THE PARIS SCHOOLBOY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 23, 26 January 1912, Page 3

THE PARIS SCHOOLBOY.

STRANGE FRUIT FROM THE TREF OF KNOWLEDGE. IGNORANT SCHOOLBOYS. Curtain of the Paris weekly journals have been occupying themselves latelv Willi the question of the intellectual development of the masses. It was the German schoolmaster who conquered France in 1870, according to the celebrated phrase. Is Germany again the conqueror, notwithstanding the lesson? In any case, the results of a rough sort of educational census taken amon-* recruits, during the first year in tho army, is a singular commentary on the value of universal education. Common questions, with a vdew to testing intel- \ ligence, were put bv an officei' to fifty recruits. Thirty-seven had heard of Joan of Arc, and gave a meagre account. Eight were entirely ignorant of her existence; five returned the following answers: __ That she delivered France to the English. (This young soldder had been five years at school.) That she was a yomjg woman. That she was a Frenchwoman. That she had been burnt. That she delivered France from the Cauls. (This soldier had been six years at school.) "Who is Henry IV.?" Thirty-six could give some account of the king, fourteen knew nothing about him.

WHO WAS SASPOUSOS? About the same proportion returned an intelligent reply to "Who is Napoleon I.? - ' but eleven had never heard of him. (Of this number three had had five years' schooling, one six years, and one seven years.) Three made the following answers: He «■«« an Emperor, -who reigned at Or/cans. I do not know his nationality. He was Emperor of {Russia, "Who was Victor Hugo?" Thirty knew; fourteen were absolutely ignorant. Six could only reply:— lie was a writer who lived 200 years ajro. He was a writer: I do not know in what country (seven years at school), lie was a great savant. He was all Emperor. He was a Republican who saved Paris (live years at school*. He was a French general (six years at school). Twelve out of the fifty, some bavins been four and five years at school, knew nothing of Alsace-Lorraine. Thirty-nine soldiers could give some account of the. war'of '7O. but nine (of whom three had been to school for five years) were unable to reply. Two said it was a war between France and England (one of these vouths had been fire vears at school)'. NEW VIEWS ON* ENGLAXI). Seven knew nothing of Tlismank. "A writer. "A Frenchman" (seven years at echool). "A general who betrayed l-'ranee" (six years at school |, "A king,"' were some of the answers returned. , One recruit of five year.-,' set. tnling thought Morocco "a foreign Power in ' hrce Italy'*: another said: "There have been ' a lot of strikes in Morocco." Fortv knc\» *, to the name of the President of the Re- ' j public, eight had no idea: one saiid: ""'. ''M. Louhet," and another "M, ta-imir-Perier." What is England? was a further question which, alas! for British pride, nine •could not answer. One recruit said: "It is a French possession," whicli is going a little far, even in these days of the Entente; a second: "It is a hostile Power," and a third: ""It is a town.' 1