Universities, Research and Brain Waste 7 



candidates for admission in science is normally about 150, all young 

 men of exceptional ability. Of these then about 85% are rejected. It 

 is to be noted also that of those accepted many will have made the 

 attempt more than once. Conditions are pretty much the same in 

 regard to the literary candidates. The students at the Ecole Normale 

 follow the lectures at the Sorbonne. They also have special courses of 

 their own, which are sometimes supplementary to those of the Sorbonne. 

 They live in residence, study under direction, have a library at their 

 disposition and work in their own laboratories. After three years in 

 residence, the students are again vsifted by examination. The most 

 gifted are directed toward the career of the university professoriate. 

 The others supply a brilliant nucleus for the teaching staffs of the Lycees. 

 Those students whose way has been paid by the Government are under 

 obligation to take service with it for ten years and it in turn is under 

 obligation to furnish them with employment. Half the students at the 

 Ecole Normale are under these conditions. 



The number admitted annually to the Ecole Polytechnique is in the 

 neighbourhood of 200. These would normally constitute about 20% of 

 those who write on the examination for entrance. The course at this 

 great engineering school lasts for two years, after which the student is sent 

 on to the Ecole des Mines, the Ecole Centrale, the Ecole d'Artillerie or 

 some other school for a practical course. Of this school Joffre, Foch, 

 Petain, Nivelle, and others of the more notable French generals in the war 

 just past are graduates. It was with a certain satisfaction that one 

 learned that a Frenchman had been appointed General-in-Chief of the 

 Allied Armies ; for it was practically certain that he would be a graduate 

 of the Ecole Polytechnique. This would be a sure guarantee of his intel- 

 lectual calibre, for he would be select among the select. One could rest 

 assured, too, that on top of his course at the Ecole Polytechnique he 

 would have received an advanced technical training proportioned to his 

 natural abihty. 



There is a strong mathematical trend to the training given in the 

 £cole Polytechnique and it is quite remarkable what a number of 

 famous mathematicians have been turned out by this school. It is 

 hardly necessary to add that graduates of the school whose way has been 

 paid by the Government are under obligation to take service with the 

 Government. The Government, too, finds good use for their services, 

 not alone as officers but also im inportant civil capacities. 



The candidate who fails to obtain entrance to the Ecole Normale or 

 the Ecole Polytechnique may have better success with the ficole des 

 Mines or the Ecole Centrale, schools also with limited admission. In 

 any case there will be nothing to prevent him hearing lectures at the 



