Lycée Janson-de-Sailly

Monsieur Janson de Sailly was a wealthy Parisian lawyer, who found out that his wife had a lover. Therefore, he decided to disinherit her and to bequeath all of his fortune to the State, under the condition that it be used to establish a modern high school that would offer an excellent education and in which no women would be allowed.

The lycée was built in the 1880s. Victor Hugo who lived nearby made a speech for the inauguration. A decade later it was opened to girls as well. The lycée Janson-de-Sailly was the first Republican lycée of France (the others started as royal or imperial establishments); it aimed at training the future French scientific, literary, military, industrial, diplomatic and political male élites of the young Third Republic.

It gained a national reputation, and attracted students from around the country. It also became one of the lycées of Parisian high society. The motto of the lycée was Pour la Patrie, par le livre et par l'épée (For the Homeland, by the book and by the sword). Many alumni joined the military, and participated in the conquest of the French Colonial Empire, especially in Africa.

In 1944, a few hundred Jansonians managed to leave the lycée and joined the French Free Forces (the 1st Army of Jean de Lattre de Tassigny): they founded le 2ème Bataillon de Choc, also known as Bataillon Janson-de-Sailly. They faced the German divisions in Alsace (especially in the battles of Masevaux and Colmar) during the counter-attack of Ardennes, and entered Germany with General Patton's forces in 1945.

Commemorative plaques near the entrances of several classrooms and halls in the school buildings honor the memories of its alumni - including the war hero Roland Garros.

Nowadays, the 3,200 students are equally divided into the three traditional formations of the French Education System : collège (30 classes with collégiens from 11 to 14), lycée (30 classes with lycéens from 14 to 18) and Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes écoles or prépas (30 classes with students from 18 to 20).

In France, students must study two foreign or regional languages. The first choice at Janson is English or German. The second choice foreign language is: English, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese or Russian. In classes préparatoires, there is even more choice with German, English, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Russian as first language and all the aforementioned languages plus Japanese and Chinese as a second language. A student in Classes préparatoires can also take another second language not amongst those above. But those languages are available only through a partnership (the "Langues Inter-établissement") with other lycées with a wilder range of languages. The student would then study at Janson but go to another lycée to attend its foreign language class. For instance, the lycée Montaigne provides Portuguese and Polish and the lycée Buffon offers Hebrew and Swedish.

The Lycée offers an AbiBac section, with German history classes taught by a native speaker. The students taking part in the section will take the Abitur and the Baccalauréat exams at the end of 12th grade.

Due to its geographical location, and to the number of its important alumni, Janson de Sailly has a high reputation. Its scholastic ranking puts it at or above the median for area schools.[1] According to the sociologists Michel Pinçon and Monique Pinçon-Charlot the school is predominantly attended by children from the upper class or from the aristocracy because of its location (the prestigious 16th arrondissement of Paris).

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• Official website (in French)