A Singularly Unique School

My Visit to la Maison d'education de la Legion d'honneur Saint-Denis

Happy New Year Everyone!

Since returning from my real-life visit to the school that plays such an essential part in the life of the heroine of my upcoming book, Louisa Sophia and A Legion of Sisters, I have been having difficulty expressing my thoughts. A few times in my life, I walked away from an experience and thought that this would be a story I’d relive until my tale ended.

Then there are the times when I became part of something bigger than myself, and it changed the core of who I am. On this trip, I caught a glimpse like that, something special and so unique, yet at the same time familiar. Only the students who have attended Saint-Denis can genuinely know what it is to be a Les demoiselles de la Legion d’honneur, but in an attempt to better understand them, my stepson and I were blessed to speak with six classes of current students. The sisterhood displayed by these confident, intelligent, and well-mannered young ladies blew us away.

Before going further, I would like to thank the administration at Saint-Denis for allowing us to tour the campus and speak with their remarkable students. I would also like to thank Cécile Cazaumayou of the Legion Archives department for showing me some of the archives they are working to preserve.

I can’t express my appreciation enough to the man who made it all possible, Mr. Nick, a long-time English teacher at the school, for the invitation to interact with his students. You can imagine my surprise when his first email reply greeted me with a hook’em horns in big ugly orange letters and admonished me for attending that “not so great” school in College Station. Ultimately, he turned out to be a pretty good guy for a Longhorn.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the students for showing interest in my work and putting up with my Texas accent as I butchered one simple French phrase after another. I am so grateful for the young ladies willingness to speak about their lives with enthusiasm and openness. Due to privacy rules, I couldn’t take pictures with students, so I’ve linked some images from public news sources. The students pictured below are in their first year at Saint-Denis. The classes we spent time with were in their second-year and wore white sashes.

One objective of the visit was to speak to students from the school to understand how the educational environment impacts them individually and collectively. I believe these students are very similar to those who attended at the time of my book, a hundred and fifty years ago.

Initially, I worried that speaking with six classes in a week would become repetitive and stale. However, due to the intelligent nature of the students, each conversation took on a life of its own, and together, we discovered something new each time reinforcing my position that Saint-Denis was in fact something remarkable and special.

Upon reflection of my experience, one word comes to mind-anachronism. Walking through the gate at Saint-Denis is like stepping back in time. That word is not usually seen as a compliment, but for Saint-Denis it is because it is truly the most singularly unique school in the world.

I don’t bestow this title lightly. By experiencing a similar Esprit de Corp at my own alma mater, Texas A&M University, I was able to fully appreciate the place that the Legion d’honneur schools have in the world’s current pantheon of educational institutions.

I base my audacious claim on the totality of the Legion schools’ unique history, impact on women’s education, truly one-of-a-kind admission standards, unique status in the French educational system, traditions, and its amorphous intangibles.

History - Decreed into existence in 1805 by the historical giant Napoleon, the Legion schools became one of the few all-girls boarding schools operating at the time. Legion schools are quite possibly the longest-continuously operated state-sponsored boarding schools for girls in the world at two hundred and seventeen years old (first students arrived in 1807). Note: As part of my research, I have found a few older state-sponsored schools for girls and a few older boarding schools for girls, but not both.

The campus is a dichotomy of living and going to school in a museum with modern classrooms.

A hereditary application process - No, I’m not discussing something as common as school legacies. To apply to the Legion schools, you must be the daughter, granddaughter, or great-granddaughter of someone who received the Legion d’honneur, France’s equivalent yet very different from the USA’s Medal of Freedom. Never military-only, the Legion d’honneur is awarded to people making contributions to French society or the betterment of the world at large.

Today, to receive the award, you must be nominated, voted on by a Council of the Order, approved by the French President (he can remove from nomination but cannot add), and finally approved by a Council of Ministers. There are around 79,000 living award winners, two-thirds civilians, and one-third military. Fifty percent of recipients are women, with the average age of all recipients being 58. The award is also not restricted to French citizens. For example, the American soldiers who helped thwart the terrorist attack on the train from Belgium to Paris received the Legion d’honneur.

A wellspring for Women’s Education - Despite Napoleon’s wishes for the schools to “Bring up for us believers and no thinkers,” the school’s first headmistress, Henriette Campan, created a curriculum that pushed the boundaries of women’s education at the time. From the start, the schools offered classes such as music, art, and religion but were joined by philosophy, history, algebra, and physics. The school’s rigor proved young women’s ability to excel in these subjects and set an example copied by many schools for women in the 19th century.

The schools’ unique status within the educational system of France - Instead of being under the purview of the education department, the Legion schools, budget, and administration are part of the Grand Chancellery of the Legion d’honneur. Because of this, above the school’s superintendent is a retired military general whose boss is the President of France. Yes, this dude.

The intangibles of school spirit, and mission - The sisterhood or sorority expressed by the students during our discussions was familiar yet foreign. The kind of Esprit de Corp expressed by the students is most often found at military academies, not at all-female boarding schools. I know what that feels and looks like, but their sisterhood has a feminine angle that I could never fully explain. Nonetheless, I hope to imitate that sense of sorority in A Legion of Sisters.

Lastly, the Legion schools’ mission of Honor and Patriotism is unusual for a civilian institution, much less an all-female one. The school’s original mission to instill these values into its graduates to become the wives and mothers of France’s leading families has shifted to producing graduates who love France and will lead it into the future with honor.

Based on the young women I met, the school is doing an exceptional job fulfilling the mission of what I argue is the most singularly unique school in the world.

THE END

In the future, I hope to distill the notes of our discussions into another article. In the mean time, feel free to ask me any questions about the schools. If I don’t have an answer, I have some resources that I can call on.