4 i6 APPENDIX III 



1907 in the "Echo des Deux Mondes," a French periodical pub- 

 lished in Chicago. 



Choice of a University. The student who intends to study in 

 France quite naturally plans at least to begin his sojourn in Paris. 

 And rightly so if he takes into account only the wealth of intellectual 

 opportunities offered by the capital. However, few American 

 students are prepared, on first arriving in France, to take immediate 

 advantage of these opportunities. Consequently, should he raise 

 the pertinent questions as to the most expeditious and normal 

 manner of orienting himself in French life, of acquiring that perfect 

 facility in the use of the language which all effective university 

 work requires, of obtaining a correct and sympathetic understanding 

 of French institutions, manners, customs, and ideals, he will decide 

 to take up his residence at first in a provincial town and to enter 

 upon his work in a provincial university, only settling in Paris 

 after he has become fully oriented in France. In this decision he 

 will find that nearly all Americans who have pursued serious studies 

 in France, as well as French educators themselves, will concur. 



The claims of the provincial university have been very forcibly 

 stated by M. Steeg, a former Minister of Public Instruction, in 

 these words: "There is every advantage for the foreign student 

 entering into French life to begin his sojourn elsewhere than in 

 Paris. It is so much easier for him to adapt himself to his environ- 

 ment. He will be less likely to be distracted from his studies. He 

 will come into more direct contact with his instructors and with 

 his fellow students. Especially will he find that he can carry on his 

 laboratory work and all sorts of practical work to better advantage. 

 A foreigner who goes directly to Paris to study loses a great deal 

 of time simply in becoming oriented in the metropolis and even 

 in the Faculties. The residence in the capital is genuinely profi- 

 table only for those who settle there for the latter part of their 

 sojourn in France." 



And is not this counsel essentially what we would give to a 

 foreign student coming to this country to study? Scarcely would 

 we recommend him to settle in New York City, attempt to acquire 

 there the English language, seek to adapt himself to the complex 

 life of our cosmopolitan city, and judge of our institutions, customs, 

 manners, and ideals in the light thereof. To the unoriented foreign 

 student, Paris presents essentially the same limitations as New York 

 City. The fear, sometimes expressed by students, lest they ac- 



