The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-06-11
Educational Reform in France.

Educational Reform in France.
The remodeling of the so-called higher
education seems TO have been fairly inau-
gurated in France. The bill passed on the
seventh Of June by the Chamber of Depu-
ties, whereby the right OF comforting de-
grees was Withdrawn from ecclesiastical
seminaries, constitutes the first step in the
process of concentration. The time. more
over. is drawing near when by IA law of
1875 the Minister of Public Instruction is
required to submit project for the com
plete Reorganization of the educational in
stitutions controlled by the state. The
guiding principle of the future system may
probably he inferred from recent speech
of NJ. WADDINGToN, addressedto the learn
ed societies Of several departments, in
which he foreshudows the construction
out of the dispersed faculties and special
schools Of one or more powerful uulver-
stiles.
II is noteworthy fact that France,
which, mp to the close of the last century.
possessed a comprehensive and splendid
school of learning, should now be con-
spicuous for the absence OF veritable
university. That EcOlc dc Paris which.
from the days of ABELARD, had been ia
nous throughout Europe, aud upon which
the earliest German university, that of
Prague. founded in the fourteenth CEN
fury. had been avowediy and reverently
framed. no longer exists in n substantive
and coherent form The policy of spe-
calization initiated by the first NAPOLEON
has received during the last seventy-ive
years the most resolute and thorough APP
plication, aud the results are admitted TO
be unsatisfactory. or the now isolated
faculties of theology. literature. science.
law, and medicine, only the two last are
active and useful. while the others are
crippled in resources, and languish for
want of students. In striking contrast
with their inertuess stand the hard
worked special Institutions. the normal,
the polytechnic the school of fine arts, of
mines, of civil engineering. and, youngest
and most vigorous of them all. the So
called kcOlo DIES hdutos ttudts. These. now
| ever are but the dislocated members Of
vanished university, ana many Of them
are mere training establishments. giving
access to particular professions. 1t would
be vain 10 expect from them that superior
education conferred by broad literary ana
scientific culture.
What has been gained by the sacrifice Of
the university system TO professional and
special schools? Has France secured bet
ter artists, engineers, chemists, surgeons
jurists, and legislators than other countries
-Gcrmany for example, Relatively, at
all events, the prestige even of her special
ists has been lowered since the last CEN
fury. while. moreover. the public funds
have been lavisied on those institutions
which afford specific training. the means
ard appliances Of general scientific invcs-
tigltion ANA scholastic progress nave been
c.umpcd and sighted ia many ways. Thus
the >Orhcni!c Is rs RICUELIEU lett II. for
although the first stone Of II new building
was laid more than twenty years ago. the
second stone Is 10 this day wanting. The
Museum is said to bo So stnted for space
that many Of its galleries. instead of pre-
senting well ordered, accessible collections,
are become mere storeIooms crnmmed
with sterile wealth. The College de
France il no less stability lodged. There
are parts Of the edIlice where the health
OF the professors is compromised 10y the
nOxious atmosphere; the Laboratories for
the most part are narrow crypts without
light or air; while the now explOdedora-
torical "lccture is the only instrument
OF instruction anything like familiar con-
versational intercourse between master
and pupil being impracticablc.
While the profit rcaped from specializa-
ton even from technical standpoluts is
problcmatic, there is no doubt that the
supremacy of the system has been coin
cident with the decadence OF France rs a
focus Of science aud crudition. To that
country we are probably indebted for the
majority Of cardinal discoveries in mod
ern science, but III the new roads opened
by Frenchmen the Germans have out
stripped them. CUNIER for instance.
created comparative anatomy, yet III all
France there is only one chair devoted To
that science while there Is not a single
German university but alots TO il AT least
one professor. Philology, and especial V
the study of Oriental languages, which has
been so fruitful of results elsewhere, and
which was set on foot 10y Frenchmen,
would have been long ago utterly aban-
doned by them but for the new school
Of the higher studies" and the somewhat
lethargic College de France. Finally the
monuments of the old French literature
the chronicles, epics, and romances of the
idnguc doil-were first printed ana euci-
dated by Germans; and il is only recently
that a sense OF humiliation has called forth
the " Society Of old French texts"
There is ground for expecting in the near
future resurrection of the University of
Paris. Under its auspices the eminent men
now Insulated in distinct faculties and
| special schools will doubtless ComDrehcnd
and exercise the true function of educa-
ton Their efforts may then be coBrdi-
mated, and although pupils will continue to
prepare themselves specially for the several
professions the horizon which at present
bounds the students view will be notably
expanded, the demands of narrow voca-
ton being no longer suffered to preoccupy
the mind. 1t is certain that the present
system is condemned beyond appeal For
three-quarters Of Il century poor France,
in the studious endeayor to De practical"
has rushed from her so-called coUcqcs-