During my post-graduate year living in London, my Parisian classmate asked me for my take on her romantic rendezvous with an American male. While admittedly not a relationship expert, I still became transfixed by the cultural mores separating our two nations. Not surprisingly, this interaction forced me to confront that Americans and the French have vastly different thought processes, and learning to bridge these divergences can be quite helpful not only in confronting this particular matter of the heart, but also competing in the global marketplace.
While American education is currently attacked from those that believe American children are either pushed too hard or not enough, this week Lisa Miller analyzed the importance of raising a global kid. Her examination detailed the benefits that can be gleaned from American students immersing themselves in other cultures in order to stay competitive with the rising Eastern nations. The article provocatively illustrated how some American families were living abroad for years at a time in order to acculturate their children.
Reflecting upon my year abroad, I concur with Ms. Miller’s assessment that young adults can gain a great deal from cultural immersion. Living in an international city, even in an educational environment, forces each person to develop coping mechanisms and resiliency as it relates to working with others that are different from oneself. The lessons and relationships that can be built from these experiences last a lifetime because they force the expansion of one’s comfort zone.
As a result, my suggestion is to follow what many students do in Europe either before entering college or the working world, and take a gap year or a period of time to work, travel, volunteer, or study abroad. This will enable the next generation to do two things: (1) escape the rigors of perfecting the resume for a substantial period of time; and (2) to engage with people of different cultures in order to maintain American competitiveness for years to come. These gains can come in many different ways, both in the classroom, at work, or as my Parisian classmate found out, after hours.
