Anatomy of the Problem: Who Should Come?

Abstract

The philosophy of American education is that every educable person should have the opportunity to choose freely and pursue the course of studies he believes best suited to his individual goals and purposes. This philosophy is gen erally extended to foreign students who come from abroad to study in the United States. Such a philosophy does not take into account, however, the cultural and technological differ ences between the United States and the underdeveloped areas of the world, from which over half the foreign students in the United States come. When students from abroad, no matter how able, pursue courses which prepare them for careers which are useless and unavailable in their own countries, they return home only to become frustrated and discontented. The United States should, perhaps, exercise some control over the fields which students from other countries pursue. Such control would represent an abridgement of the American philosophy of education, but, judiciously exercised, the comparative use fulness of the training and skills acquired in the United States would be vastly increased. Practically, the United States Government should reach mutually satisfactory understand ings with other governments as to who should come and for what purposes and should gain the co-operation of American universities for better defined participation in the international educational exchange program.—Ed.