Overcoming The Study Abroad One-sie

As my junior year of college comes to an end (two months away, now!), the prospect of graduation and a college degree looms closer and closer. This is an event for which I still haven’t managed to work out my feelings. Naturally, feelings of accomplishment and pride in a “job well done!” have made an appearance; however, I can’t help but wonder if I’m patting myself on the back a little too soon. Have I really accomplished anything more than the other 15 million American college students have? Have I done enough to truly feel proud, and to stand out to a future employer? Or am I subject to waiting tables and freelance writing for the next 10 years?

I never "beat the odds" to make it to college, like so many disadvantaged students do each year through pure work ethic and determination; I didn't hop on board with a full-ride scholarship (or any scholarship for that matter); I haven't made the Dean's List, created a school-wide activism movement, and I certainly won't be graduating with honors. I left high school with sufficient grades to get me into the California State University system, but I still have to wonder how much of my acceptance was due to my prospective academic contributions to the university, and how much was due to my prospective financial contributions, which were to be significantly fatter than the average incoming freshman as a result of my non-resident status. I know what you're thinking: "Dear Lord, Teresa, you’re completing your junior year in France!" And this is true. I am currently completing my junior year in France. But, come on, anyone who has the financial means (and even many people who do not) can study abroad. However, can is actually the key word right here, and this brings me to what I am proud of: out of the 15 million college students in America, only about 240,000 of them actually choose to take their studies overseas each school year. I'm the first to admit that I am not the world’s greatest mathematician (with a suck-factor at fractions, ratios and stats in particular) but after some careful thought and a mental review of high school algebra, I did manage to calculate that number as, what, 1% of college students! I’m over here in France, taking weekend trips to Amsterdam, and earning A’s for a minimal amount of schoolwork (on the pretense that I am learning far more by simply living here, of course), yet I only help to make up 1% of students doing the same thing? Holy crap. That's absurd. Right up there with Mister One-sie at the top of the income pyramid, absurd.

I then continue to contemplate possible explanations for this depressing number: financial means is most definitely a factor, and maybe universities need to do a better job at publicizing the programs -- getting the word out around campus and such; or, perhaps, there is simply a lack of interest portrayed by the students. I’ve come to the conclusion that we’re probably dealing with a mélange of all three, but I’ve also concluded that there’s an easy fix (well, maybe not EASY, but, for lack of a better word: completely worth it) for each one of these issues, and whatever other walls are blocking American students in dire need of a glimpse outside the box, graciously built for them in the past few decades by the American Dream Team and its Administration.

The amount of government funding given for not only study abroad programs, but for work abroad, volunteer broad, etc. is feeble compared to the funding put towards the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – or “national defense.” However, I think it’s fair to say that a program that gives America’s youth a sharper and deeper global perspective is national defense. After all, the youth of today is the future of tomorrow, and we can bet that our tomorrow will be a hell of a lot more peaceful if we were sending 50% of college students abroad each year, rather than 1%. How do we create good relations with the world that are necessary to our national security if we don’t even know what the world looks like? If the government repositioned more of its defense spending to abroad programs (or better yet, considered funding for abroad programs as an actual form of defense spending), the out-of-pocket cost for the individual would decrease dramatically, resulting in a broader spectrum of students willing to go overseas, which in turn will result in a greater appreciation of world issues among the American population.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof (one of my faves) wrote an interesting post on his blog recently, comparing the prospect of expanding Peace Corps versus expanding another graduate volunteer program, Teach for the World. He notes in his blog that while Peace Corps does a superb job of not only creating a positive impact on developing countries, but also on aid communities and programs here on the home front, it is also a program that requires a lengthy commitment at a turning point in a college graduate’s life, and is thus less popular by younger graduates. Kristof's argument is that more funding needs to go towards programs such as Teach for the World, which offers both short-term and long-term placements, but has the potential to create the same impact on the world and on America as the Peace Corps has. Personally, I think he’s got a point. If we made a wider variety of abroad programs significantly more accessible to every single student, whether they be undergrads, graduates, high school students, gap-year students, fashion students, business students, zoology students, etc. the decision would no longer be whether to study/work/volunteer abroad or not, it would be which study/work/volunteer abroad program to actually choose. Picking out an abroad program would be as natural as picking out classes for next semester.

However, even with sufficient funding to send undergraduate and graduate students abroad, such a widespread popularity of studying abroad would not not be possible without convincing the students that it is indeed worthwhile. Naturally, most students will want to know that there is something in it for them. Graduate schools, employers, professors, etc. need to better stress the advantages of an abroad experience in regards to a more competitive resume. Study abroad alumnae should reach out to students, encouraging them to take part by describing the immense impact such an experience can have on one’s growth as a person, as an American, and as a citizen of the world. Of course, there are plenty of students who are already aware of these advantages, and these are the students that make up that one percentile; however, for the other 99%, let’s lower the out-of-pocket expenses, give them some reasons that pertain to their own well-being, and watch them over the course of their semester or year abroad, as their outlook of the experience switches from what they can do for themselves, to what they can do for the world. And in my eyes, and what I think the government needs to realize, is that an army of well-informed American citizens will do far more for peace and world prosperity than an army with guns.

I actually plan to expand my own abroad experiences after I graduate next May (we hope) by volunteering at a newspaper or magazine in South Africa with a program called Projects Abroad. This is a fairly new development in my head, but is something I’ve become very passionate about and plan to start saving for this summer. But I am looking forward to finishing my last couple months of this development, first!

My thoughts for the day :) Have a wonderful weekend, and fingers crossed for a Sunday vote on health care reform!

-T-