What are Rhodes Scholars?
Cecil Rhodes was an Englishman who went out to South Africa when only a boy and soon began to dig for diamonds. He was successful, and when twenty years old returned to England and entered Oxford University. His health, was delicate, and it was eight years before he took his degree. During these years be spent much time in South Africa seeking health and looking after his business affairs.
After leaving Oxford he returned to South Africa and became very wealthy from mines of gold and diamonds. When he died, in 1902, it was found that he had left most of his wealth to trustees to found scholarships at Oxford University.
Rhodes believed that the world would be helped if all English-speaking people knew more about one another. Therefore the scholars were to be appointed from nearly all parts of the British Empire and from the United States. Germany, too, was allotted five scholars a year, but this was canceled by the British Parliament in 1916.
Each province of Canada appoints a scholar every year and thirty-two come each year from the United States—-f our each from eight groups of six states. There are about 200 Rhodes scholars in all. They are young men; they receive about 2,000 each year, and the scholarships are for two or three years. At first they were required to study at Oxford, but now they may choose another university for all or part of the time.
