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Assistant Secretary Patricia S. Harrison

Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant and
Fulbright U.S. Student Alumni Workshop

Friday, November 21, 2003
Washington Marriott Hotel

Distinguished guests, colleagues, Fulbright alumni and Fulbright FLTA Fellows, good morning.

I am so pleased to be here at this workshop for Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Fellows and U.S. alumni of the Fulbright student program in the Middle East.

The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which I have the privilege to lead, is proud to host such a dynamic group of young people here in Washington, DC during International Education Week.

I also want to acknowledge our very good partner, the Institute of International Education. IIE helps ECA implement both the Fulbright Student Program and the Fulbright FLTA Program.

The Vice-President of IIE, Mary Kirk, is with us today. Mary, we thank you and your staff for your excellent work on behalf of the Fulbright Program.

This week we are celebrating International Education Week, which provides the State Department, Fulbright Commissions, U.S. Embassies and our partners around the world with an opportunity to affirm the history of success of international education and exchange programs. I can think of no better place to conclude the week than with you -- fellows, alumni and partners of the Fulbright Program.

In fact, this has been an interesting progression for me as I began last week in Honolulu, Hawaii working with the east west center as they hosted 300 elementary school children from several schools to launch international education week in Hawaii.

The children were very excited because the theme for their program was - how different countries express thanks or gratitude-for a good harvest, or for the new year, or the birth of a child -from African customs to Indian, Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern-the entire world was represented in a very busy activity room.

After a Hawaiian blessing complete with traditional drums-I asked the children to raise their hands if they had ever known a person from another country.

Almost 300 hands were raised.

And I could not help but think back to my own childhood in Brooklyn, New York where most of us were once removed from a relative who had immigrated to the United States - primarily from Europe-my grandfather came from Italy- or Eastern Europe and Russia.

We had very few foreign students coming to p.s. 99 to study or as part of an exchange program.

The concept of the foreign student was in fact foreign and the idea of differentness was not valued. Everyone was supposed to fit in as quickly as possible and be American.

In fact, when I was going to school in Brooklyn, New York we did not have a class trip outside of the city because the reasoning was -where would we go - we were already at the center of the universe.

So when I looked at all those young, happy faces in Hawaii, and saw all those hands go up - it was a dramatic reminder about how much our world has changed, how interconnected we are, and how better off we are when that connection is made at an earlier age.

I imagine that in ten years or so, many of those young boys and girls will be candidates for the Fulbright program.

Especially if they have an opportunity to learn from a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant - I know we have 51 program fellows here with us today.

Through the Fulbright FLTA Program, Americans have an opportunity to meet on a personal and professional level with outstanding young leaders from other countries.

You teach our students your languages and cultures. Your presence on our campuses is intellectually stimulating, and you inspire our young people to look beyond our borders.

As FLTA Fellows, you benefit as well. You improve your teaching skills in the classroom, and you gain leadership experience.

You are also becoming part of our communities, sometimes in a very distinguished way.

I was impressed to learn that the governor of South Dakota made Burcin Akgonul
[Ber-jeen Ak-go-nul] from Turkey, Sabohat Khalilova [Sa-bo-hat Kal-ee-lo-va] from Uzbekistan and Ahmed Taboussi [Ach-med Ta-bu-see] from Morocco, honorary citizens of the state because of their teaching achievements at the University of South Dakota.
When they and you return home, as alumni of these programs, you will be able to share your first-hand knowledge of the United States with your students, friends and families.

You will be able to tell them about an America that exists beyond the headlines, beyond television news in your countries and ours.

You will be able to say-America is a faith-based country but of so many faiths that people are free to worship as they will and take that for granted.

You will be able to talk about the fact that even though we work around the clock to make money so that one day we can take time off, we love our families.

And that in our spare time -which is not really spare-we volunteer. We coach soccer games and little league, we belong to the parent teachers association and we race for the cure to end breast cancer; we have bake sales to raise money for our communities and we volunteer at the school and church fair.

You will be able to tell them we talk about exercising all the time but rarely exercise and that yes - we are working on ways to make fast food even faster.

I hope you will convey that even after the events of September 11, we are open and welcoming and want even more students from other countries to come here to study.
One of the great things about my job is I get to see America through the eyes of men and women who come here on one of our programs.

Right before the war in Iraq, I met with a group of journalists-Kurds from Northern Iraq.

I asked them about their impressions of the U.S.

One of them said, I found out Americans don't care.

I was horrified to hear him say this.

Oh, no, he said you don't understand.

We were told that Americans hate the Kurds. We found out you don't hate us-you don't even know who we are.

And you don't care.

You don't care how we pray, what religion we practice. I think this kind of not caring is good and I want this for my country.

I'm sure you have stories of your own.

Like the young high school student from Cairo, Egypt who is in the states as part of our new partnerships for learning high school program with Muslim majority countries.

She said-I love it here in this country but I have one question.

Why do Americans keep asking me what it is like to ride on a camel?

I am from Cairo. I have never been on a camel in my life.

Deana El-Mallawany [El-Mal-a-wa-nee] was an American Fulbrighter in Egypt. Deana says that her Fulbright experience is now "a filter" through which she sees the world, and it has given her a new sense of responsibility to add her voice to the dialogue that pushes America, in all its diversity, to better understand itself and its place in the world - to see beyond camels.

Nathan Fonder was a U.S. Fulbrighter in Syria. Nathan is currently in the doctoral program in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard, focusing on the study of early Arab nationalism. His Fulbright experience is a launch pad for a future career as a professor of Middle Eastern Studies.

Kirk Johnson returned from his overseas Fulbright experience to a small Midwestern U.S. town, where he has become a local celebrity. The local paper has profiled him, bank tellers have asked him about his experiences and teachers at his former school have invited him to speak to classes. The Fulbright experience has taught him "to never be content with what I know now."

Since 1946, the Fulbright program has promoted mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchange while serving as a catalyst for long-term leadership development, partnerships, and a shared commitment to peace, prosperity and democracy.

In the aftermath of World War II, Senator Fulbright and the U.S. Congress conceived the program so that "people would know each other as peoples." These leaders recognized that partnerships built upon the free exchange of people and ideas were absolutely essential.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said, "Our rising leaders in the Fulbright program establish relationships with counterparts abroad that will form the foundation of successful and mutually beneficial partnerships in the years ahead."

Everyone in this room knows that if we can dispel the misconceptions of who we all are as people, we can further mutual respect, mutual understanding and together accomplish so much.

And that is why my highest priority as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs is to build on the values we hold in common with Muslim societies, to help strengthen voices of moderation, to reinforce U.S. commitment to education and opportunity, and to provide a platform for a positive dialogue.

Nearly two years ago, I spoke to a conference in Marrakech, Morocco that focused on higher education in the Arab world. It was attended by policy makers and by leaders from business and education.

Prior to my remarks, I had the opportunity to listen to Queen Rania of Jordan speak about 'the hope gap'.
This is the "gap" that separates young people who have hope for the future from those who only know despair. The first group has hope because someone ensured that they got the education and the training they needed to succeed in life. The other group, underemployed and undereducated have no hope other than to succumb to the siren song of radical extremism.

They may statistically be part of the successor generation, but they are doomed to fail.

I was so inspired by Queen Rania's commitment that I took the occasion of the Marrakech conference to ask the participants: Can we work in partnership, right now, on behalf of young people, to begin to make a measurable difference?

The answer was yes. I am happy to tell you that two years later Partnerships for Learning, a global partnership of people of goodwill from all sectors to reach younger, wider and deeper audiences throughout the Arab and Muslim world and other regions, beyond the traditional elites-is thriving.

Let me stress two points about Partnerships for Learning, or P4L. First, it is just that - a genuine partnership of governments and educators, business, and community leaders. Second, we do not look upon these programs as one-way - but equally as opportunities for deeper dialogue and engagement.

Fulbright FLTA Fellows are examples of what we can achieve together with P4L. FLTA was established in 1969. Today, with the support of P4L, we are expanding the program to include the languages the Middle East, Africa, South and Central Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Last year, there were just 17 fellows teaching these critical languages. This year, we were able to expand the program to 51. Next year, we plan to double the number of fellows to 100.

You were selected as Fulbrighters because even though you are distinct from one another - you share the time-tested qualities that all leaders demonstrate. You have a strong need to achieve that is coupled with an equally strong need to contribute.

You have curiosity; you are risk takers. And you have an open mind to cultural differences.

You are willing to share the benefits of your Fulbright experience so that others may learn and grow.

What you do now and in years to come is critical to our communities, our countries and our world. And I have the utmost confidence that you will use your Fulbright experience to make a positive difference.

Secretary of State Colin Powell believes that optimism is a force multiplier. Optimists believe that what they do can make a big difference, that what they do matters.

Optimists show great resiliency in the face of adversity. To my mind, Fulbrighters are the ultimate optimists. They can look at a roadblock and understand this tells you one thing: there is a road on the other side.

I am confident that together in partnership and with your leadership, we will find the road on the other side of conflict and turmoil - a road not taken by the thugs and assassins whose only product is hate-out road is one of peace, prosperity and democracy.

And as President Bush said, "The non negotiable demands of human dignity."

Thank you.

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