GRE Issue 82Colleges and universities should require their students to spend at least one semester studying in a foreign country.

We always value education a most important issue and expect the educational organizations to do the best to guarantee a good one for every single child. While in many situations our expectations are reasonable, sometimes the responsibility we expect the institutions to undertake is somehow exorbitant. This issue about whether colleges and universities should implement a policy that require the students to spend at least one semester studying in a foreign country is one of such cases. Although I concede the policy is worth thinking about sometimes, in most situations I think the implementation effects of the policy are questionable.

Admittedly, there’s no denying that the students might receive better education due to not only a more peaceful ambience galvanizing them to learn systematically but more resources of faculties in other countries. In this light, there’s no doubt the students would have done better if they all be sent to foreign countries to spend at least one semester. Take example of Chinese students returning from foreign countries into account, it’s common that most students have different methods of tackling problems in daily life, thereby bringing advanced avenues to help their homeland to boost its development. From this point, students could be more competitive because they’ve acquired various aspects, which could be of use helping them sail through a host of problems comprehensively.

Nevertheless, there may be problems implementing this policy. First of all, not all students are qualified to execute this task due to a lack of ability to communicate with the local populace as well as to attend themselves adequately. In this case, the consequences are tough in that they might get lost in a totally unfamiliar region mentally, and then they may struggle to lead a hard life there instead of focusing on learning. Secondly, studying abroad requires a sum of money as it stands. This figure not only makes this kind of education unique but inexorably ruthless, for most families could not afford to support their children to study abroad, and all of this might result in serious inequity.

In sum, there are many natural barriers inhibiting the educational institution from taking policy that all students should receive foreigner education at least one semester, barriers like the difficulty in determining which student should go abroad, and maybe the financial and technical issues. The educators must reflect about this issue in multi-dimension against all odds, albeit it remains a herculean task to confront with.