This essay examines the formation, operation, and social effects of adult education classes in France during the nineteenth century. These classes were created and operated prior to the formation of France's national education system and were part of the expansion of primary schooling for the working class, or more generally for "the…

In recent papers by Marc Depaepe and Daniel Trohler, philosophers of education are criticised for their tendency to address eternal questions in pursuit of timeless truths, with insufficient awareness of the genesis of the ideas they refer to and insensitivity to historical context. The suspicion of "presentism" in their approach is…