Some Thoughts concerning Public Education in the French Revolution : A Historical Study of the Development of Modern Public Education(PART I)

摘要

This treatise is intended to clear the nature and problems of works organizing the public education in the days of French Revolution, and as a consequence, the recent public education would be able to find some useful suggestions and indications from those educational works. We can find three types in the plans of public education in the French Revolution, when we classify the plans from the following points : (1) thecognition about u22liberty in educationu22, namely, voluntary learning and teaching, founded on natural law, (2) u22public guarantee of educationu22, (3) the relation between u22instructionu22 and u22educationu22. The plans of Condorcet and Romme represent the first type. They recognize liberty in education. But they think the necessity of organization of public education in order to guarantee equal chance of education for all. Those plans denote that the curriculum of public education must be composed of the scientific truths only, in other words, in public education, discipline must be excluded. In a word, those plans are the ideal ones of public education derived from thoughts of equality. The second type is the socialistic plans of public education. The plans of Lepeletier, Saint-Just and Bouquier are included in this type. The liberty of education is completely denied, and the education is monopolized by the State. In this curriculum, especially they attach great importance to educate men who serve their lives for their fatherland. Lastly, there is a type that is represented by the plans of Daunou, Lakanal and Sieyes. Those plans, on the one hand, recognize the principle of educational equalization, but on the other hand, emphasize the liberty of education. Consequently, they prepare the favorable situation for education for the wealthy people. In a few words, those plans are ones that modify the first type in order to favour the wealthy people. Then, those plans of public education in the French Revolution, which are classified in three types, are the prototypes of public education in nowadays. Namely, the pub