Many parents face a dilemma when the time comes to think about the education of their children. Should you send your child to study abroad? Or should you let him stay longer under the wing of his mom and dad? Perhaps you should ask the children themselves? We did just that and asked a friend of ours, Martha Bilas, to talk about all the pros and cons of studying abroad.
And here are the answers we received.
Student Life Abroad
I went to school in Switzerland when I was 15. At school, I immediately liked the fact that no one forces you to study. They just make it clear that you only need knowledge and create conditions and an atmosphere in which you want to take the maximum from the learning process. Teachers are professional and friendly, and they’re always ready to help you understand the material of any complexity, spending any amount of extra time on it, which is especially important for foreign students with a language barrier. The format of relations between teachers and students is different from what I was used to – it’s a partnership, equal in school time and friendly, sometimes even informal, outside the educational process. I still communicate with many teachers of mine as my friends.
The schools and the universities have different rules. At school, each student had to study English, mathematics, a foreign language, history, one of the science classes, and one subject from the field of art (photography, drawing, drama, history of art, etc.). At university, students are studying a set of subjects that matches the chosen profession. If you want to visit Switzerland yourself, be sure to visit https://www.fus.edu/student-life for all the ways and details on how to do so.
The campuses in which I lived or visited with friends may be different in size but always very comfortable and well-organized. They are always equipped with everything necessary for a normal life: shops, cafes, food courts, a gym, spacious rooms for study, and the main place of the campus are big libraries where students gather to work on joint projects or just have fun.
I received my school education in Switzerland and my higher education in England. Since the educational processes at school and at the university are quite different, it is difficult to compare my personal experience. It is possible, perhaps, to note a more democratic model of a school in Switzerland as compared with a school in England, yet this is from the stories of friends who graduated from English schools.
The cons
Of course, it’s very hard to be away from home, family, and friends in adolescence. Very often, I just wanted to be close to my parents. Living in a new country is also not easy at first. As a rule, you do not encounter everyday problems in schools, as all the complexities of a psychological level are up to your ability to adapt and communicate. Yet growing up so quickly may be quite hard to many.
The pros
Dating and friendship with people from other countries are one of the most important and remarkable advantages when studying abroad.
Skills Acquired During Studying:
- Independence and confidence.
- Ability to make decisions and take responsibility for them.
- I can adapt to any company in any city and any country.
- I cannot imagine that I would be able to acquire these skills if I lived and studied at home.
Dating
As we have mentioned above, meeting new people, perhaps, depends on a person, is the main upside of studying abroad. Even if you weren’t able to find someone in real life, there are always dating websites, like this single dating site; be sure to give it a try!
It is exciting getting to know all of these cultures and perceptions of the world as a whole. Yet despite being away from home, you are still bound to meet a lot of people close to you by nature, especially among other exchange students. Perhaps such relationships will start off quite strong because you’ve found a person to trust in this unfamiliar place. And the dates themselves will be exciting since you will have a chance to explore pretty much the entire country that you are in. You will be able to share this amazing experience with someone you like, which makes it even better. The worst part about it is parting, yet compared to things that people do for love, this is no issue.
So don’t be afraid to visit new places and new people!
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