Educational Advantages For American Students In France PDF Download

Excerpt from Educational Advantages for American Students in France It is becoming more generally recognized that, except in special cases, an American student has no need of going abroad to secure what was formerly unattainable at home. At the beginning of the twentieth century the situation of America as regards education is radically different from what it was at the beginning of the nineteenth century. With the rapidity with which changes take place as time goes on, the chances are that the changes that will have taken place at the opening of the twenty-first century will be even more remarkable to contemplate than those which have occurred during the century just closed. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there existed a strong intellectual sympathy between France and America. Benjamin Franklin, during his ministry in France [1776 - 1785], had more to do with stimulating this friendly feeling than any other American in those early days. Thomas Jefferson, however, Franklin's successor as Minister to France [1785 - 1789], was no whit behind his illustrious predecessor in encouraging these relations between the two countries. It was while in Paris that he conceived the idea of founding an academy of arts and sciences at Richmond, Va., which should have branches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. But before his plans could be matured the French Revolution interrupted them. Nevertheless, upon his return to America the higher education continued actively to interest him. He corresponded with the French political economist, Dupont de Nemours, upon this subject. The result of this correspondence was that the French scholar published an essay embodying his own ideas in regard to education in the United States. French was then the language of international communication. France had, thru her distinguished writers, contributed powerfully to enlarge science. In Jefferson's opinion the only two modern nations whose career deserved to be closely studied were France and England. The trend of ideas, as shown by Jefferson's attitude, turned gradually but persistently in another direction, towards Germany. The scholarly methods and work of the Germans became appreciated. Edward Everett was the first American to take the degree of doctor of philosophy, at Gottingen, in 1817. His example was followed by such well-known Americans as George Bancroft, Basil Gildersleeve, and William Goodwin. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.