Travels in the Riel World

Did you know that only 0.3 percent of U.S. college students study abroad? That’s a pitifully low number when considering that even two percent of Chinese students go abroad to study, and the percentage is much higher among some Europeans.

With a little luck, though, the situation could soon be improving. A bill was recently introduced in the U.S. Congress - the Study Abroad Foundation Act - to “expand study abroad opportunities for U.S. undergraduates.” It was sponsored by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). The goal is not only to quadruple the number of study abroad students, but also to send more students to Asia, Latin America and Africa, which today account for less than one-third of international student programs.

Andres Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald discussed the issue in a recent column:

While much of the world’s population growth and economic expansion in coming decades will take place in China, India and Latin America, only a tiny fraction of U.S. college students are getting a global education. What’s more, most of them are going to Great Britain, Italy and Spain, supporters of the bill say. If the United States wants to remain competitive, and secure, this has to change, they say.

”I’m afraid we are far behind,” Sen. Durbin told me in a telephone interview. “More and more students from areas like Asia are coming to the United States. Sadly, very few U.S. students are moving in the other direction.” …

”Americans are notoriously uninformed about the rest of the world, compared to people in many other countries,” says Victor C. Johnson, a senior advisor to the Association of International Educators (NAFSA). “We believe that it’s crucial for American students in a global age to have had international experience as part of their education.” …

My opinion: I like this plan.

I like it, too. Americans really, desperately need to better understand the world we live in, and getting more students to go abroad is a good start.

Not only are more American students participating in study abroad programs, but now China is the fifth most popular destination, after the more traditional destinations of Britain, Italy, Spain and France.

Record numbers of American students are studying abroad, with especially strong growth in educational exchanges with China, the annual report by the Institute on International Education found.

The number of Americans studying in China increased by 25 percent, and the number of Chinese students studying at American universities increased by 20 percent last year, according to the report, “Open Doors 2008.”

“Interest in China is growing dramatically, and I think we’ll see even sharper increases in next year’s report,” said Allan E. Goodman, president of the institute. “People used to go to China to study the history and language, and many still do, but with China looming so large in all our futures, there’s been a real shift, and more students go for an understanding of what’s happening economically and politically.”

Students who take advantage of study abroad programs have a wide variety of experiences. In the best scenarios, they not only have a fun and enriching life experience, but also come away with nuggets of insight into the culture of a new country. That’s what happened for Laura Corser, who was recently profiled in the Boston Globe after spending a semester in Seoul, South Korea.

One of her key insights into Korean culture:

ACT YOUR AGE: “Korean etiquette is highly focused on age and rank. Often the first question out of someone’s mouth (after ‘what’s your name?’) is ‘how old are you?’ One habit I had to acquire (other than taking off your shoes when you enter a house and several restaurants or eating rice with a spoon) was the style of interacting with elders, like serving them with both hands, or with one’s free hand on the arm if only one hand is required.”

It has traditionally been more common among Europeans for students to take a year off between high school and college in order to travel or gain other real world experience. This has been popularly termed a “gap year.” Now, it seems, the option is becoming more popular in the U.S., as well, so much so that Princeton University is establishing a program that will enable students to spend a year abroad before starting college.

Seizing on students’ desire for a year off before college, Princeton University is working to create a program to send a tenth or more of its newly admitted students to a year of social service work in a foreign country before they set foot on campus as freshmen.

Princeton’s president, Shirley M. Tilghman, said in an interview that such a program would give students a more international perspective, add to their maturity and give them a break from academic pressures. She called it a year of “cleansing the palate of high school, giving them a year to regroup.”

Dr. Tilghman, speaking ahead of an announcement Tuesday, said that she hoped to begin the program in 2009 and that Princeton would not charge tuition for the year abroad, and would even offer financial assistance to those who needed it…

Growing numbers of high school students have opted to take a “gap year” before entering college, and many colleges offer one-year deferrals to students they admit…But experts say they believe that Princeton will be the first university to formalize such a program for entering freshmen, though many institutions offer study-abroad programs for students already on campus.

In what can only be a good sign for the future of education in this country, recent years have seen a significant increase in the number of American university students who participate in a study abroad program.

According to an article in the International Herald Tribune:

There is a consensus today, much like the one about science and math studies after the launch of Sputnik 50 years ago, that globally fluent graduates are essential to American competitiveness. International exposure, whether study, volunteer work or internship, has become a must-have credential. With the new demand — the number studying abroad is twice that of eight years ago — what was once an add-on has become big business. About 6,000 programs send students to more than 100 countries.

Not only are more students going abroad, but they are also doing it in more creative ways.

… for a generation whose life is calibrated by a multicolored spiral daily planner, just being abroad is not enough. They want to do more than study a language; they want an experience that complements their stateside curriculums.

University of Chicago students can meet a civilization core requirement by attending a 10-week program taught by its own faculty in Mexico, China or India. Half of last spring’s graduating class at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts studied abroad — many in fields like engineering and science, whose rigid course sequences once kept them home. W.P.I. students are tackling projects like creating wireless security systems or flood-prevention plans in places as far afield as Limerick, Ireland, and Cape Town, South Africa.

Additionally, they are searching out more exotic destinations. Such as Ghana:

For a student at the University of Ghana in Legon, a palm-graced suburb of Accra, a dinner might involve fufu — mashed casava and plantains in a soup of peanut butter and tomatoes — from a local “chop bar.” Electricity is not a given. Nor is running water. Students might have to fetch buckets of water to flush the toilet and wash clothes. Forget sleeping in. They rise at 5 a.m., when the chaos and din begin: loud music and evangelical preaching, through megaphones. The “Challenges of Living in Ghana” handout from the University of California advises bringing earplugs.

The country, and its flagship university, have become a newly popular destination for studying abroad: about 300 American students, representing dozens of campuses, take classes at Legon.

A small group of U.S. university students recently took an “anthropological excursion” with a professor in an effort to learn more about the Muslim world and to spark dialogue with individuals in other societies. In all, they visited nine Islamic countries and spoke with dozens of students and community and religious leaders in those nations. According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor:

With the future of the United States and the Muslim world linked more closely (and painfully) than ever, a professor and four young Americans headed off in 2006 to find answers to those questions in the mosques, madrassahs (religious schools), cafes, and universities of nine Muslim nations.

Talking with students, sheikhs, government leaders, and democratic and Islamic activists, the group encountered widespread anger and frustration, but also an eagerness to talk, even among those whom many Americans would call extremists.

What did they learn from their journey?

“Stereotypes I had – that Mus­lims were ignorant of what was going on in the world, that they hated Americans – were very much challenged,” says Texan Hailey Woldt, a junior at Georgetown University in Washington. “I was amazed at how much they read. They listen to CNN and BBC and were very informed about American politics. And I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and open-mindedness.”

Frankie Martin, a graduate of American University from Maryland, agrees. “Even the most conservative Muslims welcomed us. I thought they would not be as receptive,” he says.

A book about Islam and the lessons learned from this trip, Journey into Islam, by Professor Akbar Ahmed, will be published in June.

In his NY Times column, Nicholas Kristof has been a longtime proponent of the benefits of travel, particularly as an educational tool. Now he’s at it again and, as he puts it, “putting my company’s money where my mouth is.” He announced in yesterday’s column that he is running another “win a trip” contest and, as he did last year, will take a university student with him on a future reporting trip to Africa, likely to Rwanda, Burundi and Congo. He’s also expanding the program this year to include a high school or middle school teacher.

Why does Kristof push international travel experience, especially to the developing world?

That lack of firsthand experience abroad also helps explain why we are so awful at foreign policy: we just don’t get how our actions will be perceived abroad, so time and again - in Vietnam, China, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Latin America - we end up clumsily empowering our enemies.

Part of the problem is that American universities do an execrable job preparing students for global citizenship. A majority of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day, but the vast majority of American students graduate without ever gaining any insight into how that global majority lives. …

That’s one reason that I always exhort college students to take a gap year and roam the world, or at least to take a summer or semester abroad - and spend it not in Paris or London, but traveling through Chinese or African villages. Universities should give course credit for such experiences.

More information and an online application are available here. Deadline is April 6.

The number of American students who are studying abroad continues to rise.  According to a recent report issued by the Institute of International Education, last year saw an 8% increase in college students who opted for an international study program.

While the largest number of students still go to countries in Western Europe, there has been a marked increase in interest in other parts of the globe.  China is now the 8th most popular country of choice for study abroad programs after a 35% increase in one year, while Argentina, Brazil and India all broke into the list of top 20 countries for the first time.

Andres Oppenheimer, a columnist for the Miami Herald, believes that more Americans should study in Latin America:

…countries in the region could benefit from drawing a larger slice of the hundreds of thousands of U.S. students who will spend time abroad during their college years. … With its benign climates, relatively cheap prices and great lifestyle, Latin America could become a much larger destination for U.S. students. And that would not only be an economic plus for the region, but would help both sides understand each other better.

There have been several stories in the media recently about universities that are adjusting their curriculums to reflect a more global world.

At MIT, for example, proposed curriculum changes are designed to increase the international experiences of undergraduates.

…the committee also emphasized the importance of international experiences in the undergraduate education, as “being able to understand and to work with people from diverse nations and cultures are indispensable abilities that will characterize successful leaders in the coming century.”

The recommendations focus on bolstering current MIT study-abroad programs … and encouraging departments to cultivate relationships with other universities. “The task force felt strongly that MIT students should be thinking about going abroad,” Silbey said.

At Harvard, meanwhile, a new report is recommending curriculum changes that would focus on such areas as cultural traditions, American history and values, and religion.  The goal would be to better understand these topics in the context of a wider world.  The requirement to study American history and culture, for example, is to enable students to understand the country “in a comparative context with other countries,” according to a Boston Globe story.

The religion requirement has attracted press attention, but the desire is for students to understand the world they will live in, says a professor:

“As academics in a university we don’t have to confront religion if we’re not religious, but in the world, they will have to,” Alison Simmons, a philosophy professor who co-chaired the committee, said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Interesting article in the Boston Globe on dealing with reverse culture shock. Anyone who spends extensive time abroad has to face the issue of re-adjusting to his or her home culture.  This article focuses mainly on college students who spend summers abroad, and particularly those who visit less developed nations.

Since she returned to Boston in July from the West African country, Stewart said, she has sometimes felt overwhelmed by the differences between her own country and the one she left behind. She spent six weeks studying in Senegal, a largely Muslim country where she needed to use French to make herself understood.

Stewart, like other college students who spend their summers abroad, is experiencing reverse culture shock. It is an issue colleges take more seriously than in the past, as a growing number of college students go abroad to non traditional sites outside of Western Europe, such as China, Cuba, and South Africa, according to the Institute of International Education, which tracks study abroad.

Back home hanging out with friends, returning students sometimes feel estranged. …

“The more they’re able to find their own routines and exist without hassle in that new culture, then it’s more difficult for them to come back home, where everybody is the same,” said Dawn Anderson, director of the Office of International Study Programs at Northeastern University.  “It’s difficult to find people to talk to about what they just experienced because the change is so dramatic and so great, and you really can’t articulate it to anyone.”

Stewart said her weeks spent in a distinctly different culture affected even her view of daily rituals such as using a cellphone and watching strangers hurriedly brush past her without a word.

“In Senegal, no matter who you see, you say hello to,” she said. “Coming back to America, where people just pass each other on the sidewalk all the time and don’t even acknowledge each other, it’s kind of a cold feeling.”

Sometimes, it does seem as if the world has gone mad.  Terrorists plot to blow up airliners, no one seems to have a solution for the ongoing conflict and killing in the Middle East, nor to the genocide in Sudan. One does wonder at times if there really is any hope of people finally understanding one another and putting an end to such useless sectarian and ethnic violence.

Well, there is no magical or instant solution, that’s for certain. But surely there is hope.  After all, it was only decades ago that all of Europe seemed engulfed in a never-ending conflict.  There isn’t room here to go into the many factors that helped bring some of these cultures together in the late 20th century.  But one reason was that enough people got sick and tired of the violence that there was a critical mass of individuals willing to work toward common solutions.  And another smaller but vital factor was the increasing role of travel and cultural exchange in helping people to learn about each other.

That’s why I’m encouraged by stories, such as this one in the Washington Post, that indicate the record numbers of students who are traveling and studying abroad.

Once, a junior year abroad was something a few adventurous foreign-language majors did. Now, the number of students receiving college credit abroad keeps rising. During the past 20 years, it has nearly tripled, to about 175,000 in the 2003-04 academic year, the last year for which statistics are available.

Business and education have become so global that “now it’s like, ‘Where is your study abroad experience?’ ” said Rebecca Brown, director of the International Studies Office at U-Va.

Equally important, in my opinion, is this nugget of information:

…students are more willing to venture beyond drinking Foster’s on the beaches of Australia to study in Africa, China, Latin America.

I’ve touched on this topic in other posts (such as here and here) , but I can’t emphasize it enough - it seems well past time for us to go beyond understanding Europe or Australia or Japan and to begin learning about other areas of the world. After all, we’re less likely to demonize other cultures when we understand them, and less likely to fight when we feel that we know each other.

I just spent the past weekend at a reunion of former students and staff members from the cross-cultural educational program Up With People. It was three days of catching up with long lost friends, and as I sit here today two things in particular stand out in my mind.

One, is how interesting it is to see so many alumni who have a passion for impacting a greater world. Students who have participated in an international program such as Up With People’s (as well as others who have made the effort to travel on their own) inevitably have a deep appreciation for the world and its people.  Thus, it’s always fascinating to see what these individuals have made of their lives.  I was struck by the varied ways in which alumni have strived to make a difference, whether by volunteering in local schools and churches or by working in war-torn regions of Africa.

Second, was a comment made by the current president of Up With People, Tommy Spaulding, when he set a goal of taking each cast of students (beginning in 2007) to one developing country, in addition to their more typical travels in the industrialized world. That, I believe, is truly the future of educational exchange.

Most international student programs were born in the second half of the 20th century and were incredibly successful in bringing together young people from Europe, North America and Japan whose parents and grandparents had fought against each other in World War II.  But now it’s time for those programs to take the next step and to meet the crying need for individuals to know about and to understand the rest of the planet.

My own perspective on the world broadened considerably after traveling in recent years to such places as Kenya, Cambodia, India and Egypt. Visiting Europe is great and it’s still an important region to experience, but those who really want to know about the planet that we inhabit have to go further in their travels. 

Nicholas Kristof touched on this a few months ago in a NY Times column, when he suggested that the best educational travel experience for university students would be one that took them to the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. So kudos to Tommy Spaulding and to Up With People for wanting to expose students to the developing world.

Two months ago, I wrote about a contest being sponsored by NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in which he wanted to take a student with him on a future African reporting trip.  Kristof has now picked a winner, journalism student Casey Parks of Mississippi.  In a Tuesday column, he reports that he and the lucky winner will journey together to Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

He also makes another plug for the importance of travel to a good education:

One of our country’s basic strategic weaknesses is that Americans don’t understand the rest of the world…So, for all the rest of you who applied for my contest, see if you can’t work out your own trips.  Or take a year off before heading to college or into a job.

…be aware of the risks, travel with a buddy or two, and carry an international cellphone.  But remember that young Aussies, Kiwis and Europeans take such a year of travel all the time - women included - and usually come through not only intact, but also with a much richer understanding of how most of humanity lives…

In the 21st century, you can’t call yourself educated if you don’t understand how the other half lives - and you don’t get that understanding in a classroom.  So do something about your educational shortcomings: fly to Bangkok.

Unfortunately, the NY Times doesn’t allow on-line access to its op-ed columns, except through the subscription-only Times Select program.  But today’s paper has an excellent column by Nicholas Kristof about the educational benefits of travel.  (The article is .  A few brief excerpts:

Universities are - oh so slowly - recognizing that they need to prepare students to survive globalization. But most overseas studies programs are both too short and too tame.

So here’s my proposal.  Universities should grant a semester’s credit to any incoming freshman who has taken a gap year to travel around the world. In the longer term, universities should move to a three-year academic program, and require all students to live abroad for a fourth year. In that year, each student would ideally live for three months in each of four continents: Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe.

The cost of a year of travel would be far less than the annual cost of attending many colleges in the U.S. And students would get far more out of a year of travel than a year in classrooms.

Later, he notes that he is sponsoring a contest and will take a college student with him on a future African reporting trip. I think Kristof is on to something. My only quibble is that his proposal shouldn’t be restricted to incoming freshmen. Why not give credit to any college student who undertakes such a journey? My wife and I have been fortunate enough to embark on two different round-the-world journeys of a few months each, and some of the most amazing and educational experiences we’ve had have been in still-developing countries, such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Egypt. So go - travel!