s serious, which cannot be
mentioned. (Here Taine undoubtedly refers to homosexuality. (SR.))]

[Footnote 6361: Breal, "Excursions pedagogiques," pp. 326, 327.
(Testimony of two university graduates.) "The great college virtue is
comradeship, which comprises a bond of union among the pupils and hatred
of the master." (Bessot:) "Punishment irritates those who undergo it and
engenders punishment. The pupils become wearied: they fall into a state
of mute irritability coupled with contempt for the system itself and for
those who apply it. Unruliness furnishes them with the means of avenging
themselves or at least to relax their nerves; they commit disorders
whenever they can commit them with impunity.... The interdiction of an
act by authority is sufficient to excite the glory of committing it."
(A. Adam, "Notes sur l'administration du'un lycee.")--Two independent
and original minds have recounted their impressions on this subject,
one, Maxime Du Camp, who passed through the lycee system, and the other,
George Sand, who would not tolerate if for her son. (Maxime Du Camp,
"Souvenirs litteraires," and George Sand, "Histoire de ma vie.")]

[Footnote 6362: All this was in 1890, a long time ago, and if there was
much to learn then, how much do we not have to learn now? It helped,
however, to reduce the curriculum, that Latin and Greek was removed from
middle and senior high school programs and that international Socialism
through the Politically Correct movement, either forbade or rewrote
history, art and literature. In science, however, the young engineers
and scientists have a lot more to learn today and that in all branches
of science and especially in electronics. (SR.)]

[Footnote 6363: The so-called "Grandes Ecoles" which exist today
and which continue to form the French administrative, commercial
and scientific elite. They cannot be done away with since the French
universities have become accessible for an ever increasing number of
students since nearly 50% of the population pass their "bac" or final
high school exam. The level of this exam has decreased year after year
and only the preparatory schools for the Grande Ecoles continue to
insist on verifying diligence and attention. (SR.)]

[Footnote 6364: Taine expresses this in the following manner: "elle a
imagine quantite de cours surerogatoires et de luxe,.." (SR.)]

[Footnote 6365: This year (1892) 1750 candidates were entered or 240
vacancies in the Ecole Polytech