Resource Allocation in the French Education System

Abstract

The French education system has long been the focal point of fierce struggles for control over the hearts and minds of French citizens and for supremacy in the international arena. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the Constitution of 1791 called for the end of an education system dominated by religious orders that catered primarily to the middle and upper classes, and the creation of universal secular education. The turn of the century also witnessed mounting international pressure to forge a mass education system as an instrument of nation building. However, a century of political convulsions stymied revolutionary plans for national education until the end of the 19th century (Ramirez & Boli, 1987). Interestingly, this same instability contributed to greater educational access by fueling competition between the Catholic Church and anticlericals for influence over the socialization process embodied in education. In this paper, I will examine the influence of a number of social groups — including the Catholic Church, the bourgeoisie, liberal anticlericals, the working class, and other nation states — on educational inputs and outputs in the wake of the Revolution and into the twentieth century.