Studying abroad is a popular part of life at Brown. Students travel all over the world to experience different countries, cultures and languages. Often they embrace new outlooks and even life-changing perspectives. Having participated in a study abroad program during high school, I recognize the incredible benefits that come from participating in these programs. However, I feel that the University and its students need to reconsider why study abroad is important and whether or not current programs are achieving their goals. As programs at Brown stand, I would not study abroad during my four years here.
To put it bluntly, students should travel abroad to volunteer or work in a foreign country and culture rather than to study. This is because the current program does not satisfactorily live up to its mission statement, the goals of which would be better served under a volunteer/work program.
Brown’s Office of International Programs states: “The challenges shared by society are global and interdisciplinary. So too are the solutions. Brown believes that it is important that students acquire the skills necessary to access and successfully negotiate decisions across cultures.” This statement is absolutely correct. The program that is currently in place, however, does not serve this mission, because it does not properly immerse students in their chosen foreign culture, nor does it adequately teach students to speak a foreign language.
Many students who go abroad live in dorms where Americans or Brown students surround them. In my experience, forcing yourself to speak a foreign language and participate in foreign customs is exceedingly difficult as is. Surrounding yourself with others who speak your native tongue and understand your way of life makes stepping outside the box near impossible. There is nothing to force you into a position where you have to speak the language or participate in the culture. They can hang out with Americans, celebrate in American ways and communicate by taking advantage of the number of foreigners who already speak English. As much as I would like to believe students at Brown are better than this, I don’t feel they are.
In order for Brown to give students the necessary experience to immerse themselves in foreign culture and language, the program needs to promote homestay, volunteer and work opportunities for students looking to study abroad. Homestay is the most complete form of study abroad, because it forces students to immerse themselves day in and day out. Living with a family compels you to speak with them, watch the television they watch, say grace at the dinner table and attend mass with them. It urges you to experiment with a different cuisine, go out on the town, experience life as they live it and maybe even go to classes with your foreign sister or brother. The experience is much more difficult but also that much more enriching. Students come away with a unique understanding of the culture and language that they can’t find anywhere else.
Working and volunteering abroad are also great solutions to the current problems with the program. While it’s not the same as living with a family, the immersion benefits can be equally rewarding, particularly if students volunteer or work among natives. Volunteering and working can help with language skills and cultural knowledge. They can aid poor communities and bring a measure of cultural diffusion and international cooperation to many parts of the world.
While it is true that a homestay and work-volunteer travel abroad program forgoes the academic side of things, there’s little doubt in my mind that the cultural and language benefits outweigh the potential academic experiences. Apart from the big three foreign institutions — Oxford, Cambridge and the Sorbonne in Paris — it’s hard to argue that students from Brown would receive a better academic education going abroad than staying at home. But they can absolutely receive a more profound cultural one. And a cultural education can be just as valuable, if not more so, than an academic education.
That’s why Brown needs to offer students credit for these homestay and work-volunteer opportunities. Students cannot currently access these kinds of opportunities because they do not receive credit for them and therefore cannot financially afford taking the gap semester or year to participate. But if they could receive credit and put tuition money toward the program, I believe many students would take advantage of the opportunity.
It is important to recognize that some programs do exist where students engage in research and are incorporated more deeply into the culture and language of countries they travel to. There are programs where homestay is an element of the experience and students are required to meet a minimum level of language fluency. But this type of experience should be more widely available and encouraged among Brown students who want to go abroad. I hope that Brown will reconsider the important elements in a study abroad experience and work to implement changes to encourage these elements.
Daniel Delaney can be reached at daniel_delaney@brown.edu.
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