Le Catéchisme républicain, ou le sens de l'instruction publique de la jeunesse sous la Révolution française

International audienceRevolutionary politicians and philosophers quite soon understood that it was the young generation who would pursue and preserve their work. What at thetime was called the ‘regeneration of the French nation’ would therefore only depend on young children, who would not have any memories of the Old Regime. Thus, a system of compulsory and free education was conceived to support the government’s mission to inculcate republican values in society’s youngest members. However, setting up a whole new educational system was not an easy task, and surely not as speedy as one would have imagined. In those circumstances, some writers and moralists decided to endorse the governmental efforts; manuals for home teaching started to appear throughout France in order to pass revolutionary ethics to both children and their tutors