The myth of Ferry a cliometric analysis[Le mythe de Ferry : Une analyse cliométrique]

The development of education (essentially primary schooling) has been considered since the beginning of the nineteenth century as a major process and notably characteristic of developed capitalist societies. This being so, in spite of abundant literature devoted to this extremely delicate subject for more than 50years, there has still been no in-depth, quantitative research on the origin of the phenomenon and above all on the historical process that led to it. French research since the end of World War 2 in particular, with fresh work in the field of research on education, has generally merely noted this development, considering the interpretation to be obvious. We have a different conception, considering that the increase in school attendance in France requires a fresh conceptual approach and new empirical and theoretical validation work. For this, our cliometric study of the convergence process of primary education by administrative department in France before the Ferry laws is based on retrospective national accounts and econometric methods.