The Pronatalist Movement and Education in the Third Republic of France : A Study Focusing on the "National Alliance for Growth of the French Population"

In this paper, I have attempted to consider the pronatalists' campaign concerning education in the Third Republic of France, especially focusing on the "National Alliance for Growth of the French Population." Preceding studies have neglected consideration of this group's educational activities including the relation between this group and public educational administration. In this paper, I have considered how this group came to utilize education as one means for raising the birthrate. The "National Alliance for Growth of the French Population" was established in 1896 by Jacques Bertillon (1851-1922) who was a statistician. His article "The problem of the depopulation" (1897) showed that there was anxiety regarding depopulation in the background of the group's establishment, For Bertillon, in the first place, depopulation would be a cause for losing the military superiority of France in Europe. In the second place, depopulation would be a cause for a labor shortage and an increase in immigration. Furthermore, depopulation would cause an end of France's management of her colonies. The purpose of this group was to spread pronatalist propaganda by means of holding various meetings, publication of printed matter, and appeals to the center and the local assemblies. This group assumed families of the upper and middle classes as the main targets of the movement. This group was authorized as an "association reconnue d'utilite publique" in 1913 and continues to operate now. After the death of Bertillon in 1922, Fernand Boverat (1885-1962) and Paul Haury (1885-1963) became leaders of the group. Boverat insisted on the necessity of the "improvement of the moral order." He proposed educational reform in the direction where understanding of "familial virtue" was valued. Haury, who was a teacher of lycee, valued the religion, printed matter, and, especially, schools in order to spread pronatalism. And the latter discussed "pronatalist and familial education" in his writing So that France may live (1927) which was a book of advice to teachers. He stated that "pronatalist and familial education" could be founded in history, geography, and sociology. F. Vial, the director of the Secondary Education Bureau in the Ministry of Public Education, agreed with Haury, and wrote the preface to Haury's writing So that France may live. Pronatalists such as Bertillon, Boverat, and Haury had the idea of, "power in numbers", and this idea was shared also by the Ministry of Public Education. Thus, the pronatalist movement in the Third Republic of France, especially after World War I, was related to education while receiving the support of the Ministry of Public Education. In today's Japan, the government emphasizes "consciousness reform" about the family formation. This policy of the government has influences not only on government public information and the laws concerned but also on the content of school education such as moral education, social studies, and home economics education. However, as a historical study, this paper points out that the ideology of school education included a vector aimed toward making large families.