New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-05-15
A FRENCH SCHOOLBOY GRIEVANCE.

American boys will have a special sympathy
with their contemporaries of the French public
schools or '1ycees,' in their Indignation at the
Minister of Public Instruction 1t appears that
feature of the sports to be organized at VIM
cennes in connection with the Exposition is to
be q series of athletic contests between the
Paris schools. No competitions of similar I'M
portance and interest have ever been held in
France before, and as matter of course even
the coddled lyceens took great interest in
them. But now NJ. Leygues, in his capacity of
guardian of these wretched little fellows, comes
out with an order forbidding them to take any
part in the contests. This is because racing is
detrimental to the health" 1t had already been
arranged that no boy should enter without hav-
ing the written permission of his parents, GER
tifcate from a doctor and another from his
professor of gymnastics. 1t might seem that
these precautions should be enough to keep out
boys physically incapacitated for the exertion;
but they order this matter differently, II not
better, in France.
When hear of things like this we do not
wonder that the jealous NJ. Demons's ideas
and their embodiment in his school are meeting
with growing favor among the thoughtful in
France, and that the methods he is trying to
Introduce are popular with the boys who are al
lowed a taste of AnglO-SaXon manliness and in
dependence NJ. Demolins will be remembered
as the Frenchman who published a book some
years ago on the superiority of the Ango-SaXon
race over the Gallo, and the causes of it. He
found a good many causes; one OF them re-
ceives signal illustration in the recent ac-
ton of the Minister Of Public Instruction. To
say nothing of the things taught and the
methods of teaching them in the schools, NJ.
Demons objected strenuously to the whole
spirit of the French "lycees." The boys are
coddled; they are spied upon; they are en-
coura ged in tale bearing; their recreauons are
nothing but chattering promenades; there is
little or no sympathy between them and the
masters. Healthy, vigorous rivalry is unknown.
There is nothing to inculcate manly indepen-
dence. It all leads directly to that feeling of
dependence upon the State that NJ. Demolins
inveighed so vigorously against as one of the
alarming weaknesses of modern French life.
Most Frenchmen graduated from lycees and
universities look a matter Of course toward
obtaining place in the Government service
where they may vegetate comfortably the rest
of their lives The nation is growing more and
more to be race Of public functionaries The
keen edge of ambitious young manhood Is
dulled; the initiative impulse is weakened.
OF this the French view of school athletics is
at once symptom and contributory cause
Sport. In the true spirit of craftsmanship, in
England and the United States is not only
physical training but almost officially part OF
the educational system, Introduction to
the strenuous life" IT may not do all that
some of it's advocates claim for it, but 1t does
great deal. Neither may the fmpotent French
way be so demoraliZing a count in NJ. Demo
lins's Indictment as he affirms it to be- 1t GER
tainly is enough to arouse a saddened sympathy
in free born American boys But this daring
Frenchman is so convinced Of its Importance
that he has made the reform of athletics
prominent feature in his experiment toward the
regeneration of the French nation. He has es-
tablished school as nearly as he can on the
best English lnes-on better lines in some re-
spects: but he has brought sport, in the Anglo
Saxon conception of it. to the forefront. He
has already reported a vastly improved tone in
the life of his school, and if his enthusiasm can
be made sufficiently conta gious he may be able
to stop what many observers think TO be the I'M
doubted degeneracy of the French people 1t
will be q sign of progress if at the next Expo
stion the "lyceens" are allowed to race.