Tag: Study Abroad
Why Aren’t Students Reading Travel Books?
by Jim Benning | 03.11.10 | 1:23 PM ET
Students at all grade levels read a lot more fiction than nonfiction—think Mark Twain and J.K. Rowling. As Tom Kuntz points out in the New York Times, a recent survey found that of the top 20 books being read these days by high school students, only two are nonfiction.
Many observers are rightfully questioning why students aren’t reading more nonfiction.
Writes Jay Mathews in the Washington Post:
Educators say non-fiction is more difficult than fiction for students to comprehend. It requires more factual knowledge, beyond fiction’s simple truths of love, hate, passion and remorse. So we have a pathetic cycle. Students don’t know enough about the real world because they don’t read non-fiction and they can’t read non-fiction because they don’t know enough about the real world.
It’s a conundrum. But it seems to me great nonfiction travel narratives would be a perfect solution—or at least a start.
Travel writers often approach their subjects with what’s known in Zen as beginner’s mind. They write about places from the perspective of an outsider. They’re students of the world. Ideally, they take readers on a journey—a real adventure—that is fun and entertaining and, yes, educational.
I’m thinking of writers like Paul Theroux (“Dark Star Safari” or “The Old Patagonian Express”), Tim Cahill (“Road Fever”) and Bill Bryson (“A Walk in the Woods”), just to name a few.
Any other suggestions? What about a bestselling book like “Eat, Pray, Love”?
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Yahoo! BuzzMachine Guns in the Afternoon
by Stephanie Carrie | 08.17.09 | 11:37 AM ET
Photo by Stephanie Carrie Stephanie Carrie went to Russia to walk the streets that Gogol walked. She didn't plan on practicing her language skills at gunpoint.
The Morning After: Breakfast at Balmer’s
by Terry Ward | 06.04.09 | 8:39 AM ET
Photo by Terry Ward Terry Ward explores a travel rite of passage in Interlaken, Switzerland
Plato Was a Backpacker
by Frank Bures | 12.15.08 | 12:10 AM ET
Frank Bures looks a long way back to fellow traveler Plato and the seeds of wisdom
Unlocking Beirut
by Catherine Watson | 12.29.06 | 1:23 PM ET
When Catherine Watson left Lebanon's capital city in the 1960s, she carried home the key to her former apartment. Forty years later, she returned with her prized souvenir and found it could still open doors.
Number of U.S. Students Studying Abroad Triples
by Michael Yessis | 08.08.06 | 1:17 PM ET
About 175,000 students earned college credit abroad in the 2003-2004 school year, triple the number from 20 years before, according to a story in today’s Washington Post. The Post emphasizes the local angle. Study abroad programs are particularly popular in the Washington D.C. area “where so many students come to study international affairs,” and one local college, as we mentioned here previously, requires study abroad in order to graduate. But writer Susan Kinzie points out that it’s not only a local phenomenon.
The Places We Find Ourselves
by Kristin Van Tassel | 05.31.06 | 6:59 AM ET
Her official title was faculty sponsor. But in the confusion of post-Katrina New Orleans, Kristin Van Tassel realized the slippery nature of the roles we all play.
Ciao, Bella
by Sarah Schmelling | 05.02.01 | 1:13 AM ET
The rains came to Siena, and Sarah Schmelling fell ill. But Signora Franci stayed at her side, bringing velvet slippers, tea, and lessons in basic human kindness.
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