Because French boys command a sharper accuracy of thought and form in their speaking and writing than do young Americans of the same age, this book examines the educational system in France for the light it might shed on the teaching of English in America. Chapters consider (1) syllabi for two kindergarten-through-high-school courses in composition, grammar, and literature (one liberal, the other vocational), one of which all French children must sequentially master, (2) specific accommodations of these courses in the classroom, with a discussion of theme criticism in composition, the use of inductive method in grammar, and the explication of literature, (3) the influence of the teaching of foreign languages on the use of the native tongue, (4) the preparation, professional characteristics, and intellectual concerns of the teacher, and his everyday resourcefulness in transmitting the subject matter, and (5) the ways that a respected language tradition perpetuates good speech and writing. (JB)