THE PROS AND CONS OF GETTING AN OVERSEAS EDUCATION

            Nowadays, many students got scholarship and study overseas. Thus, the number of Malaysian students in institutions of higher education in the United States for the period 2009/2010 increased by 4.2 percent to 6.190 from 5.942 in the previous years. This movement of getting an overseas education ought to be analyzed the pros and cons of the issues. The pros are world class academic system and infrastructure, working experience, improve foreign language, and learn new culture. Despite that, the cons are influenced by negative thinking style and lifestyle, not able to be independent, cost a lot of money and energy, and cheated by native.

            First and foremost, the students who study overseas will be exposed to world class academic system and infrastructure. For sure their quality of teaching and learning has a very high standard. In addition, most of the text books are from overseas and many authentic academic materials are produced in U.K and U.S.A. Therefore, the students can have easy access to get many genuine materials. Thus, they can read the book in their original language. For example, the legend medicine book, At-Tibb, which written by Ibnu Sina is in Arabic.

Second, one of the advantages of learning overseas is the students can get real life working experience during spare time at the foreign country. Consequently, it will give added values to them in many ways. Despite getting extra money, they can learn new skills such as dealing with clients and know how to treat them appropriately. Thus, those who work at restaurant can learn how to make native meal and traditional food.

            Third, the students can improve their foreign language skills. The native speakers are everywhere. Thus, language is for us to use, not to keep it in the mouth. Nevertheless, the students do not have any choice but to speak in the foreign language in daily chat such as buying goods at groceries shop or any market. In such situation, the students can master their foreign language rapidly and built up their confident to converse comfortably with others native speaker.

            Forth, in new places, we can learn new culture and break the cultural encapsulation among foreigners. Therefore, the students can grab this opportunity while studying at overseas. Hence, it will help us to open our mind and built mutual respect on others who have different values in life. Nevertheless, it can enhance diplomatic relationship between various countries. For instance, Malaysian students can learn Chinese culture of business. In addition, the entire gap between cultures will be lessened and no prejudice and stereotype towards others on sensitive issues such as apartheid in South East Africa.

            Furthermore, the con of getting an overseas education is mainly about the influence of negative thinking style and lifestyle. In Malaysia, we called it as ‘budaya kuning’ which describe the negative influence from west such as punk head, sexy outfit, and mocking. Some country like USA use harsh word in their colloquial language such ‘fuck you’ and ‘shit’. Thus, they call their parents with names rather than address them properly. Also, alcohol is amiable and people can buy it everywhere. The clubbing lifestyle and too many parties are not suitable for Islamic religion and eastern culture. Despite that, they are also tolerable with gay and lesbian lifestyles which are legally right in their country. Most of the time, they make decision based on logical sense and beyond than our norm.

            Next, some students are weak self and not able to be independent when they live abroad. For many years they live with their parents and after finished O-Level they went overseas with low maturity. When they live alone by themselves, some do not know how to get along with new people and strangers. And this make them become passive. Also, they are weak in managing their financial plan. So, they waste their money recklessly without saving for years ahead. When they broke, they tend to borrow money from friends. Moreover, they are easily being influence by their friends and most of the time they loiter at shopping complex or other places.

            Furthermore, studying overseas is costing a lot of money and energy. There are many payments and bills that we need to consider. For instance, the flight ticket cost you thousands of Ringgit. If you book a ticket to Jordan, it will cost you approximately RM 2,000 for one way ticket. Thus, the university’s fees are also expensive. I addition, you need to pay for rent house or hostel for your accommodation there. The most basic part is to spend money for food and drinks. Thus, academic books and study materials need to be put into account. On the other hand, we need to pay for public transport to travel to classes.

            Lastly, some students can easily being cheated by the natives. Most of the cases are because they do not have money to survive out of the country and tend to find easy money by doing part time job. Unfortunately, they were cheated and involved in criminal. For example, previously there was a genius female student from Malaysia who studied in UK was desperate to get money and she involved in prostitution.          

As conclusion, there are pros and cons of getting an overseas education. The students need to be analytical in making decision before continuing their study in a foreign country.  As preparation, it is recommended to ask people who have been studied abroad to seek for their experiences and tips on how to adopt and adapt with different academic environment.