Unknown Primary School

Figure 1.--This 1880 painting by Jean Geoffroy, "Un futur savant" was painted in 1880. It shows a more animmated view of a French school than is shown in the mostly formal photographs. "Ane" on the boy's paper hat means "Donkey," si is the French version of the dunce cap.

HBC is attempting to assess French schoolwear trends. We have assembled a good deal of information on different types of garments, but an accurate assessment of trends over time and conventions remains elusive. Thus HBC is assembling images of invidual schools. One a number of schools have been assesmbled it will enable us to better understand trends over time and accepted conventions. Unfortunately often little information is available on the schools pictured in many available images. HBC will do its best to assess these images. Hopefully our French consultants will be able to add additional details.

Type

The school pictured here appears to be a state primary school. It is looks to be an all boys school. HBC believes that most French schools until after World War II (1939-45) were single gender schools. oeducation didn't start before the 1950's. It became general in the mid-1970's. Our French contributor reports, "I was in a private primary school in a small provincial town in the late 50's, and we had one teacher for two levels; this system still exists in very small villages, and many parents struggle to keep this type of school in their village rather than sending their children to the neighbouring town."

Chronology

This painting, "Un futur savant" (The future scholar) was painted by Jean Geoffroy in 1880. While paintings are not as dependable as photographs, there are very few photographs taken inside classrooms before the turn of the 19th century.

Class

The children in this class appear to be quite young, pethaps about 6 or 7 years of age. A French contributor confirms that this primary school was probably in a small village in a rural area. The children would have been from 7 to 14 years of age. They would have studied in the same classroom with the same single teacher. That's why you can see boys of different ages, but no girls, who always had a separate school.

The young boy in the smock is wearing a paper hat. It says "ANE" or "Donkey" on it--a French dunce cap. I'm not sure what he did to deserve that. He doesn't look too happy about it. The classroom looks very stark with no attempt at decoration. It also looks like a view from the back of the benches the boys are sitting on. A French contributor explains when you say to somebody "tu es un ane", it means "you are stupid". It used to be a common punishment in French schools to oblige bad pupils to wear "un bonnet d'ane" (a donkey's cap) on their head; this is what the boy is wearing, and he is mocked by the other pupils.

Teacher

The teacher is not pictured in the painting.

Clothing

The boys in this class are wearing a variety of clothes providing some intersting insights into late 19th century French school wear.

Beret

The older boy wears a beret and the little boy with him appears to be holding a beret behind his back. These vboys have just come inside and thus still have their berets. It's not clear what the other boys were wearing as they have put their jackets and caps away, but it is likely that several also wore berets.

Smocks

Some of the children appear to be wearing smocks, although the image is a little indestinct. They are all the same black or dark blue color. They seem to be all very similar back buttoning smocks. Smocks were quite common in French schools at the time, but this image suggest that they were not universal and not all schools insisted on them.
Buttoning: Only one of the smocks is show clearly and it is a back buttoning smock. The other smocks picture may also be back buttoning, but All of the smocks the children are wearing are also probably back buttoning but it can not be confirmed. I am not sure that they front buttoning smocks were even available before World War I.
Color: Most pictures of French school boys wearing smocks show the boys wearing dark-colored smocks, either dark blue or black. This appears to be confirmed by the smocks pictured in this painting.
Pattern: All of the smocks shown are solid colors, no patterns.
Belts: Many but not all boys wore their smocks with belts outside the smock. The older boy on the beret does appear to be wearing a belt. The younger boy in the paper hat, however, wears an unbelted smock with no waist gathering.
Length: The children wears smocks at different length. The younger boy in the paper hat wears a short smock, well above the knee. The older boy's smock is knee length.

Jacket

One of the younger boys wears a suit jacket rather than a smock like most of the other boys are wearing.

Knee pants

All of the boys appear to be wearing kneepants. The length is wll beloe the knee. American boys more commonly wore knee-length knee pants.

Scarves

The older boy wears a heavy scarve. Many French boys didn't have heavy coats, but instead wore sweaters and scarves to keep warm. This is a common pattern in photographs that become available after the turn of the century.

Socks

All of the boys appear to be wear long stockings. It is difficult to tell because their kneepants are so long. None of the boys, however, wear short socks. I'm not sure id this is because it is winter or because short socks were just not commonly worn.

Shoes

The boys appear to wear boots or heavy shoes. None of the boys wear shoes or sandals.

Book Bags

French schools boys are noted for their book bags. Note the book bag the older boy carries.

Hair Styles

Akk of the boys wear similar length hair styles. None wear hair over their ears, but none have especially short cuts.

Created: February 17, 2000
Last updated: February 18, 2000