The Tragedy of Study Abroad

This afternoon I was invited to lunch with a Moroccan student of English Literature at the local Moulay Ismail University. She is chairing a talk this weekend as part of a conference on international relations and intercultural-cooperation. My roommate is playing in a concert as part of the same conference, but that is beside the point.

We talked about what the study abroad experience of a typical American is here in Meknes. Almost none of them come in with a level of French, standard Arabic (Fusha), or dialectical Arabic (Darija) that would allow them to meaningfully communicate here. Instead, they all rely upon a few English-speaking professors and advisors at the university, and if they make friends, it is almost always with the Moroccans who speak English extremely well. When they hang out, it is almost always with other Americans. And when they go out, it is to foreign hotels that offer the alcohol and music and dancing that most Moroccans go without.

In short, American students abroad do not integrate. The vast majority do not learn the language and culture to any meaningful degree. For most American students, study abroad is a break from classes, a time for traveling and partying and slacking off.

My Moroccan friend said that she appreciated that Americans are usually open to try new things and that they can be so much fun. But she was unsure how to approach the issue of cross-cultural understanding and cooperation, because in dealings with Americans, so often it is one-sided. She speaks English about as fluently as a foreigner can.

I offered her a few thoughts on why this is the case. First of all, English is the world language today. And when individuals and institutions are faced with the choice between exerting time and effort and just speaking the language everyone else already knows, laziness and entropy inevitably win out. Another problem, though, is that American universities send students out in such large groups that it makes English-speaking clusters extremely likely. The promotion of study abroad by many American universities can also be extremely hypocritical. While they encourage students to study abroad as a formative cultural experience, their clustering of American students and lack of linguistic preparation prevents Americans from truly learning and engaging the new culture. When one takes into account the fact study abroad programs are one of the biggest moneymakers for universities, such two-faced rhetoric about cultural experience makes more sense. While charging American students the normal $10,000s for tuition, they pay virtually nothing at the foreign universities, which are inevitably much cheaper. The tuition, for example at Moulay Ismail University is $0/year.

At the end of the conversation, I think my friend had a few ideas about how conversations and discussions and activities could foster inter-cultural understanding and cooperation. But, as they say in places where dancing is more common, it takes two to tango.