NEW YORK – Against a backdrop of young people who communicate in fewer words and more pictures, and with young people of color continuing to avoid study abroad more than their counterparts, about 600 educators, students and administrators came together Sunday through Tuesday to share ways to promote and boost global education.
The group took part in roundtables and panels as part of the 100th anniversary summit of the Institute of International Education, a New York-based organization that administers the State Department’s Fulbright Programs, the Ford International Fellowships Program and language programs through the Department of Defense.
Attendees at the summit said it is important for young people to see the world, study in it and work in it because it promotes self reliance, better understanding and better prepares students to work in a world getting smaller and more connected by the day. These discussions were perhaps more pointed for attendees of color, who themselves have benefited from study abroad, from global travel overall, and said they are constantly pushing young people to consider travel to another country, no matter their means.
Global study and travel for Black students in particular helps them have not only a broader perspective on their own complicated ancestry tied to the slave trade, but also develop confidence and self reliance, said attendee Andrew Gordon, founder and president of Diversity Abroad, an organization based in Berkeley, California, that connects students in underrepresented groups to study overseas.
“Any time you’re away from your support network and you’re put in an environment that is unfamiliar, you learn to navigate and that builds your confidence,” said Gordon, who took part in study programs in Mexico and Spain as a student.
“It builds resilience,” Gordon said. “In so many ways, you’re thrown into these environments where things don’t go the way you expect them to go and you sort of develop that attitude of, ‘I can adjust and make things work.’ “
As a Black male who grew up in an entrepreneurial family in the United States with a mother from Oakland and a father from Arkansas, Gordon said he found his travel experience was also valuable to help people in other countries understand how the slave trade created a disconnect between Black Americans and their true roots.
