(10.) Manœuvres.
(11.) German Language.
(12.) Drawing.
The marks assigned and the influence allowed to each of these subjects are the same as those given in the final examination at St. Cyr. The entrance examination places the students in order of merit.
[THE STUDIES.]
All the details of the teaching are in the hands of a Council of Instruction, similar to that of the Polytechnic, and consisting of the General Commandant (President,) the Director of Studies, and three Military Professors, appointed yearly by rotation. Other professors and assistant professors, or officers of the staff of the school, may be called in to assist the Council, but (except in deciding the list at an examination) they have no votes.
This council does not interfere directly with the administration, the common work of the school. It draws up, indeed, the list of lectures, making any alterations in them, or in the books to be used which may seem from time to time desirable. But the officer accountable for the daily working of the school is the Director of Studies. His functions appeared to us to bring him into more constant connection with the pupils than was the case with the director of the Polytechnique. In all the schools the General Commandant and the Director of Studies live in the establishment; but at the Ecole d’Application and at St. Cyr the director “examines the methods of teaching, and proposes to the Council of Instruction any modifications or improvements which may raise or quicken the instruction. He inspects the work of the student-officers, both in and out of the school. He keeps a register of the marks given by the professors, and at the end of every three months brings the sum of them before the General Commandant in a detailed report.” In fact, his school functions are not modified, as at the Polytechnic, by a body of able professors.
As already stated, there are fifteen professors, without reckoning those of equitation, and thirteen of them are officers; but the system of Répétiteurs, which we have seen so influential at the Polytechnic, does not exist here.
[The hours of work] are, in summer, i.e. from May to November, from six to five, and in winter from eight to five, with the exception of one hour for breakfast and one hour for étude libre, which appears to mean very little indeed. From seven to nine hours daily may be taken as the amount, but (as is the case with most French schools) there is a constant change, not only in the subjects taught but in part of the work being out and part in doors, some really head work, much purely manual. There does not appear to be the same intense application as at the Polytechnic; indeed, the work for three months in the year is almost entirely in the open air, consisting in making plans and military sketches, either in the neighborhood of Paris or in the more distant parts of the country; eight months are devoted to the in-door studies, one month to the examinations.
The in-door studies are entirely conducted in the halls of study (Salles d’étude), in each of which we found parties of twelve or fifteen students seated. They are inspected constantly by the director or some of the professors. None of the regular work may be done in private. It seems everywhere a fixed belief in the French Military Schools that very much would be done idly and ill if done in private. This presents a striking contrast to the feeling on the subject in England.