ESTEVE PLANS TO GIVE THE FRENCH SYSTEM OF EDUCATION A TRIAL HERE

The French method of conducting courses will be introduced here in the University in French 31 by Professor Edmond Esteve, Exchange Professor of French Literature from the University of Nancy. Professor Esteve, who has just arrived from France, stated that, in accordance with the French usage in literature courses, he would introduce in his course a system whereby each student will be called upon to deliver a short lecture or exposition to the rest of the class.

"General courses," said Professor Esteve, "are perhaps the most striking advantage of American universities over French. While I have not been in this country long enough to become a competent judge, yet I feel that your system of general courses, in literatures particularly, afford a very real superiority over the specialty system that we have in France. Of course, general courses are of necessity accompanied by a certain degree of superficiality, but their great merit is that they give the student a balance and a broader basis on which to form his judgments.

French Specialize On Few Works

"Now in France," continued Professor Esteve, "in our literature courses we use the specialty system. That is, we spend perhaps half a year studying one or two works of a single author, going through them carefully, laying great stress on an intimate knowledge of the original texts.

"The difference, it seems to me, between the university life in France and in America is summed up in the difference between the words 'individual' and 'social'. In France the life of our university students is distinctly individual compared with the life of students here at Harvard, for example. Here you have your clubs, societies, organizations and so forth which seem to have a very distinct social effect on your life. In France, it is true, we have organizations which are somewhat similar but they do not hold a position of anywhere near as great importance as your clubs in America.

Professors Worked Harder Here

"Here in America," observed Professor Esteve, "I have found that the professors have to do a great deal more class work than is usual in France. Over there, we seldom give more than three or four lectures a week, while I find it not at all unusual at Harvard for a professor to have ten or a dozen classes a week.

"During the war," said Professor Esteve, who was in Nancy--a short distance from the front--throughout the war, "our university was a very dreary place. There were very few students for most of our men had gone to the front. We were frequently bombarded from the air as well as directly from the German lines. There was always a constant danger of attack,--a danger which was unfortunately increased by the presence of a French aviation camp just outside the town."