issue 124 All college and university students would benefit from spending at least one semester studying in a foreign country. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
issue 82 Colleges and universities should require their students to spend at least one semester studying in a foreign country. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
issue 97 Colleges and universities should require their students to spend at least one semester studying in a foreign country.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.
There are two reasons why I believe that the requirement of studying abroad for one semester is important for the development of students.First, it is particularly helpful for students to sharpen their foreign language skills that can benefit their future careers. In addition, the experiences of studying in a foreign country can help the students better understand their own country and culture through intercultural communication. As for the concern about the cost of studying abroad, exchange programs and scholarships should be offerred to make the opportunities of studying abroad more affordable.
To begin with, students should be required to study abroad so that they can improve their proficiency levels of a foreign language.This policy is particularly important for university students from non-English speaking countries. With English becoming the dominant lingua franca for academic and business communitication, students who use English as a foreign language can benefit tremendously from spending some time in an English-speaking country. Not only can they get more chance to use the language on a daily basis and practice the language skills with native speakers. They will also become much more confident users of the language after studying abroad. With English skills becoming increasingly important for one’s future career, this requirement can help the students become more marketable and employable.
The second reason why I believe this requirement is helpful is that students can also better understand one’s own culture after spending some time in a foreign country. This may seem a bit counterintuitive at the first glimpse. But the truth is students studying abroad will often have more opportunities to introduce their home cultures to local students with limited knowledge about their countries but strong interest to learn more.They aso need to answer questions about their home cultures raised by foreign friends who do not take things for granted. By serving as a cultural embassodar of one’s home country, one can deepen one’s own understanding of the home culture.The new perspective that is very valuable may not be possible if students stay in their home countries for college studies.
People may be concerned with the cost of studying abroad and argue that this requirement may impose extra financial burden on students and their families. Here are two ways this concern can be addressed. First, the study-abroad program usually takes the form of exchange program through which the local university exchanges students with a partner university abroad. Under such arrangement, students only need to pay tuition at the local universities and their tuition fees in the foreign university will be paid by the foreign exchange students paying their local tuition. Therefore the tution will not be more expensive. Meanwhile, scholarship and financial aid should be provided to cover the transportation and living expenses for studying abroad. Through the financial support of the government and/or the universities, students with limited financial resources can also have the opportunities to study abroad.
In conclusion, the policy of requiring students to study abroad can provide valuable opportunities to practice their foreign language skills and reflect on their ome cultures from new perspectives. Meanwhile, exchange programs and financial aid programs should be introduced to help students with financial difficulties.