Talk:Villa St. Jean International School
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This is a good article and obviously the result of considerable research. I do have a few comments.
First, I suspect that few would actually consider Antoine de St-Exupery to be "the greatest French writer of the Twentieth Century."
More central to the main content of this article, however, it is not true that "the Villa St. Jean evolved over the decades into an international school," or that "In the decades after the War, Villa St. Jean was transformed, and by a decade and a half after the War's end the school had become a metropolitan, international institution, teaching principally an American high school curriculum..."
In fact (see http://www.villastjean.com/Photos/François%20Ullmann/St._Exupéry.htm) the Villa consisted of overhelmingly French students and taught a strictly French curriculum through at least the 1960-61 school year and probably through 1961-62. My own recollection puts the student body at around 150-200 French, about 12-24 Swiss, 2-3 Americans, 2-3 Canadians, and a half-dozen from other countries (mostly French territories or former French territories) while I was at the Villa during the 1957-58 through 1960-61 school years. Francois Ullman generally confirms these numbers through at least 1955-56, although for 1959-60 he counts 176 French, 42 Swiss, and 40 "other." Perusing "Villa Talk" within http://www.villastjean.com reveals that almost all of the French students left the school by the end of the 1961-62 school year. The "French" Villa in fact closed and its administration and faculty departed. A group of American Marianists re-opened the Villa St. Jean International School at the same location for the 1963-64 school year. There was no decades-long transition. As I understand it, this was basically an American High School. This second school also closed after just a few years of operation.
I just came across a few of my textbooks from near the end of the Villa's "transition to an American International School." They are all from the 1959-60 and 1960-61 school years.
Grammaire Latine Complete. J. De Gigord, Editeur. Paris.
La Grammaire Nouvelle et le Francais. Classes de 4e et de 3e des Lycees et des Colleges et des cours complementaires. Ferdand Nathan, Editeur. Paris.
Moyen Age: Les Grands Auteurs Francais du Programe.
Collection Deutschland IV: Land und Leute (Classe de Troisieme). Masson et Cie, Editeurs. Paris.
Cours D'Histoire Jules Isaac: Le Moyen Age, Classe de Quatrieme, Programmes de 1957. Classiques Hachette, Paris.
Les Lettres Latines, Cesar et Salluste. Edition de l'Ecole. Paris.
Nouveau Traite d'Analyse Grammaticale et Logique A L'Usage De L'Enseignement du Second Degre. Les Editions de l'Ecole. Paris.
Sciences Naturelles: Hygiene. 3e. Classiques Hachette. Paris.
Langenscheidts Schulworterbuch Franzosisch: Franzosisch-Deutsch/Deutsch-Franzosisch. Berlin.
Dictionnaire Latin-Francais. Librairie A. Hatier. 8, Rue D'Assas.
Dictionnaire Francais-Latin. Librairie A. Hatier. 8, Rue D'Assas.
I'm beginning to wonder where some of this (mis)information came from. The following has occurred to me:
Suppose that the school under the French Marianists failed, for whatever reasons, and that a group of American Marianists decided to take advantage of a group of buildings which can be transferred between Marianists to start a new school. Does one (if one is perhaps not too honest) advertise that there is a new school starting from scratch with all of the uncertainties that involves, or advertise to prospective students and their families that here is an opportunity to enroll in an established school with a long history (St Exupery even attended!), that has gradually evolved into a school offerring an American curriculum?
Perhaps the American Marianists created a history for their own reasons.
Brian scva 11:38, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
