Travel Abroad Stresses Need for International Education

Recently, I returned from an educational and cultural adventure of sorts that served well to add needed perspective to both my professional and personal life.

I was fortunate to have been awarded a Fulbright Specialist Grant by the U.S. Department of State and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, to collaborate with institutions of higher education in the Republic of China, better known to most as Taiwan, as well as their government. Individual learning and expression are hallmarks of this program, so it is fitting I should state here that the opinions expressed in this column are mine and not those of the U.S. government or the Fulbright program.

In Taiwan, I was exposed to university presidents and top administrators, faculty, students, and high ranking government officials, all deeply interested in developing educational partnerships in the U.S. and especially with Florida. Through my travels I learned of much more than the potential for educational partnerships -- I learned about the potential for progress and the true role personal drive and ambition plays in the advancement of the individual, in Taiwan and here at home.

Taiwan was a treasure trove filled with people who wanted to share their stories with me and I must say, everywhere I went, without exaggeration, I met people keen on learning from me as well. I engaged with people who not only wanted to pick my brain about the U.S., but jumped at the chance to work hard on their conversational English. They viewed English learning as a critical part of their education, unlike the traditional Florida student who may take a rote Spanish class in high school but not commit to continue on a path to becoming multilingual.

I sat in on classes at universities where elements of some of the degree programs were offered fully in English; MBA programs, banking and finance, literature, the entire gamut of coursework all tailored to preparing students to compete in a global marketplace. These classes were filled with students from around the world. One banking class had students from across Europe, South America and several Asian countries, but was delivered completely in English all while 12 time zones away and I was able to wholly participate. It was as if I was sitting in an ICUF or SUS school here in Florida.

Through my classroom experience, I witnessed an urgent desire to learn and came to understand these students accepted that to better compete in this global economy, one must master more than those with whom you would compete. I was in a country where Mandarin is the language of trade and education, yet I found a consistent orientation toward English as a global language, one that should be mastered to advance. If English is to remain in this lofty position, our American schools need to refocus on the value of language as a tool of commerce. Unfortunately, I do not see this happening.Too often we offer language as just another elective. Too often U.S. students take a language for reasons other than the economic reality of being able to engage in this expanding global economy.

It is not surprising that the next U.S. generation will be at a severe disadvantage when the world understands what we are saying, but we understand less of what they are saying. We are in a global competition for learning, science, economic advancement and cultural influence. We are well-served when we can learn from others and use that new knowledge to advance society. We should allow others to learn from us, as only by exchanges can we expand our reach, our markets and our awareness of possibilities. Our political values and form of government, our freedoms and our opportunity for the individual are truly beacons to the people of the world. We can better share all that we offer by improving our ability to communicate across the globe.