FINDS FRENCH SCIENTIFIC SCHOOLS OF HIGH CLASS

Professor A. E. Kennelly '06 has just returned from France, where he has been staying for the last year as the first Exchange Professor to that country in Engineering and Applied Sciences. While in France, Professor Kennelly was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor and, at the same time that Professor J. D. M. Ford '94 was awarded a degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Toulouse, was given by the same university an Honorary Degree in Science. Professor Kennelly, in an interview with a CRIMSON reporter, discussed his observations on French universities.

"Harvard University is very well and very favorably known in the faculties of the French universities", he declared, "because Exchange Professors from Harvard have been coming to France for a number of years, and because many of our eminent men have served there in such Exchanges. At some universities the impression even seems to be that Harvard is the only American university in existence.

Favorable Comment on University

"Professor R. B. Perry", continued Professor Kennelly, "was also on duty in France as Exchange Professor from Harvard, and made a tour among the French universities. We only happened to meet in Paris; but at various stages of my own tour, I heard compliments on his lectures, as well as on those previously given by other members of our Harvard faculties.

Difference in Administration

"The essential difference between the French and American universities lies in the fact that all the French universities are under the same administration, which is directed by the government. This system has the advantage that it centralizes and simplifies their operation, although on the other hand it tends to produce a stereotyped kind of instruction.

"The Engineering Schools of France are of two kinds, those established in Paris as a part of a centralized system, and those attached to the provincial universities. The Paris schools are by far the older,--the Ecole Polytechnique, for example, is over 125 years old--and have enjoyed a well deserved high reputation for teaching. The provincial University Engineering Schools are relatively recent, since the oldest of these was founded but 25 years ago; these, however, are rapidly acquiring reputation.

"Fundamental training in the sciences, especially Mathematics, is very thorough at French scientific schools, and students are usually very well prepared on the scientific side. This high standard of scholarship is largely due to the competitive examinations which are very general in France, and which have long been used at the Paris technical schools, but which are only just being introduced at the provincial universities. To enter, for example, the Ecole Polytechnique, a student must not only have graduated successfully from his secondary school, but must also pass an entrance examination among the highest 75 of perhaps 2000 applicants. High grades are necessary for entrance, but practically everyone who gets in is sure to receive his diploma.

"This 'concours' system has the advantage that it provides a highly trained student body and limits the number of students so that new buildings and equipment do not have to be provided at frequent intervals. Many people, however, feel that the concours plan makes the passing of examinations the students' primary work. The applicants who fail to pass the examinations may try again, sometimes for four or five years successively until they reach a certain age limit; they may then seek admission in schools of lesser prestige.

Splendid Military Training

"The Ecole Polytechnique is one of the celebrated Paris schools and has a magnificent record. It is under the administration of the War Ministry and is therefore directed by army officers, although a large number of eminent civilians are on the teaching staff. Students wear special academic costume and have great esprit de corps. In general, French students maintain an attitude of professional etiquette towards each other and act with greater formality than in the United States. Students, for example, rise when the professor enters the room. Professors in certain faculties retain the old formal custom of wearing academic robes at their lectures.

"On graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique, the student enrolls in one of the higher specializing schools for applied sciences and technique, for it has become impossible in the last 50 years to teach more than such general scientific studies as Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique. All men who graduate from the school, however, are almost certain of obtaining a good opening in professional work; Marshals Foch, Joffre and Fayolle are numbered among its graduates.

Athletic Interest Gaining

"Student life is less developed in France than in the United States, although athletics are coming to take a larger share of the students' interest. The students as a rule study very hard, in fact strenuous intellectual labor characterizes all teaching and learning in France. The graduate of the French engineering school is more highly trained from the point of view of pure science, but is perhaps somewhat weaker on the applied science and laboratory work than the American graduate of a similar institution. Each country has therefore something to offer to the other. It is perhaps undesirable to change the methods of instruction now in vogue in the two countries, but students with a Bachelor's degree from one country might very desirably spend one year of studying in the other country. In one year's time, American students should be able to take a suitable course of study corresponding to our work for a Master's Degree, to become conversant with the French language, and to develop themselves along the lines of French scientific work. French students, on the other hand, could reciprocally in one year acquire the English language, and could gain much experience in some of our highly developed applied science and practical work.