may also develop the cross-cultural skills and knowledge that are needed
to enhance the global competitiveness of American business and the
effectiveness of the United States in its relations with other nations…. It
may contribute to achieving such educational goals as expanded analytic
abilities, awareness of cultural diversity, and the capacity to deal with
ambiguity.
Globalization is offering new opportunities and constraints for the exercise of freedom,
arguably the raison d’etre of a liberal arts education: “[t]he academy in a free society
seeks to educate students for the responsibilities of freedom.”
This inattention was also disappointing, because one or other type of study abroad
experience is increasingly becoming the norm for the undergraduate student. The scope
of study abroad participants and offerings is certainly on the rise. Carlson, et al. report
that “[t]he number of American undergraduates who study abroad has increased
significantly in the last decade [the 1980s].”
John Marcum, Director of the University of
California Education Abroad Program, remarks that “[s]tudy abroad is moving from the
academic margins to the core of U.S. higher education” though “less than 3 percent of
U.S. undergraduates study abroad.”
The New York Times has reported that “more
students are expected to study abroad this year [2004] than ever, fueling campus-based
hopes of a generation with a truly global perspective,” and gave 160,000 as the expected
Political Scientists Kirk Bowman and Ashley Jennings report that
“[t]he number of university students participating in study abroad has more than doubled
in recent years, reaching 160,920 for the 2001-2002 academic year” and that “the fastest
growing segment of international study is the short-term program lasting less than a
4
See Carlson, et al., Study Abroad: The Experience of American Undergraduates, Study
Abroad: The Experience of American Undergraduates, (New York: Greenwood Press,
1990), p. xi. The authors also note study abroad’s rapid expansion in higher education
and the “accelerating cultural diversity of the American people,” both of which place
demands on “[r]esponsible informed citizenship” and challenge the future graduate’s
ability to work effectively later in life and cope with ambiguity. See Ibid., pp. 114-115.
5
Carol Geary Schneider, “For much of our history, civic education,” peer Review 5, no.
3(Spring 2003): 3.
6
Carlson, et al., op. cit., p. xi.
7
See John A. Marcum, “What Directions for Study Abroad? Eliminate the Roadblocks,”
The Chronicle of Higher Education (May 18, 2001), p. B-7.
8
See Greg Winter, “Colleges Tell Students the Overseas Party’s Over,” New York Times
(August 23, 2004), pp. A-1, A-17.
3
Convention