All across American college and university campuses this weekend and next, commencement speakers will be talking about "the value of education." In an unintended way, New York University's offer to accept Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng as a visiting scholar proves that education also has value in the realm of foreign policy.

Chen sparked a diplomatic crisis when he sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on April 30, then decided to return to Chinese jurisdiction, then said he wanted to leave China. The back-and-forth made American diplomats look indecisive and Chinese diplomats look heavyhanded and dictatorial.

New York University's offer on May 4 gave the U.S. an out. The offer forced China to extend Chen the same rights of educational travel that all Chinese citizens have, and the U.S. promised to expedite the process. For more on the incident, read here.

If China makes good on its promise to allow Chen to leave -- great. If not, China looks like the bad guy and the U.S. can make diplomatic hay of that. There are some scenarios -- bad ones -- which could point up U.S. indecision, but with international attention on Chen those probably won't happen.

In short, the most probable outcomes to the deal help the U.S. come out on top. And therein is "the value of education."

Photo: In this handout photograph provided by the U.S. Embassy Beijing press office, Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng (R) looks on as U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke (L) talks on the phone May 2, 2012 in Beijing, China.

Photo by U.S. Embassy Beijing Press via Getty Images

George C. Marshall, the 50th U.S. secretary of state, was both a man of war and a man of peace. As U.S. Army chief of staff in World War II, he coordinated American and allied war efforts; as secretary of state he crafted the economic plan that reinvigorated post-war Europe. Read here for this installment in my series of bios on American secretaries of state.

Photo: George C. Marshall as U.S. Army chief of staff.

Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Defense.

The United States has had troops in Japan since the end of World War II, most of them stationed in the southern island prefecture of Okinawa. Numbers of U.S. personnel there have topped 52,000, and their behavior -- ranging from traffic accidents to incidents of rape -- have frequently irritated Okinawans.

Since 2006, the U.S. and Japan have been working on a deal to move some 9,000 Americans off of Okinawa. On April 27, they announced the rudiments of the deal. Read here for more.

On April 23, 2012, North Korea threatened to attack South Korea and turn Seoul to "ashes." More Kim-family rhetoric? Probably, but the comment underscores North Korea's anger over its failed missile test earlier this month. It also keeps the people of the Korean peninsula -- and the world -- on edge. After all, North Korea does have nuclear weapons capability, and it does not ascribe to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968.

Nor does it want to be told what to do. President Obama has called for North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to avoid provocative actions, but to no avail.

Non-proliferation remains a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy. Five of the nine nuclear nations have signed onto the NPT; of the other four, all except North Korea agree with non-proliferation. For more about the 1968 non-proliferation treaty, read here. For more on North Korea, stand by.

Photo: Nagasaki, Japan, August 9, 1945.

Photo courtesy U.S. State Department.