Looking abroad, we miss what’s at home

I wonder sometimes if UNC’s emphasis on study abroad and a “global outlook” comes at the expense of important experiences at home.

Of course, UNC is no exception in extolling the virtues of study abroad: colleges across the nation agree, as does D.C. — in 2005, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution declaring 2006 the “Year of Study Abroad.”

And it’s clear that study abroad is eye-opening for many students, that a research university needs a global perspective and that many graduates land in jobs that value international expertise. I’m certainly not dismissing those things.

But reading the arguments for study abroad in the Senate resolution, I was struck by how some of them are applicable more locally.

Take, for example, “ensuring that the citizens of the United States are globally literate.” All well and good, but given that many UNC graduates will be future North Carolina residents, how many students are truly literate on state issues?

I wonder how many of the UNC students (in-state or out-of-state) who may have studied abroad in Sevilla or interned in London know about the economic dynamics of North Carolina — for example, the challenges in distressed Tier 1 counties — or many other issues.

At the faculty level, the University used to take new faculty members on the Tar Heel Bus Tour, a tour of the state to learn how to better engage with North Carolina. I was envious, and wondered how a similar experience might benefit students and the state.

But even there we seem to be regressing. While international opportunities expand, the Bus Tour has been canceled. And it’s possible to go four years as a student at UNC without really leaving the Chapel Hill bubble within North Carolina.

I’ll admit that I knew nothing about North Carolina when I arrived from the United Kingdom, whereas most undergraduates have experience growing up within one community within the state.

But the under-emphasis placed on in-state exposure seems out-of-sync with visions of the University as an engine of innovation for the state, or as a university of the people.

Another goal of the Senate’s study abroad resolution: “Empower students to better understand themselves and others through a comparison of cultural values.” Do students take full advantage of the chance to do this at home?

There are more foreign-born people in the United States than in any other country in the world, but I think that study abroad steals some of the oxygen for domestic cross-cultural immersion.

North Carolina is rich in cultural variety, far beyond mere ethnic diversity. There are Tar Heels living in cities and on the Outer Banks, working in high finance and in agriculture.

Going abroad undoubtedly offers linguistic and immersion opportunities not available here, but I don’t see the same clamor to engage communities with different cultural values right here on one’s doorstep.

So by all means let’s encourage study abroad opportunities, especially among minorities — who are underrepresented, as we saw in this month’s Research in Higher Education report.

As a foreign student, I can attest to the power of experiences abroad, and would encourage anyone to pursue the opportunity if able.

But as we emphasize the benefits international exposure, UNC would benefit from genuine efforts to apply the same rationale a little closer to home.

Mark Laichena is a columnist for the Daily Tar Heel. He is a junior poli sci and peace, war and defense major from London, UK. Contact him at laichena@email.unc.edu.