[falconer] conflict OF EDUCATIONAL IDEAS 233 



human society in which he has a share both as a patriot and as a man 

 with a moral sense. 



French writers agree that one of the outstanding features of the 

 French mind is its inteUigence — clear, measured and always in touch 

 with reality. In a very true sense the French are too intelligent to 

 talk as the Germans do, and their delicate raillery practised against 

 pretension by every class of the people would prick the bombast of a 

 Kaiser amid peals of laughter. Rapid though their political changes 

 are, the people are restrained by common sense from going over the 

 precipice. A glimpse of reality recalls them. 



Partly as a result of the clear intelligence and broad sympath}' of 

 the French mind is the character of the education of the country. 

 Unlike Germany France has not run to specialisation. There has 

 been breadth rather than intensity; precision, imagination and clas- 

 sical form rather than the crude results of merely organised scientific 

 labours. There have been fewer scientific specialists than in Germany, 

 but more men of learning whose work will be permanent literature 

 because of its human qualities. The aim of French education has 

 been, as M. Lanson says, to produce men, not primarily to turn out 

 specialists; to train youth in love of their country instead of drilling 

 them into efîfîcient units in a national system which has been organised 

 against the rest of the world. "France has never thought of conquering 

 the world nor of dominating it; she has been flattered on more than 

 one occasion by inspiring and guiding it; and she has succeeded some- 

 times because her human and generous soul is widely open to new 

 truths from whatever side they come." In contrast with Germany 

 France is the most beloved of the nations of the world. Hospitable to 

 ideas she sifts them, and then, as has been said, like the sower in the 

 emblem on her postage-stamp, through the medium of her beautiful 

 language she scatters them broadcast upon the earth. 



But what of Britain ? She has never been loved by the world 

 like France, nor hated like Germany. Reserved, proud, jealous of 

 her own soul she respects in others the same qualities and has never 

 sought to win their affection, not even that of her own children beyond 

 the seas. She has had the respect of the world but feared she has not 

 been, for though in the consciousness of her strength she is slow to 

 move and resolute to the end, she is not easily roused to passion nor 

 does she use her power to repress the freedom of others. Quietly, 

 far-sighted, she goes her own way and in time of stress discovers that 

 respect outlasts emotion and that the honest person whom others 

 have no cause to fear possesses abiding advantages. That she has 

 often been called "perfidious Albion" is true, and the Fnglishman has 

 been branded as a hypocrite. Nor would it be difficult to choose from 



