Education is supposed to broaden the mind, and travel broadens both the mind and the soul. Venturing to new places and encountering new people, cultures, and ideas can be an effective way to develop your education and gain important new perspectives.
People who travel are more likely to be open-minded and tolerant and to have more effective ideas for creative solutions to problems. Travel’s importance lies in the way it can help us to develop a better sense of self and place our own ideas and experiences in a more comprehensive context. As a matter of fact, travel is so important for school, college and university education.
Specific Reasons Why Travel Will Improve Your Education
You Will Learn New Languages.
Travel takes you to places where other languages besides English dominate. While you can use English as a lingua franca to get by in most of the world, travel exposes you to new words in the local tongue. According to the Sapir Whorf hypothesis, how we think about the world is shaped by the language we speak, so learning a new language can literally change the way we see the world. Travel can also help you practice languages that you are learning in the most authentic setting of all.
You Will Learn About Other Cultures.
Travel teaches you about other cultures in ways that no book can explain. By seeing the inner workings of other cultures up close, you will develop a greater appreciation of diversity and a deeper understanding of the world’s many peoples. It also will help you see what people around the world have in common.
You Will Learn About History.
By traveling, you will experience the places where history took place and have the opportunity to feel history with an immediacy that no book can match. It is often much easier to learn history when you can walk through it, see its remnants around you, and explore its connection to the world of today.
You Will Learn About the Contemporary World.
It can be too easy to think about the world as being basically the same everywhere. After all, we all watch the same Hollywood movies and wear the same brands of clothing, right? But travel will teach you the many ways the world differs and expose you to the current political, social, and economic issues confronting different countries, and the methods that are being used to try to address them.
You Will Learn About the Diversity of Nature.
Travel will introduce you to different environments and biospheres, as well as different plants and animals. Seeing the many different natural wonders of the world can build a greater appreciation of the Earth’s environmental diversity and also of the effects of various policies meant to exploit or protect nature.
You Will Learn New Skills.
When you travel, you will have a series of new experiences, and these will give you the ability to develop new skills. You might, for example, learn to ride an elephant in India or play the didgeridoo in Australia. As you travel, you will build your repertoire of skills, and this will make you a more creative problem-solver in the future.
You Will Learn to Develop Your Social Skills.
Social skills take practice to develop, but travel can help to accelerate the process. Travel exposes you to new people and forces you to interact with people from different backgrounds, helping to build critical social skills you can apply anywhere.
You Will Learn Independence.
As you travel, you will develop self-reliance as you make your way through other lands and navigate sometimes confusing systems. You will need to make decisions and take initiative to make your way through the places you visit.
You Will Learn Empathy.
Travel teaches empathy. As you travel, you will see the commonalities between us all and learn to empathize with the lives of other people, helping you become a more tolerant and open-minded person.
You Will Learn About Yourself.
Travel can help to clarify your own ideas about yourself. By trying new things and getting exposed to new ideas, you can discover what you like and do not like and better understand your talents, your preferences, and your path into the future.
