Some intellectuals believe that international exchange visits will have a positive impact on adolescent students at school. While everything clearly has both downsides and upsides, I personally think that more benefits will be brought for students. Besides having the opportunity to study abroad and explore the cultures, this will help in one’s personal development and help in gaining a new skill.
Study tours have significantly proven to benefit students in many ways, whether academic or personal. While being exposed to other cultures, students can learn about the local people’s lifestyle, which offers students a fun learning experience that also makes them more knowledgeable in return. Another benefit brought from international exposure is learning foreign languages, which might be helpful for students while having conversations with other international students! Lastly, this activity could also lead to character development; whereas students are far from their parents, they should be able to live independently on their own terms and have discipline.
On the other hand, a school exchange might be unfavourable for a few students. Despite the upsides discussed earlier, this could be demanding for some students since they would be apart from their families and then should meet and engage with new people, which a few students found challenging. Another drawback that might disadvantage students is that if the school does not sponsor this activity, then parents have to pay a relatively large amount of money for their children to be able to participate (flight tickets, pocket money, accommodation, etc.
In conclusion, I believe that the upsides brought by this activity surpass the downsides. This international exposure made learning a fun experience, especially for young students, while at the same time exploring new cultures and languages. Character development is crucial at this young age, whereas this activity will also help to shape students’ personalities. Hence, these benefits should outweigh the difficulties faced by some students.
