Two Centuries of French Education in New York: The Role of Schools in Cultural Diplomacy

The globalization of schooling has become a lively focus for research in the field of international education; however, few scholars have looked at specific model "global" schools. This history of French schools outside of France, and specifically French schools in New York, proposes that the network of over 490 French schools in 130 countries constitutes a fruitful field of research into globalization in practice in elementary and secondary education. A case study of the Lycée Français de New York (1935 - present) and other French schools in New York explores how the French national education system functions not only beyond the hexagon of France itself, but also beyond the strictly colonial "civilizing mission" that was advanced by French schools in both French colonies and former colonies. The history of these New York schools, dating back to the early nineteenth century, also provides insights into French cultural diplomacy and the changing nature of Franco-American relations through the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.