High Potential High Price by Maria

High Potential High Price by Maria - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

High Potential High Price
Thinking about how many chances college students are provided to obtain a greater education in our contemporary society is truly baffling. It would be great for them to study abroad theoretically but rather challenging realistically. Studying abroad holds so many opportunities that could be greatly beneficial to college students. The most basic advantage they would get is to be able to go out into the world and truly experience it. Experience something that is far greater than what they see on television and phone screens. See things that even books cannot describe with a billion words. It is a chance that not many students get to experience nowadays yet it holds so much potential for those who can.
For a student to successfully study and thrive in a foreign society, a great deal of maturity is relevant. The student has to learn that there is much more to life than hitting the books and achieving their goals. They need to learn that a big part of success lies in the ability for one to socially adapt to their environment and integrate with the people that surround them. This brings up the point of cultural immersion. Being able to learn about a culture and its language in a classroom doesn’t give a student the same experience that living with the people of that culture in their homeland would. They would be able to learn the language much faster and would also get a chance to see that different people around the world go about things in different manners. Most importantly, they would also see that people in different parts of the world face different kinds of problems that one wouldn’t actually consider problems until they have been faced with similar situations themselves. Cultural immersion in such a manner could go a long way in terms of allowing people to address urgent issues shared across borders more efficiently.
However, that is not the only positive outcome of cultural immersion. Through allowing students to really interact with other cultures, they are unknowingly gaining an openness and flexibility of mind that aids them in being able to apply themselves to their environment in any way possible. This is exactly what the world needs right now. People who are so aware of the world that they live in that they refuse to let their thoughts, ideas and theories fit into a box. Imagine a world where students are able to integrate themselves into different societies and experience life the way different cultures do. They would see that there is more to life than the latest iPhone model or what trends are really popular at the moment. It would be the prime chance for them to enhance their knowledge through books and human and environmental interaction simultaneously.
Realistically speaking, dreaming about every student getting a chance to study abroad would be like believing in fairy tales. It would definitely rouse some hardships for the students and their families in terms of finances. Money has always been a major barrier when it comes to higher education. Not to say a good portion of students rely on loans and scholarships to get through college here in the U.S because it is just that expensive. If they were to include studying abroad into their budgets, the financial burden would literally break their backs. Unless colleges are to come up with a good system that would lower the cost of studying abroad, then the actual chances of all college students getting to study abroad would be very low.
Nevertheless, all that has been said to this point would be moot if the student themselves is not motivated to study abroad. Many factors can play into making this happen such as home-sickness and anti-socialness. This makes it hard for the students to stop and appreciate the cultures, languages and ways of life that surround them while abroad. Not to mention how much time and money would be wasted trying to make this experience happen for a student who is merely just not that into it.
In conclusion, this brings up a question that is difficult to answer definitively. Is it worth it for college students to study abroad? Just as any indecisive person faced with a challenging question would say- it all depends on perspective. The idea of increased maturity, cultural immersion and mental flexibility compared to the cost prohibition, course restriction and the possible lack of motivation. Yes, college students should be given this opportunity but it shouldn’t be required for them to take it.