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This evening I attended a dinner party in
Tokyo for Harvard University President Drew Faust who is visiting Japan. When
President Faust was formally introduced the speaker read a journal entry of a
student written in about 1885. It said, “In New England when someone says 'the
President' they never mean anyone in Washington D.C. They mean the President of
Harvard!” Harvard's President can still be considered to be that important
because much of what happens in the US in practically every field of human
endeavor is influenced by something done at Harvard, and what happens in the US
influences so many other nations that Harvard is truly a vital place. President
Faust talked about how things have changed and are changing at Harvard
(including how it feels to be the first woman President of the school) , and its
plans for the future. She said the first student from Japan began studies at
Harvard in 1872. Yet sadly, among the freshmen who entered Harvard in the fall
of 2009, only one student is from Japan.
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When
President Faust talked with Prime Minister Hatoyama yesterday, he mentioned that
there are fewer and fewer Japanese students who study abroad and asked her what
might be done to reverse that trend. She wisely answered that Harvard and other
universities of the world are waiting with open arms, but the desire to study at
those schools will have to be encouraged and nurtured from within Japan itself.
I hope more Japanese students will make plans to spend at least part of their
learning years abroad. I will certainly do all I can to encourage and nurture
that desire.
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