Parent Connections: past issues

We may hear it often, but it's true that the world is a global community - that all of us are interconnected in many different ways, from phones and the Internet to CNN and international media, worldwide audiences for music and movies to the international economic system. How do our children understand their place in the world, and find ways to successfully choose how to be a responsible global citizen?

When a student leaves college, their first job or service assignment will likely link them directly to this modern world system. International education experiences will equip them with skills in cross-cultural analysis, communicating in one or more foreign languages and the capacity to understand where their own society fits into the world system.

In essence, international education is an essential part of the preparation that all students will need as they enter their chosen profession. Importantly, they are also equipped to articulate their values and make appropriate choices that reflect their understanding of how God intends us to relate to our neighbors throughout the world.

Our Study Service-Term program provides students with wonderful experiences that they can use in job applications or when applying to graduate schools or service agencies. When applying to a program in international law, a recent graduate was able to write about her SST experience in China, her Mandarin language skills and other international experiences at Goshen; she was admitted to Harvard Law School. Many other students have had similar experiences: their SST background makes their applications stand out in a stack of forms submitted by many well-qualified individuals.

Finally, our commitment to SST comes directly out of our desire that our students be disciples of Christ. The college motto is "Culture for Service." Every SST student has an opportunity to actually carry out that motto and to carry the good news, by their caring attitude and behavior, to many parts of the globe. We know that many of them commit to a life time of service in whatever they choose to do and we also know that Goshen helped to cultivate the desire to serve.