▶ Your Answer :
Due to the development of technology in various fields, the
notion of time and distance has been significantly changed compared to the 19th
or 20th century.
Consequently, people can freely and easily move to different
country or communicate with people in different continent. In other words, the
world is closely connected. Therefore, understanding a certain circumspect or
phenomenon in the global level, not a national level, has become vital. For
example, in this year, the British government’s vote on Brexit has garnered
serious attention worldwide. Also, Brexit has had significant consequence on
global economy and politics; major stock indicators in numerous country,
including Nasdaq plummeted more than 5%. Also, US subprime mortgage has had
significant influence on the world economic concession. As shown in the two
examples, the world economy and politics has become very neatly connected.
People are also closely connected - it is easy to find an
American who works in South America or Asia or to find an Asian working in
America.
Therefore, in order to be kept abreast in the closely
connected global world, I believe Colleges and universities should require their
students to spend at least one semester studying in a foreign country.
First and foremost, the biggest advantage of requiring
study-abroad program will understand the culture. Every culture has different
characteristic; for example, most of the Asian countries are relatively
‘community-based,’ whereas American countries are relatively individualistic.
Although the world is closely connected these days, most of
the suburban or suburb areas will have relatively less chance to experience the
culture of different countries. However, still, students in suburban or suburb
areas have to intermingle with people from other countries eventually. For
example, a student studying consumer behavior should know the different
characteristic of cross-cultural consumers; it is widely known that people from
different culture have different characteristics. For example, in American
culture, as Americans regard ‘individualism’ highly, relatively, they care
about ‘brand value’ of a product. On the other hand, in collective society,
such as South East Asian countries, people weigh brand value relatively more
compared to Americans.
Furthermore, studying abroad enables students to learn
unique features of a nation, something that cannot be adequately learned in
one’s nation, such as language and traditional culture.
In New York, there is a company selling ‘Moon Soju.’ Soju is
Korean traditional alcoholic beverage. The CEO of the company was mesmerized by
the taste of soju, and he decided to learn how to distill Soju in Korea while
he was in college.
Additionally, studying abroad will help one to amplify one’s
knowledge. Some nations have inadequate engineering program, with professors
having lack of expertise in the field. However, by requiring the study abroad
program, they can have an opportunity to learn in a country that has the best
program of one’s field.
However, it will be hasty to claim that requiring studying
abroad will provide benefit to student no matter how. Some students may have
been grown in heterogeneous culture, and may not need studying abroad program,
as they are already familiar with the different cultures. For example, New york
is heterogeneous enough; in Manhattan, there are numerous ‘towns,’ including
Chinatown, Koreatown, and Italytown. The streets (towns) preserve and represent
the nation’s culture. Therefore, requiring study abroad program to students
living in New York City may be unnecessary or over-necessary.
Furthermore, not every students are financially stable to
study in college; some students have to work assiduously in order to pay their
tuition; however, while they are enrolled their study abroad program, they may
not be eligible to obtain working visa due to their status as a student.
World is closely connected, more than ever. Therefore,
experiencing different nations, and the subsequent cultures are strongly
recommended. However, as aforementioned, requiring studying abroad to every
student would be unnecessary or unfair. Therefore, rather than ‘requiring’
students to enroll into a study abroad program impetuously, universities and
educators should focus on contemplating students’ various situations and make
exceptions or alternative plan accordingly; many universities prioritize racial
and cultural diversity as their one of the most important long-term goals.
Thus, by utilizing the diversity of the students, a university can develop
culture-exchange program as a substitute for students who cannot afford the
exchange program.
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