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

The writer of the statement recommends that colleges and universities should ask their students to spend at least one semester in a foreign country. Aside from the benefits that a student in a foreign country may have, it is not justifiable economically and the outcomes for the society might not be good altogether. Hence, I generally disagree with the statement’s recommendation.

To begin with, proponents of the study of students in a foreign country, insist on its benefits. When one temporarily lives in a foreign country, far from the prototypes of his /her society, the one experiences different views. In returning to the home country, the one brings intellectual souvenirs; studying abroad can make the one enlightened. To illustrate, consider the Gandhi whose return from England was accompanied by the beginning of the paradigm changes of Indian people. Beholden to the studying in England, ironically, Gandhi makes the people aware of their rights, and releases the India from the hegemony of England.

However, there are huge drawbacks that we cannot turn the blind I to them and send students abroad. First, economic reasons; the study in a foreign country needs a significant amount of money that renders such recommendation economically unjustifiable. Whether the money is provided by the government or the students, it is barely possible to implement this recommendation. The governmental funds in many countries cannot meet the necessary demands of the education such as equipping the laboratories or the salary of the faculties. In personal terms, many are those dropped out genius students, like the Steve jobs, who cannot afford the tuition of their college, let alone to expect them have money for a foreign study. Therefore the recommendation is not financially feasible.

Furthermore, the integrity of the families might be at stake with sending one far from home. In many families the students carry out a pillar role in their family. Whether emotional or economic, some families are dependent on having their children around themselves. A college student may be the father of a child who cannot leave the child.

Finally, the "one semester" period is under the question itself. It takes time for the students to become adapted to a foreign situation. Such a dead-time to handle the problems might take a while. It is afterward that the student can reap the benefits of studying abroad when the problems are tackled and the problems are not bothering the one anymore. This can take more than one semester. Therefore, the one semester of study abroad is questionable.

In short, as discussed, despite the benefits which a study abroad may have for a society, it is not tenable to require every college student to study one semester abroad. The prices for such recommendation, running the gamut from the emotional to the financial ones, defies the legitimacy of such a recommendation.