Their studies at the classical colleges would lead to the baccalauréat ès arts (which must not be confused with a bachelor's degree conferred by a university).
[1] At this time, the college received mostly the sons of civil servants and naval officers who governed the colony.
Later, the education of French Canadian bourgeois was entrusted to the Seminary of Quebec, founded by Bishop François de Laval in 1663, and 39 other classical colleges that were to appear between 1635 and 1919.
This model has inspired subsequent founding of classical colleges in the province in the 19th century.
The model also served to found various colleges elsewhere in Canada: in Acadie and Manitoba (Université de Saint-Boniface among others).
Classical colleges disappeared in the late 1960s by merging with vocational institutions to become the newly created CEGEPs.
With undue emphasis on the Renaissance, the curriculum orientated towards the study of theology, philosophy, classics, and letters, with little exposure to mathematics and science.