Napoleon Bonaparte’s School Days

As schools begin their fall sessions, Napoleon Bonaparte’s educational experience comes to mind.

At nine years old, little Nabulio Buonaparte traveled a thousand kilometers from Ajaccio, Corsica, the only home he’d known, to a military school in Brienne, France. Along the way, he spent four months in Autun, France, long enough for the Italian-speaking child to learn French. Four years passed before Napoleon had one brief visit from his parents. He turned seventeen before he returned home to Corsica.

I know it’s not wise to superimpose our cultural norms on the past, but can you image doing that to your child or to any young person today? Have children changed that much?

In addition to being foreign, young Napoleon was poor. He attended the school on a scholarship the French King provided, a circumstance the wealthier students mocked. Legend tells us that he made few friends at school, but ultimately became a leader there. Indeed, it was at Brienne that he directed the first of his many battles: a snowball fight among the students.