Why Does Travel Enhance the Educational Experience?
Students tend to underestimate the importance of traveling while still in school. This is a tremendous learning experience that sub-consciously helps to increase their education. Remember the saying “education isn’t limited to the four walls of the classroom”? Exactly. The person who said that was espousing the benefits of traveling.
Learning when you travel is the whole purpose of the “What I Did During the Summer” essays that teachers love having the students write. While most students who travel have a lot to say about the benefits of student travel, those who don’t have the opportunity to travel need to get creative and make something up. For highly imaginative students, that won’t be a problem. For the students who are better at telling stories than writing about them, they may need pay for essay services to get their work done.
Traveling at this point in a young person’s life means he/she will learn more than he/she ever can in a classroom. They also could experience life in a manner that can help them become better people than they were before. It is a character building experience because, for the first time in a young adult’s life, he/she will be flying without a safety net. No helicopter parents present. Mistakes will be made and dealt with without an assist. That helps a person grow stronger and develop his analytical thinking skills. Learning tools that aren’t exactly built up to the best degree when a student remains grounded in his hometown.
Students who don’t visit at least one country during their academic career will miss out on learning about the world. Limiting their presence to simply their hometown or college campus means a stunted world perspective for these students. Their points of view will be limited to only what they are taught in the classroom or learn from reading. That is the worst way to learn about cultures, diversity, and other countries.
A student who believes that travel experience can be limited to those TV documentaries, YouTube videos, or Netflix originals has another thing coming. Those are all just the tip of the iceberg. It isn’t the full-on travel educational experience that one can experience by immersing himself in the native environment of the country. So, what exactly are the benefits of traveling for education?
The Growth of Self-Awareness
Students who can afford to travel come from well-to-do families. They pretty much have their own futures set in stone. Not many problems for these kids aside from figuring out what their next fun adventure will be. By traveling to parts unknown, a student is exposed to the way the other side lives.
It helps them realize how much they have taken for granted in their own life when they must travel 12 hours just to get a decent bottle of water or if they ride in cars that sound like the wheels are about to fall off. These are experiences that staying home will not offer them. These are lessons that they will never be taught in school. All of these are important learning points that only traveling can bring.
Understanding the World
Okay, maybe not the world. At least one country though, the country the student is visiting. The American educational system tends to fishbowl world history and social sciences to whatever perspective the school agenda is trying to push. If you want to know what’s really going on in the world, or in a country, then live in it, go an experience life with the locals.
Understand the issues they are facing and how they deal with it. Never take the word of a single educator or the news media when it comes to the portrayal of a country and its culture. That’s like saying everyone must believe in one thing because somebody said so. Be your own person, develop a world perspective based on an individual or personal understanding of a specific country.
Learn to be Take Care of Yourself
The trip abroad normally happens during the transition to college life for most students. Take this opportunity to practice your independent legs. Learn how to make decisions for yourself based on what is right for you at a certain time. Be responsible for your decisions and learn how to deal with unfamiliar situations. Learn how to be responsible for yourself and keep yourself safe.
This is especially important when taking off on a long road trip in your car. Learning defensive driving and other techniques to keep yourself safe can help you steer clear of dangerous drivers on the road. If you have been involved in an accident, however, you can contact an Austin car accident lawyer for a free consultation.
Develop A Leadership Style
While group travel can really be fun for most students, things can tend to get out of hands. This is where the responsible or emerging adults in the group tend to stand out. Take charge of the situation and make sure that everything goes according to plan. Or, if plans fall apart, think of how to fix it. Make sure to assert yourself as the leader of the group to keep the group united in the strange situation. All of you can be afraid when something goes wrong. But knowing that there is someone there ready to take charge means the group will be better off in the long run.
Travel Helps One Get to Know Himself Better
Before a person travels, a sense of over self-worth can exist. The tendency is to view oneself as worthy of the privilege that exists in life. It’s all about “me,” but “me” on a selfish scale. Travel allows one to get to know how selfless he/she can be. It provides an insight into a personality that may be hidden away because there was never a need for that person to use that side of the persona. By traveling, the other aspects of a personality emerge, often surprising the person as well because of a lack of understanding of his deeper personality.