[Coll. J. DOMARD SPORTS] Bronze Medal Battalion School 1892 / Marianne Oudine For Sale

Law of Mars 28, 1882
“Civic and Military Education is compulsory in French schools”



RARE BRONZE MEDAL



FRENCH REPUBLIC


Gymnastics Prize offered by the Minister of War

Awarded to LP Thibouret,
student at the municipal school of Vanves (Seine)

Medal Engraved with the student’s name

Date also engraved:
1892


Beautiful Marianne signed Oudiné on Obverse
Laurel wreath by Lagrange on the reverse


Beautiful Medal in Bronze (59g),
hallmark and inscription “Bronze" on the edge



Format: Diameter 5cm


 
 Good general condition / Good Condition

Usual rubbing, very slight stain on Obverse and Reverse,
very minimal “denting” on the edge
(visible on photo) 


cf. visuals...

 

Very rare!   
 
 
 
Sold in as described condition, as found...


[Provenance Collection
Jean Domard, Battalion
 
The school battalion is an institution organized within the framework of public schools in France from 1882.
Its aim is to introduce students to military practice from a JEUNE age.

Since the creation of high schools by Napoleon I in 1802, military exercises were integrated into teaching, serving as physical education.
Many schools are inspired by this model to organize military training adapted to children,
between 1880 and 1882 initiatives emerged in large cities.

A former communard, Aristide Rey was one of the first to formalize military training at school, drawing inspiration from the model initiated in Switzerland
by Pestalozzi during the Napoleonic era.
As early as November 1880, he approached the municipal council of the 5th arrondissement of Paris to organize the children of municipal boys' schools into
armed battalions in order to instill in them the republican spirit and to combat the caste spirit of the standing armies.
His proposal was approved the following July 19, a first battalion then others were quickly formed.
Other initiatives in the provinces are emerging but the legal framework is lacking.

History and definition in official texts

The defeat of 1871 remains very present in people's minds, the Jules Ferry laws on primary schools were passed in 1881-1882
under the Third Republic, they made school free.
In the programs, a spirit of revenge is maintained by moral lessons and heightened patriotism

During its 1881 congress, the Teaching League of Jean Macé supported the approach and Paul Bert, Minister of Public Education,
 establishes the obligation of gymnastics and military exercises in primary schools for boys by the law of Mars 28, 1882.
The decree of July 7, 1882 marks the official birth of the school battalions.
While military service is costly to the Nation, the idea of ​​its duration being reduced, if boys are already initiated into school,
is one of the reasons which made the Ministry of Public Instruction, until now reluctant to accept school battalions, give in.
The Minister of War, General Farre, explained in 1881: “The three-year service, such as it exists in another country, must, to bear fruit, have been preceded for a long time by special preliminary training acquired at school. We must therefore develop education, education at all levels,
and above all civic military education. Let us teach children what a soldier is: what his duties are; what burden his mission imposes on him;
and even what greatness and what honor there is in the charges imposed on him. ".

Development, organization and content


The school battalion may only be armed with rifles conforming to a model adopted by the Minister of War. These rifles must meet the following three conditions: not be too heavy for the age of the children, include all the mechanisms of current war rifles, and not be likely to fire, even at short range. The guns will be dropped off at the school.
For target shooting exercises, students from school battalions, aged at least 14 years old and whom the chief instructor has designated as suitable to take part, will be taken to the range or shooting range and will be trained there with the special school rifle. »

Military training activities take place on Thursday or Sunday, under the direction of a military instructor and in agreement with the school director. Due to lack of resources, it is frequently a teacher who plays the role of military instructor but his skills are limited since he himself has often been exempt from military service.

Accessories are distributed and purchased for children's equipment: uniforms and wooden rifles.
Each battalion is made up of 5 companies of 50 children, recruited from several schools.
A flag is assigned by the Minister of War to each battalion; it is the school which is best rated in the exercises which is responsible for it.
Live ammunition shooting exercises are supervised for students who have reached the age of 14.
 
Other activities include learning patriotic songs and training for parades.
School battalions participate in the July 14 military parade.

“Those who saw the battalion of the fifth arrondissement maneuvering in Paris on the July 14 celebration have no doubt that the child could,
without difficulty, reach the age of military service knowing perfectly the drill, the shooting, the platoon school, and even the battalion school,
accustomed to walking and discipline. »

The population welcomes these exercises with kindness. In 1886, the year in which the highest numbers were recorded, 146 battalions were formed, 49 departments out of 87 had one or more battalions, 43,326 students were incorporated into these circles do not support the activity of school battalions, arguing that they detain children on Sundays and
make their religious education more difficult.
They do not accept the competition that the school battalions give them for young people.

The army is also, despite its involvement, increasingly reluctant, worrying about the delay which separates the school battalion from military service.
and evaluating the instruction, given by often inexperienced managers, at a level that leaves something to be desired.

Disappearance and posterity

From the 1890s, the craze seemed to have passed, criticism became more and more virulent within the teaching profession and the expenses generated by the battalions weighed on the municipal budgets. The activity of the school battalions gradually ceased between 1890 and 1893.

“School battalions are an institution that is both childish and dangerous.
Childish, because by forcing children to play soldier, it only results in forming ridiculous automatons at the cost of relatively considerable sacrifices.
Dangerous, because it takes them away from physical exercises designed to promote growth and prepare strong and muscular elements for the army. »

Many school battalions then turned into associations which strengthen the Union of Gymnastics Companies of France (USGF)
 while shooting training continues and benefits the various shooting associations that were formed during these years.
From the age of 14, children in school battalions can practice live shooting, a decree of July 1893 lowers the age of exercises
shooting at 10 years old and supervises them in school programs; in 1896 the first national school shooting championship was organized.

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To be continued on ebay...
other rare medals, works and documents from the same provenance will be sold soon
on the pioneers of Gymnastics,
 of Education and Physical Culture, Fencing, etc...
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The Minister of War, General Farre, explained in 1881: “The three-year service, such as it exists in another country, must, to bear fruit, have been preceded for a long time by special preliminary training acquired at school. We must therefore develop education, education at all levels, The school battalion may only be armed with rifles conforming to a model adopted by the Minister of War. These rifles must meet the following three conditions: not be too heavy for the age of the children, include all the mechanisms of current war rifles, and not be likely to fire, even at short range. The guns will be dropped off at the school. Military training activities take place on Thursday or Sunday, under the direction of a military instructor and in agreement with the school director. Due to lac Related keywords medal dore bronze bronze dore bronze 1892 medal 1892 bronze medal 1892 Provided by