today was purdue's annual study abroad fair. there were a couple dozen tables out on memorial mall, each one staffed by folks eager to induce passing students to at least think about studying abroad -- for a summer, a semester, a year. there were professors who [like myself] have taught abroad on such programs. and there were the students -- milling, collecting swag, munching popcorn, and checking it all out.
i feel very strongly that the study-abroad experience is vital to the american university education. it's extraordinarily important for a purdue student, because so many of them have never left indiana, let alone the USA. the notion of doing so may never have occurred to them. their parents may initially be actively hostile to the idea. this was all already true before 9/11; the sentiments have only grown stronger since then. and of course it's a recipe for xenophobia, prejudice, and blinkered living.
all of this is *in addition to* the intrinsic value, to classical studies, of travel to greece, to italy, and to other places in the mediterranean (and britain) where there are material remains of the greco-roman world. this summer i taught a course in greece, 'land of gods and heroes: greek mythology in greece,' which was based on the concept of linking texts to places. we would read myths and legends, and then go and see where they 'happened.' i do firmly believe that there's no more powerful way to experience the classics; and that no student who spends even a few weeks abroad will ever be the same person again. it's as simple as that.
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