Date. 2 Ja. '97. Reader. B.

Sex. Both. Grade. 6-8.

Moral tendency. Excellent.

Language. Pure.

Material. History and biography related in a story-telling way.

Comments. General appearance-very pleasing; it would create an interest in reading history and the greatest admiration for those who had served their country; gives good idea of hardships in early years, and life in the Navy.

These slips, it will be seen, may be filed away to serve the librarian as an "evaluated" card catalogue of school literature, but the plan is capable of wide extension into other branches of reading, the giving of special subjects to special authorities, and, indeed, a partial attainment of comprehensive "evaluation" of library books.

A CHILDREN'S BOOKMARK.

The following bookmark is used by the libraries of Milwaukee, Cleveland, Dayton, and other cities, and the attractively disguised preachment that it addresses to the children has proved decidedly effective:

DAYTON PUBLIC LIBRARY.

BOOKMARK.

"Once on a time a Library Book was overheard talking to a little boy who had just borrowed it. The words seemed worth recording, and here they are:

Please don't handle me with dirty hands. I should feel ashamed to be seen when the next little boy borrowed me.

"Or leave me out in the rain. Books can catch cold as well as children.

"Or make marks on me with your pen or pencil. It would spoil my looks.

"Or lean on me with your elbows when you are reading me. It hurts.

“Or open me and lay me face down on the table. You wouldn't like to be treated so.

"Or put between my leaves a pencil or anything thicker than a single sheet of thin paper. It would strain my back.

"Whenever you are through reading me, if you are afraid of losing your place, don't turn down the corner of one of my leaves, but have a neat little Bookmark to put in where you stop, and then close me and lay me down on my side so that I can have a good, comfortable rest.

"Remember that I want to visit a great many other little boys after you are through with me. Besides, I may meet you again some day, and you would be sorry to see me looking old and torn and soiled. Help me to keep fresh and clean, and I will help you to be happy."

France, republic: Area, 204,092 square miles. Population, 38,517,975 (1896).

PREVIOUS ARTICLES.

The educational system of France. (Report, 1888-89, Vol. 1, pp. 112-149.) Report of the educational congresses and exhibition held in Paris, 1889. (Report, 1889-90, Vol. 1, pp. 41-186, by W. H. Widgery.)

Brief view of the educational system, with statistics for 1888-89. (Report, 1889-90, Vol. 1, pp. 249-261.)

Elementary education in London and Paris. (Ibid., pp. 263–280.)

Education in France: Statistics, 1890-91; progress of primary schools since Guizot's law, 1833; higher primary and classical schools of France. (Report, 1890-91, Vol. 1, pp. 95-124.)

Education in France: Outline of the system, and statistics for 1892; State faculties; proposed transformations and development of teaching functions. (Report, 1891-92, Vol. 1, pp. 73–95.)

Civil service in France, by W. F. and W. W. Willoughby. (Ibid., pp. 369-412.) Education in France: Outline view, with current statistics; inspection of infant schools: recent changes in the baccalaureate; reorganization of medical studies and of the scientific course preparatory thereto. (Report, 1892–93, Vol. 1, pp. 219-237.) Education in France: Statistics for 1891-92-93; recent modifications in the department of secondary education; recent development of the faculties (universities); progress of the system of primary instruction; schools for adults; movements for the admission of American students to the universities of France. (Report, 1894-95, Vol. 1, pp. 289–312.)

Education in France: Statistics for 1894-95; summarized view of primary schools, proposed modifications of secondary institutions; the law of July 10, 1896, transforming the State faculties into universities: status of medical students in France, with special reference to foreigners; Dr. Alcée Fortier on the French lycées. (Report, 1895-96, Vol. 1, pp. 611-639.) Education in France: Statistics, current and comparative; opening of the universities under the law of July 10, 1896; the new doctorate open to foreigners; state secondary schools vs. church establishments; the law of July, 1893, respecting salaries of teachers of primary schools; the superior primary schools-progress, organization and scope: M. Boutmy on the reform of the baccalaureate: M. Bréal on the study of Greek. ( (Report, 1896-97, Vol. 1, pp. 29-70.)

1 Prepared by Miss Anna Tolman Smith.

693

TOPICAL OUTLINE.

Educational statistics, 1896-The State teaching system an index of the strength of the Government; the central authority actively present throughout the country by means of the academic organization and the service of inspection; decentralizing tendencies shown by the elective character of the councils (superior and academic), the reconstitution of the universities, the efforts to free the lycées from too rigid control and by communal responsibility in respect to primary schools-Statistical summary illustrating the progress of the system and of the movement toward local freedom; comparative statistics of universities; of secondary schools; of primary schools-Results of popular instruction shown in the diminishing ratio of illiterates; complaints of the moral degeneracy of youth lead to efforts for continuing moral restraints after the close of the obligatory school period and for increasing the moral influence of the school; instruction in temperance introduced into all primary and secondary schools-State education completed by provision for manual training and technical schools.

Appended papers: Report of Mr. Charles Copland Perry on technical education in France-Review of the measures facilitating the admission of American students into French universities-Review of the career of M. Victor Duruy, minister of public instruction, 1863-1869, by the Duc de Broglie-Review of the work of M. Henri Marion, first professor of the science of education at the Sorbonne, by M. F. Buisson.

a Public primary only.

b State appropriations for university faculties. As the receipts of the faculties amount to about $1.250,000, their net cost to the State was little above that amount. There were appropriated in addition for superior schools, $545,700; for scientific bureaus and societies, for the national library, administration, etc., $1,411,784, making the total appropriation for the department of superíor instruction, $1,578,300. The total State appropriation for education, including the administrative service, was $38,808,367.

The highly centralized system of public instruction in France, the university,' or State teaching, as it is commonly termed, is of spe

This was the name given by Napoleon to the imperial system; by the law of March 15, 1850, it ceased to be the legal designation. The notion of solidarity, of personality even, attaching to the system is illustrated in the current use of the name. Thus M. Jules Lemaître protests against the obligatory study of the classics under the caption "The crimes of the university."-See Revue Bleue, June 18, 1898.

cial interest at this time, because of the culmination of a series of measures whose purpose is plainly decentralizing. The organization and history of the system will be considered here with special reference to these measures, which have really brought the system to the dawn of a new period.

The chief of the system, the minister of public instruction,' has large powers in respect to appointments, the regulation of schools, colleges, and universities, courses of study, the standards for degree examinations, etc. Member of the cabinet, he stands or falls with the ministry to which he belongs; a high degree of stability is, however, imparted to the system by the constitution of the superior council of public instruction, which survives party changes, and by the division of the system into departments, primary, secondary, and superior, each under its own director.2 These officers are appointed by the President of the Republic and, like the council, do not change with the change of ministers. It should, moreover, be considered that the essential principles and many practical details of the system are established by law, and therefore not subject to the fluctuations of party success.

The principles upon which the French Republic is professedly founded are the legacy of the Revolution, but it employs in their application instruments created by Napoleon, and intended to serve the purposes of an imperial will. This is particularly noticeable in respect to public instruction. The reason is apparently twofold-the policy suits the traditional tendencies of the people, and it has been considered necessary as a means of securing to the state the influence formerly possessed by the church. Said Jules Ferry, in 1879, in a speech on the project of law requiring all teachers to have a State diploma:

We find ourselves face to face with a power which intends nothing less than placing over against and above the right of the state and of civil society a sort of inviolability of a religious society which recognizes neither the law nor the right of the state.3

In this spirit, wisely or unwisely, the system of education was at first administered. It was aggressive in order that it might live. For this reason the growth of the system, and especially the growth of a liberal policy, measures to some degree, at least, the strength of the Government. At the same time the gradual process of decentralization that is going on in the system indicates a growing capacity for self-direction on the part of institutions. The changes in the

M. Rambaud was succeeded in this post, July 2, 1898, by M. Bourgeois.

2 The director of superior instruction is M. Louis Liard; of secondary, M. Rabier; of primary, M. C. Bayet, who succeeded M. F. Buisson in 1897, the latter, after twenty years' incumbency of this office, having been appointed to fill the chair of pedagogy at the Sorbonne, made vacant by the death of M. Henri Marion.

3 Discours et opinions, Vol. III, p. 531.

Superior Council of Public Instruction early showed the purpose of the Republic to exalt professional above official influences. Under the imperial régime the council was formed wholly by appointment. As constituted by the law of February 27, 1880,1 inspired by Jules Ferry, it is professional and largely elective, and since its organization on this basis it has included in its membership almost every man of note in the educational fraternity of France.

The central authority in the system of education is not a remote, impersonal force existing as a name merely in the regions beyond the capital. It is felt as a living presence throughout the country. The University is really a body of officials whose qualifications, duties, emoluments, and ranks are rigidly defined. They comprise seventeen academies or groups. At the head of each group is a rector appointed by the minister, whom he represents in the district to which he is assigned. He must be a university man, possessed of the doctor's degree. He is the executive head of the university (formerly faculties) of his district, and of all the secondary and primary schools in the same area. The 90 departments (civil divisions, 87 in France and 3 in Algiers) are unequally distributed among the academies. The Paris Academy is the seat of the chief university and of the leading classical colleges. It comprises 9 departments, with a population of 6,265,456. The Academy of Lyons, whose university is the second in importance, comprises 4 departments, with a population of 2,399,394. Chambéry, which has only the beginnings of a university, comprises 2 departments, with a population less than 550,000. These differences affect somewhat the dignity and influence of the rectorship. The minister is the virtual head of the Paris Academy, and the duties of the rector fall to the vice-rector. M. Gréard has filled the position during the whole period of the Republic. His salary is $3,600 (18,000 francs), the same as that of the rectors of Bordeaux, Dijon, and

'The superior council is composed of 60 members, three fourths of whom are chosen by their peers from the three teaching orders. Teachers and professors of all grades, and even women engaged in governmental or in private schools, are eligible to membership. Private schools and colleges send four members. These are appointed by the President of the Republic on the nomination of the minister. All members are elected for four years, but they are eligible for reelection. Nine members are appointed councilors by a decree of the President of the Republic, and these, with six members chosen by the minister, form the permanent section of the council. This section meets every week; the council meets only twice a year-in July and December. The permanent section studies all questions appertaining to the discipline, administration, and management of schools, nominates to professional chairs, brings before the council all matters which have to be discussed by it, giving at the same time minutes of their own committees. The minister is also assisted by an advisory council (comité consultatif) appointed by himself from the ranks of the general inspectors, university professors, academic rectors, etc. Their term of service is one year, but their appointments are renewable. The committee is divided into three sections, corre sponding to the three orders of instruction. (Decree May 11, 1880.)