As an American who spent more than a year in Italy and two and a half years in Papua New Guinea with the Peace Corps, and whose life has been incalculably enriched and improved and broadened by those experiences, I endorse the spirit of this piece. But the issues at play here are much too complicated to address adequately in a piece this…
As an American who spent more than a year in Italy and two and a half years in Papua New Guinea with the Peace Corps, and whose life has been incalculably enriched and improved and broadened by those experiences, I endorse the spirit of this piece. But the issues at play here are much too complicated to address adequately in a piece this short. First of all, our kids don't learn other languages, and part of the reason for that is they also don't learn where China is on a map. Or Massachusetts for that matter. Also, there are very real dangers with travel-- especially for women-- to many parts of the world the author presumably thinks would be more worthwhile to experience than the Mediterranean. The Peace Corps had to pull out of Papua New Guinea 20 years ago becuase of the volatile political situation. (I would also argue that the Mediterranean, if you volunteer at a refugee shelter there for a year, would be quite an education.) I'd like to see us get serious about a national service program whereby every young adult spends one year in the US. I bet that would spark the sort of curiosity that's required for the next step.
As an American who spent more than a year in Italy and two and a half years in Papua New Guinea with the Peace Corps, and whose life has been incalculably enriched and improved and broadened by those experiences, I endorse the spirit of this piece. But the issues at play here are much too complicated to address adequately in a piece this short. First of all, our kids don't learn other languages, and part of the reason for that is they also don't learn where China is on a map. Or Massachusetts for that matter. Also, there are very real dangers with travel-- especially for women-- to many parts of the world the author presumably thinks would be more worthwhile to experience than the Mediterranean. The Peace Corps had to pull out of Papua New Guinea 20 years ago becuase of the volatile political situation. (I would also argue that the Mediterranean, if you volunteer at a refugee shelter there for a year, would be quite an education.) I'd like to see us get serious about a national service program whereby every young adult spends one year in the US. I bet that would spark the sort of curiosity that's required for the next step.