The French education system was created as a means to uphold the republican principles emanating from the Revolution. The first Article of the 1958 French Constitution says the Republic assures equality before the law of all citizens without distinction of origin or race. Theoretically at least, it is not only forbidden to discriminate, but to…

The 19th-century emergence of a centralized, state-controlled school system helped stabilize government and legitimize a state model during a revolutionary period in French history. The centralized model assisted national integration goals by fabricating a symbolic public space. This ambitious political construction may be coming apart. (Contains…

Examines the responsibilities of French teachers, including the promotion of cultural and linguistic pluralism, advancing the social value and positive image of the French language, upholding an enviable international position, and reinforcing the political role of international associations. (CK)

The Second World War stands as the most devastating and destructive global conflict in human history. More than 60 nations representing 1.7 billion people or three quarters of the world's population were consumed by its horror. Not surprisingly, therefore, World War II stands as a landmark episode in history education throughout the world and its…

Maintains that the French family and school intentionally avoid the subject of politics. Reports the results of a survey of 13- to 18-year-old students regarding their sources of political information and level of interest in politics. (JDH)

Maintains that the practices of various school systems are not directly transferable to other societies, in part, because to be effective, each educational system must closely reflect the ethos of those it is called upon to serve. Examples of failed attempts to transfer practices are included. (JDH)

The 1981 French elections mark a political watershed, demonstrating that women voters have moved from political passivity to activism, both in use of voting rights and in legislative participation. A variety of demographic, social, and political changes have contributed to this changing political consciousness. (MSE)

The paradox inherent in a situation in which the need for political unification requires submersion of authentic local or subregional differences is illustrated by the case of Occitania (southern France), where a community is culturally and linguistically removed from the center of a movement intending to represent it. (MSE)

Describes a program dealing with films depicting the French Revolution sponsored by the University of California Los Angeles. Emphasizes lectures and a colloquium discussing the ways in which films can transform common political ideas of the moment into popular memory of the past. Examines several films included in this national film…

Jean Jacques Rousseau in France and Johann Gottfied Herder in Germany both emphasized the role of education in building the nation-state. However, Rousseau focused on shaping the national character through citizenship education and political socialization in public schools, while Herder saw a national identity evolving from a common culture and…

The broad problem area of the relation of education to democracy, dealing primarily with the thought of the "opportunist" wing of French democracy in the early Third Republic (1870-c. 1890), is the focus of this study. It endeavors to find out why the politicians and educators who contributed to development of the primary school believed…

This paper summarizes the past, present, and future of Eurodisney in France from cultural awareness and cultural business ethics viewpoints, suggesting that although the French have not bought into the American dream that is Disney, they are so heavily involved in Eurodisney from a financial angle that they can do naught but continue to provide…

Traditional Marxist approaches to the state relegate superstructural institutions like the school to a minor role in the process of social change. More recent theories like those of Gramsci, Althusser, and Poulantzas raise the state and the class struggle in the state apparatuses to a much more prominent position: superstructure, including the…

The relative importance of government as measured in a sample of French secondary students is examined. Drawn from four different schools, 481 Parisian pupils served as the sample for the study. The students responded to a questionnaire ranking the importance of their relationships with the government and the police with seven other specific…

Explains the colonial school's role in terms of the distribution of education by vertical (social strata) and horizontal (regional) integration, the type of education offered, and the political and social context of interwar Vietnam. Indicates the schools played a divisive role, an effect not due solely to foreign domination. (LC)