English knowledge of the Bible.
Possibility of Future Neglect.
Unknown—with one exception. The belief that Hebrew literature is one book, and that it was written by God himself, and that the English translation of it has a peculiar sanctity, has given the English middle class a familiarity with that literature which is a superiority over the French middle class. The French Catholic laity only knows the Bible through l’Histoire Sainte and selections; the unbelievers take no interest in it. Nothing surprises an Englishman more than French ignorance of the Bible; yet it is probable that if ever the English cease to believe in the dogma of inspiration they will neglect the whole Bible as they neglect the Apocrypha now.
Scientific Education.
Usefully educated Young Men.
Sacrifice of the Superfluous.
Effects of the Loss of Literature.
Science has a stronger basis than literature in modern education because it offers useful results. In France the usefully educated young men are well educated in their way. The time spent on their education is strictly economised with a view to a definite result, and the effect of it is to turn out numbers of young men from the École Centrale and other schools who at once enter upon practical duties with a readiness that speaks much for the system. They are, however, so specially prepared that they have omitted the useless and the superfluous—“le superflu, chose si nécessaire!” In cutting away the superfluous the practical educator throws literature overboard. Well, without literature, it is still possible to sharpen the faculties and store the mind, but without literature education misses what is best and most interesting in the world. To a generation “usefully” educated Europe will be like a new continent destitute of memories and associations, a region where there are mines to be worked and railways to be made.
French Secondary Education.
As the French system of secondary education extends over the whole country, an account of the most important changes in it may be worth giving in a few words.