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Dear Sir:
Forwarded to me last week was a letter of yours, requesting my answers to certain questions concerning post-war education at Stanford.
Speaking for myself and the quarter percentage of my comrades whose education was interrupted, let me assure you that we are only too anxious to complete that education. The prosecution of this was has displayed graphically to us the extent to which our own age is becoming one of specialization. For this reason we are becoming increasingly aware of the necessity of obtaining the theoretical background upon which we can develop a final specialization. In my opinion, Stanford has developed basic curricula which have for a long time met this necessity admirably. May I however invite your investigation into the [manner?] in which the army has prepared men
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for positions in which the knowledge of a foreign language was essential.
Admittedly, this was a speaking acquaintance only. Yet the rapidity with which this knowledge was acquired is a certain measure of the effectiveness of the method employed, and nothing does more to arouse an interest in the foreign affairs of a country, the lack of which contributed greatly to our failure to create a lasting peace, than the knowledge that one can handle himself adequately in discourse with a representative of that country.
But, for myself, let me say that a resumption of my studies in the atmosphere of friendship and honest endeavour which is characteristically Stanford will be adequate compensation for the discomforts I have undergone in this conflict.
Respectfully yours, Owen R. Walker
