Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/549

 EDUCATION.] schools and colleges, to judge and remove incompetent teachers, in short, to watch over the concerns and interest 5 of public instruction in all its branches. Attached to this council are 19 inspectors-general, who visit the principal establishments in the country for the purpose of inquiring into their management and the way in which instruction is conducted. Academies. The whole territory of France is divided into 16 academies, or districts of educational jurisdiction, a list of which is appended. Academies. Departments included in them. PAULS Seine, Cher, Eure-ct-Loir, Loh-et-Cher, Loirct, Marne Aix..., Oisc, Scinc-ct-Mame, Scinc-et-Oise. .Bouches-du-Klio ne, Basses-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Corse, Var, Vaucluse. BKSAX^ON- Doubs, Jura, Hautc-Saone. BORDEAUX Gironde, Dordogne, Landcs, Lot-et-Garonne, Basscs- Pyre ne es. CAEN Calrados. Euro, Manche, Ornt, Sarthe, Scine-InfeYieure. CHAMBKT Savoie, Hautc-Savoie. ( [.KKMONT-FEKUANi&amp;gt;...Puy-de-D6me, Alliw, Cantnl, Corrfezc, Crcusc, Haute-Loire. DIJON Cote-d Or, Aube, Haute-Manic, Nifevre, Tonne. DOUAI N ord, Aisne, Ardennes, Pas-dc -Calais, Sommc. GRENOBLE Isfere, Ilnutes-Alpes, Ardbclie, Drome. LYONS Rhone, Ain, Loire, Saone-et-Loire. Moxri Ki.i.iKU Ildrault, Aude, Card, Lozeie, Pyre ne cs-Orientalcs NANCY Meurthe-et -Moselle, Meuso, Vosgcs. POITIEKS Vienne, Cliarente, Charente-Infe rieure, Indre, Indre-ct- Loire, Dcux-Sfevres, Vendee, Haute-Vienne. RENTES Ille-et-Vilaine, COtes-du-Nord, Finistfcrc, Loire-Infc rieure, Muine-et-Loire, Mayennc, Moibihan. TOULOUSE Ilaute-Garonne, Aridgc, Aveyron, Gcrs, Lot, Hautcs- Pyrdndes, Tarn, Tani-et-Garonne. At the head of each academic is a rector, assisted by an academical council, and by the inspectors of the district. His business is to superintend all the schools, colleges, and faculties within the bounds of his educational province, and to serve as the organ of communication between the inferior officials and the minister of public instruction. In the academie of Paris the rector is the minister himself, who is represented by a vice-rector. The rectors have not, how ever, the entire management of all educational matters, for primary schools are mostly under the superintendence of the prefect and of a departmental council. Superior education is given by faculties of theology, law, medicine, sciences, and literature. The faculties of theo logy are established at Paris, Aix, Bordeaux, Lyons, Rouen, Montauban ; those of law at Paris, Toulouse, Aix, Caen, Dijon, Poitiers, Rheinis^Bordeaux, Grenoble, Douai, Nancy; those of medicine at Paris, Montpellier, Nancy ; those of sciences at Paris, Besan^on, Rennes, Caen, Bordeaux, Clermont, Poitiers, Dijon, Grenoble, Lille, Nancy, Lyons, Marseilles, Montpellier, Toulouse ; and those of literature at Paris, Aix, Besanc^on, Bordeaux, Caen, Clermont, Dijon, Douai, Grenoble, Lyons, Montpellier, Poitiers, Rennes, Toulouse, Nancy. The faculties not only impart superior teaching, but are also examining bodies, which confer tho degrees of bachelor, licentiate, and doctor. The teaching work of the faculties is in some measure shared by 3 superior schools of pharmacy established in the same towns as the faculties of medicine, 22 preparatory schools of medicine and pharmacy, 5 preparatory schools of science and literature (at Angers, Lyons, Nantes, Chambery, Rouen), and by the tfcole pratique des Hautes$tude$, founded in 18G8 at Paris. Secondary education is given in 80 lycees, attended by about 37,000 pupils, and 244 colleges communatix, with an attendance which is not much inferior in number to that of the lycees ; but the organization of many of them is still in an imperfect state. The third and lowest stage of national instruction is that of the ecoles primaires or primary schools. Every commune of 500 in habitants has to maintain a boys and a girls school. The law is not yet very strictly observed ; in 1871 the total number of schools was 51,881, of which 20,374 were boys schools, 14,837 schools for girls, and 16,G70 schools attended by girls and boys together. Primary instruction steadily gains ground in France, although it is neither gratuitous except when parents cannot pay for it nor obli- 513 gatory by law. In 1827 only 420 out of 1000 could read ; in 1857 this average had risen to 675, and in 1867 to 775. The following table was published in 1873 by the general bureau of statistics : Age. Can neither write nor read. Can read Can read and write. Instruc tion not ascer tained. Total. 3,. r &amp;gt;40,101 2,082,338 7,702,362 292,348 1,175,125 2,305,130 1.M.595 5,458,097 13,073,057 38,042 70,721 214,00,5 4,022,086 8,786,281 23,294,654 From C to 20 years Above 20 vcarg 13,324,801 3,772,603 18,682,749 322,768 36,102,921 To provide the staff of teachers necessary for these edu- Training cational establishments, training schools (ecoles normales) schools, have been instituted. The ecoles normales primaires are now 90 in number, 79 for tho training of male and 11 for the training of female teachers. The ecole normale superi- e/tre, founded by the decree of the 9th Brumaire, year III. (30th October 1794), provides for the education of profes sors for the lycees orfacultes; it maintains 100 students, who, during a course of three years, not only attain considerable proficiency in literature and science, but are trained to the art of communicating their knowledge to others in an attract ive and interesting form. It is not, however, necessary to have gone through the course of study of the ecole normale to become a secondary teacher or a faculty professor ; the condition required of students of the ecole normale, as of others, is to pass a series of examinations, and to acquire the degrees of bachelier, licencie, and agrege, the last being the only one conferring rights of membership in the uni versity. The law of the 21st June 1865 has hid down in the lyce&quot;es and communal colleges a special course of teaching, more especially intended to prepare pupils for commercial and industrial pursuits ; it is caled t enseif/nement secondaire special. A normal school, for the training of teachers who choose this line, was founded at Cluny (Saone-et-Loirc) in 1868. Private Educational Establishments. The systematic provision Private thus made by the state for public instruction in France is supple- ami mented in various vays. Not only may any one who possesses special the diploma of bachelor engage in the work of primary and secondary schools, education on his own account, but recently by a special law sanction has been given to the existence of institutions for superior instruc-
 * ion distinct from those of the state. The .Roman Catholic clergy

iiave not been slow to take advantage of this new state of things, and have established universities in which students may get their degrees, as in the old university of France. In 1872 there were, besides the Governmental schools, 657 establishments for second ary education directed by laymen, and 278 by priests, the latter giving instruction to 34,000 pupils, whilst the 657 others were only attended by 43,000. There are other high class schools devoted to various special purposes, and not in all cases depending on the minister of public instruction. Such are the Ecole des chartcs, in which twenty students are trained during a three-years course to study the documents and historical remains of the Middle Ages ; tho Ecole des langucs oricntalcs ; the Ecole des beaux-arts, which every year sends to Rome its best pupil in each of the departments o f .minting, sculpture, and architecture ; the Ecole de Rome ct Athincs, where young savants find the opportunity of studying antiquities in the two great capitals of the ancient world ; several special schools for the teaching of drawing and mathematics applied technique, in which the highest scientific education is imparted to young men who have passed a very difficult preliminary examination, and who wish to prepare themselves for the ordnance office, for ?ngineering, or for higli positions in the different branches of admin- stration ; the Ecole sptcialc militaire, established at St Cyr for officers ; the Ecole de cavalcrie, at Saumur ; the Pry tan^e militaire, at ^a Fleche, in which gratuitous instruction is given to sons of officers and non-commissioned officers ; the Ecole d application d etat-major, or the training of staff officers ; the Ecole d application de Vartillcric t du genie, at Fontainebleau, formerly at Metz, where old students sf the polytechnic school receive a more special and developed nstruction ; the naval school, at Brest ; the Ecole d 1 application du genie maritime, for students of the polytechnic school who arc ntendedfor maritime engineering; the Ecole d hydrographie, for sea- captains ; the Ecole desponts ct chaussccs, which is under the minister IX. - 65
 * o the industrial arts at Paris, Lyons, and Dijon ; the Ecole poly-