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 posit

While a parent may be incompatible with the traditional view of a college student, more parents and other non-traditional students are seeking degrees or certificates than ever. Upwards of 15% of American college students are parents. This is just one subset of the population of college students for whom studying abroad is outside the realm of possibility. While many traditional undergraduate students can benefit from the enriching experience of living and learning in a foreign country, I mostly disagree with the prompt’s suggestion that all college and university students would benefit from spending at least one semester studying in a foreign country. Below I will provide two reasons why this gross over-generalization overlooks the need of many college students.

It is true that studying abroad has benefits to offer to college students. For a college student who is learning a foreign language, a semester in a foreign country can transform this student into a fluent speaker of the language. If a student is striving to become a medical translator, immersion in a foreign country has many benefits to offer. Not only will he or she gain proficiency in the foreign language, but he or she will also learn about different cultures. Understanding different cultures is tantamount to being a multi-linguist when it comes to working with people of different ethnicities, because language is not the only tool that we necessary to communicate with people from other cultures.

While some students are able to leave their lives at home behind in order to study abroad, other students have family obligations which cannot be placed on hold. In 2018, 22% of college students were parents to at least one child, and 34% of college students worked at least 30 hours a week while maintaining a full-time schedule. For a student whose well-being depends on full-time employment, he or she could be sacrificing thousands of dollars towards loans and living expenses to spend three months exploring a foreign country. For a parent, there is no need to discuss what he or she would give up – very few parents would consider finding childcare so that they could study abroad. Rather, their desires would be in completing school so that they could take a vacation in the future with their children, and share the experience of travelling abroad with their children.

Finally, studying in a foreign country may simply be too risky for college students. Even among traditionally college-aged students, there is great variation in levels of emotional, mental, and financial maturity. In one infamous instance, college student Amanda Knox chose to spend a semester abroad in Italy. While in Italy, Ms. Knox was indicted on charges of first-degree murder of her roommate, who was also an American college student. While Ms. Knox was eventually acquitted of these charges, the scandal ultimately undermined her entire college career. Ms. Knox never received her degree, and now works a menial job in a small town.

While studying abroad can be an opportunity for life-changing learning and growth for some students, it is a gross over-generalization to state that all students would stand to benefit from this experience. Some students have familial obligations which cannot be abandoned in the name of self-discovery. Even students who possess greater freedom may lack the emotional maturity needed to thrive in another country for even one semester. College and universities must take a nuanced and mindful approach in promoting these programs to their students. After all, these colleges should value the family security and personal safety of their students most of all.