French republicanism deliberately leveled African aristocracies by schooling all social classes together.

Evidence

Finally, republicanism was evident in Dakar’s attitude regarding who should attend these schools. The French insisted that those who were to become the new literate auxiliary class be drawn from all social milieux, not merely from the old ruling classes. This outlook contrasted with the policy of the past, when military administrators had concentrated their educational efforts almost exclusively on the sons of chiefs, in the belief that they would remain France’s natural collaborators in administering the federation. The new Government General, however, had no intention of preserving the chiefs’ power any more than necessary, because, as we shall see in the next chapter, it offended their republican values. … It must be recognized, to the credit of the caste called “captives,” that its children rival in zeal, intelligence and work the sons of the old aristocracy. The “sons of chiefs” see them, not without jealousy, acquiring the highest marks in our classrooms. Such scholastic success is the best possible incentive for [these sons of chiefs). This rivalry has in turn placed the schools in a positive light. Children and parents are now convinced that intelligence and knowledge alone create social superiority and that, in a future not too far away, only those who have profited from our instruction in order to learn our civilization will be able to command the authority in native society that used to be the exclusive preserve of the aristocracy. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 288

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the contrast with earlier military administration’s chiefs-as-collaborators policy, and prefigures the ‘native policy’ to ‘liberate’ Africans noted at 294.