DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Secondary education in France forms a distinct administrative department in the ministry of public instruction, comprising the state lycées and communal colleges for boys and the institutions for girls, which latter have the same names, although differing entirely in their course of study.

SECONDARY SCHOOLS FOR BOYS.

The typical secondary schools are the lycées for boys, established by the State with the concurrence of the municipalities. Every effort is made by the Government to attract to these schools the most promising youth of the nation, and to surround them with influences that shall insure their devotion to the Republic. The solicitude of the Government in this respect has been greatly increased by the prestige of the private secondary schools, which have long flourished under clerical direction, and which are still in vigorous activity under new conditions resulting from the repression of the teaching orders.

The communal colleges follow nominally the same programmes as the lycées, but, as a rule, do not maintain the complete secondary course of study. Under recent regulations, the colleges are assuming more and more the character of local high schools similar to the higher primary schools. The lycées and colleges have, as a rule, both boarding and day pupils. The household régime of the lycées is strictly regulated by official orders; that of the colleges is either under municipal control or left to the principal as a private undertaking. In the latter case the college is subject to the evils attending poor, unendowed, boarding schools, aggravated by the presence of professors independent of and often at variance with the principal. There are indications that the local colleges and the higher primary schools may gradually be merged into one, save where there is demand. for a regional boarding school, liberally supported and amply equipped for the full course of secondary education.

STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

In 1908 there were 111 lycées for boys and 229 communal colleges, having a total registration of 96,289 students, as against 96,462 in 1907. Table 5 shows the number of students in the lycées of the Paris Academy as compared with the number in the provincial academies. Table 6 presents the corresponding statistics for the communal colleges. Table 7 brings into comparative view the enrollment in the different classes of secondary establishments, public and private, for specified years.

TABLE 6.-Enrollment in communal colleges for boys.

TABLE 7.-Distribution of students among the different classes of secondary schools for specified years.

a Report on the budget.--Service of public instruction, 1901, by M. Perreau, pp. 69, 70. The same, 1902, by Maurice-Faure, pp. 443-445. Statesman's Year Book, 1909, p. 751.

Report on the budget.-Service of public instruction, 1909, by Maurice-Faure, pp. 216-218, and Statesman's Year Book, 1909, p. 751.

Under recent changes, the petits séminaires, clerical schools preparatory for theological schools, have lost their distinctive character in France. The enrollment in these preparatory schools was 23,000 in 1899 and 22,328 in 1901.

INFERENCES FROM THE STATISTICS.

The particulars concerning the student body brought out in the foregoing tables are followed with intense interest by the Government because of the rivalry of the private secondary schools. It appears that there was a decrease of 173 pupils in the total registration in the public secondary schools in 1908 as compared with 1907. This loss was wholly in the colleges, the lycées having gained 215 pupils. The detailed statistics bring out the fact that the number of boarders in the lycées decreased by 346 as compared with an increase of 561 day students. The colleges lost both boarders and day students, viz, 144 and 241, respectively. The opinion is expressed that the slight decline in the enrollment of the public secondary schools results from other causes than the superior attractions of the private schools. Among these causes are noted, in particular, the stationary or declining population, the steady increase in the number of pupils attending the higher primary schools, and the multiplication of technical schools, which attract ever-increasing numbers from the middle classes. In view of these conditions, it appears that the term "secondary education" must be used to include varied types of schools. It has already been suggested in the Chamber of Deputies that in order to form a fair estimate of the extent of public secondary education and of the appropriations required for its support, the statistics of the traditional secondary schools and those of the higher primary schools and the technical schools of secondary grade should be included in one category.

CURRENT DISCUSSIONS.

The current discussions of secondary education center in the reform programme authorized by official decree of July 20, 1901, which went into operation in 1902. The decree modified both the internal regimen of the secondary schools (lycées) and their scheme of study. It is in the latter respect only that its results bear upon problems of universal interest. As in other European countries which follow the French classification, the term secondary education, in France, implies a complete course of general education, beginning at a very elementary stage and terminating with the bachelor's degree. After this, there remain for the student only the specialized courses of the university or the great technical schools, all of which are distinctively professional. The French scheme of secondary study covers, therefore, the work of the American high school with about two years of the course of our leading colleges.

THE PROGRAMME OF 1902.

Following a preparatory course of two years (intended for pupils 7 to 8 years of age), the lycée course proper is divided into two

cycles: The lower cycle covers four years and comprises a classical course and a nonclassical course; the upper cycle comprises three years. The programme for two of the three years is arranged in four parallel courses, as follows: (A) Classical course; (B) Latin and modern languages; (C) Latin and sciences; (D) sciences and modern languages. Following these two years is the class of philosophy and mathematics, each side comprising a classical and a nonclassical section. The bachelor's diploma is awarded to students who complete either one of the full secondary courses of instruction and pass the degree examination."

OPINIONS OF PROFESSORS AS TO THE RELATIVE VALUE OF THE SEVERAL COURSES OF STUDY.

The new programme has been in operation seven years, or the full period of the lycée course; hence, a considerable body of students have pursued their studies under its requirements. The current criticisms of the system have, therefore, a basis in experience. They reflect, moveover, conclusions reached from entirely different standpoints. Professors wedded to the old system of a single course with limited electives are found in agreement with young professors who at first welcomed the radical change. Parents are dissatisfied, the press has been full of the subject, and special meetings have been called under distinguished auspices, to discuss the apparent decline in scholastic standards and attainments. An examination into the actual working of the programmes was undertaken in 1907 by the Société pour l'Étude des Questions d'Enseignement Secondaire. Circular letters were addressed to leading professors of secondary education presenting specific questions under two main considerations, namely, that of the present state of literary studies in secondary education, and that of the general state of studies in the classes of letters, as indicated by the attainments of the students in the languages studied, by their general development, and by their power of attention and of concentrated effort.

The correspondents, by a large majority, give preeminence to classical studies as the instruments of mental discipline and culture; at the same time, there is an evident preference for the combination of Latin and sciences over Latin and the living languages.

As regards the entire scheme of study with its parallel courses and divergent aims, the opinions brought out by the inquiry are summed up in a few words: Overcrowded programmes, varied and often contradictory purposes, and precocious specialization. This view of the situation is emphasized by citations from individual professors.

For the full programmes of 1902, see Reports of the Commissioner of Education: 1902, Vol. I, pp. 687-693; 1907, Vol. I, pp. 149–150.

One professor observes:

It seems that secondary education would be in danger of becoming inferior to that given in the higher primary schools, unless it rests upon a solid basis of the study of Latin and Greek continued from the lower class, sixième, by means of the principal works (grammatical and literary) which make up a course of literary studies.

Another writes:

The classical studies have been declining for some time. To-day the word which designates them is merely a euphuism, a sad irony. Few pupils in Latin master the elements of the grammar, the greater part translate poorly, the compositions are often a mere tissue of platitudes."

The highest class of the lycée, i. e., philosophy and mathematics, was not particularly affected by the programme of 1902, and consequently the opinions of the professors of this class, on the questions submitted, are formed entirely from their observation of the students who come up from the different lower sections.

The professors of philosophy who replied to the circular inquiry complained of the lack of maturity, of judgment, and of reasoning power, and even of the orthography of the students who come to them. For the part of the course which is common to the classes of mathematics and philosophy, and particularly for the study of scientific methods, it is declared that the students who have followed the classical sections seem to be entirely wanting in comprehension of scientific principles. In this respect they are inferior to the students from the scientific section. This is attributed to the practical elimination of the sciences from the classical sections. One professor observes:

I would not say that it is desirable to increase the time given to science in those sections, but it is very important that the course should be so organized that the students may comprehend what science is, what the scientific spirit is, and what are the methods of thought required by scientific research. The little that they now acquire in these respects comes chiefly from the instruction in history; it would seem that the professors of science in the classes of letters might form a conception of their subject at once more philosophic and more truly educative.

This opinion illustrates the great change that has taken place in the conception of philosophy itself. Formerly the class of rhetoric was regarded as the best preparation for this study; to-day it requires that habit of mind which is promoted by the sciences, especially the sciences that lend themselves to mathematical expression. This idea is brought out by several professors who agree that the time. seems to have come "when philosophy should no longer be considered as a continuation of the class of rhetoric."

• See L'Enseignement secondaire. Organe de la société pour l'étude des questions d'enseignement secondaire, Nos. 11, 12, 15-20, 1908.