A student's history of education

by Frank Pierrepont Graves

Secularization of the school system has also gradually taken place. First, the courses of study were secularized by the substitution of civic and moral instruction for religious (1881); next, the instructional force was secularized by providing that members of the clergy should no longer be employed in the public schools (1886), and by recognizing public school teachers as state officers (1889); and finally, the schools themselves were completely secularized by compelling the teaching orders to report to the state authorities (1902), and afterwards by closing the free schools directed by them (1904). Thus within a generation universal elementary education has been established in France and brought completely under state control.

The Secondary System.—As in Prussia, the secondary school system of France does not connect with the primary, but is quite separate and distinct ([Fig. 49]). The training has, since the time of Napoleon, been furnished Development of lycées and communal collèges. chiefly by the lycées and communal collèges. During the Restoration (1814-1830) and the reign of Louis Philippe (1830-1848) the lycées came to be called ‘royal colleges,’ but, with the advent of the second republic (1848-1851), the Napoleonic name was restored and the curricula were completely reorganized. By this revision some elasticity was introduced into the last three years of the lycée by a bifurcation into a literary and a scientific course, and during the third republic further elections were introduced, until finally (1902) four distinct courses were established. In the leading lycées and collèges special preparation is also afforded for schools like the military institution of St. Cyr or the Polytechnic of Paris; and in some there is a short course of three or four years in modern languages and sciences that in function closely approaches that of the German real-school.

Organization of lycées

The boys ordinarily begin the first ‘cycle’ of the lycée or collège at ten years of age, and while they may transfer from the primary system at this stage, in most lycées and collèges. and collèges there are preparatory classes to train the pupil from six to ten. The second ‘cycle,’ during which the differentiation in courses largely occurs, takes the pupil from fourteen to seventeen, and leads upon completion to the bachelor’s degree. Education in a lycée or collège is not gratuitous, but the income from tuition fees is so small as to cover but a small fraction of the cost, and the rest is contributed by the state. The communal collèges differ from the lycées in being local, and they are maintained by the communes, as well as by the state. They have not the same standing, and the same attainments are not required of their professors. Until 1880 there were no lycées and communal collèges for girls, and Secondary institutions for girls. convents and private schools furnished the only means of female education. Even now the usual course in the public secondary institutions for girls is two years shorter than in those for boys.

The Institutions of Higher Education.—More than one-half of the universities established in the various Suppression and restoration of the universities. ‘academies’ by Napoleon were suppressed as soon as the monarchy was restored. But about half a dozen were reopened in the reign of Louis Philippe, and were gradually improved by the addition of new chairs. Beginning in 1885, a number of decrees established a general council of faculties in each academy to coördinate the different courses and studies, and in 1896 a law was passed, which established a university in each of the sixteen ‘academies,’ except one. These universities differ greatly in size, but all grant the license, or master’s degree, Degrees. and the doctorate. The university degrees are ordinarily conferred in the name of the state and carry certain definite rights with them, but of late years a new type of degree, ‘doctorate of the university,’ is granted upon easier terms to foreigners more desirous of the degree than of its state privileges. In Paris, besides the university, there is the College of France, which still endeavors to foster freedom of thought (see p. 110), Other higher institutions. and a dozen other institutions of university grade, connected with some special line, have been established.

Centralized Administration of the French Education.—The centralization of education is even more complete in France than in Germany. The supreme head of the Duties of minister, system is the minister of education. He is immediately assisted by three directors, one each for primary, secondary, rectors, and higher education. A rector is in charge of each of the ‘academies,’ except Paris, where the minister nominally holds the office and a vice rector performs the duties. The rector has authority over all three fields of education in his academy, but does not appoint the prefects, teachers. That office is performed by the prefect, or head of each civil department, upon the recommendation of the academy inspector. There is also a departmental council, presided over by the prefect, that appoints delegates in each canton, to take charge of the school premises and equipment. Further organization is effected through the maintenance of a complete corps of and inspectors. general, academy, and primary inspectors.

Early Development of English Education.—In England the nationalization of education was delayed even longer than in France. This country was never controlled by enlightened despots, who could, as in Germany, force the growth of public educational sentiment, nor was it overwhelmed by the sweep of a great revolution, destroying, as in France, all opposition to popular progress. National education in England has gradually Slow evolution. grown out of the conflict of a number of elements represented in its society. It has been the product of a series of compromises among many different factors,—the church, state, economic conditions, private enterprise, and philanthropy. For several centuries education was regarded as a function of the church and family, and the Church monopoly. sentiment for universal training was retarded by the attitude of the upper classes, who strove to keep the poor in ignorance and to maintain the educational control of the church. This domination was first seriously challenged Philanthropic institutions. in the eighteenth century, and while the training then furnished through the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, the Sunday schools, and other philanthropic institutions (see [pp. 232] ff.), was rather meager, these organizations, together with the ‘monitorial’ instruction of the British and Foreign, and the National Societies (see [pp. 240] f.), greatly advanced the cause of universal education. And toward the close of the century there began to appear a new point of view, especially with men like Bentham, Blackstone, Robert Owen, and Adam Smith, who advocated universal education, compulsory attendance, and a national system of schools.

Educational Movements in the Nineteenth Century.—The theory of these great thinkers was somewhat in advance of the times, but, early in the nineteenth century, First signs of progress. social changes began to favor better educational opportunities. The Factory Act (1802) provided for the obligatory training of apprentices; Mr. Whitbread introduced (1807) a bill to permit the civic officials of any township or parish to establish schools for the poor wherever none existed; and Brougham, while losing his bill for popular education (1820), previously secured two commissions of inquiry on school facilities. In 1832, the passage of a reform bill, which largely increased the suffrage, aroused Parliament to the need of educating First parliamentary grant in 1833. the masses, and the next year the first grant, £20,000, was made for elementary education. This sum was to be used solely to aid in building schoolhouses for which subscriptions had been privately obtained, and so could be passed as a vote of ‘supply,’ without referring it to the House of Lords. For lack of a government organization of education, it was apportioned through the National and the British and Foreign Societies (see p. 240). Governmental activities constantly increased. In 1839 the annual grant was increased to £30,000 and allowed to be used for elementary education without restriction. In the same year, a separate committee Committee of Privy Council in 1839. of the Privy Council was designated to administer the educational grants; and in 1856 a Vice President was appointed to act as chairman of this educational committee. Then, in 1861, through another commission on popular education, it was arranged to base the grant to any school upon the results shown by ‘Payment by results’ in 1861. the pupils in the governmental examinations. This ‘payment by results’ was intended to increase efficiency, but, used as a sole means of testing, it soon proved narrowing and unfair, and had to be supplemented by the general opinion formed of each school by the inspectors. Yet it somewhat increased the efficiency of the work.

Agitation in behalf of universal education continued, and organizations like the ‘Lancashire Public School Association’ of Manchester (1847) and ‘The League’ of Birmingham (1869) spread rapidly through the manufacturing centers. And when the franchise was further extended in 1868, the necessity for preparing millions of the common people for new responsibilities in public In 1870 establishment of ‘board schools’, supported by local ‘rates,’ as well as grants. affairs led in 1870 to the passage of the epoch-making bill of William E. Forster. Under this act ‘board schools,’ or institutions in charge of a board chosen by the people of the community, were to be established wherever a deficiency in the existing accommodations required it. The ‘voluntary,’ or denominational schools, most of which belonged to the Church of England, were to continue to share in the government grants upon equal terms with the new institutions, but the latter had also the benefit of local ‘rates.’ Elementary instruction in all schools had to be open to government inspection, and the amount of the grant was partly determined by the report of the inspectors. The board schools were forbidden to allow “any religious catechism or religious formulary, which is distinctive of any particular denomination;” and religious instruction in either type of school had to be placed at the beginning or end of the school session, so that, under the ‘conscience clause’ of the act, any scholar might conveniently withdraw at that time.

This act of 1870 was, of course, the magna charta of national education, and has become the basis of much school legislation. The compromise in the bill that allowed the voluntary schools, with their sectarian instruction, to continue receiving government support, however, prevented a logical and consistent system from being established. The dual system of elementary schools continued to be developed in a variety of enactments. Compulsory attendance, Compulsory attendance laws were passed (1876, minimum age, 1880), the minimum age of exemption was set first at free tuition, eleven years of age, and then raised to twelve (1893, 1899), and an extra grant, to take the place of tuition fees (1891), made it possible for most schools to become and Board of Education. absolutely free. Finally (1899), there was created a central Board of Education, which assumed the functions of the Committee of Privy Council on Education and similar agencies for managing educational interests.