"La Maternelle" by Léon Frapié is a novel published in 1904 that won the Prix Goncourt. When Rose loses her dowry and fiancé after her father's financial ruin, she must abandon her educated station to work as an attendant at a Parisian day-care center serving 150 working-class children. Through her diary entries, she documents life among destitute pupils who seek comfort in her care. The novel offers a stark critique of public education, challenging contemporary views about schooling as society's remedy. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
