Address by United States Commissioner of Education Earl James McGrath, Education Exchange and International Understanding

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EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE AND INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING * It is a privilege and a pleasure on behalf of the educators of the United States to welcome you to this country. I hope, and I believe, that your sojourn here during the next few months will be both enjoyable and profitable. Knowing my countrymen as I do, I am confident that, regardless of which community you live in during the coming weeks, you will be received with a hearty welcome. The members of the teaching profession will be eager to help you become acquainted with our educational system and they will join with other members of the community in trying to give you an understanding of our way of life. These exchange programs have a number of purposes but one of the most important is that of offering an opportunity for professional development. As the educators of our Nation visit and work with those of another they gain knowledge about theories and practices which differ somewhat from our own. It is our hope that you may also gain new insights into your own educational system as a result of your study of ours. As you appraise our practices it would be helpful, I believe, for you to keep several basic ideas in mind, for these conceptions are responsible for differences between our educational system and that of other countries. By Earl James McGrath, U.S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington, D.C., at the general session of the Orientation Program for Exchange Teachers, Federal Security Agency Auditorium, Washington, D. C., Sept. 8, 1952, 9:00 a.m. EDT: and Sept. 12, 1952, 9:30 a.m. Published in part in The Texas Outlook, Vol. 36, No. 11, November 1952, p. 25.