LETTER. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, November 15, 1879. SIR: The government of the French Republic, appreciating the importance of education to the existence and prosperity of a free state, has ever since its establishment given particular attention to the subject. In 1876, an able commission of French school officials and teachers, with the distinguished M. Ferdinand Buisson for its chief, was sent to study the school systems and educational methods of the United States in connection with the Centennial International Exhibition of that year. One result of the commission's labors is an elaborate report (of 702 pages) on our elementary and secondary instruction made to the minister of public instruction, worship, and fine arts, and published under his auspices.1 This report is a very remarkable document-philosophical, judicious, acute; the work of men familiar with education at home and eager to study it abroad; instructive to the authors' countrymen in one way and equally to Americans in another; a friendly criticism of some things in American education and a discriminating praise on other points. It has been read in the original by several school officials of prominence, who have unanimously urged me to publish a résumé of its contents in English for the use of educators in this country. With this recommendation my own judgment coincided, and accordingly I have caused the material accompanying this letter to be prepared, always having in view the necessity of being as brief as justice to the original would allow. I have the honor to recommend its publication as a circular of information; and I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN EATON, The Hon. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. Commissioner. C. SCHURZ, Rapport sur l'instruction primaire à l'exposition universelle de Philadelphie en 1876. Présenté à M. le ministre de l'instruction publique au nom de la commission envoyée par le ministère à Philadelphie, par F. Buisson, président de la commission. Ouvrage publié sous les auspices du ministère de l'instruction publique, des cultes et des beaux-arts. Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1878. THE FRENCH COMMISSION ON AMERICAN EDUCATION. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS OF THE COMMISSION. Before giving an account of their work, the undersigned take pleasure in expressing here their sincere gratitude for the hearty welcome they received from the school authorities at the Philadelphia Exhibition and in all the different institutions of learning they visited. At Philadelphia, West Chester, Kutztown, Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston, New York, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Chicago, and Milwaukee, as well as in localities of less importance which one or more members of the commission have had the opportunity to visit, they found the same courteous readiness not only to give the commissioners access to the schools, but also to facilitate the accomplishment of their task by abundant information, by intelligent explanations, by the completeness of the documents generously placed at their disposal, and by the entire cordiality with which they were invited to see and examine everything themselves, their attention being called not only to the merits but also to the defects of the school system. The commissioners take the liberty to thank in particular and publicly Mr. John Eaton, the eminent director of the National Bureau of Education; Mr. William Wood, president of the New York City board of education; and Messrs. Philbrick, Wickersham, Kiddle, Pickard, Rickoff, MacAlister, Harris, and Phelps, superintendents of schools who will be mentioned frequently in this report and who have been guides at once trustworthy and courteous. The same grateful acknowledgment is tendered to the school authorities of Canada. Two of the commissioners who visited several cities and rural districts of the province of Ontario and the two largest cities of the province of Quebec received such a hearty welcome that they will keep that country in grateful remembrance. Signed by the members of the commission: F. Buisson, B. Berger, E. Laporte, Olagnier, A. Valens, Rauber. The Commissioner believes that the American people will be pleased to know something further of M. Ferdinand Buisson, chief author of the report in question. Attracting, while still youthful, the attention of the French government, M. Buisson was selected by M. Jules Simon, minister of public instruction, for the reponsible pasition of special delegate to the Vienna Exhibition in 1873. M. Buisson was to study the educational systems of the countries there represented and to report upon the same after his return. His report, which appeared in 1875, comprised 360 pages of valuable information, the United States receiving special attention. Shortly after its publication, M. Buisson was appointed inspector of primary schools. |