Free Secondary Education in France before and after the Revolution

BEFORE French Revolution, said Ferdinand Buisson in 1911, the of free instruction, that is, of education regarded as a service, was unknown. (1) He added that of course church had given free schooling to a few poor boys before 1789, and that of free education was now well established in France least for primary schools. It is well known that free education in secondary schools, at expense, was not realized in France until 1933. Buisson's statement was perhaps purposely guarded. He must have known, as Victor Duruy and other educational reformers had plainly said, that free education, or gratuite', was very comnmon before Revolution. As he put it, principle was not accepted as a public service. It was not for those who fought educational battles of early Third Republic to make troublesome concessions to church or ancien regime. It is true that if public meant service performed or financed by state, there was only a limited degree of free instruction before Revolution. Even today there may be those who think that education in France before 1789 was mainly for sons of privileged families. (The daughters do not enter into present discussion.) The fact seems to be, however, that 46% of pupils in colleges paid nothing for instruction in 1789, and that corresponding percentage fell to 16% in 1842 and to 10% in 1865. Instruction is taken here in literal sense; it does not include cost of board and room, or pension, for pupils who were pensionnaires. The percentages just given also refer only to secondary education in colleges of Old Regime and in lycees and colleges communaux, or secondary schools, of nineteenth century. The fact thus baldly stated is main conclusion of present paper. The purpose of paper is to examine means by which conclusion can be arrived at, to assess its validity, and to comment on some of its implications

Economic history · Pedagogy · Political science · Secondary education · Sociology · Diverse Education Studies and Reforms · Historical Education Studies Worldwide · History · Religious Education and Schools

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