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 FRANCE

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FRANCE

The very idea of neutrality in education, to which anti-religious teachers have not always consistently ad- hered, is nowadays altogether out of favour with many members of the pedagogical profession. In 1904 the teachers of the department of the Seine advocated, almost unanimously, in place of "denominational neu- trality" {neutrality coy^jessionelle), which they said was a lie (un mensonge), the establishment of a "critical teaching" {enseignement critique), which, in the name of science, should abandon all reserves in regard to denominational susceptibilities. But that neutrality was something very closely resembling a lie, is just what Catholic orators were saying in 1882; antl thus the evolution of the primary school, and these fits of candour in which the very truth of the matter is con- fessed, justify, after a quarter of a century, the fears expressed by Catholics at the very outset. It is to be feared, moreover, that this substitution of critical for neutral teaching will very soon issue in the introduc- tion, even in the primary schools, of lessons on the history of religions which shall serve as weapons against Christian revelation; such a step is already being advocated by the Freemasons and by certain groups of unbelieving savants, and herein lies one of the gravest perils of to-morrow. Bills introduced by MM. Briand and Doumergue impose heavy penalties on fathers whose children refuse to make use of the irreligious books given them by their teachers, and render it impossible for parents to prosecute teachers whose immoral and irreligious instruction may give them reason for complaint. These bills, which are soon to be discussed, are now (June, 1909) producing a very painful impression.

(b) Laicization of the Teaching Staff. — The Law of 30 October, 1886, drawn and advocated by Ren^ Goblet, called for the laicization of the teaching staff in the public schools. In the schools for boys this laicization has been an accomplished fact since 1891, since which date no Brother of the Christian Schools has acted either as principal or as teacher in public primary instruction. The difficvilty of forming a body of female lay teachers impeded the process of laicizing the public schools for girls; but this, too, has been complete since 1906, except in some few communes, where it is to be effected before the year 1913.

Denominational Primary Instruction. — From the eleventh century onwards, history .shows unmistak- able traces, in most provinces of France, of small schools founded by the Church, such as were recom- mended by Charlemagne's capitulary in the year 789. The ever-increasing number of schools, writes Guibert de Nogent in the twelfth century, makes access to them easy for the lumiblest. The seventeenth cen- tury saw the foundation of a certain number of teaching institutes; the Ursulines, who between the year 1602 and the Revolution, founded 289 houses, and who numbered 9000 members in 1792; the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1630, recognized in 1657 ; the Congregation of Notre-Dame, founded by St. Peter Fourier, recognized in 1622; the Brothers of the Christian Schools, called, in the eigh- teenth century. Brothers of Saint- Yon, founded oy St. John Baptist de la Salle, and who had 123 classes in 1719, when their founder died, and 550 classes in 1789. In the last twenty years a large number of monographs which have been given restricted publi- cation in the provinces, have presented historical evidence of the care which the Church was devoting to primary education during the period immediately pre- ceding the Revolution. At the beginning of the Consulate, Fourcroy, anti-religious as he was, alarmed, to use his own words, at the " almost total ineffective- ness of the primary schools" (nuUite presque lotnle), recommended it as a useful expedient, to confide a portion of the primary teaching to the clergy and to revive "the Institute of the Brothers, which had formerly been of the greatest service". In 1S05 the

Brothers, having re-established a mother-house at Lyons, were solicited to furnish teachers in thirty-si.x towns. The Government of the First Empire author- ized in ten years 880 communities or establishments of teaching sisters; the Restoration, less generous, au- thorized only 599; the Monarchy of July, only 389. LTntil 1833 these congregations could exercise their functions only in schools controlled by the State, for the University would allow no infringement of its monopoly. The magnificent tribute to the educational activity of the clergy which Guizot uttered during the debates on the Law of 1833 was endorsed by the law itself, which, partially suppressing the monopoly of the University, established the principle of free pri- mary teaching. The Law of 25 March, 1850, held "letters of obedience", given by religious associations to their members, to be equivalent to the diplomas given by the State, which legally qualified their re- cipients to be teachers. Between 1852 and 1860 the Empire issued 884 decrees recognizing congregations or local establishments of teaching sisters; from 1861 to 1869 — the period of change which followed the Italian War — while Duruy was Minister of Public In- struction, only 77 of these decrees were issued.

The Law of 28 March, 1882, deprived the " letters of obedience" of all their value, by providing that every teacher must hold a diploma {brevet) from one of the government jurys, or examining boards. The congre- ganistes (see al)0ve) submitted to this formality. With this exception, the Law upheld the liljerty of private teaching. The Law of 1886 authorized may- ors and school inspectors {inspecteurs d'acadcmie) to oppose the opening of any private school on hy- gienic or moral grounds; in such cases the litigation was taken before one of the university councils {con- seils utiiversitairefs), in which the private educational establishments were represented by elected delegates, and the council gave a decision. These councils could also take disciplinary action against private teachers, in the form of censure or suspension of teaching licence. The masters and mistresses of private schools might give religious instruction in their schools, and were left free in the choice of methods, programmes, and books, but the state authority, after consultation with the Council of Public In.strviction {Conseil Supfrieur de I'Instruction Publique), might prohibit the introduc- tion and use of books judged contrary to morality, the Constitution, or the law. An order of the Coimcil of State, dated 29 July, 1888, declared that neither departments nor communes had a legal right to grant appropriations, on their respective local budgets, to private schools; thus the establishment and support of these schools has fallen on Catholic charity exclusively. The communes can only give assistance to poor pupils in private schools as individuals.

A first, very serious, attack on the principle of free- dom of teaching was made by the Law of 7 July, 1904, which formally declared that " teaching of every grade and every kind is fcjrliidden in France to the congre- gations". The nicmliers of the autlu)rized congrega- tions, equally with the rest, fell lanler the disability thus created. Every Brother, every religious woman, who wished to continue the work of teaching was forthwith compelled to be secularized, and the courts remained, and still remain, competent to contest the legal value of such secularizations. A clause, the effect of which was transitory, was introduced empowering the Government, according to the needs of particular localities, to authorize for one or more years the con- tinuance of congri'yaniste schools; but M. Combes im- mediately closed 11, 404 out of 16,904 such schools, and it is decreed that in 1910 the last of the congrcga- niste schools shall have disappeared.

From time to time tlir Ministry publishes lists of conyrcgnniste schools which must be dosed definitively by the end of the school y<'ar, ami thus the Govern- ment in power is the sole arl)iter to accord or to refuse