Napoleon has been given much credit for modernizing France's educational system. Among the institutions he set up and expanded were:

   1.Primary schools in every commune under the general
      supervision of the prefects or sub-prefects

   2.Secondary or grammar schools that were under the control
     of the central government

   3.Lycees (high schools) in every important town, with
     teachers appointed by the central government
 
   4.Technical Schools, civil service schools, and military
     schools were regulated by the State
 
   5.Establishment of the University of France to maintain
      uniformity in the education system
 
   6.Centralized recruitment and training of teachers
 
 

Napoleon's goals for improving education in France were not altruistic. After coming to power he discovered he did not have enough trained personnel to administerhis empire. This included architects, engineers, and scientists. Additionally he viewed education as a means of indoctrinating the masses with the right principles. Thismeant removing education from the control of the church and placing it under state control. (This was something the Revolution had only partially achieved.) Thatbeing said, he expected two things from the schools. First was the training of middle-class boys to be civil and military leaders. Secondly, he wanted the educationalsystem to be absolutely uniform. He wanted to be able to pull his watch out of his pocket at any time and tell what was going on at any school.

How successful was he at achieving these goals is questionable. By 1812, it was estimated that only one child in eight was enrolled in a primary school. The institutesof higher learning had a large percentage of its students in professional studies, with almost 30% studying medicine or science. However, "the difficulty of findingsubordinates with the technical training to execute his industrial and engineering projects, and the bent of his own genius, led Napoleon to emphasize the training ofthe scientist as equally important with the training of the scholar, and his efforts helped to make France the home of scientific thought in the early years of thenineteenth century." As an indoctrinating tool, it was more successful. In the latter years of the Empire, when manpower became scarce, French teenagers on the
whole, enthusiastically responded to the call to arms even after almost twenty years of continual warfare.   

Napoleon The Emperor
The Resumption of war in Europe
The Final Chapters of Napoleon's life
Napoleon
Napoleon's life
Napoleon's rule
Napoleon's Theorem
Napoleon's Rise to Power and Conquests
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