Should Students Study outside Their Countries - Essay Example

Teacher Should study outside their countries? Education is one of the most important things in our lives. The progress one makes every year can be easily measured by academic achievements. Education makes ones future amazing and guarantees a better life according to most. Where education is so stressed in modern society, the question of where to go to get it arises. And also, whether going abroad for quality is important. I believe that achieving education overseas is a very interesting experience for those who opt for it, regardless of its academic merits. Although some people strongly oppose studying outside their own country, I believe students should study abroad not just to gain higher standards of quality but also to learn about different cultures, bring new ides back home, and also become versed in multiple international languages. Opponents of students studying outside their country argue that these ethnic students will have to deal with prejudice and discrimination which will cause great personal and psychological distress upon their mental health. However, I think student’s mindsets will actually expand and grow by studying abroad. Before leaving their country, students may have entertained certain predisposed prejudices and ideas about schools in foreign countries. But considering generic experiences of a varied number of students, perceptions tend to change, and most importantly change for the positive. Opinions may undergo changes simply because direct exposure removes fears and stereotypes of students by allowing them to form their own personal perceptions. For example, before I came to the Unites States, I was prone to the belief that all Americans had a disdain for and hated Muslims. But since my arrival, I have been forced to believe otherwise. When I arrived, I lived with an American non-Muslim host family. They helped me to improve my speaking in English. They did not question me about my religion and they respected my language. Since in my religion, the consumption of pork is prohibited, they took special pains to arrange other food for me. If they wanted to cook pork, they cooked chicken for me. From my own experiences with them, my mindset and thinking has undergone changes. It brought me face to face with the idea that not everything in media is true. This itself is one reason one should study abroad according to Starlett Craig. “Increase your understanding of the world and our society. We can no longer afford to rely on CNN to tell us what we should know about the world,” she advises (1998). It is not fair to categorize entire nations as Arab-haters. This I realize is the truth, and has influenced my opinions about the true nature of Americans. Another argument that opponents of education abroad present is that students will assimilate into the societies abroad and therefore influence and negatively affect their traditional and cultural values. Personally I think this is not the case at all. I think that after studying abroad, they will bring new ideas back home that will help to change their communities for the better. After all, this is a major incentive for students to study in foreign countries in the first place; to help their natives in any way they can learn how to. The intention is not to change their tradition but rather to appreciate it from a different angle. The entire point is to learn from the best, and hence apply it where it is most needed in their home country. For example, the modeling and implementation of new traffic systems based on foreign knowledge and designs by engineers who have studied abroad bring advancements to lagging countries. Along with that, there is the asset of bringing along knowledge of new technologies that will help them to speed up transactions and reach international standards. Critics of foreign education claim that ethnic students will have a major impediment to deal with, and that is the language communication barrier. A manifestation of this is that these students will attempt to communicate in their own languages, and maintain their indigenous languages everywhere outside of the academic field. But this is not a fair judgment. Even if a foreign student resides with his fellow natives in a foreign country, surviving on the basis of that language alone is not enough. There are numerous things which require contact with non-native speakers, such as grocery shopping, riding the bus, etc. Many professors claim that if anyone wants to speak fluently any language other than their native, it is very necessary to practice it everyday. If you live in a foreign country, you are at an advantage, since you have no choice but to communicate in it constantly. “I do not under-estimate the advantages of acquiring a familiar knowledge of other modern languages, or the superior facility of doing this in the countries where such languages are the vernacular.” (Northrup, pg. 24, 2009) From my own experiences I can add that many are helpful and facilitating to new people attempting to learn foreign languages. My own host family collaborated with me in following my professor’s advice on speaking to brush up my English language skills. Now I feel I have learned a lot. This specific aspect depends on an individual’s endeavors to learn as well as the available environmental factors. A foreign friend lives with his cousin here in the United States. He says he can not speak English as well as he had hoped. One reason for this is that he communicates with his cousin in their tongue, and therefore avoids direct usages of English. I on the other hand, could hardly communicate with anyone when I first arrived in the United States. But within a short span of around 6 months, I could speak English because of the support and motivation I received, despite being made fun of on occasion. Nonetheless, it was a learning experience that I could not have received anywhere else. In conclusion, allowing students to study abroad where important facilities are available is a fruitful idea that will help to develop the communities back home in the long run. They will be more open to the cultures around them and help them facilitate multicultural tolerance and harmony in a world rapidly going towards globalization. Cited Works Craig, Starlett. “Top Ten Reasons for African Students to go Abroad” Study Abroad Matters. Transitions Abroad Magazine July/August 1998 Volume XXII, No. 1 Northrup, Birdsey Grant. “Education Abroad: And Other Papers.” 2009 Read More