What kind of exchange students shall we send abroad?

Abstract

During the 1949-50 school year thousands of Americans will be studying abroad under the G. I. Bill of Rights, the Fulbright Act, the Smith-Mundt Act, or one of the many private exchange programs. The interest in foreign study is so great at the present time that the U. S. Office of Education receives an average of one thousand inquiries a month concerning foreign study or teaching. Under the Fulbright Act alone as high as twenty million dollars in foreign credits (from the sale of surplus war materials) may be employed by a participating nation for student interchanges. These exchange programs, which have been praised by statesmen, educators, UNESCO officials, and others will continue to be popular among American students in the years that lie ahead. Ideally they can provide, not an occupation force, but an army of good-will ambassadors who will represent us among the nations, particularly the European countries, during a critical era. No doubt each of these exchange students will feel that he has the necessary good-will and a strong desire to foster mutual understanding. But as this vast group moves into foreign countries to represent us, shall we not demand that they be a select group, reasonably well trained in scholarship, tactful, and endowed with ideals of universal brotherhood? Precisely what kind of people shall we send? How shall we screen them? What intellectual and social attributes ought they to have? If our American scholar-ambassadors are properly trained and selected, we may be confident that this vital program will reap tremendous benefits. The young man or woman who goes abroad to mingle with educated Europeans should be selected with great care for it is certain that foreigners will judge America, partially at least, through him. European scholars are a highly select group, well educated in the arts and sciences of their own country; they will soon decide whether or not the young man from the new world has a cultural background comparable to theirs. They are, in fact, often all too willing to criticize those foreigners who are superficially educated or narrow in their views.