EDUCATION AND ILLITERACY. 



231 



lie and private schools eight days before the 

 opening of the terms. When a child leaves 

 school, notice must be given to the mayor, with 

 an indication of the provision to be made for its 

 future instruction. In case of temporary absence, 

 explanation of the cause must be given to the 

 teacher, who is required to keep a register of 

 attendance and make a monthly report of ab- 

 sences, with the causes, to the mayor and the 

 primary inspector. Excuses for absence have 

 to be submitted to the commission, and only 

 sickness, death in the family, and accidental 

 interruption of communication are to be re- 

 garded as legitimate. Other exceptional cir- 

 cumstances may be accepted at the discretion 

 of the commission. This requirement applies 

 to directors of private as well as public schools, 

 and any disregard of it is reported to the de- 

 partmental council, which has the power to im- 

 pose penalties, including suspension for three 

 months. If a child is absent as much as half a 

 day four times in a single month, without an 

 excuse satisfactory to the commission, the 

 parent or guardian may be summoned, and, in 

 default of satisfactory explanation or amends, 

 may be subject to the penalty of having his 

 name and offense publicly posted. Repetition 

 of the offense may be brought to the attention 

 of a justice of the peace, and dealt with under 

 the perna! code. The commission is allowed to 

 grant leaves of absence in certain cases, not 

 exceeding three months in the year, and sub- 

 ject to the approval of the inspector if exceed- 

 ing fifteen days at one time. Attendance in 

 part may also be dispensed with on the ap- 

 proval of the departmental council, in the case 

 of children employed in industries or entered 

 as apprentices. Children who receive instruc- 

 tion at home must submit to a public examina- 

 tion each year upon subjects corresponding to 

 those taught to children of their age in the 

 public schools. The jury oi| examination con- 

 sists of the primary inspector or his delegate, 

 a delegate of the canton, and one person quali- 

 fied by a diploma of the university or a certifi- 

 cate of capacity. The judges are chosen by 

 the inspector of the academy. In the exami- 

 nation of girls, the person holding a certificate 

 of capacity must be a woman. If the exami- 

 nation of any child is unsatisfactory, the par- 

 ent or guardian is required to send it to a pub- 

 lic or private school, notifying the mayor of 

 his choice. The school fund instituted by the 

 law of 1867 is established in each commune. 



GROUNDS OF OPPOSITION. Opposition to this 

 law, both when it was pending in the Chambers 

 and after its adoption, was based on the feat- 

 ures which make instruction wholly secular, 

 and which make it obligatory. It was argued 

 by the Clergy and by Catholics generally that 

 moral instruction must necessarily be religious. 

 An amendment proposed by M. Jules Simon, 

 in the Senate, that teachers should instruct 

 their pupils in their duty toward God and their 

 country, was the subject of protracted debate 

 on this point. The provision in regard to re- 



ligious instruction outside of the school was 

 regarded as far more rigid than that of the 

 Belgian law of 1879. This allows religious in- 

 struction by ministers of the different forms of 

 worship in the school-houses themselves before 

 or after school-hours. The French law simply 

 allows one day in the week which may be de- 

 voted to religious teaching outside of the 

 school, at the option of parents. In other 

 words, religious instruction is excluded from 

 the schools, and relegated to the home or the 

 Church. M. Waddington attempted without 

 avail to secure an amendment which would 

 allow ministers of religion to use th'e school- 

 houses for instruction, on Sunday and other 

 days, when there were no school sessions. 

 The principle adhered to was that of a strictly 

 secular use of the funds and appliances of pri- 

 mary education. 



The compulsory clause of the law of March 

 28, 1882, is also specially objectionable to 

 Catholics in France. According to a state- 

 ment of M. Chesnelong, in 28,000 communes 

 of France, having less than 2,000 inhabitants 

 each, there are none of what are called "free 

 schools" at all, and can be none on account of 

 the general poverty of the people. Compul- 

 sory education, therefore, means compulsory 

 attendance upon public schools of the state. 



LAW IN BELGIUM. In Belgium, on the con- 

 trary, education is not made obligatory, and 

 nearly everywhere there are the free private 

 schools in close proximity with those of the 

 state. The parent generally has his choice 

 between the two. In Belgium provision is 

 made that instructors in the public schools 

 shall be prepared in the normal schools of the 

 state. In France there is no similar provision. 

 In point of fact the teachers come very largely 

 from the various religious " congregations." 

 The law of January 22, 1881, in regard to 

 primary normal schools, does not forbid re- 

 ligious instruction, but makes special provision 

 for it. But when these teachers assume their 

 functions in the primary schools, they are 

 practically debarred from any inculcation of 

 religious ideas, and this is a cause of complaint 

 on the part of Catholics, especially as in the 

 poorer communes they have no choice but the 

 public schools, and are obliged to send their 

 children to some school. In Belgium the 

 school committees are appointed by the Minis- 

 ter of Public Instruction, and no regard is paid 

 to the wishes of the communal authorities, and 

 priests are not invited to serve. In France the 

 commissions are constituted mainly by the 

 communal councils, and priests are often se- 

 lected. This has given special significance to 

 the attitude of the Church toward the schools. 

 It has been the policy of the ecclesiastical au- 

 thorities to encourage the entrance of priests 

 into the school commissions in those localities 

 where there is a lack of the " free schools." 

 In many cases special instructors have been 

 engaged to look after the religious culture of 

 children outside of the schools, in strict ac- 



