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The Fulbright Program: Chock Full of Bright Ideas

bastian.rieck.me

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Re: The Fulbright Program: Chock Full of Bright Ideas

#5

Post by thomassmith65 »

jalk wrote: post #2

Surprised that Fulbright scholarships are still a thing, given DOGE. Cultural exchange programs seems like something the current US administration would get a severe rash from.

  “The Fulbright Program's mission is to bring a little 
  more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more
  compassion into world affairs and thereby increase the
  chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace 
  and friendship.” — Senator J. William Fulbright
Yes, that seems out of step with the MAGA era.

Re: The Fulbright Program: Chock Full of Bright Ideas

#6

Post by ModernMech »

jalk wrote: post #2

Surprised that Fulbright scholarships are still a thing, given DOGE. Cultural exchange programs seems like something the current US administration would get a severe rash from.

Like all US institutions that support higher education and diversity, the Trump administration is attacking it:

Fulbright Board Resigns After Accusing Trump Aides of Political Interference: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/us/politics/fulbright-boa...

Education Dept. Cancels Fulbright-Hays Applications, at Least for Now: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/study-abroad/2025...

Association of International Educators warns students won’t want to come to the US https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/association-international-ed...

Re: The Fulbright Program: Chock Full of Bright Ideas

#8

Post by allears »

trallnag wrote: post #7

[flagged]

The USA profits from this (in dollars and cents) for a number of reasons. For one thing, our industries need smart people to build competitive products. For another thing, being a center of science attracts investments to the US, and also generates revenue from visiting students and scientists. Not to mention the kinds of benefits that may not have immediate cash payoff, but better position the US to be a world leader.

We seem to have given all that up now, for reasons that aren't very clear to me.

Re: The Fulbright Program: Chock Full of Bright Ideas

#9

Post by yapyap »

Beautiful blogpost and I wholly agree with the message of not scrapping everything going on today because you can’t see immediate growth from it.

It’s like if the USA was a house, Donald Trump and his goons are cancelling all the utilities without realising (1) that in a month the water will be shut off and the entire house will start smelling like shit.

1. or probably without caring, it’s easy to misattribute malice for stupidity when the actions being taken are THIS malicious but that’s what’s going on. I don’t necessarily think Donald Trump is this stupid but I think he is just very very malicious. Though at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter whether he is stupid or malicious or both, the consequences of what he is doing won’t change depending on intentions.

Re: The Fulbright Program: Chock Full of Bright Ideas

#10

Post by trallnag »

allears wrote: post #8
trallnag wrote: post #7

[flagged]

The USA profits from this (in dollars and cents) for a number of reasons. For one thing, our industries need smart people to build competitive products. For another thing, being a center of science attracts investments to the US, and also generates revenue from visiting students and scientists. Not to mention the kinds of benefits that may not have immediate cash payoff, but better position the US to be a world leade…

So, it's about soft power, something I got disillusioned by in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Or maybe China, India, etc. are just better at it.
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