I want to congratulate everyone who is associated with the Global Awareness Program. Those of you who are students and who have been the beneficiaries of this program might have assumed that this is a standard program and that everyone has access to it at all institutions. The truth of the matter is that this is a really unique program. It is absolutely brilliant in its conception, its design and the way that it is implemented and administered, and you’re very lucky to be the beneficiaries of this program. Jean Irungu and Dean Diana Carlin are to be congratulated for the successful implementation of such a well conceived program.
I have some experience in the arena of international studies myself. I guess I could say I studied abroad. I go to India about once a year for my research which I’ve done for nearly 35 years. I’ve spent a lot of time abroad; I lived in England for a year, lived in Paris for a year, and lived in India for a couple of years at a time. International studies is what I have been doing my entire academic career. I’ve thought a lot about the new emphasis on international studies that we are encountering in academia and in our society at large right now. I want to give you some kind of context for your experience. Your education has two components to it. One is the technical education and the other is what I call your real education. The technical education is whatever it is that you’re majoring in, whether it be finance, history or foreign languages. Whatever is the cutting-edge, technical skill of the moment is what you are taught in those courses. But, the real education you get is the foundation, the fundamental element, that gives you insight into who you are. The more you know about yourself, the more you know about who you are and the culture from which you come, and the culture which has shaped you. You are also better equipped to go out in the world and encounter it. This is a very, very old concept. It is as old as ancient Greece, but it is something that we tend to overlook when we look at the purpose of higher education. You are here to learn about yourself, and if at the end of your time at the University of Kansas you know yourself much better than you did when you came, we can count ourselves successful.
Now, if in the course of this you acquire some technical skills that make you immediately employable, so much the better. I can promise you that those technical skills will become passé in the course of your working life, but the knowledge that you gain about yourself will endure. It will grow, and it will enhance your value to society and the value of your experiences in life. There is no experience, no pedagogical technique, and no opportunity that teaches you more about who you are than international studies or study abroad. Those of you who have studied abroad know exactly what I’m talking about. It forces you to think about every aspect of your life in a way that you never do otherwise. Why are their bicycles like that? Why do doorknobs work this way? Are their light bulbs the same as our light bulbs? How come nobody looks me in the eye when they ask me this question, but greets me diffusively when they ask me that question? What is going on here? That level of scrutiny of your culture, of your sense of who you are is almost impossible unless you are taken out of your own culture and dropped into the midst of one that challenges all of your assumptions about human interaction. That is the great value of study abroad. Thomas Friedman wrote The World is Flat and said that all you have to do is spend two weeks in Spain and somehow you’re going to be a better businessperson or better politician. This is completely naive. Friedman was right, the world is flat. How many of you have read that book by the way? Raise your hands so I can see them; interesting. Study abroad has a utility dimension to it, and an economic utility dimension to it. But the real importance is the educational value for you personally. So for those of you who have invested yourselves in study abroad, who have invested yourselves in this global opportunity, congratulations. You are taking advantage of the treasures of this university in ways that other students are not. I want to congratulate Diana Carlin and her colleagues for a superb program, and I wish you all well. Again, thank you.
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