How good did Napoleon do at school?

Answer 1

He certainly did. As someone who's career had depended so much on his own education, education was very high on Napoleon's agenda.

Napoleon provided universal education for girls - an alien idea to many in Europe at the time (1802). Although he did not consider education for girls to be as important as it was for boys, Napoleon had a more progressive stance on girl's education than could be found elsewhere at the time.

While it was given a large responsibility in elementaryeducation, Napoleon reduced the influence of the Catholic Church on secondary education, with every secondary school in France, including religious ones, being tightly controlled in Paris.

The basic secondary schools were for everyone, and sought to provide good, all round schooling whilst identifying the more talented pupils who were capable of moving to the next level.

Napoleon's most significant contribution to the bettering of French education was the establishment of the post-secondary Lycées. Thirty of these schools were set up and they all received complete funding from the state which carefully controlled the curriculum and other matters.

Scholarships to these elite schools were highly desired, with two thirds of them given to to the best students coming out of the secondary schools whilst the rest went to the sons of government employees and military commanders.

The teachers at the Lycées had to pass a rigorous selection process and were well paid by the standards of the day. They were given incentives and a pension.

Literacy rates went up and the quality and employabilty of the workforce rose as a result of these educational reforms.

Most importantly the new system provided all young members of society with the opportunity to improve their position on the basis their own merit and not their background.

These reforms that Napoleon instituted 200 years ago are now at the heart of French education today.

Answer 2

He was a whiz kid and a genius at mathematics and geography. He would have been called a nerd today.