She noted that more education, artistic and musical expression, organized

activities for young people, and more efficient water collecting systems could

make life in her village more attractive without spoiling its beauty. The

journal entry, which then extended over several pages, evidenced an ability to

be self-critical about previous attitudes, which she earlier had perceived as

somewhat sophisticated, as well as an ability to appropriately critique

American materialism and Dominican stratification of wealth. She recognized

that she may have an "idealized picture of life in the campo," adding, "Even

though I have come to view their lives as really good (and I know that there

are millions more who suffer more than they do from hunger, war,

mistreatment, etc.), I shouldn't deny that I have an advantage over them,

because I have the ability to choose between this life and my life at home."

While critical thinking skills are often developed in reflection on such

grand themes and issues, they also emerge from encounters with more

mundane cultural institutions. In a study-abroad setting, students are forced

to think carefully aboutand fromother perspectives as they participate in life

alongside their hosts. In the Dominican Republic, SST students usually travel

in carro publicos, usually beaten up, duct-taped-together, decade-old Toyotas,

which scuttle down Santo Domingo's primary streets, picking up anyone

wagging the Dominican equivalent of the hitchhiking thumb. In these

ancient and tiny autos, it is expected that two people will sit in the one front

bucket seat and that four people will crowd into the back. Three weeks into

50_{Amy Thut, SST journal, Spring 1997. Among the stated goals for SST are}
"appreciation of the integrity of a culture other than one's own," "critical
evaluation of one's own culture," and "acknowledgment of the intellectual and
artistic contributions of world cultures."See "Final Report, Common
Experience Committee, SST Review Group," 13 May 1993, 2.

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