| This dissertation is about teaching and studying contemporary history in Parisian public secondary schools, known as the lycees. Contemporary history was the last phase in the instruction of history which started in the first class of the lycee, called in France the sixth class. The period between 1863, the year when contemporary history became compulsory in the last class of the lycee, and 1902, when a major reform in French education took place, witnessed two kinds of regimes. Until 1870 France was an Empire under the reign of Napoleon the Third and then became the Third Republic.;For any regime the formation of the collective spirit is more important than the formation of the individual one. The discipline of history in general and contemporary history in particular, more than any other discipline, is helpful in achieving this goal. Therefore the contemporary history curriculum taught in the lycee was a history created by officials, especially those from the Ministry of Public Instruction. The curriculum reflected the aspirations and desires of the regime which was in charge. It can be viewed as the mirror of the ideal French nation as conceived by the regime. In pursuing this goal there is little difference between the Second Empire and the Third Republic.;This work relates to the interacting relationship between the educational system and the political and social system under which it functioned. In order to facilitate the understanding of this interplay, the development of historical instruction in French secondary schools is presented in the first chapter as well as the disciplinary nature of contemporary history and the political atmosphere and social milieu under which this discipline was taught. The implementation and development of the discipline of contemporary history witnessed several difficulties. Two major conflicts contributed to this difficulties. The classical education versus modern education and clericalism versus laicism. Debates among officials, those who served the regime, and unofficial educators; those who either taught, wrote or were involved in other educational matters, related to the necessity and ways of instruction of contemporary history persisted all along the period under discussion. Understanding the essence of these debates and the perception of the officials and educators of the discipline helps us to grasp the polarization among them.;Through the analysis of the goals in instruction of contemporary history a comparison is made here between parents, students, educators and above all the state's wishes and resulting in a thesis on the real aims for the instruction of this discipline. I suggest that dissemination of the regime's ideology, above all loyalty to Napoleon the Third under the Second Empire and the development of the nationalistic feelings during the Third Republic, were the far most important goals in lycee's education during the second half of the nineteenth century.;The official policy, in order to be implemented, needed the cooperation of the teaching force, the schools administration, the parents and the authors of the textbooks. The joint efforts of these four groups as well as their political, social and intellectual aspirations determine their compliance with the official curriculum. The authors of the textbooks were the least among the four to follow official instructions. Yet, in the interplay between theory and practice the state succeeded in its task of imparting political propaganda via the contemporary history instruction. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
