Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-24

, concerned with an exchange system as
with the idea of interpreting French
achievements to the United States. IL
! spent large part of it's time making
| speeches to American students, mostly
with conspicuous success.
RHODES REQUEST
| Until now. the only formal and regular
| schemes to send students to foreign uni
versities have been the Rhodes scholar
ship beQuest and the Boxer indemnity
J scholarships The Rhodes scholarships
were founded in 1902 by the will of Cecil
| Rhodes, British empire builder and ideal
! list. Rhodes had always valued college
education as an immcasurable advantage
| IN life His health was such that he
could stay In England only for short
periods, but he was so determined 10
! graduate from Oxford that he went back
and forth between England South Africa
| and studied at intervals for eight years to
obtain a degree. When he was granted
an honorary degree by Oxford years later,
he regarded the occasion as one of the
highest points In his career.
His bcquest allows the United States
to send two students at time from each
State to spend three years at Oxford
Canada, British Africa, Australia, and
btit hftSNt iHOftN atSb tttN6 ttltli t{iplaSf
while before the war Germany was given
fifteen.
Oxford is noted for high standard of
classical training Universities of the
United States excel in technical lines; the
German universities, before the war
attracted students from all over the world
because OF their reputation for intensive
research, while the University Of Vienna
was best known for its medical school.
Such regulations for excellence along
special lines have for years attracted
students from other countries 20 certain
universities.
But the idea back of the international
exchange of students is not so much tn
catalog these best universities and the
best professors and to send students to
them Ii Is rather TO place students and
professors In foreign universities so that
thew may broaden their outlook and come
to understand other peoples.
The war. which had SO psralyzing an
effect on the European universities brought
large numbers of foreign students 10 the
United States. Until then, European
students desiring 10 attend English
speaking schools went to England The
war practically closed European schools
TO outsiders, and neutfals desiring higher
South America and the Orient sent even
larger numbers Of students to this coun-
try.
OF the Oricntals, the most interesting
are the Boxer indemnity students, men
toned before When Congress rcrnitted
Si2. 600 600 of the Boxer Rebellion in
dcmnity, paid by the Chinese govern
meut, the Chinese decided % spend tho
money in scholarships in American schools
and colleges One hundred students were
to he sent every year for five years. and
then fifty students every year fnr twenty
nine wears. The students were to spend
from five 10 nIne years in this country
This agreement was a complete sur
render on China part ri her prejudice
against western culture. In tho middle
ot the nineteenth century. China had sent
ono hundred students 10 the United
States as an experiment After time.
word came 20 the pig-taIled Chinese dig
nitarics IN Pekiu that their protcCcs were
becoming AmerIcanized IN dress and
Nj students were immedistelv /
recalled, and for years they bore the dis
pleasure Of their government. and were
not allowed to hold any office OF Importance +
in their country,
Toward the end of the nineteenth
century, Chinese were again gradually
gwen permission 10 study 10 America. \
Now China sees tho good points cf western /
education. and has even modified her own /
classical curTicula 10 follow !
some of the western ideas
That China, SO long regarded as q
synonym tor moss grown convention,
'hould ind something good in western