In every commune where a public maternal school exists, one or more committees of women are formed to keep watch over its sanitary and hygienic conditions, the general appearance of the establishment, and the disposition of funds or gifts, legacies, etc., received for the benefit of the children. The mayor presides over these committees. Communes are not obliged by law to found and maintain maternal schools, and it is only in communes having above 2,000 inhabitants, of which at least 1,200 are concentrated in one locality, that these schools are included in the number of public primary schools entitled to support by the commune and to State subventions. These schools are better adapted to cities than to rural districts. A little more than 10 per cent. of the communes report at least one infant school. Infant classes are under similar regulations; they are but annexes either to primary elementary or to infant schools, between which they form an intermediate degree. The usual age of attendance is four to seven years. 2. The elementary primary schools are for the instruction of children from six to thirteen years of age, that is, the obligatory school period. In communes having neither infant schools nor infant classes, the age for admission to the elementary primary schools is lowered to five years; it is raised to seven where there is an infant class. Children above thirteen years of age can not be admitted to the elementary primaries without special permission. The elementary primary schools may be for boys only, in which case the instruction is given by men; for girls only or mixed as to sex, in both of which cases the instruction is given by women. The master of a boys' school may be assisted by his wife, sister, or mother; under certain circumstances the departmental council may au thorize a man to take charge of a mixed school, provided it has a mistress of sewing and cutting. Every commune must be provided with at least one public primary school. The departmental council, however, with the consent of the minister may authorize two or more communes to unite for the maintenance of a school. When a commune or a number of united com munes have 500 inhabitants or more, they must provide a special school for girls, or in its place a mixed school, if the departmental council is agreed. The distribution of pupils among separate and mixed schools in 1887 was as follows: According to the law of March 20, 1883, a commune is bound to provide a school not only in each chief town, but also in all villages or cen ters of population remote from towns or separated from each other by three kilometres and containing at least twenty children of school age. Of the 36,121 communes only 80, or 0.2 per cent., were without primary schools in 1886–87. 3. Superior primary instruction is given either in superior primary schools or in "complementary courses." The establishment takes the latter name if it is annexed to an elementary primary school, and the former if it has a distinct location and is under a separate direction. The complementary courses comprise one or two years. The superior primary schools may comprise two or more years, and must be provided. with as many rooms as there are classes. They are called full course schools (écoles de plein exercice) when they comprise at least three years' study. As regards the character of the studies pursued, these schools belong to one of two classes, according as they have or have not provision for industrial or technical training. Schools of the former class admit pupils who are provided with the certificate of primary studies. The latter are called professional schools. No pupils under 12 years of age are admitted to these, and applicants not provided with the certificate of primary studies must pass an entrance examination. In these schools, the greater part of the time is devoted to manual work and to scientific and technological instruction with their commercial and industrial applications. They are under the double authority of the minister of public instruction and the minister of commerce. Instruction is gratuitous in the superior primary schools; bursaries, or scholarships, are maintained in them by the State, by the departments, and by the communes respectively. 4. The schools of manual apprenticeship are designed to develop in young people who are destined for manual pursuits the necessary skill and technical knowledge. They differ from the professional schools described in the foregoing paragraph in this respect, that the technical training is directed to special industries forming a veritable apprenticeship, whereas in the former, the training is directed to the development of a taste for manual work, accuracy of the eye, manual dexterity, and practical ideas of divers orders, forming altogether a suitable preparation for apprenticeship to some particular art. The schools of manual apprenticeship are also under the double authority of the minister of public instruction and the minister of com merce. The schools of these several classes may be either public or private. The following table shows the distribution of teachers and pupils in the different grades of schools, both public and private, in 1886-87. a Directors and assistants of superior primary schools tabulated with elementary primary teachers. Special teachers not included in the tabulation for elementary primary. Ratio of total enrollment to total population Ratio of enrollment (6 to 13) to population (6 to 13) Per cent. 16 75 98 The superior primary schools specified in the foregoing table do not include either the technical (i. e., professional) or manual training schools, but simply those superior primary schools which are under the sole charge of the min ister of public instruction. Mannal training, it should be obser ved, however, is a feature of these schools also. In 1887 they numbered, including complementary courses, 559, of which 419 were for boys, and 140 for girls. Of the total number, 539 were public schools. These enrolled 80 per cent. of the 38,441 pupils registered in this class of schools. A large proportion of the students who pass through these schools enter at once upon some business career; many continue their studies in the government technical schools. The destinations of 10,730 young men who passed out of these schools in 1887 were found to be as follows: Three national professional schools have been established, at Voiron, at Vierzon, and at Armentières, respectively. Manual training schools have not as yet assumed a distinct character. Secular vs. church schools.-The classification of the schools as secular and church or denominational is important, since the relative numbers serve as an index of the support which the government policy commands. The movement in this respect from 1881-82 to 1886-87 is shown by the following statistics : It will be observed that the ratio of increase in private schools has been a little greater than in public schools, and that this increase in private schools has been wholly in those classed as religious. Nearly seven-tenths of this increase is made up of schools for girls. It is interesting to note, also, that the majority of schools having only one or two classes are secular. Schools having from three to seven classes are about evenly divided between the secular and religious, while the majority of the schools having more than seven classes are religious. The precise classification in this respect is as follows: The increase of graded schools is indicated by the fact that whereas, in 1881-82, there were 138 class rooms to every 100 public schools, in 1886-87 the proportion stood 144 to 100. Of the schools with a single teacher, 485 had more than 80 children each, and in the schools with two or more teachers, 273 class rooms had more than 80 children each. Buildings and grounds.-The state imposes upon the commune the obligation of providing suitable housing for primary schools. The size and seating capacity of the schoolhouse depend upon the population of the locality, but the following requirements are of universal application. The site must be healthful, well drained, accessible, and of ample extent. The regulations call for from 8 to 10 square metres per scholar. While this basis is not always adopted, the surface dimen sions of the smallest sites are rarely less than 500 square metres. The schoolhouse must have a general hall large enough for assembling all the pupils, and class rooms according to requirements. The passage halls must be commodious, and suitable toilet rooms must be provided.1 The ideal of the regulations is not realized in all the communes, but the work of building and improvement steadily progresses. Naturally, in France as in our own country, it is in the cities that the finest speci mens of school architecture are to be found. The statistics of 1886-87 show a total of 60,518 schoolhouses, of which 47,147 belonged to communes, the remainder being rented or loaned. The matter of lighting has received much attention and is still the subject of investigation and of experiment. Two systems of lighting are at present employed; the unilateral and the bilateral, the choice being determined by the size of rooms. For class rooms the minimum surface space is 1.25 metres per scholar, and the volume at least 3 metres per scholar. As a rule, these dimensions are exceeded. Various modes of seating have been tried, but preference is given to that of double desks arranged in rows with aisles between. The class room generally seats forty-eight or fifty, and has a platform facing the pupils' desks. There is also space for a library, cabinets, etc. Besides the schoolhouse proper, the grounds include a covered court which may be used as a gymnasium or for workshops, an open space for recreation, a garden, the teacher's house, when this is supplied, and suitable outbuildings. School sessions.-The school year begins in October and lasts eleven months for primary schools. Beside the vacation of a month, the schools are closed on certain days, festivals of the church and of the nation and the day immediately following each. The recognized holidays are New Year's, the last three days of Passion Week, and the national fête days. The law also allows local officers to grant two months' extra vacation under special conditions, as for example necessity of farm work. The schools are in session five days in the week, Thursday being a holiday. The school day is six hours, divided generally into two equal sessions with an intermission between. As a rule, each class attends the entire day, but where it is desirable, arrangements for half time attendance are allowed. Conduct of studies and discipline.-The organization of the schools being determined, as we have seen, and a vigorous supervision maintained by the state, comparatively little freedom would seem to be left to teachers. This, however, is not exactly the case. Relieved of all responsibility with respect to extraneous matters, they are able to concentrate their energies upon the work of instruction and discipline. This brief epitome of requirements is drawn from an elaborate article by Marcel Lambert, government architect; sec, Recueil des monographies pédagogiques publiées a l'occasion de l'exposition universelle de 1889. Tome VI. |