Its chief officials were appointed by the First
Consul, and no one might open a new school or teach in public unless he
was licensed by the university. (6) The recruiting station for the
teaching staff of the public schools was provided in a normal school
organized in Paris. All these schools were directed to take as the
bases of their teaching the principles of the Catholic Church, loyalty
to the head of the state, and obedience to the statutes of the
university. Despite continued efforts of Bonaparte, the new system was
handicapped by lack of funds and of experienced lay teachers, so that
at the close of the Napoleonic Era, more than half of the total number
of French children still attended private schools, mostly those
conducted by the Catholic Church.
[Sidenote: Public Works]
Bonaparte proved himself a zealous benefactor of public works and
improvements. With very moderate expenditure of French funds, for
prisoners of war were obliged to do most of the work, he enormously
improved the means of communication and trade within the country, and
promoted the economic welfare of large classes of the inhabitants.
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