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are also bringing French to all of the little kids
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and therefore civilizing France
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and turning French peasants into French men and women;
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or so that is a conventional view.
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Well, I don't agree with that view,
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and what I want to do is nuance it
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and then, drawing on some of the research
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of my friend Jean-Franois Chanet,
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talk a little bit about the role of schools
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in the last half of the nineteen century,
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and then talk a little bit about the role of schools now,
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because as I said I find it interesting.