APPRAISERS OF PREJUDICE

For more than half a century, travelling fellowships have been availabe to Harvard men. And not ony do the recipients of these awards have opportunity to further their scholarly interests, but they learn to understand the prejudices of the country in which they study. By the very fact of living amid strange surroundings, they acquire a counterpoise for their own predilections. To the graduate student such opportunities are presenting themselves in increasing numbers.

For the undergraduate, no parallel opening now exists, although a short term fellowship would provide similar advantages for the younger man. Mechanically, the plan for a semester of foreign study might operate with considerable success were the award made at the end of the student's Sophomore year to be held until the following mid-years. Profitable terms at many continental universities await the discerning student. Interesting contacts can be built up and an interplay of opinion produced which will go far toward creating an international attitude on the part of the American.

Aside from these intangible values which represent clear, educational gain, the instruction afforded abroad is roughly equivalent to that in the United States. Certainly, it is not necessary that the man appointed drop behind his class at Harvard. And on his return he, unlike older men winning travelling scholarships, may have an inside opportunity to influence the college community. Thus, by a natural seepage of ideas might the cause of international amity be furthered. It seems safe to say that such undergraduate fellowships would help in making general student opinion tolerant, as well as aiding the selected man to become an imperial connoisseur of prejudice.