Whitman and the World By Tom Cronin We live in an increasingly borderless world during an absolutely fascinating era for emerging democracies, for economic development, and for international environmental work. Our economy and our political alliances that seek peace, human rights, and economic progress all require that we become citizens of the world and reject parochial or isolationist inclinations of the past. The liberal arts college today has a major responsibility to prepare students for this global community. A majority of our graduates will work in professions that will either take them abroad with some regularity or have them working within international firms and organizations that have major international clients and customers. There is a wonderful old Chinese proverb that says "to know only one nation or society is to know no nations and no societies." In effect, you must get outside your tribe even to understand your own tribe, your own culture, your own country. Whitman tries to give students many opportunities to know other nations and societies, building a campus-wide sensitivity to the need to learn from one another and broaden our understanding of the world. Whitman welcomes dozens of international students each year. Scores of our American students now incorporate at least a semester of study abroad, and many have also found ways to do research abroad. In fact, 35 percent of Whitman students will study abroad before they graduate. And hundreds of graduates have served in the Peace Corps, the Whitman-in-China program, or similar exchange or service programs overseas. International visitors, expanded curriculum choices, and access to the Internet also connect students with the rest of the world. Our international students have added enormously to the way we think and learn and look at the world. Similarly, those Whitman students who have studied abroad come back not only with richer perspectives and better language skills, but also with all kinds of new questions -- questions about themselves, the U.S., politics, economics, religion, justice, and how we relate to the rest of the world. Such questions invigorate discussion and debate in and outside of classrooms. These new realities are transforming Whitman College and in the process making it a much stronger place of learning. Back to the President's Homepage