FERDINAND

See also:

• FERDINAND BUISSON (1841– )

BUISSON (1841– )  , French educationalist, was born at Paris on the loth of December 1841 . In 1868, whenattached to the teaching staff of the Academy of Geneva, he obtained a philosophical fellowship . In 187o he settled in Paris, and in the following year was nominated an inspector of primary education . His appointment was, however, strongly opposed by the bishop of Orleans (who saw danger to clerical influence over the schools), and the nomination was cancelled . But the bishop's action only served to draw attention to Buisson's abilities . He was appointed secretary of the statistical commission on primary education, and sent as a delegate to the Vienna exhibition of 1873, and the Philadelphia exhibition of 1876 . In 1878 he was instructed to report on the educational section of the Paris exhibition, and in the same year was appointed inspector-general of primary education . In 1879 he was promoted to the directorship of primary education, a post which he occupied until 1896, when he became professor of education at the Sorbonne . At the general election of 1902 he was returned to the chamber of deputies as a radical socialist by the XIIIme arrondissement of Paris . He supported the policy of M . Combes, and presided over the commission for the separation of church and state .