François Albert (4 April 1877 – 23 November 1933) was a French journalist and politician.
He was violently anti-clerical.
Albert was Minister of Education in 1924–25, and Minister of Labor in 1933.
As education minister he promoted secular state schools (''écoles uniques''), state support for education of poor children, and reform of the curriculum to place greater emphasis on sciences and modern languages.
Early years
François Albert was born in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
on 4 April 1877.
He attended the
École Normale Supérieure
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, S ...
and gained a diploma in literature and a license in law.
He taught literature in
Laon
Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
History
Early history
The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, then became a journalist.
He contributed to ''
l'Aurore
''L’Aurore'' (; ) was a literary, liberal, and socialist newspaper published in Paris, France, from 1897 to 1914. Its most famous headline was Émile Zola's '' J'Accuse...!'' leading into his article on the Dreyfus Affair.
The newspaper was ...
'',
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...
's ''l'Homme libre'', ''
La Dépêche de Toulouse
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
Albert was elected to represent the canton of Vouillé in the general council of
Vienne
Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.French embassy to the Vatican.
In the early 1920s there was heated debate between proponents of the ''repartition proportionelle scolaire'', which would allow for state-supported religious schools, and the ''école unique'' in which all state schools would be secular.
Albert represented the radicals at a February 1922 meeting arranged by the Ligue de la République to discuss defense of the secular public school, an area where the socialists and radicals were in agreement.
Albert became president of the Ligue de l'enseignement (Education League) shortly before being appointed Minister of Public Education in
Édouard Herriot
Édouard Marie Herriot (; 5 July 1872 – 26 March 1957) was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister (1924–1925; 1926; 1932) and twice as President of the Chamber of Deputies. He led the f ...
's mainly Radical government in 1924.
He was Minister of Education from 14 June 1924 to 17 April 1925.
Albert introduced an initial reform to the ''lycée'' (secondary school) curriculum on 9 August 1924 in which all pupils would now study French, history, geography and sciences.
The student could choose in the last four years whether to concentrate on classics, modern languages, or science.
In September he ordered that primary inspectors should have authority over elementary classes of the lycee, and these classes should accept capable primary school students.
At the annual meeting of the Ligue de l'enseignement in Valence on 1 November 1924 Albert gave a speech in which he violently attacked the
, whom he accused of wanting to suppress the university.
Jean Guiraud
Jean-Baptiste Guiraud (24 June 1866 – 11 December 1953) was a French historian and journalist. For many years he was co-editor of the Catholic journal ''La Croix''.
He was a prolific author and wrote many books on historical and other subjects. ...
(1866–1953), editor of the Roman Catholic '' La Croix'' (The Cross), described Albert as "uniting in his person the action of masonry and official action in national education". Guiraud said the ''école unique'' was "a sectarian enterprise that aims at establishing the monopoly of the atheist state."
Herriot announced a committee on the ''école unique'' chaired by
Ferdinand Buisson
Ferdinand Édouard Buisson (20 December 1841 – 16 February 1932) was a French academic, educational bureaucrat, pacifist and Radical-Socialist (left liberal) politician. He presided over the League of Education from 1902 to 1906 and the Human R ...
on 7 December 1924.
At its first meeting, on 23 December 1924, Albert said the committee should keep in mind the importance of the ''école unique'' as a symbol of democracy.
They should avoid religious questions, and should focus on developing practical recommendations for reform by 1 April 1925.
In January 1925 Albert unified the examinations for secondary education scholarships so they covered studies at both the ''lycée'' and the ''école primaire supérieures''.
Albert was defeated in the senatorial election in 1927.
In 1928 Albert ran for election as deputy in the
Melle
Melle may refer to:
People
* Basil Melle (1891–1966), South African cricketer
* Gil Mellé (1931–2004), American artist, jazz musician and film composer
* John van Melle (1887–1953), Dutch-born South African author
* Melle Mel (born 19 ...
constituency of
Deux-Sèvres
Deux-Sèvres () is a French department. ''Deux-Sèvres'' literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 374,878 in 2019.
and was elected in the first round of voting.
He was reelected in 1932.
In June 1932 he succeeded
Édouard Herriot
Édouard Marie Herriot (; 5 July 1872 – 26 March 1957) was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister (1924–1925; 1926; 1932) and twice as President of the Chamber of Deputies. He led the f ...
as leader of the Radical Socialist group in the chamber.
He was Minister of Labor from 31 January 1933 to 25 October 1933 in the first cabinet of
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier (; 18 June 1884 – 10 October 1970) was a French Radical-Socialist (centre-left) politician, and the Prime Minister of France who signed the Munich Agreement before the outbreak of World War II.
Daladier was born in Carpe ...
.
In the summer of 1933 he agreed to meet
Alexandre Stavisky
Serge Alexandre Stavisky (20 November 1886 – 8 January 1934) was a French financier and embezzler whose actions created a political scandal that became known as the Stavisky Affair.
Early life
Alexandre Stavisky was a Polish Jew born in moder ...
with Suzanne Avril and her father, the deputy Gaston Hulin. He listened while Stavisky outlined his grandiose plan to revive the French economy by using the proceeds of bonds backed by the agrarian fund to finance public works. Albert promised to consider the matter, and communicated further with Stavisky via Hulin, but was uneasy about the scheme and took no action before his death.
François Albert died in Paris of an intestinal illness on 23 November 1933.
He was a Knight of the
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...