The Hungarian Student, 1957 (1. évfolyam, 2-8. szám)
1957 / 4. szám
The Hungarian Student 21 ... From Closing Speeches Christopher Emmett, President of AFCN: “ . ... Frankly, I am one of those who believe that our country could have done more for Hungary. I have done what I could to suggest action which our government might have taken to help Hungary, and we are still doing that. You all know well what happened in Hungary—you all know you didn’t get the help which some of you expected, but you don’t know why. There is a great service you can render, not only to Hungary and to its future when you are able to go back there, but to this country and to the free world. Some of you will stay to become American citizens, and some of you are concluding your education, waiting for the time when you can go back and help to build the freedom of your own country. In the meantime, all of you can be of help to our people. In other words, you are not just students—you can also be teachers. Many of you have learned English with miraculous speed, and I wish to concentrate on the language problem, because whether or not you plan to go back to Hungary, you can help Hungary while you are here in proportion as you learn to speak English fluently and understandably, and insofar as you make contact with other American students___” Donald M. Shank, International Institute of Education: Charles J. Kersten, former Congressman from Milwaukee, opens the final festivities. this point. But I know that it is typical of hundreds of thousands of American men and women who grew up in a midwest industrial city, not far from Chicago. I went to a public school and, of course, dreamed of going away to college. My dreams were usually about Yale and Princeton; nowadays they’re about MIT and Cal Tech. My family could not afford to cover the cost involved in studying at that institution or any other. Fortunately in my city there was a small university financed entirely by the taxpayers of that city. I would hazard a guess that no one in this room, including my fellow countrymen, knows much about the existence of that university. I, however, did my best and have made some progress in education since that time. My classmates, too, from this unknown, tax-supported, midwestern university have moved into distinguished careers as corporation executives, public servants. . .. The responsibility to make the university experience meaningful is, in the final analysis, your own. In the third place, and I will stop preaching soon, you will find that the American people in communities throughout the country are extremely hospitable. We are friendly, we are curious about strangers, we sometimes ask embarrassing questions. The Hungarian students I have met have many of these characteristics. You will, I am sure, find it easy to become a vital part of the campus and the community in which you live. You will be expected to conform to the official rules and patterns of the college and of the town. These will not always seem to you sensible and logical rules, but you are for the moment like the 40,000 students from other countries now in the United States, guests of the colleges and the communities. You can, I am sure, retain your own personalities and beliefs, and, at the same time, adjust to the customs and traditions of your new surroundings. Finally, I would like to suggest that your responsibility to do a good job on the campus in the next year and “I would like to stick out my neck, if you know the phrase, to argue. ... Each college graduate stands on his own two feet regardless of the name of the institution which gave him his degree. Of course, certain institutions have more distinguished departments in some fields than others. Of course, an institution which is more than three hundred years old is better known than one that is fifty years old. Of course, a campus with magnificent buildings like these is mure attractive than one whose structures are old fashioned or run down. Now I probably should not use my own educational history to demonstrate Actress Erzsi Czobor, Mistress of Ceremonies.
