Education vs Traveling: Choose your side!

Further education or traveling? My answer would be it depends on many things. First of all, people are not monolithic. Everyone has different thoughts and decisions. It also depends on what you want to study and its significance for your future career. There are some people who consider traveling some form of education but with a more practical twist. They argue that the best education is the one you get outside the classroom by experiencing and doing it yourself. But what to say? Good luck arguing that you can become a surgeon or an attorney by learning outside the classroom. As the traveling lifestyle becomes more and more popular on social media, especially on Instagram, more members of the younger generation question whether to spend money on further education or traveling. Both choices have merits, I’d say, without one having the upper hand over the other. In this article, I will give the main reasons why you should go for education or travel so that you can choose your own side. First, let’s explore the arguments for traveling.

 

1. Improving your social skills

 

If you are shy and usually find it difficult to engage with strangers, traveling could be your best trainer for overcoming your shyness. By traveling, you will get more opportunities and feel an urge to socialize with strangers. There are times that you could not find what you need, or Google Maps is not helpful, then communicating with strangers becomes a necessity. If you think that personal development courses designed to improve your social skills can do the job, I’d recommend not to go for that. There is nothing better than practice and real-life experience, which you can get while traveling. Lack of communication skills in conversations or presentations is due to a lack of confidence in oneself. Traveling would boost your confidence as you get to socialize a lot with strangers.   

 

2. Learning to be independent

 

Probably the most significant addition of traveling to your character is the ability to be independent. Most of us are reactive in our early youth. Instead of acting by ourselves, we mostly react to coming opportunities and events. Traveling by yourself is a great way of challenging yourself and getting out of your comfort zone to be independent. Traveling will teach you to take responsibilities and be proactive, working toward controlling your own fate. When traveling alone, you do not have your parents to ask for advice, money, and other resources, you are just alone and with no choice but to take initiatives. Education may be good in terms of getting your financial independence. But it is traveling that will teach you emotional and intellectual independence. Travel also helps you discover yourself. You get to know your true potential and limitations, leading to the realization of how to improve yourself.

 

3. Improving your language skills

 

If you are in the process of learning a new language, what could be better than talking to native speakers? Suppose you are learning Spanish through books, mobile applications, and YouTube. You will never realize how far you have come in Spanish unless you travel and throw yourself into the immediate need of talking in no other language but Spanish. Visiting Spanish-speaking countries will improve your listening and speaking skills. Besides, you will get real practice on different accents, slangs, and intonations. Many countries offer summer language programs, through which you can make new friends, learn about new cultures, and, most importantly, master your language skills.  

 

4. Learning more about countries

 

You may know a lot of things about other countries, which are taught to you in Geography classes. Bu through the books and articles you have read, you mostly see these countries through the writers’ lenses. Traveling is the best teacher in a way that you yourself get a chance to experience and learn about a particular country’s location, history, people, and policies. Strolling through the streets, visiting historical and cultural sites, museums, galleries will enable you to experience what has history books taught to you. By conversing with local people, you will know about their perspectives on the events and wars that happened in the past. Or if you are interested in politics, you can talk to local people to learn about the election processes, practices of democracy, etc., in that country.   

 

5. Broadening your outlook

 

Traveling helps you understand the world better. You get to know how other people live, their political environment, social structures, education levels, and so on. By talking to other people, you add their perspectives on your pool of worldviews. The more perspectives you know, the broader outlook you have. We usually learn about other countries and their people through media, which are usually biased and prejudiced. So, traveling is the best way to get firsthand information about other peoples, cultures, economic situations, etc. It is also the best method to discern intricate details of other nations’ cultures. 

While we are looking at the benefits of traveling, it is also noteworthy to remind that you may sometimes need special assistance to get visas. In that case, you will get professional assistance, if you decide to contact specialized visa companies like Pickvisa.com. Now, it is time to turn our attention to education and its expected benefits, which are specified below.

 

6. Better career opportunities

 

Getting a college degree is about trying to open up new opportunities for yourself. Colleges and Universities prepare and help you be endowed with required social and professional skills for your career and upcoming adult life. Getting a university degree is usually the way to go in your quest to build a better career. By a better career, I am referring to working in secure jobs with high prestige, good salary, many perks, and so on. This is the main reason why so many people invest in their education and go to colleges. Colleges, for example, teach you to think analytically, work in groups, use computer software to handle data, and come up with needed solutions to complex issues. These are the skills required for building a better career.

 

7. Traveling opportunities while studying

 

During their university lives, many students can have educational trips. This is one of the main motivations behind young students’ travel decisions. For example, you can go on academic exchange programs offered by your university for one semester or an academic year. This is a double win. You get a chance to travel and experience new life and culture, while still keeping up with your studies. The best part is that your exchange program can totally be free thanks to many funding opportunities, especially Erasmus programs. Also, while studying, you can go abroad for internship and training programs. For example, thanks to the funds and opportunities provided by the European Union, many students enjoy various educational programs and internships in European countries. 

 

8. Personal development

 

Getting higher education is beneficial for your personal development in many ways. First, in universities, you can learn other languages through both credit and non-credit language courses. You may get management and organization skills through attending courses by experts. Also, some students join and create student clubs, which help them improve their communication and organization skills, as well as their teamwork abilities. Frequent tests, quizzes, and exams make students work harder and teach them how to work under pressure. Students get lessons from highly knowledgeable professors and conduct research, hence improving their research skills. It generally teaches you to meet deadlines on time, be disciplined, and value your time.  

 

9. Satisfaction

 

A lot of people get immense satisfaction by learning science. It is the only way of making this world a better place to live. Students work hard to be a doctor and cure people. Those students have a burning desire to make people happy; it is every one of their goals to find a cure for cancer. Those who study politics desire to improve people’s lives through inclusive policies, spreading democracy, while preventing tyrannical rulers coming into power. Economists hope to increase wealth in society and make everyone better off, through the just distribution of scarce resources. Those students immersing themselves in education and science get the best satisfaction by helping make the world a better place. 

 

10. Meeting new people

 

This is probably one of the main benefits of going to college. First of all, you make life-long friends. The years you spend with the same people during your university life help you distinguish and find your best friends. Statistics show that most university graduates report that their best friends are from college. Secondly, it is a chance to find the love of your life. I am sure many of you (including myself) heard that classmates get married after graduation.     

Quick recap

A lot of people wonder whether they should get higher education or start traveling. Of course, if you want to become an IT specialist or a doctor, you definitely need to go for higher education. But other than that, both traveling, and education have their own merits. In this article, I gave five reasons for education and five reasons for traveling. The reasons for traveling are improving your social skills, enhancing language skills, learning to be independent, getting to know more about other countries, and broadening your outlook. The benefits of going for higher education are the following: getting better career opportunities, traveling while studying, personal development, getting the satisfaction of learning science to help others, and meeting new people. You may also choose to study abroad. Whether you choose traveling or studying abroad, you will need special assistance.