for account of Alcuin and Charlemagne; also the echoola of Gaul from the sixth to the eighth century. Essai sur Vhistoire et sur I'etat actuel de I'instruction publique en France. Paris, 1816. 157 pp. Hamel, Chahles. Histoire de I'abbaye et du colUge de Juilly depuis leurs origines jusqu'd, nos jours. Paris, 1868. 2"^® ed. xvii + 689 pp. Histoire litteraire de la France. Par des religieux Benedictines de la congregation de S. Maur. Paris, 1866. Circa 30 v. Volumes IV. and V. deal with the time of Alcuin and his successors. HoTT, John W. The University of Paris during the Middle Ages. Rep. Com. Ed., 1904, I., pp. 519-558. Hughes, Thomas. Loyola and the educational system of the Jesuits. Lond., 1892. ix+ 302 pp. JouRDAiN, Charles. Rapport sur V organisation et le progrbs de I'in- struction publique. ParLs, 1867. ii+ 228 pp. Limited practically to the period 1860-1863. KiUAN, M. Tableau historique de I'instruction secondaire en France depuis les temps les plu^ recvles jusqu'a nos jours. Paris, 1841. 344 pp. KuNZ, F. X. Johan Gerson, Pddagogische Schriften, ubersetzt und mit biographischen Einleitung, in Bibliothek der katholischen Pada- gogik. Bd. XV., pp. 67-171. Freiburg, 1904. Lantoine, Henri. Histoire de I'enseignement secondaire en France au XVIPsi^e. Paris, 1874. xi+ 295 pp. Laurie, S. S. Rise and early constitutions of universities, with a survey of mediaeval education. A. D. 1200-1350. Lond., 1886. xii + 293 pp. Lavisse, Ernest. Histoire de France depuis les origines jusqu'd, la revolution. Paris, 1900-. 7 v. (up to 1908). The latest and best history of France, written with many collaboratora. A work of the same character as the Cambridge Modern History. Lefeuve. Histoire du ColUge Rollin (ci-devant de Sainte-Barbe) et des pension, communauie, et collie, qui constituent son origine. Paris, 1853. 412 pp. Lefranc, Abel. Histoire du Collie de France, depuis ses origines jusqu'd la fin du premier empire. Paris, 1893. Lemonnier, Henry. Renaissance en France, in Lavisse, Histoire de France, v. V., liv. II., ch. II., pp. 149-184. Paris, 1903. 420 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Le Ragois (Pr^cepteur de Monsieur le Due du Maine). Instruction sur I'histoire de France et Romaine. Nouvelle Edition, Paris, 1777. xvi+ 252+ 236 pp. This text-book was first published about 1684. It went through innumera- ble editions, appearing in a two-volume revision as late as 1820. Most of it was in catechetical form, " in order not to overcharge the memory of the reader." LiABD, Louis. L'enseignement superieur en France. 1789-1893. Paris, 1888, 1894. 2 v. Les universites frangaises, in English Board of Education, Special Reports on Educational Subjects. II., pp. 574-602. English translation by J. W. Longsdon, ibid., pp. 603-625. Lond., 1898. LoRENZ. Alcuins Leben. Halle, 1829. English translation by Jane Mary Slee, Lond., 1837. LucHAiRE, A. L'enseignement, in Lavisse, Histoire de France, v. II., pt. 2, liv. I., pp. 184-192. Paris, 1901. An account of the schools of France about the year 1000. Maitre, Leon. Les ecoles episcopales et monastiques de I'occident, de- puis Charlemagne jtisqu'd Philippe Auguste (768-1180). Paris, 1866. L'instruction publique dans les villes et les campagnes du comte Nantais avant 1789. Nantes, 1882. Mathias, M. De l'enseignement public. Paris, 1776. xvi-l- 125 pp. MiCHAUD, L'Abbe E. Guillaume de Champeaux et les Scales de Paris au XIP sibcle, d'aprhs des documents inedits. Paris, 1867. iii-f- 547 pp. MoNNiER, Francis. Alcuin et Charlemagne, avec des fragments d'un commentaire inMit d' Alcuin sur Saint Matthieu, et d'autres pieces publiies pour la premihre fois. Paris, 1864. 2™^ 6d. rv+ 376 pp. MoNOD, Bernard. La pMagogie et V Education au moyen age, d'aprks les souvenirs d'un moine du XP sibcle. Rev. univ., 1904, I., pp. 25-36. MoNTEiL, Amans-Alexis. Histoive des Fran^ais des divers Mats, ou Histoire de France aux cinq derniers si^cles. Paris, 1847. 3™^ 6d. 5 V. MuLLiNGER, J. B. The schools of Charles the Great and the restoration of education in the 9th century. Lond., 1877. xx+ 193 pp. Muteau, Charles, tes Scales et colUges en province depuis les temps les plv^ recules jusqu'en 1789. Dijon, 1882. xlv+ 601 pp. Perraud, Adolphe. L'Oratoire de France au XVIP et au XIX*' siecle. Paris, 1865. xv+ 521 pp. PiCAVET, Francois. Les ideologues. Essai sur I'histoire des idSes et des theories scientifiques, philosophiques, religetises, etc., en France depuis 1789. Paris, 1891. xii+ 628 pp. APPENDIX M 421 Prat, J. M. (le Pere). Maldonat et I'UniversitS de Paris au XVI® sitcle. Paris, 1856. vi+ 637 pp. QuiCHERAT, Jules. Histoire de Sainte-Barbe, collie, communaute, institution. Paris, 1860-1864. 3 v. Rashdall, H. The universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. Oxford, 1895. 2 V. DE RiANCEY, Henry. Histoire critique et legislation de V instruction publique et de la liberie de Venseignement en France. Paris, 1844. 2 v. RoLLiN. De la maniere d'enseigner et d'etudier les belles lettres, par rapport a I'esprit et au coeur. Paris, 1786. 4 v. Commonly known as Traile des etudes. This is only one of the numerous editions through which this work has passed. Sainte-Beuve. Histoire de Port-Royal. Paris, 1871. 6 v. Volume III., pp. 405-589, and volume IV., pp. 1-105, contain the account of the " little schools." DE Saint- Priest, Cte Alexis. Histoire de la chute des Jesuites au XVIIP siecle (1752-1782). Paris, 1844. xvii+ 372 pp. Schmidt, Charles. La vie de Jean Sturm. Strasbourg, 1855. viii + 335 pp. SiLVY, A. Essai d'une bibliographic historique de Venseignement secorv- daire et superieur en France avant la revolution. Paris, n. d. 149 pp. This work is carried down to 1892. Simon, Jules. La reforme de Venseignement secondaire. Paris, 1874. 432 pp. Steeg, Jules. Lycees et colUges, in Buisson, Dictionnaire de pedagogic. V^ partie, t. 2, pp. 1739-1752. Thery, a. F. Histoire de Veducation en France depuis le V^ sibcle jusqu'd nos jours. Paris, 1861. 2 v. Thurot, Charles. De V organisation de Venseignement dans VUniver- site de Paris au moyen age. Paris, 1850. 213+ pp. Thoplong. Du pouvoir de Vetat sur Venseignement d'aprts Vancien droit fran^ais. Paris, 1844. 319 pp. Carried down through 1762. Vallet de Viriville. Histoire de V instruction piMique en Europe, et principalement en France, depuis le Christianisme jusqu'd nos jours. Paris, 1849. iv+ 400 pp. Waddington, Charles. Ramus (Pierre la Ramie). Sa vie, ses ecrits, ses opinions. Paris, 1855. 480 pp. 422 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS West, Andrew Fleming. Alcuin and the rise of the Christian schools. Lond., 1893. x+ 205 pp. Woodward, William Harrison. Desideritis Erasmiis concerning the aim and method of education. Cambridge, 1904. xvii + 244 pp. III. GENERAL AUTHORITIES: SECONDARY Annuaire de la jeunesse. Vuibert et Nony, 6diteurs. Annual publication containing much general, though unofficial, information about France educationally. Arnold, Matthew. A French Eton, or middle class education and the state. Lond., 1864. Baccalaureat, Pour et contre le. (No author.) Rev. int., 1907, II., pp. 218-229. BoRNECQUE, Henri. Avons-noiis quelque chose d, prendre a I'enseigne- ment anglais? Rev. univ., 1902, II., pp. 221-231. Breal, Michel. Quelques mots sur V instruction publique en France Paris, 1873. 410 pp. Briand, Aristide. Separation des iglises et de I'etat. Rapport offidel Paris, 1905. 340 pp. Chabot, Charles. Contemporory educational thought in France. Ed, Rev., XXXVI., pp. 43-54. Compayr6, Gabriel. Public instruction in France in 1906. Elem, Sch. Teach., VII., pp. 369-378. Recent educational progress in France. Ed. Rev., XXVIL, pp, 19-35. Reform in secondary education in France. Ed. Rev., XXV., pp 130-145. Croiset, Alfred. L'enseignement classique et I'enseignement moderne Paris, 1898. 9 pp. Crouzet, Paul. Pourquoi nous coopirons mal avec les parents. Rev univ., 1905, II., pp. 199-214; 290-307. Demolins, Edmond. A quoi tient la superiority des Anglo-Saxons? Paris, 1897. 2™^ ^d. xxxii+ 410 pp. L'ecole des Roches. Elem. Sch. Teach., VI., pp. 227-240. U education nouvelle. L'ecole des Roches. Paris, 1899. xii+ 320 pp. FoBTiER, Alcee. Education in France. Rep. Com. Ed., 1895-'96, I., pp. 635-639. APPENDIX M 423 FouiLLEE, Alfred. La France au point de vue morale. Paris, 1900. L'enseignement au point de vue nationale. Paris, 1891. xviii + 451 pp. Friedel, Victor H. Problems of secondary education in France. Sch. Rev., XV., pp. 169-183. GiRARD, Raymond de. Questions d'enseignement secondaire. Paris, 1905. 2 V. GoujON, Henri. L' administration des colleges. Paris, n. d. Hardy, E. L. The lycees of France. Sch. Rev., VII., pp. 549-559; VIII., pp. 18-25; IX., pp. 459-475. Hughes, R. E. The making of citizens. Lend., 1900. vi+ 405 pp. Jonas, J. B. E. The secondary curriculum in France. Sch. Rev., VIII., pp. 244-253. KiRKMAN, F. B. Position of teachers in the state secondary schools for boys in France. EngHsh Board of Education, Special Reports on Educational Subjects. 1898. v. II., pp. 626-633. Langlois, Ch. V. La question de l'enseignement secondaire en France et d I'etranger. Paris, 1900. 137 pp. Lanson, Gustave. L'enseignement secondaire, in Enseignement et democratic, pp. 181-207. Paris, 1905. L'universite et la society moderne. Paris, 1902. xi+ 122 pp. Marion, Henri. L' education dans l'universite. Paris, 1892. xxxiii + 400 pp. Sabatier, Paul. A propos de separation des iglises et de I'etat. Paris, 1906. 6'"^ ^(j. lxxxiv+ 216 pp. Sadler, M. E. The unrest in secondary education in Germany and else- where. English Board of Education, Special Reports on Educa- tional Subjects. Lond., 1902. IX., pp. 1-191. United States Bureau of Education. Report of the Commissioner of Education. 1890-91. v. I., pp. 109-124. Program of 1890-91. 1895-96. V. I., pp. 635-639. 1898-99. V. I., pp. 1106-1138. Extracts from Ribot, EnquSte. 1901. V. I., pp. 1103-1109. 1902. V. I., pp. 68S-698. Program of 1902. 1905. V. I., pp. 76-80. 1906. V. I., pp. 30-32. See pp. 19-26 for good short account of the " law of separation." 1907. V. I., pp. 14.3-157. 1908. V. I., pp. 230-238. VuiBERT, H. La reforme de Venseignerrtfint secondaire expliqu^e aux families. Paris, 1902. 47 pp. 424 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS IV. SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION A. French and the Classics Andr^, C. Dans quelle mesure se sert-on encore du latin? Rev. int., I., pp. 503-512. BoRNECQUE, Henry. Comment rendre nos 6ltves plus forts en grec et en latin? Rev. univ., 1904, II., pp. 205-214. BouRGiN, Hubert. L' explication des textes, " exercice principal." Rev. univ., 1906, II., pp. 293-298. Simples notes sur la translation orale des textes latins. Rev. univ., 1907, I., pp. 228-238. Brelet, H. L'enseignement gratnmatical dans V enseignement secondaire. Paris, 1897. Croiset, M. I j' enseignement du grec dans les lyc6es et colUges. Rev. int., 1903, II., pp. 19-28. Frary, Raoul. La question du latin. Paris, 1885. 323 pp. Hartog, p. J. Teaching the mother tongue in France. Ed. Rev., XXXV., pp. 331-350. Hauvettb, AuPjDiiE. De I'Stude du grec dans l'enseignement secondaire. Objet et mithode. Rev. int., 1903, I., pp. 385-407. Henry, V., F. Brunot, H. Goelzer, L. Sudre, Ch. Maquet. L'en- seignement de la grammaire. Conferences du Musde pddagogique, 1906. Paris, 1906. 185 pp. Lavaud, Ren6. Une petite rSforme p6dagogique: l'enseignement de la syntaxe latine et la question du mot a mot. Rev. univ., 1904, II., pp. 93-107. LftvY-WoGUE, F. Une experience de mSthode directe dans l'enseignement du latin. Rev. int., 1903, I., pp. 439-441. MAcfe, Alcide. La prononciation internationale du latin au XX® sihcle. Roma, 1905. 11 pp. Sbure, Georges. Professeurs spdciaux de grec. Rev. univ., 1905, I., pp. 104-113. Vessiot, a. La question du latin de M. Frary et les professions lib^rales, Paris, 1886. 2°»e 6d. 71 pp. APPENDIX M 425 B. History and Geographt Btjsson, Henri. Quelques mots sur V enseignement de I'histoire parti- culihement dans le premier cycle. Rev. univ., 1905, I., pp. 26-34. CousTEL, Pierre. Les rbgles de V education des enfants, ou il est parU en detail de la manibre dont il se faut conduire, pour leur inspirer les sentiments d'une solide piete ; et pour leur apprendre parfaitement les belles lettres. Paris, 1687. 2 v. DuTiL, Leon. A propos de geographic. Rev. univ., 1906, I., pp. 306- 315. Sur V enseignement de la geographic. Rev. univ., 1903, I., pp. 249-251. La Mothe le Vayer, Francois de. La geographic du prince. Paris, 1651. ix+ 346 pp. Langlois, Ch. V. Agregation d'histoire et de geographic, concours de 1907. Rev. univ., 1907, II., pp. 277-296. Machat, J. La classe d'unc heure en geographic. Rev. univ., 1906, II., pp. 93-101. Methode abregee et facile pour apprendre la geographic, oii Von dScrit la forme du gouverncmcnt de chaquc pays, ses qualites, les moeurs de ses habitants, et ce qu'il y ade plus remarquable. Par A. L. F. Paris, 1772. x+516pp. Rosenthal, L6on. Note sur V enseignement de I'histoire. Rev. univ., 1902, I., pp. 44-45. Seignobos, Ch., Ch. V. Langlois, L. Gallouedec, M. Tourneur. L' enseignement de I'histoire. Conf<;rences du Mus^e p^dagogique, 1907. Paris, 1907. 185 pp. ViDAL DE LA Blache, L. Gallois, P. DuPUY. L' enseignement de la geographic. Conferences du Mus6e pedagogique, 1905, pp. 115-211, ViDAL DE LA Blache. Lcs rapports de la geographic avec la sociologie. Rev. univ., 1904, II., pp. 123-125. Weill, Georges. L' application des nouveaux programmes d'histoire; a propos d'un ouvrage recent. Rev. univ., 1906, I., pp. 106-116. C. Mathematics and Science AscoLi, Marcel. Lcs sciences mathematiques dans V enseignement secondaire, d'apres les conferences du Musee pedagogique, in Revue g6ndrale des sciences pures et appliqu^es, 30 mai, 1904, pp. 496-505. 426 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS B0UA88I0, II. L'enseigncment des sciences physiques dans I' enseignemenl secondaire. Paris, 1901. 24 pp. Reprint from Journal do rcnHoigncmont socondaire. IIadamaho, Jacquics. Les sciences dans I' enseignemenl secondaire, in L'Mucaiion et la ddmocratie, pp. 223-251. Paris, 1903. Laisant, C. a. L'6dv£ation fondde sur la science. Paris, 1904. xlv + 163 pp. LiiJ Dantkc, Mangin, PfccHOUTRE, Caustiee, Vidal de la Blache, Gallois, Dupuy. L' enseignemenl des sciences naturelles et de la giographie. Conferences du Mua6c p6dagogique, 1905. 211 pp. LlARD, L., II. POINCAHK, G. LiPPMANN, L. PolNCAUlO, P. LaNOEVIN, E. liouioii, I'\ Mahottio. L'enseigncment des sciences malMmatigues et Us sciences physiques. Conferences du Mus6e p6dagogique, 1904. Paris, 1904. xiv+ 179 pp. D. Modern Lanouageb Abry, E. Lefran(;ais el les langues vivantes. Rev. univ., 1907, T., pp. 428-433. BouRGOONE, L. Les mCthodcs pour V enseignemenl des langues vivantes. Revue p^dagogique, 1907, I., pp. 10-28. Br^jal, Miciikl. De V enseignemenl des langues vivantes: confdrences faites aux Uudianls en lettres de la Sorbonne. Paris, 1893. 147 pp. David, IIionry C. E. Direct method in the French secondary school. Sch. Rev., XVI., pp. 123-125. Firmiory, J. L' enseignemenl des langues vivantes, d'aprts les nouveavtx programmes. Rev. univ., 1902, II., pp. 329-350; 446-454. FitANCoiH, A. La conversation el la lecture dans l'6tude des langues vivantes. Rev. univ., 1902, I., p. 46. GuYTON Dio MoRVEAii. Mtmoirc sur I'Oducation publique, avec le pro- spectus d'un collbge, suivant les principes de eel ouvrage. Paris, 1764. 324 pp. Hankin, Gerald T. Les assistants Mrangers dans nos classes de langues vivantes. Revue p6dagogiquc, 1906, II., pp. 558-562. Lancelot, Claude. NonvcUe mfthodc pour apprendre facilement el en pen de l(iiii>s la htuguc cspagnole. Paris, 1675. 2'"^ 6d. 116 pp. Novi'cllc inilhodc pnur n p prendre fa.cilem.eni et en peu de temps la languc ilaUrnnc. P;iris, 1674. 2'"^ <5d. 120 pp. Laudenbaoii, II. Elude d'un trxtc de langue vivante dans les classes de grammairc. Rev. univ., 1902, II., pp. 147-160. APPENDIX M 427 Lecoq, J. L' enseignement vivant des langues vivantes. Paris, 1903. 105 pp. Rapport d'un inspecteur g(5n6ral. Situation de V enseignement des langues vivantes dans I' enseignement secondaire en 1905-1900. Rev. univ., 1907, II., pp. 93-109. Schweitzer, Charles. La mithode directe et la lecture des auteurs. Rev. univ., 1904, II., pp. 322-330. Methodologie des langues vivantes. Notes prises aux conferences faites a la Sorbonne. Rev. univ., 1903, I., pp. 462-469; II., pp. 1-10; 105-115. SiGWALT, Ch. De V enseignement des langues vivantes. Idees d'un vieux professeur dediees aux jeunes. Paris, 1906. xiii 4- 288 pp. Varenne, Gaston. Le role de la grammaire dans V enseignement des langues vivantes. Rev. univ., 1905, I., pp. 12-25. See also the volumes of these periodicals, primarily devoted to modem languages : Les Langues Modernes. Bulletin mensuel de la Soci6t6 des Pro- fesseurs des Langues Vivantes de I'Enseignement Public. Paris, 1903-. Revue de I'Enseignement des Langues Vivantes. Paris, 1884-. E. Other Subjects of Instruction Catalogue du material d' enseignement du dessin dans les lycdes et coUbges. Instructions relatives a cet enseignement, 1906. Bull, adm., 1906, II., pp. 1138-1163. These instructions are mainly a reproduction of those issued, July 15, 1890, though with some modifications. PiLLET, J. J. U enseignement gin^ral du dessin dans les lycees et colleges de France. Paris, 1899. RouBAUDi, C. Le dessin graphique dans I' enseignement secondaire. Paris, 1905. Dement, Georges. Guide de maitre chargi de V enseignement des exer- cices physiques dans les 6coles publiques et privies. Paris, 1900. 2'ne 6d. 167 pp. Manual d'exercices gymnastiques et de jeux scolaires. Paris, 1891. xviii+ 276 pp. Official publication of the Ministry of Public Instruction. Darbon, a. U enseignement de la morale au lycee. (Rapport prdsentfi au conseil acad6mique de Montpellier.) Rev, univ., 1907, I., pp. 41.3-423; II., pp. 11-25. L'edu/^ation morale dans I'universite (enseignement secondaire). Conf6renccs et discussions pr6sid6cs par M. Alfred Croiset. Paris, 1901. xii+ 241 pp. 428 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Afpre, Mgr. (I'archeveque de Paris). Memoir e sur I'enseignement philosophique adresse a la Chambre des Pairs. Paris, 1844. 40 pp. Belot, Gustave. La nouvelle situation des classes de philosophie. Rev. univ., 1902, II., pp. 351-366. Gaknier, Adolphe. Reponse au M4moire de M. I'Archeveque de Paris, sur I'enseignement philosophique. Paris, 1844. 22 pp. GoBLOT, Edmond. Sur I'enseignement philosophique en matMmatiques eUmentaires. Rev. univ., 1907, II., pp. 388-406. Pujo, Maurice. Contre la classe de philosophie de I'enseignement sec- ondaire. Lettre ouverte a, M. Jules Lemaitre. Paris, 1899. 29 pp. Vanderem, F., Th. Ribot, E. Boutroux, P. Janet et A. Fouillee, G. MoNOD, G. Lacaze, H. Marion, G. Lyon, L. Marillier, Abbe Clamadieu, J. Bourdeau, H. Taine. Pour et contre I'enseigne- ment philosophique. Extrait de la Revue Bleue. Paris, 1894. 178 pp. V. EDUCATION OF GIRLS Appell, Paul. Voeu depose hors session relatif A I'enseignement secon- daire des jeunes JUles. Rev. int., 1906, II., pp. 210-212. Association pour I'enseignement secondaire des filles. Programme des cours de la Sorhonne, 1868. Paris, 1868. 15 pp. Bachellery, Josephine. Lettres sur I'iducation des femmes. Paris, 1848. vii+ 237 pp. Camfan, Mme. De I'Mucation, suivi des conseils aux jeunes filles, d'un theatre pour les jeunes personnes, et de quelques essais de morale. Paris, 1824. 2 v. Lettres de deux jeunes amies, eUves d'Ecouen. Paris, 1824. 194 pp. DuGARD, M. Secondary education of girls in France. Proc. Nat. Ed. Assoc, 1893, pp. 211-216. DuRUY, V. Enseignement secondaire des filles. Instructions aux rec- teurs, 30 octobre 1867. Circulaires et instructions ofEcielles, pp. 545-548. Gonnet, a. Le diplome defin d' etudes dans les lycees et colleges de jeunes filles. Rev. univ., 1905, II., pp. 1-18. GuERLAC, Othon. Education of women in France. Ed. Rev., XXXV., pp. 272-284. Levasseur, Emile. Association pour I'enseignement secondaire des jeunes filles (1902-1903). Ouverture des cours dans V amphitheatre de chimie d la Sorbonne, le 15 novembre 1902. Paris, 1902. 10 pp. APPENDIX M 429 I/ycees de jeunes filles. 25 ans de discours, avec une preface par Mak- CELiN Berthelot. Parfs, 1907. xi+ 351 pp. Marion, Henri. L'Mi^cation des jeunes filles. Paris, 1902. x+ 380 pp. L' education des jeunes filles. Extraits de la livre sur Etudes de psychologic feminine. Rev. univ., 1902, I., pp. 231-249. Moll-Weiss, Augusta. Les internals de jeunes filles dans I'avenir. Rev. univ., 1902, II., pp. 232-240. Plan d'Studes et programmes de I'enseignement secondaire des jeunes filles. Arrets du 27 juillet, 1897. Paris, 1908. lvi+ 96 pp. Port-Royal du S. Sacrement, Les constitutions du monastkre de. Mens, 1665. 1 + 274 pp. Programs of admission conditions for the various examinations : Concours d'agregation et certificats d'aptitude a I'enseignement secondaire. Collection Delalain, No. 12. L'ecole normale secondaire de Sevres, 1908. No. 63. Rtglements et arretes concernant les maisons d' education de filles. Extrait du Recueil des actes administratifs, prefecture du departement de la Seine, pp. 479-498. Paris, 1844. RoMiEU, Mme. Marie. (Marie Sincere, pseud.) Les pensionnats de jeunes filles. Paris, 1854. 2^^ 6d. 94 pp. See, Camille. Lyc^es et collhges de jeunes filles. Documents, rapports, et discours. Decrets, arretes, circulaires, etc. Paris, 1900. 7°^® 6d. xli+ 1317 pp. Vingt-cinqui^me anniversaire de la creation des lycees de jeunes filles, in L'enseignement secondaire des jeunes filles, 1907, I., pp. 241-335. See also these periodicals : L'enseignement secondaire des jeunes filles. Revue mensuelle, fondle et dirigee par Camille S^e. Paris, 1882-. Revue de l'enseignement des femmes. Paris, 1845-1848. VI. TRAINING OF TEACHERS Chabot, Charles. Professional training of teachers in France. See Congress of Arts and Sciences, Universal Exposition, St. Louis, 1904. VIII., pp. 176-191. Cledat, L. Les nouvelles ecoles normales. Rev. int., 1907, 1., pp. 157- 161. La reforme de l'ecole normale sup&rieure et les universiUs de pro- vince. Rev. int., 1906, I., pp. 46-60. 430 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS DuGARD, M. De la formation des iiiaUres de V enseignement sccondaire en France et d V Granger. Paris, 1902. x+ 242 pp. DuPUY, Paul. Le centenaire de I'icole normale (1795-1S95). Paris, 1895. xlviii+ 699 pp. L'^cole normale. X propos de I'fcole normale et de la reorganisation des facultes de province. Par un 6leve de r6cole normale sup6rieure. Rev. int., 1907, I., pp. 230-240. Ecole normale sup&rieure. Stance du mercredi 23 novembre 1904. Rev. int., 1904, II., pp. 481-495. GiRARD, Paul. L' enseignement pedagogique d, Vicole normale sup6rieure. Rev. univ., 1903, II., pp. 205-217. KiRKMAN, F. B. Position of teachers in the state secondary schools for boys in France. English Board of Education, Special Reports on Educational Subjects. II., pp. 626-633. Langlois, Ch. V. La pr¶tion d V enseignement sccondaire, au MusSe pedagogique. Rev. p^lagogique, l'.)().>, IT., pp. 505-517. La preparation professionnelle d I'enscigncmcnt sccondaire. Paris, 1902. 223 pp. Lanson, Gustave. La reorganisation de I'icole normale. Rev. de Paris, 1903, VI., pp. 520-536. Lton, Georges. La pedagogic et I'ecole normale en 1902. Introduction d Enseignement et religion, etudes philosophiqv£s. Paris, 1907. 239 pp. Masse. La reforme de I'ecole normale. Rapport du budget de Vinstruc- tion publique, 1905, pp. 119-127. MoNOD, Gabriel. La pedagogic historique d I'ecole normale superieure en 1888. Rev. int., 1907, II., pp. 199-207. Perrot, Georges. La pedagogic d I'ecole normale, 1902-1903. Rev. int., 1902, II., pp. 516-523. Picavet, Francois. Reforme des agregations. Rev. int., 1904, II., pp. 10-26. Salmon, Lucy M. Training of teachers in France. Ed. Rev., XIX., pp. 383-404. Seignobos, Charles. La preparation pedagogique des professeurs de I' enseignement sccondaire. Rev. univ., 1902, II., pp. 455-462. Tannery, Jules. L' enseignement pedagogique d I'ecole normale su- peneure. Rev. int., 1902, I., pp. 304-314. APPENDIX N BOYS' SECONDARY SCHOOLS WEEKLY PROGRAM REGULATIONS OF 1902, 1905, 19121 Preparatory Division I Year II Year French 9 Moral and civic instruction ^ Writing 2^ Simple history stories ... 1 Geography 1| Arithmetic 3 Nature study 1 Drawing 1 Singing 1 Total 20 French 7 Moral and civic instruction ^ . . Modern languages .... 2 Writing 2| Simple history stories ... 1 Geography 1§ Arithmetic 3 Nature Study 1 Drawing 1 Singing 1 Total 20 1 Arrites, May 31, 1902, July 27, 28, and Sept. 8, 1905, and Nov. 15, 1912, Plaii (deludes et programmes d' miseignemeiit dans les lycics et colleges de gnrgons, Delalain Freres, 1913, pp. xix-xxii. 2 This instruction will be given in connection with the instruction in French, history, and geography, and is included in the time assigned to these subjects. 432 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS Elementary Division (Eighth and seventh forms) HRS. French 7 Moral and civic instruction ^ Modern languages 2 Writing 1 History and geography 3 Arithmetic 4 Nature Study 1 Drawing 1 Singing 1 Total 20 FIRST CYCLE (Length, four years; from the sixth to the third form inclusive) Division A Division B Sixth Form French and Latin . . Modern languages . . History and geography Arithmetic Natural science . . . HRS. 10 5 3 2 1 Drawing 2 French Writing Modern languages . . History and geography Arithmetic Natural science . . . 1 5 3 3 2 Drawing 2 Total , 23 Total Fifth Form 22 French and Latin . . Modern languages . . History and geography Arithmetic Natural science . . . Drawing 10 French 6 5 Writing 1 3 Modern languages 5 2 History and geography ... 3 1 Mathematics and mechanical 2 drawing 4 Natural science 1 Drawing 2 Total 23 Total 22 1 This instnietion will be given in connection with the instruction in French, history, and geography, and is included in the time assigned to these subjects. APPENDIX N 433 Fourth Form With Without Greek Greek Literary instruction: ethics, French, Latin . . 10 Greek 3 Modern languages .... 3 History and geography . . 3 Mathematics 2 Natural science 1 Drawing 1 Totals 23 22 Literary instruction: ethics, French .... 6 Modern languages. ... 4 History and geography . 3 Mathematics, book-keep- ing, and mechanical drawing 4§ Physics and chemistry . . 1§ Natural science .... 1 Drawing ^ 2 Total 22 Third Form With Without Greek Greek Literary instruction: ethics, French, Latin . . 11 11 Greek 3 .. Modern languages .... 3 4 History and geography . . 3 3 Mathematics 3 3 Drawing 1 2 Totals 24 23 Literary instruction: ethics, French .... 7 Modern languages ... 5 History and geography . 3 Mathematics and mechan- ical drawing 5 Physics and chemistry . 1| Natural science .... 1 Book-keeping ^ Drawing 2 Total 241 1 One hour for mechanical drawing. ^ One optional hour of {tactical book-keeping in those schools where it is deemed advisable, the decision being made by the professors in general meeting. 434 FRENCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS ^ 1 H "5 O M 0-43 212 (N •T-((N'-i-<**iOCO(M(NiM T*H CO • • (N (N 10 CC (N (N