Colleges and universities should require their students to spend at least one semester studying in a foreign country.
Attributing to more reliable passenger transport and the internet, It is becoming increasingly evident that the world we live in is developing into one global village. Previously unrelated countries, or even the most long standing enmities such as Taiwan and China, North Korea and South Korea are becoming more depedent of each other through the conduits made available by technology. Thus, I fundamentally agree that college and universities should require their students to spend at least on semester studying in a foreign country, to prepare students for this impending trend of globalization.
It is true that more and more tertiary education institutes are offering joint-degrees between universities, allowing students to complete degrees from international sister schools while staying at the students’ own university. The claim is that students can learn exactly the same principles and knowledges from the sister schools and attain world class education right at the students’ own university. The reason behind this claim is that the schools share an abundance of educational resources and curriculum. Even if this is true, there are certain perks of studying abroad that cannot be replicated by joint-degree programs.
Firstly, it is impossible for schools to shatter the language barrier simply through the means of shared curriculum. For example, our school offers a joint master’s program with a well renowned United States university, with the course being offered in a hundred percent English format. However, both the students and the lecturer are more fluent in Chinese, thus the seminars often always end with everyone speaking Chinese. Granted that the students and lecturers strictly abide to the rules and speak only English, it is almost certain that the quality of education of be hampered because both parties are limited to a language they are less familiar with and may have trouble delivering and interpreting each other.
Secondly, the cultural barrier is another limitation that cannot be transgressed through the means of shared curriculum. Culture is the aggregation of the social behaviours of each society, not limited to art, philosophy, literature, science etc. It is unlikely for any individual to replicate these qualities without studying abroad. For example, can one truly apprehend Independence Day or Thanksgiving without experiencing these festivals themselves? These customs can only be appreciated and learnt from the locals by studying in a foreign country.
In conclusion, it is indubitable that there is an increasing importance of learning about foreign countries, which is why universities are offering joint degrees. However, I believe that in order for students to truly learn and experience foreign knowledge, social customs etc., students should re required to study at least one semester in a foreign country.
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, firstly, however, if, may, second, secondly, so, thus, well, while, at least, for example, in conclusion, such as, it is true
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 26.0 19.5258426966 133% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 8.0 12.4196629213 64% => OK
Conjunction : 17.0 14.8657303371 114% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 11.3162921348 106% => OK
Pronoun: 30.0 33.0505617978 91% => OK
Preposition: 54.0 58.6224719101 92% => OK
Nominalization: 11.0 12.9106741573 85% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2446.0 2235.4752809 109% => OK
No of words: 440.0 442.535393258 99% => OK
Chars per words: 5.55909090909 5.05705443957 110% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.57997565096 4.55969084622 100% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.00205164006 2.79657885939 107% => OK
Unique words: 243.0 215.323595506 113% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.552272727273 0.4932671777 112% => OK
syllable_count: 753.3 704.065955056 107% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59117977528 107% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 10.0 6.24550561798 160% => OK
Article: 3.0 4.99550561798 60% => OK
Subordination: 1.0 3.10617977528 32% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.77640449438 56% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.38483146067 68% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 20.2370786517 89% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 23.0359550562 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 53.4701947668 60.3974514979 89% => OK
Chars per sentence: 135.888888889 118.986275619 114% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.4444444444 23.4991977007 104% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.61111111111 5.21951772744 146% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 7.80617977528 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 12.0 10.2758426966 117% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 1.0 5.13820224719 19% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.83258426966 103% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.317132910415 0.243740707755 130% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0923994639363 0.0831039109588 111% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.163630444747 0.0758088955206 216% => The coherence between sentences is low.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.190107771808 0.150359130593 126% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.151970022726 0.0667264976115 228% => More connections among paragraphs wanted.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.0 14.1392134831 120% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 38.66 48.8420337079 79% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.92365168539 141% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.8 12.1743820225 113% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 15.26 12.1639044944 125% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.28 8.38706741573 111% => OK
difficult_words: 124.0 100.480337079 123% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 15.5 11.8971910112 130% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.2143820225 103% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.7820224719 102% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 79.17 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.75 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.