New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-07-15
THE SORB0NNE
A Curious Crisis In French Edu,
cational Policy.

cational Policy.
NJ. Philippe Millet, In long COM
munlcation to THE London Times mas
some deeply interesting things to say
about the current campaign against the
new methods Of teaching adopted by the
lSorbonne. That historic institution Is SUI
fering from the pedagogical plague when
has made itself felt all over the world; IL
Is afflicted with cover Gcrmanization
We like M. Millets sprightly mode OF
handling the subject. First alluding 10
the rebels against the new regime, ne
goes on to say that "all the pontiFceS
nsdrima Of the Paris University and NM
Lavisse, Aulard, Croiset> Lanson and
others thought 1t necessary to take the
field in order to defend what they call
Science with capital 81, and yelieo
louder than did poor Polyphemus AFTER
Ulysses had punched his eye"
TO show what has been going on In the
educational world Of Paris. NJ Millet
thus glances at his own experience:
When I entered the Ecole Nornale. ten
| or twelve years ago, as student OF ms
tory, the first thing / was given 10 under-
stand was that ought to give. UP thlnk-
ing I'D to that time there had been great
historians, such as Fustel, or Coulanges or
Gulrand, who had made the Iorelgn stu.
dents believe that French teaching was
remarkable by its power OF generallzatloh
as we'll as by its accurateness. But Ger
man science q beg your pardon, Sclence)
on the very first day. our eminent PROBES
sor spent one hour and hair IN cofntieHt
ing on one line OF the Vita Carroll or ESn-
nardus." The burning problem he tried 70
solve was whether Emperor Charles mad
married his NTH wife in May or Septem-
Der: Eghinardus stood for September, put
after Carefully looking through the oaDy-
like chronicle written by the monks Of Metz
we were led to believe that he had mar
ried the woman as early as in May Whiie
another huge quarto, named Annales Lau,
rissenses," seemed to assert that he had
not married her at all OF course, we came
to no conclusion. l confess that l ran
away and never came back.
Now what was only beginning ten years
ago is to-day a triumphant epidemic IN az az
the departments Of the sorbonne or
| course, history is the most hopelessy SICK
| Of all. VI. Seignobos, the most influential
of all the professors of history Is largely
| he advocated was in more than one respect
a good one Under the old regime rhetori.
cal exercises. too often took the place OF
the study OF facts While the Germans
were suffering from over-specialization We
| had TO contend in France against an ele-
CANT shallowness Of mind. Nj. Selsnobos
| was right In trying TO react against this,
and there IS no doubt that foreign students
| would not stream TO the Sorbonne as they
have done in recent years II they did not
| feel that some good work was being done
under the new roofs OF the old university.
But under the guidance Of NM. Seigno-
bos and Auard all the students In history
are now going to the other extreme. They
are taught by little book called Intro
| M hiatOrOnAa'' a.
tory is q branch Of physics; that the only
important part OF historical work consists
In gathering and picking documents. as
physicists deal with facts: that they must
beware Of taking any interest in the pollti-
cal side OF history. students room In
| the Sorbonne Is no more called study
a term which sounds .unscientifc-it Il.
pompously decorated with the name of
| historical laboratory. The poor devils who
enter such a laboratory IN the hope OF
being converted into scientists have to
! spend their whole time in gathering thou
! sands Of files on Charles the Greats we'd
ding. or simply on the photography of the
subject; they call It: La misc en- fches.
consists In sewing those slips together
I without much discrimination as If they
were playing cards.
It seems that this scientific mania has
It has also had disastrous effects in the
purely literary field NJ. Millet wistfully
recalls the renown enjoyed by the pro-
fessors and students Of the Sorbonne ten
years ago. for the taste and judgment
with which they were sustaining the
high traditions OF French culture. Now.
he says fine feeling is to be replaced
by knowledge, knowledge Of the German
sort, which means that literary criticism
has to give way 10 comment on gram
NAUTICAL questions and on sources. NJ.
Lanson himself. he says, showed the
way by publishing a scientific edition Of
Voltaires Philosophical Letters, In
which for each word Voltaire wrote
there is a full page of comment giving
all the certain. probable and possible
sources Books. men, newspapers. etc)
from which the poor great writer Is sup
posed 10 have drawn the word In ques-
ton. A we'll known professor OF litera-
ture spent recently whole hour in dis
cussng n verse Of Leconte de Lisle in
which the poet said. according to one
edition. that the lions belly is white.
and according TO another one that It Ia
/ yellow.
OF course, all this is very funny, but
NJ. Millet asserts that II has a painful
| side. in that French culture is seriously
threatened by this Intellectual invasion
Of silly Germanism. He shows too, that
the new madness extends itself with bad
effects into the so-called practical world:
| 4 characteristic letter was written in Do
cember last by business man. NJ. Guillain.
! president of the French Iron " orks com
inittee, I'm which II was stated that the
general disfavor exhibited toward human
ism. not only In the SorbOnne but In tho
secondary schools, since 1917 has had a
distinctly bad, effect OH the young engl--
neers themselves. The reason Of this fact
IS obvious The general literary culture
which used to be IN honor before the Sor-
bonnie became partly Germanized MAS NOT
+ fessors: Ii gave to every intelligent French
man. whether no was To be writer, q
statesman or an engineer, ciearness anu
I n precision Of mind which the Germans
have always been wanting and which VIII
never result from the mere mechanical
| training called philology, sociology or MS
torical "'heurlstic.'
Fortunately, we are told healthy re-
action is already beginning to set In, and
it's success would seem to be assured be
cause. as M. Millet says, there is one
thing you cannot do 10 Frenchman. II
he does not happen 10 be hopelessly
stupid. and that IL to abolish his sense
OF huInor.