Editing Georgette Vivier (section)

==Humanistic Schooling==
Vivier had mixed feelings on the educational philosophy of the Republican Era. Although pleased with the state's early efforts to improve literacy rates and the removal of religion from the academic curriculum, she viewed these steps as insufficient and was also horrified with the heavy-handed tone of history and civic education, which was particularly prone to political interference meant to bolster citizens' loyalty to the revolutionary state and [[Gramontism|Gramontist]] principles. Methods of instruction in many classrooms had scarcely changed from the pre-revolutionary period, as students were often made to recite lessons in unison and memorize works of literature and speeches by historical figures. 

A key focus of rationalist academic reformers of the late Republican Era was in instituting standardized testing. The Higher Education Student Selection Exam (SEES, commonly known as ''le batterie''), based on tests developed for applicants for military officer training at [[Pont Caprilieu]], was initiated in 1937 to provide an objective basis for university student examination, and is still in use in the present day as a primary factor in university admissions, and proponents of expanded testing called for its use at the K-12 level as well. Vivier aligned with these reformers, but felt that the multiple-choice format used as a metric of assessment was a flawed yardstick. She was also certain that allowing students to advance to the next grade each year without assessment of their learning meant that some students floundered, and at Valady Comprehensive School, instituted mid-year and end-of-year assessments that often resulted in students being held back. 

Vivier's philosophy of Humanistic Schooling held that in the aftermath of the ideological rigidity of the [[Republican Era]], Laeral's new regime needed to place a premium on independent thinking. The violence of the [[Bloody Summer]] only strengthened her commitment, as she believed that the bloodshed caused by the failed coup was the direct result of Laeralites being unable to think for themselves. Education promoting critical thinking, she believed, would empower future generations to overcome poverty and resist ideological indoctrination. 

Drawing on methods of instruction used in [[Minjian]] temple education, Vivier embraced the use of oral assessments as central to assessing student progress. Being able to speak eloquently on a subject, Vivier believed, was the truest marker of academic mastery. She called for oral examinations to be used throughout K-12 education as a primary metric of assessment alongside written exams, while calling for an end to multiple-choice testing. Discussion was to be a primary in-class activity, as well as exercises and experiments meant to allow students to engage firsthand with the topic under study. Second language education was another goal of Vivier's. 

Humanistic Schooling also included a heavy focus on bettering the classroom environment. According to Vivier, mutual respect between students and teachers was crucial to fostering learning, and her influence is largely responsible for the modern Laeralian practice of teachers shaking hands with their students at the start of class each day. Vivier opposed the prefect system and other methods which placed discipline of students in the hands of one another, and similarly dismissed the idea of separate gifted education. Vivier believed that clean, well-ventilated classrooms were important for fostering learning and called for students to be involved in school beautification projects; under the model of the Valady Comprehensive School, many schools incorporated central gardens into their floor plans. She also opposed school uniforms as detrimental to student individuality. 

===Criticism===
Humanistic Schooling's focus on individual oral examinations has been criticized as unsuitable for autistic students as well as those with social anxiety. Some scholars have also called Humanistic Schooling as culturally unsuitable for [[Rén]] students due to its intense focus on individualism, although such discussions are fraught with controversy, particularly as scholars in the Gramontist tradition view such race essentialism as frivolous.  

Today, Humanistic Schooling is the primary, yet not dominant, educational philosophy in Laeral. It is typically seen in opposition to Moralist Education, the dominant philosophy prior to the emergence of Humanistic Schooling, and the contemporary politicization of issues such as school uniform adoption, student discipline, and gifted education can be understood as a conflict between Humanistic and Moralist education. Humanistic Schooling is sometimes associated with Gramontism given its promotion by late Republican figures such as Sun Jia-wei, yet scholars generally disagree, pointing to the distinctions in particular between Gramontism's national approach to civic education and Humanistic Schooling's liberal approach.