Écoles centrales

These secondary schools, founded in 1795, were one of the few concrete educational achievements of the Revolution, and embodied a radical ideal of education derived from the Englightenment. They broke with existing classical traditions by emphasizing science and other modern subjects, and giving their pupils a free choice instead of a fixed curriculum. They also excluded religion, which deterred many conservative-minded parents, and in 1802 Napoleon replaced them with the lycées, which returned to the traditional model [see Education]. But though short-lived, the écoles centrales were an experiment which inspired many later attempts at modernization.

[Robert Anderson]