This year over twenty-three hundred teenagers from all over the world will spend about ten months in US homes. They will attend US schools, meet US teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.
Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George's family. In turn, George's son Mike spent a year in Fred's home in America.
Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months' study the language began to be familiar to him. School was completely different. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that were usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.
Family life, too, was different. The father's word was the law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual. Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car. "Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it. "
At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. "I suppose I don't think much of American schools," he said. "It is far too easy by our level. In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for activities. There ought to be some middle ground between the two. "
