The Anglo-French Task in Education
Lord De La Warr's last task before he moved from the Board of Education to the Office of Works was a visit to Paris to confer with the French Minister on Anglo-French co-operation in education. If those far-reaching plans which are being made for permanent intercourse between the two countries, in defence, in finance, in commerce, in colonial administration and other spheres of activity, are to be com- plete, education cannot be left out—indeed, it may well be the foundation on which everything else must be built. In his address on "The Common Task" at the Sorbonne Lord De La Warr said that he had already appointed a permanent committee at the Board of Education, assisted by distin- guished Frenchmen, to keep the question of promoting French studies in Britain under constant review ; the encouragement of an understanding of French history and culture is to become a permanent part of British education. He spoke especially of the importance of the teaching of history. This cannot be too strongly emphasised. There was a time before the last war when the text-books used in schools in the United States served to plant in the minds of young Americans a lasting impression of English tyranny as revealed in the policy of Lord North. All danger of any- thing like that must be removed between us and France.
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