HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN. 183 



France made far the best showing in this department. Paris was 

 far ahead of any other part of France. No city or town prob- 

 ably ever made any such exhibit before. The present order of 

 things has been developed during the last ten years, and what 

 France has done in that period is simply marvellous. They have 

 done the things we have only talked about. Education is compul- 

 sorj' for all children from seven to fourteen years of age, and 

 parents are held to strict account, even to imprisonment, if their 

 children are not regular in attendance. The course of study dur- 

 ing that period gives a better preparation for the duties of life 

 than is given bv the course extending through many of our high 

 schools. We have long discussed the possible connection between 

 the kindergarten and our public schools. In France the essentials 

 of the kindergarten have been made a part of the lowest grade of 

 schools, and the name, kindergarten, has disappeared. It should 

 be remembered that the mass of those who are in the schools are 

 to become workers, yet the problem of manual training in the 

 public schools has not secured much favor in this country. But 

 in France, it is, by decree, made a branch of school work, and two 

 or three hours each week, according to the grade of schools, must 

 be given to manual education, beginning in the primary schools. 

 In this connection the principles of agriculture and horticulture 

 are also taught. France agrees with us that teachers should be 

 trained ; accordingly she now has in each of her eighty-six depart- 

 ments two normal schools, one for men and one for women, and 

 to ensure competent teachers for these she establishes two higher 

 normal schools to prepare them. The public schools are entirely 

 free — tuition, text-books, everything. A law was passed favoring 

 the establishment of girl's colleges, and several have been estab- 

 lished. To meet a new demand, France established a school to 

 train professors for these girls' colleges. The .administration of 

 the French system is vested in a Minister of Public Instruction, a 

 national council — called the Superior Council — of forty-seven 

 members, district inspectors-general, etc. The council determines 

 what shall be taught, and the normal schools train the teachers to 

 teach it. France is a representative republic, and her continued 

 existence depends upon the intelligence of the people. She must 

 therefore see to it that every child is educated, and she aims to 

 educate the whole hoy and the whole girl. Parents or guardians 

 may send children to the public schools, private schools, or church 



