First of all, despite Michael’s claim to the contrary, his column betrays a degree of transformation already (this despite the fact that he’s been abroad less than a month). As he himself notes, he now has the “time to reflect and to question aspects of my life at Princeton.” And, unlike the students whom he rightly criticizes for not engaging with the local culture and learning empathy, he is confronting a whole host of critical questions regarding issues of equality, privilege and purpose. He has little patience for the students in Cape Town, South Africa, who do not confront these issues, and I fully agree that in such cases study abroad is little more than, as he puts it, a “long vacation.” But does that make study abroad itself a hoax? I would hope that Michael can distinguish between the value of the enterprise itself and how some individual students might approach it.
Not only does he throw the baby out with the bathwater, he marshals examples that show quite effectively just how transformative study abroad can be. The situation he describes of white students now finding themselves in a minority while abroad in Tanzania or Ghana is no less powerful for the fact that some of his friends didn’t seem to learn from it (at least not right away). I can’t imagine a more effective and immediate way to learn about racial constructs than this. As he himself notes, one of his friends did, in fact, for the first time, “notice the significance of race while in Africa” — something he was never forced to do while back in the United States.
As Michael’s own example illustrates, study abroad can teach empathy — it is in fact one of the most effective ways of acquiring it — but you have to be open to learning from your experience in the first place. This is true about any educational opportunity, whether it be in the classroom, in Trenton or in Cape Town. Transformation is hard and takes work. No one (and certainly not the Office of International Programs) has ever claimed that transformation would be easy or that transformation is guaranteed simply by virtue of going abroad. The testimonials on our website from students who have been changed by their time abroad isn’t meant to imply that it will happen to you automatically, just that — when study abroad is approached with the right attitude — it can happen, and, indeed, almost always does. Furthermore, these testimonials are not an “idealized narrative” deployed in order to “sell” study abroad. These are real voices of real students, with experiences just as valid as Michael’s. There is no cover-up here. Students may at times have some complaints about their program, their university or their homestay family, but, almost invariably, they write that the overall experience was well worth it and that they learned quite a bit about themselves and their own society in addition to that of their hosts.
Michael also posits a false dichotomy between studying abroad and staying in Princeton in order to break down the various barriers that separate us right here in the United States. Why do these have to be mutually exclusive? I would argue that they in fact complement each other very well. Learning how to bridge linguistic and cultural boundaries when abroad certainly develops the same set of skills you need to understand your friends, neighbors and coworkers. No one is saying that the only way to learn to do this is by going abroad. Certainly Princeton does not claim that it is the only way; I’m sure Michael is aware of the Pace Center and the myriad student groups that offer opportunities to become aware of the differences and inequalities in our communities and to find ways to help address them.
So, no, study abroad does not guarantee transformation, but Michael’s column is in fact proof of its transformative power. The almost unanimous testimonials from students who return each semester are proof of this. Some are changed more by their experiences, some less — but in all cases more than if they had gone on with business as usual here at Princeton. I also want to set the record straight on affordability: Princeton has a very generous financial aid policy for study abroad during the academic year and has a number of funding opportunities for the summer. So do study abroad, and, when you do it — Michael is certainly right about this — do it with empathy.
Giorgio DiMauro is associate director for study abroad programs. He can be reached at gdimauro@princeton.edu.
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