The concept for the design of the exchange grew from a program I was exposed to as Principal of Lester B. Person Canadian DSchool, Heidelberg Germany. The Deparetment of National Defence Overseas Schools insisted that all secondary school students were to be afforded the opportunity to visit a major European centre each year as part of its Europe as the Classroom Program.  This exposure, coupled with the knowledge that most major human activity historically has occurred somewhere other than North America and the conviction that one of the best ways to ensure understanding and tolerance among groups of people is to allow children to interact with each other, led to the development of this program.