Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-07-11
FRANCES EDUCATION.
IN SOME PARTICULARS FAR AHEAD
OF THAT AMERICA. .

| nical Scholastic Paris
Primary schools.
! General education in France is 'sfully as
thorough and grasuitous as that of the
United States, and in some particulars far
ahead Of it, mainly SO in the system OF prac-
teal education.
Commencing with the kindergarten, the
primary schools, the intermediate schools,
drawing and art schools, all have the Same
manifest and outspoken tendency Of raising
the growing population into a people Of
skilled and we'll educated workmen who, By
their superior training and intellectual out
fitting, win be better able to fight misery and
poverty than at any period of the world be-
fore All the instruction, tools, books, sta
tionery-to the very poor even food and
clothing-are given free OF charge, 50 that
school becomes an abode Of pleasure and
dispenser of comforts to the poor children
whose parents are not able to provide them
with any of these blessings"
France spends 800 600, 0Oof & year to give
its growing generation intellectual advance
nent In addition to this the ministers Of
war and of commerce contribute large sums
for special schools, and Paris spends for
municipal schools 80, coo ,oo0f., which is Eve
times more money than was spent for this
purpose in the time Of the empire. Mr.. Soho
enhof says ''the school systems Of other ma
lions may be as complete in their educational
facilities, but nowhere excepting in Switzer-
land and America is free instruction SO sys-
tematically carried out as in France =
Nowhere are industrial education and art
education made, so to speak, an organic
If ,o1a af liz
ton" 1t begins with manual training, and
with it Is combined object teaching.
AIM OF THE GOVERNMENT.
This seems to be the aim of the government
General education at frst, and in time spe-
cial instruction.
81 To accustom the child to know the tools,
TO understand their use and to amuse him as
much as possible with sketchings, outlinings,
modelling and hand work. 2. To assist in the
creation Of apprentice schools in industrial
centers to the end of giving to the pupils who
follow the instruction dexterity in the use of
the hand and other corresponding knowledge
to prepare them for entering the Ecole des
Arts ct Meters or manufacturing establish
ments. g. To contribute to the expense of
tools and machinery used in the superior,
primary and other schools preparing for the
technical schools. 4. To raise the standard
of admission to the Ecols des Arts ct Meters
by the greater efficiency given By these sec
ondary primary schools with workshop prac-
tice connected. 5. To assist the superior To-
cal schools in the support of specially deter
mined industries Of the district. g. To bring
the principal schools to the highest degree Of
technical and scientific perfection by adding
new courses Of complementary exercises of
special application, and to support and en-
courage as much as possible industrial socie-
ties who maintain special public courses in
the different industrial centers Of the coun-
try"
Americans who favor an art education as
necessary for workmen had to combat old
ideas and time honored prejudices. Once, so
long as cloth was thick or warm, or house,
as William Morris has it. was a comfortable
hutch" that sufficed. But as manufactures
have increased, our ''infantile productive
powers" turning out moro goods than we
could conveniently use, ne want market
for them. The Minnesota or Iowa man is
satisfied, Indifferent to the color, design,
FORM finish of the wares he makes or buys,
yet the Mexican or Brazilian may feel disin-
clined to wear the goods we manufacture
simply because they do not suit his taste as
to ''color, design, form, finish" As Mr..
Schoenhof aptly puts it:
Many an article superior in wearing quail
ity, and consequently of higher intrinsic
value, is rejected in competition with an in
ferior one, more pleasing to the eye, how
ever, IN virtue of higher skill and taste en-
ployed in its ornamentation, coloring, shap-
ing. The particular manufacturer in the
United States who ignores this fact and is
obstinate stands the chance of ruin"
In Paris there are from fifty to seventy
five studios Of designers for industrial art.
and at their heads are designers of skill, with
full knowledge of art industry or the adap-
tiveness OF certain forms and ornamentation5
to materials To these studios come the
manufacturers who purchase ideas.
THE TECHNICAL SCHOOLS.
All technical schools in France are under
the supervision Of the minister OF commerce.
The highest Of these is the Ecole DIES Arts ct
Meters. There are others at AK, Anglers
and Chalons SUI Marine. In the workshops
are turned out competent fore,nen and super
intendentS The work in these schools, it is
believed will be better in the future, because
the rising generation OF Frenchmen, under
that newer system, which teaches the child
how to work earlier with his hands, will have
more time for Theoretical study.
Special schools for trades are singular to
France, as the Ecole Municipale Profession
ellie d'Ameublement, where pupils are taught
TO design and make artistic furniture. In
theoretical studies the pupils are taught
French, history, language, arithmetic, geoIn-
etry, technology, history of industrial draw
ing, sketching, modelling and molding. Pro
fessional instruction consists of cabinet
making, wood carving, turning, joiner work
and upholstery. Instruction is free, and
pupils are fed during school hours. The
teachers are practical workmen. Somewhat
similar in character is school where car
riags building is taught, and the Ecole
d'Horlogerie, which gives education TO those
who work to become skilled watchnakers.
With similar ends, many schools are now in
the formation process in France for the
making Of mathematical, optical, teiegraphic
and surgical instruments. In Lyons there is
a weaving school (Ecole de Tissagel. In
Paris, as center of population, there are
$50 primary schools for boys, 275 for girls,
and the pupils number DOC, 600 The divisions
are three-kindergarten schools, primary
schools and superior primary schools (ecoles
primaries ct supsrieuresl.
OF the 2S5 primary schools in Paris ninety
have workshops for the working Of wood and
IRON and in time workshops viii be the con-
slant adjunct Everywhere in ell the depart
ments Of France are to be found these
schools, not elementary alone, but where the
highest branches Of technical art are taught.
Take, for instance, the apprentice school of
decorative art applied to industry In Paris
The object Of this SCHOOL is to give special
instruction to special trades Of an artistic