To be honest, my first thought when I saw a article titled “The US Shouldn’t Allow Students to Study Abroad After Brussels” was that this must have been written by The Onion. Then, after a bit of investigation, I quickly found out that it was published as a legitimate article.
Now I’m not writing this article simply to berate someone else’s work. I respect difference of opinion, and if they are supported with valid facts and logic, then I can respect them even more. However, this article was not written with sound logic, or facts.
“Now you can argue that banning students to study abroad is a breach of freedom if we still let go”.
Yes, you’re right. I can argue this. It is a breach of freedom. North Korea is legal to travel to. Afghanistan. Syria. Countries with more problems that Belgium are legal to travel to. Now the government may not necessarily recommend travelers actually go visit them, but it’s not against the law. If we banned travel to every country with a risk of danger then we wouldn’t be allowed to travel anywhere. Our own country isn’t immune from terrorist attacks, I frankly just don’t understand how there is an argument against traveling to places where terrorist attacks have occurred when we are literally living with the same risks every single day in America. There is inherent risk in traveling anywhere, I mean, if you think about it, there is risk in waking up every morning but that doesn’t mean people should stop travelling or living their lives. It’s been said before, but living in fear is exactly what the terrorists want. They want us to be scared. They want us to turn against each other and the rest of the world. We can’t be afraid to travel and enjoy life out of fear that maybe, just maybe, there will be a terrorist attack. There could be an earthquake, a fire, an armed robbery or a car crash. When you consider ALL the things that could possibly go wrong in a day, it’s amazing we make it through so many days unharmed. We might as well see cool things and travel while we’re at it.
If we’ve issued travel warnings in the past we can do travel bans…. Would you rather be safe in your own country at home or abroad somewhere in a foreign place with the chance of an attack happening?
“Safe in your own country”. By what means do you define safe?
Safe in your own country with a homicide rate more than four times that of many European countries? Right. It is rather hypocritical to warn of travel to other “dangerous” countries when ours is justifiably as, or more, unsafe. There is no perfect place to live or travel. Anywhere you go has different risks, it just seems closed minded to write off the rest of the world in fear of danger, which is present everywhere.
While college students keep drinking their way across Europe, Europe is getting nervous because no one knows when or where the next attack could be.
Not only do students who study abroad generally take full course loads, I find it irritating that Gauci reduced the entire experience of living, studying and exploring another country as “drinking their way” through. While that may be a part of it, the experiences and immersion in culture is what is really important. Also, who is “Europe”? How can we just speak for all of Europe as a whole? We can’t. This is my only comment directly about writing style. You can’t personify an entire continent as one voice.
If a student wants to travel to Europe on their own and they get hurt or killed during a terrorist attack, the “blame” falls on the student for knowingly walking into potential danger. But if a university is aware of the dangers that people are in while in major European cities, but still has no problem taking students money and sending them abroad, then the “blame” can fall on the university.
Knowingly walking into potential danger. Did New Yorkers knowingly go into work on 9/11? The whole point of terrorist attacks is that they are unexpected. There is no “knowing” of any sort. I also don’t think anyone blames anyone for being in New York, or Paris, or Brussels when the various attacks happened. They were incredibly unfortunate events, and there were cases of incredibly saddening coincidences and timings, but there was certainly no blaming of victims.
My intention with this article is not to make fun of or demean Gauci’s article. I can respect her opinion, even if I completely and wholeheartedly disagree. The problems I have with the article are the lack of facts supporting her claims, and the flawed logic she used to support her claims.
Traveling is a passion, it gives perspective, teaches invaluable lessons, and provides unforgettable experiences. This is certainly not something I would give away, out of fear, especially fear of something that could happen anywhere.
Sources:
wikipedia.com
