America's reputation as a world leader is certainly not what it used to be.  In the good ol' days of 2002, 83 percent of countries in a worldwide poll conducted by the US Government showed that more people expressed favorable views of the United States than unfavorable ones.  In 2006, that number had dropped to just 23 percent.

Most of us know the events that occurred between 2002 and today to make America's reputation sink so abysmally, those being shoddy intelligence on the missing Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, poor diplomacy, and then there are those three ongoing wars: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war on Terror - it counts too. The question is, how do we salvage our besmirched reputation now?

Two representatives have a solution: education. 

Last week two House subcommittees held a joint hearing entitled "Restoring America's Leadership through Scholarships for Undergraduates from Developing Countries: The Uniting Students in America (USA) Proposal." 

The goal of the program is to bring 7,500 financially needy undergraduates from developing nations to American colleges every year on Uncle Sam's tab.  Upon graduating, they would return with their new "skills, attitudes, and most importantly, friendships," to their home countries. 

Rep. Delahunt, the Chairman for the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, and Chairman Don Payne (D-NJ) of the Africa Subcommittee devised the concept for the USA scholarship program. The two legislators hope to craft a legislative proposal for the USA program before Congress recesses for the summer.

According to Delahunt, providing educational opportunities to undergraduate students from developing nations will strengthen America's national security by establishing connections and supporting international dialogue.

"It is in our national interest to use one of America's greatest assets, our universities, to build a global future that is marked by good will, not hate, and by understanding, not skepticism," Delahunt said.

Delahunt and Payne's proposal requests that one billion dollars per year be put towards the USA program.  Not a large amount, according to Delahunt, considering that one billion dollars  " is about what we spend every three days on the war in Iraq, which has contributed significantly in eroding our international standing."

The United States currently has more than 580,000 international students within its borders.  While this may seem like a large number, the amount of students traveling from other countries to study in America dropped by nearly five percent in the years after 9/11 and just recently recovered to pre-9/11 levels. 

The majority of the people who travel to study here today are graduate students, and most of the federal grants and scholarships are directed towards them. The federal government only offers about 320 or so scholarships for undergraduates. 

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee who opposes the USA program, stated that 500,000 international students are more than enough for America's reputation.  He worries that American colleges and universities will use the USA proposal to bring in more money for themselves, and that students from other countries will end up staying in the U.S. and take away job opportunities from American students.

"I don't know why you want to spend a billion dollars on foreigners...my job is not to watch out for people from other countries, I'm sorry.  My job is to watch out for what is in the interest of young Americans," Rohrabacher said.

Rachel Ochako, a Kenyan woman studying at Middlebury College on a Davis Grant, believes otherwise.  Her testimony at the hearing focused on the educational benefit for international students who are not offered equal schooling in their home countries.

"At Middlebury College, you have people from different states that are liberal, conservative, and then you have the international students.  Completely different viewpoints," Ochako said.  "But you learn to agree to disagree.  When you agree to disagree, you are creating ideas that are stronger and this is what you're taking back to developing countries.  It's unfortunate to say, but if I went to public university in Kenya, I would have a very different education and it would be very closed."

While the USA program does sound progressive and offers an opportunity for the US to effectively purchase international goodwill, the numbers proposed are questionable.  For starters, will 7,500 students a year make any dent in the attitudes of a global community composed of over six billion people?

And then there's the issue of funding.  The proposed one billion in annual funds would amount to $133,300 per student, per year.  Even if a few annual trips back to their country of origin are factored into the spending, the amount seems like too much.  The most expensive universities in the country hover around $50,000 per year and undergraduates typically live on a budget of $25,000 or less.  So what is the other $58,000 per student, per year being allocated towards?   We hope it's not administrative overhead at 44 percent of the costs! 

If the US wishes to show the world we're not just paranoid war mongers driving gas-guzzling SUVs looking for ways to bully other countries, the USA program is a good start.  But if we wish the program to be accepted as a serious gesture of international stewardship and to make a dent in international attitudes, we'll need to fund considerably more than 7,500 students per year.