In this "Room for Debate" assignment, we need choose a debate topic and compose a persuasive arguments to support my position on this debate. i also need cite three sources to back up my arguments. These sources are from 1) Room for Debate, 2) Online Library Database, 3) Video.
American students also need study abroad
America is well-known for its high-quality education. According to the article by Devon Haynie, “Number of International College Students Continues to Climb” (17 Nov, 2014) from the U.S. News Education, foreigner students made up about 4% of all university students in the U.S. by 2014, which was way higher than any other country. They came to this country because America has the best professors and curriculums.
Then what about the American-born students? Do they need go to other countries to study? In this question, the article by Crutis S. Chine, “Studying Abroad Can Be an Expensive Waste of Time” (17 Oct, 2013) from the The New York Times said students’ learning success should be determined by good and accountable professors and parents. And America already has these elements. In his opinion, therefore, studying abroad is unnecessary distraction for students.
However, as a foreigner student, my experience says that they still need it. Because through studying abroad, college students learn not only knowledge and foreign language, also ability of overcoming hardships, ability of thinking critically, and ability of managing assets, which are all essentials for every young person who pursues successful career.
When moving to a foreign country, students will encounter numerous problems which they never expect, like how to see a doctor and how to interact with the local people. However, prior to these issues, the first challenge a college student faces is problems of eating and lodging.
Each one of students is prince or princess at home. Before going abroad, students barely thought the difficulties of eating and living. For instance, In my country, I always eat the ones I like. However, in this country, I can't eat my favorites any more. Even if there are countless Chinese restaurants here and there, those foods are accustomed to the American. I can never eat authentic Chinese food here. Same with me, in foreign countries, American students will have no choice but to try the local foods. When they try them, they are rebuilding a new list of like-and-dislike.
Same with eating, lodging is another big issue students have problems with. When we were born, we were automatically prepared with a cozy home to live. When we go to colleges, the schools prepare dormitories. What we did was simply to move into an already arranged place. So lodging is not a problem at all for college students at home. However, in foreign countries, nothing is arranged. Students need look at tons of houses and find out the best one which fits them financially and geographically.
An article by Christine S. Lee, David J. Therriault, and Tracy Linderholm, "On the Cognitive Benefits of Cultural Experience: Exploring the Relationship between Studying Abroad and Creative Thinking" (19 Jul, 2012) from the Applied Cognitive Psychology revealed that the students who studied abroad performed better on test measuring their abilities to solve problems.
Difficulties of eating and lodging are just piece of ice berg. By solving all different kinds of difficulties, step by step, students will get used to living with problems. Eventually they will say that difficulties can be solved and hardships can be overcome.
Besides the challenges, students will also learn to think critically. Nowadays truth is always processed before being released to the public. It requires us to have ability of thinking critically. Take the Korean War for example, the Chinese textbook taught me that the war was started by South Korea and was waged out of American aggression. The official title of the war in China is “The war to resist America and Aid North Korea.” I believed that. Later, in the History class in America, the professor told me I was wrong. She said that American government did not have any aggression to invade the mainland of China. I was confused and did some research online. I found that the professor was right. It was embarrassed to admit that the government of my country lied to us. But I was glad that I knew the truth. Similar with my experience, when American students listen to news from the foreign countries' media or talk to that countries’ people, they will find a lot of differences between the information they have heard here and information there. Through comparing and analyzing, they will set up critical mind.
Speaking of studying abroad, we can't ignore the financial issue. Instead of talking about how much students spend in abroad, we should focus on how much they will learn about managing their money.
Obviously, knowledge of managing our assets is crucial in our lives. In practical way, I believe studying abroad is one of the best ways to learn the skill of managing money. Every day, students in foreign countries spend money in eating, living, and transportations. They must always consider how much they have left. They don't want to spend out of budget. Because breaking the budget may influence their plans on purchasing other goods. For the foreigner students, the most terrified thing which we even don’t want to think about is that we don't have enough money to buy flight tickets to go back home. In order to spend money reasonably, I have seen many foreigners take notes of whatever they bought. By taking notes and reviewing them, they know how to cut expenditures. Same with American students, as time goes by they will become skillful in managing it. This knowledge will help them for entire lives
Above all, studying abroad sounds stressful and full of challenges. Indeed it does. But they should remember that all sufferings have their reward. As the saying goes, "No pain, no gain."
As the speech by the first lady, Michelle Obama, “Importance of Studying Abroad” (22 Mar, 2014) from the Youtube said, “It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books.”
Works Cited
Chin, Curtis. “Studying Abroad Can Be an Expensive Waste of Time.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 17 Oct 2013. Web. 19 Nov 2015.
Haynie, Devon. “Number of International College Students Continues to Climb.” U.S. News & World Report Education. U.S. News & World Report LP, 19 Nov 2014. Web. 11 Nov 2015.
Lee, C. S., Therriault, D. J. and Linderholm, T. (2012), On the Cognitive Benefits of Cultural Experience: Exploring the Relationship between Studying Abroad and Creative Thinking. Appl. Cognit. Psychol., 26: 768–778. doi: 10.1002/acp.2857
The White House. “The First Lady on the Importance of Studying Abroad.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 22 Mar 2014. Web. 19 Nov 2015
American students also need study abroad
America is well-known for its high-quality education. According to the article by Devon Haynie, “Number of International College Students Continues to Climb” (17 Nov, 2014) from the U.S. News Education, foreigner students made up about 4% of all university students in the U.S. by 2014, which was way higher than any other country. They came to this country because America has the best professors and curriculums.
Then what about the American-born students? Do they need go to other countries to study? In this question, the article by Crutis S. Chine, “Studying Abroad Can Be an Expensive Waste of Time” (17 Oct, 2013) from the The New York Times said students’ learning success should be determined by good and accountable professors and parents. And America already has these elements. In his opinion, therefore, studying abroad is unnecessary distraction for students.
However, as a foreigner student, my experience says that they still need it. Because through studying abroad, college students learn not only knowledge and foreign language, also ability of overcoming hardships, ability of thinking critically, and ability of managing assets, which are all essentials for every young person who pursues successful career.
When moving to a foreign country, students will encounter numerous problems which they never expect, like how to see a doctor and how to interact with the local people. However, prior to these issues, the first challenge a college student faces is problems of eating and lodging.
Each one of students is prince or princess at home. Before going abroad, students barely thought the difficulties of eating and living. For instance, In my country, I always eat the ones I like. However, in this country, I can't eat my favorites any more. Even if there are countless Chinese restaurants here and there, those foods are accustomed to the American. I can never eat authentic Chinese food here. Same with me, in foreign countries, American students will have no choice but to try the local foods. When they try them, they are rebuilding a new list of like-and-dislike.
Same with eating, lodging is another big issue students have problems with. When we were born, we were automatically prepared with a cozy home to live. When we go to colleges, the schools prepare dormitories. What we did was simply to move into an already arranged place. So lodging is not a problem at all for college students at home. However, in foreign countries, nothing is arranged. Students need look at tons of houses and find out the best one which fits them financially and geographically.
An article by Christine S. Lee, David J. Therriault, and Tracy Linderholm, "On the Cognitive Benefits of Cultural Experience: Exploring the Relationship between Studying Abroad and Creative Thinking" (19 Jul, 2012) from the Applied Cognitive Psychology revealed that the students who studied abroad performed better on test measuring their abilities to solve problems.
Difficulties of eating and lodging are just piece of ice berg. By solving all different kinds of difficulties, step by step, students will get used to living with problems. Eventually they will say that difficulties can be solved and hardships can be overcome.
Besides the challenges, students will also learn to think critically. Nowadays truth is always processed before being released to the public. It requires us to have ability of thinking critically. Take the Korean War for example, the Chinese textbook taught me that the war was started by South Korea and was waged out of American aggression. The official title of the war in China is “The war to resist America and Aid North Korea.” I believed that. Later, in the History class in America, the professor told me I was wrong. She said that American government did not have any aggression to invade the mainland of China. I was confused and did some research online. I found that the professor was right. It was embarrassed to admit that the government of my country lied to us. But I was glad that I knew the truth. Similar with my experience, when American students listen to news from the foreign countries' media or talk to that countries’ people, they will find a lot of differences between the information they have heard here and information there. Through comparing and analyzing, they will set up critical mind.
Speaking of studying abroad, we can't ignore the financial issue. Instead of talking about how much students spend in abroad, we should focus on how much they will learn about managing their money.
Obviously, knowledge of managing our assets is crucial in our lives. In practical way, I believe studying abroad is one of the best ways to learn the skill of managing money. Every day, students in foreign countries spend money in eating, living, and transportations. They must always consider how much they have left. They don't want to spend out of budget. Because breaking the budget may influence their plans on purchasing other goods. For the foreigner students, the most terrified thing which we even don’t want to think about is that we don't have enough money to buy flight tickets to go back home. In order to spend money reasonably, I have seen many foreigners take notes of whatever they bought. By taking notes and reviewing them, they know how to cut expenditures. Same with American students, as time goes by they will become skillful in managing it. This knowledge will help them for entire lives
Above all, studying abroad sounds stressful and full of challenges. Indeed it does. But they should remember that all sufferings have their reward. As the saying goes, "No pain, no gain."
As the speech by the first lady, Michelle Obama, “Importance of Studying Abroad” (22 Mar, 2014) from the Youtube said, “It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books.”
Works Cited
Chin, Curtis. “Studying Abroad Can Be an Expensive Waste of Time.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 17 Oct 2013. Web. 19 Nov 2015.
Haynie, Devon. “Number of International College Students Continues to Climb.” U.S. News & World Report Education. U.S. News & World Report LP, 19 Nov 2014. Web. 11 Nov 2015.
Lee, C. S., Therriault, D. J. and Linderholm, T. (2012), On the Cognitive Benefits of Cultural Experience: Exploring the Relationship between Studying Abroad and Creative Thinking. Appl. Cognit. Psychol., 26: 768–778. doi: 10.1002/acp.2857
The White House. “The First Lady on the Importance of Studying Abroad.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 22 Mar 2014. Web. 19 Nov 2015