Lycée Chaptal
| Lycée Chaptal | |
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| Location | |
 Lycée Chaptal
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45 Boulevard des Batignolles 75008 Paris France |
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| Coordinates | 48°52′53″N 2°19′12″E / 48.881258°N 2.319868°ECoordinates: 48°52′53″N 2°19′12″E / 48.881258°N 2.319868°E |
| Information | |
| Type | Lycée |
| Established | 7 October 1844 |
| School district | 8th arrondissement |
| Website | www |
The Lycée Chaptal, formerly the Collège Chaptal, is a large secondary school in the 8th arrondissement of Paris with about 2,000 pupils. It was taken over by the City of Paris in 1848 after the founder ran into financial difficulties. The pupils were expected to go on to careers in commerce or manufacturing. The curriculum was innovative for its day, with emphasis on French rather than classical studies, and on modern languages and science. At the first it was primarily a boy's boarding school, but it is now a co-educational day school. The present buildings were completed in 1876. Notable alumni include Alfred Dreyfus, André Breton, Jean Anouilh, Daniel Hechter and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Prosper Goubaux (1795–1858), a writer and professor of the University of Paris, had founded the Pension Saint-Victor in 1844. It provided board and lodging for students at the Collège Bourbon. Goubaux saw growth in industry, commerce, agriculture and applied sciences, and saw that parents wanted their children to be prepared for these occupations through special studies. However, contemporary state education ignored these needs and was solely concerned with classical literary studies. Goubaux wanted to create a college for the sons of the prosperous middle classes, from whom would come the heads of the great commercial and industrial enterprises. It would teach boys to understand their times, and to appreciate the great achievements of modern civilization, while also being aware of literature and the arts.
The idea of vocational education, and of replacing study of the classics with courses in French, modern languages and science, was revolutionary. At the time, most learned men thought that a classical education gave a solid, moral basis. Without it the only end in life would be to make money. Goubaux asserted that models of virtue and heroism could be found outside the poems of Virgil and Homer, and that the study of science and of all of creation was more valuable than the study of Livy or Tacitus. In France, surely public education should also include the study of France, the French language and French literature.Abel-François Villemain, the Minister of Education, said "A French college in France, never!"
The city of Paris proved more open than the state to the ideas advanced by Goubaux, and allowed him to open the establishment called at first the École municipale Francois Ier, changed to Collège Chaptal in 1848. Courses began on 7 October 1844. The school was supervised by a board composed of the director, Prosper Gobaux, and six members of the municipal council. It was located on a site between the Rue Blanche and Rue de Clichy. The school did not conform to the normal pattern of state schools. In its lower, or preparatory classes it gave elementary primary education. In its middle classes it gave advanced primary education, and in its upper classes it gave scientific secondary education. There were also elements of classical secondary education, since it gave some Latin classes.
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Wikipedia