Thousands of others have attended conferences sponsored by the center and participated in language training at the Foreign Language Training Center. Many of the students who have completed courses at the Marshall Center have already been promoted to influential positions in their nations' governments. The Marshall Center aims to teach the realities of democracy, including its shortcomings, Kennedy says. Democracy is messy, long, costly and difficult. If you are apprised of the complexities, you're less apt to be disappointed.
All students have their own room in converted barracks that feel more like a college dormitory.
Perhaps most important, each room has a television and a computer with Internet access. All of the students won't be convinced or changed, but some of them will. And that is important. Sticker Shock Most students also leave with vastly different notions about the West and about the nations from which their fellow classmates come, says Paul Combs, acting director of alumni affairs. Combs' office continually administers surveys to gauge student reactions to the course work, social programs, accommodations and anything else that can be measured through surveys and questionnaires.