Advantages and Disadvantages of Studying Abroad
In the US, the number of university students who study abroad increased dynamically. 154,168 American college students studied abroad from 2000 to 2001 compared to 48,483 students from 1985 to 1986 (Rooney 4). The more students study abroad, the more organizations have to work flexible. “The university has tried to track the changing interests of its students and the increasingly global nature of its curriculum by setting up programs in countries that did not attract as much interest a generation ago”(Rooney 2). A decade ago, the only destinations of studying abroad were in Western Europe, but there are many places for students to study abroad all over the world now (Rooney 2).
Why students want to study abroad? For the reason, they can experience many amazing things. Studying abroad is not only to participate in classes at university but also to stay in different cultures and languages. To know other cultures is interesting, because bad manners in a country are sometimes normal things in the other. If you can speak more languages, we can talk to many people. Nowadays, it is very important to communicate with people who are from other countries because of businesses and to understand other cultures. This experience will positively affect one’s future. Furthermore, ways of thinking and knowledge will be wide and flexible. Therefore, studying abroad has many benefits. However, most students who desire to study abroad tend to think that they can experience only good things. This thinking relate to pamphlets because they only say good things. A studying abroad pamphlet says, “Learn a language, broaden your perspective, explore your identity, challenge yourself, increase your self-confidence and decision making skills, re-evaluate your priorities, values or goals, and discover a new or family cultural heritage”. If students read this, they will definitely feel like studying abroad, but they have to know opposite side. Besides, the most important thing to remember is why they go overseas. The purpose of studying abroad is, of course, to study.
Some foreign students die because of accidents or committing suicide. International students experience not only good things but also many bad situations. However, bad things are rarely showed in public. Actually, a Japanese student was killed in Australia last year, but we did not hear any information after a few days of the first news. Students commit suicide rather than die by accidents. We meet with bad experiences because of the gap of cultures and languages, or we just do not suit the country. We cannot predict until we go to the country and stay. In addition, these bad experiences affect our study. Moreover, the worse situations are, the more we feel homesick. Consequently, everything makes us frustrated. People who want to study abroad have to know both good and bad sides.
There are mainly three advantages of studying abroad, which are to be able to learn foreign language, experience fun things, and study much harder than doing in their own countries. On the other hand, three disadvantages are predicaments of communicating with people, getting used to a different culture, and tendency to be with people who are from same country.
One of the most beneficial things of studying abroad is to be able to learn foreign languages from daily life. To speak more than two languages is necessity now because we have many chances to talk to people who are from overseas by business and even daily life. Most companies require us whether we can speak another language or not today. It is not unusual that people can speak more than 2 languages fluently any more. It means that borders of each county are getting low, and more people go out from their own countries recently than a decade ago. “We think language proficiency is one of the best things that can come out of study abroad” (Rooney 2). As she mentions, studying abroad equals to learn foreign language. Naturally foreign students can learn another language. The more they improve their language skills, the more they can enjoy their lives and make many friends who are native speakers.
What do you expect when you travel abroad? You will expect different experiences from your culture. Of course, you can feel difference, but if you really want to experience different culture, you have to stay there. Otherwise you will not
understand the culture in depth. Another advantage of studying abroad is that you can experience many interesting things. For example, there are different religions in different countries. Mostly, East Asian countries are Buddhism, Middle Asian is Islam, and Christianity is the one of the biggest religions in the world. There are many unique or mixed religions all over the world. If students go to these certain places, they will experience different religious and traditional events. It is also very important to understand other cultures and people. They might feel weird, strange, or even sad, and annoyed, but these feelings help their thoughts wide and flexible because there is no right or wrong culture.
My friend, Satoko Kogure, talked about her opinions of studying abroad. “I’m enjoying studying abroad in the US. I met a lot of people, and I could get different opinions and thoughts from them. I sometimes feel tired of this society and culture, but many people encourage me. What makes me really happy is that people try to understand me and they are interested in my culture. I like talking about cultures with people who have different cultures” (Kogure). She appeals to her emotions and characters. She mentions what she got and felt something warm from this country and people. In addition, she said that she was discriminated by American students at university. However, people who discriminated her recovered her. They had not considered her situation when they understood what foreign people feel about staying other countries. Finally, she appealed that, “What we have to do when we communicate with foreigners is not to be ethnocentrism. Everyone is also different even if they are from same country. Thus, we cannot say that this ethnic group is right and others are wrong” (Kogure). There are no bad things to know other cultures. The third advantage is to study much harder. Local students can understand what the teacher talks about during the class, whereas international students have a difficulty of following classes because of the gap of language, so we spend much more time for studying than students who are native speakers. Moreover, international students pay tuition twice as local students pay. It helps us study harder. Therefore, we have to study hard to get good scores and not to waste money. Actually, many foreign students get good grades and scholarships. Moreover, if we do not have a
国外留学的优缺点
