ABSTRACT
The French place a high value on educational achievement, and are proud of their national tradition. The French educational system had constantly to grapple with the tensions generated by two different and not easily reconcilable sets of principles: the democratic aspirations of the ecole republicaine; and the elitist pressures generated by ’meritocratic’ competitive selection. The basic system of state education for all was initiated in the 1880s by the Minister of Education, Jules Ferry. The laws bearing his name decreed that a school with a trained teacher should be provided in every town and village in France to dispense free, compulsory primary school education for all. For practically all French children, education starts with the excellent nursery school or maternelle system. The basic education offered at college is nonetheless very good. Literacy and numeracy skills are strongly stressed, and pupils are expected to follow classes in both arts and sciences.
