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Anniversary of the Fulbright Exchange Program

This year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the international Fulbright Exchange Program. (The US-German program is a couple of years younger.) Let's start with a quote from its founder, Senator Fulbright:
There is a multiplier effect in international education and it carries the possibility – the only real possibility – of changing our manner of thinking about the world, and therefore of changing the world.  For every university professor whose outlook has been broadened by study in another country, many thousands of students will gain some measure of intercultural perspective.  For every business person who has studied in another country, many associates are likely to gain some appreciation of the essential futility of nationalistic economic policies and of the way in which an international division of labor benefits all countries.  For every politician who, through study abroad, has gained some appreciation of the world as a human community, untold numbers of ordinary citizens, as well as their leaders, may be guided away from parochialism and narrow nationalism to broader, more fruitful perspectives.
The quote is from J. William Fulbright's book The Price of Empire (Amazon.com). The German translation is titled Im Zeichen des Sternenbanners (Amazon.de).
Tomorrow German and American Fulbrighters based in Berlin will celebrate the Fourth of July with a BBQ and a game watching party: The World Cup semi-final Germany vs. Italy. Happy Fourth of July everybody!

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Bill on :

Happy FXP Anniversary and a Happy 4th of July 2006 Jörg. I enjoyed reading the Carnival of German-American Relations III posts and am looking forward to participating in the next carnival event in September. Good luck tonight in Dortmund against Italy (WM 2006 semi-final) and good luck for your "man-in-space" over at the Space Shuttle Mission STS-121 launchpad. We don't want to see any fireworks at Cape Canaveral today, just full speed ahead to the stars.

pigilito on :

Congrats on the anniversary, and your strong association. My mother was a Fulbright exchange student from Holland in the mid 1950's to the Connecticut College for Women, and loved the experience. I hope you enjoy your BBQ and the soccer match. The last time they played in the final (1982?) I was for Italy, this time I hope Germany wins.

Joerg on :

Thank you, guys! We had a great fourth of July. I hope you did, too. @ Bill First Dirk Nowitzki's team loses in the NBA finals and now the German soccer team lost against Italy. :-( NASA had a good launch with German astronaut Thomas Reiter. I hope the crew will return savely. Reiter is staying for half a year, I heard... Wow. @ Pigilito That's interesting. So you are a "Fulbright son"!

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