international students at Teachers College, Columbia University
One hundred years ago today … Teachers College of Columbia University, then as now located in several buildings between 120/121 Streets, between Broadway and Amsterdam, was a magnet for international students.
Summer Session at Teachers College, 1920. Courtesy Teachers College Center on History and Education.
According to the Times, students had traveled from 31 countries to attend TC in 1920. It listed them:
New York Times, 17 July 1920, p. 2. The New York Times Archive.
The article makes clear that TC was key player in cultural imperialism. It exported both US educational practices and US political ideals.
Most of these students from foreign lands return to their own countries to fill posts of responsibility in government, church or private school system, as supervisors and teachers in service, or as instructors in training in normal school or college. Their influence and through them the influence of the United States and of American ideals is multiplied…. Upon their return home these graduates of the several courses offered at Teachers College are doubtless the best interpreters of the United States to their native lands, in the opinion of their teachers. (“Teachers College a World Center,” New York Times, 17 July 1920, p. 2.)
Columbia University. Teachers College. Announcement of Teachers College, Columbia University. p. 6. Hathitrust.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, AUGUST 25, 1920.
TAGS: Teachers College, education, universities, foreign students, cultural imperialism, Morningside Heights