The Definition of No by Savannah

The Definition of No by Savannah - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

In my first year of culinary school I have met an array of different people that have been given to opportunity to study abroad. Each and every one of these people said that going overseas changed their life for the better. But does that mean that studying abroad should be a requirement? I certainly do not think so. Studying abroad is expensive, and should be limited to deserving students because it’s not necessary to get a proper education.
The first issue with making it a requirement is the expense. If you are an independent college student that has to work three jobs just to pay for community college tuition, it simply doesn’t make sense to also make them pay to study abroad. Yeah there’s scholarships available but that’s only for now. If schools required every single student to take the trip, who would pay for it? As it is, the only people I know that have actually gone through with going abroad are rich.
I view studying abroad as a privilege for extremely gifted students who were handpicked for their craft. By making it just like a general education class, you take away from the prestige that the opportunity gives. In our current job market it is rapidly becoming harder to get a deserving job for your level of education because so many more people are attending college. An employer is more likely to pick someone with all the exact same qualifications as another applicant, just because they studied abroad. If we make studying abroad a requirement as well, there is no competition and our employment levels would suffer.
For certain degrees one could argue that it should be required but for others it really doesn’t seem necessary to get a well-rounded education. Let’s compare an architect and a cosmetologist. An architect should go out and see what buildings from all around the world look like but a cosmetologist just does the look that the client wants. Being in the food industry, I would say that studying abroad would be an amazing thing to get to do but I also know that my school is greatly accredited and recognized for its craft. Any highly ranked student is just as qualified as someone who had the extra cash to study abroad.
I want to compare this essay question to a different scenario. Should a mother be forced to give up her child if she hasn’t ever held a baby before? Will she be a bad mother because of it? Anyone in their right mind would shout a definite no. Just because you haven’t had one specific experience doesn’t mean that you can’t still be great at what you do. If the passion is there, then it doesn’t matter where you study.