The Rocket

Issue date: 2/17/06 Section: Opinion

Crystal Hawkins - Staff Writer

It seems that the majority of students here are from one suburb outside of Pittsburgh or another. I don't think going to a college that is close enough to your home that you can return every weekend gives us the space to grow as individuals.

I don't know if it is fear, or a general apathy towards a world outside of Western Pennsylvania that keeps students from traveling beyond this realm. There is so much more to see and it is mind boggling the way students can be so content growing up in this area, going to school in this area and then settling down in this area.

I have spoken to a few people who admitted to having plans that involved moving back to their home towns after graduating from Slippery Rock. I don't understand how they expect to grow personally if they do not cut their frighteningly strong attachment to their families and their homes.

In no way am I denouncing the importance of family, but people who stay in one town (or even one city) all of their lives by choice are missing out on an adventure. I do not see the satisfaction in being unaware of other cultures; I enjoy meeting people from different countries and even different parts of this country because I am very interested in what it is like in their part of the world.

More students should travel abroad while here at Slippery Rock. You do not have to take any time off from school; this is the perfect opportunity to enlighten yourself and experience things you may not necessarily be used to.

I think it is safe to say that one of the initial questions international students get is the why, why did they come all the way to Slippery Rock? I do not even think this deserves an answer other than why not? Though there are some beautiful places and plenty of things to learn about our own country, there are even more outside of it. What I find admirable about international students alike is, they chose to come here not only for the beauty of it, but for the real experience of living in another country. This is the attitude that I think most American students are lacking.

A large problem we share as Americans is the way we see our country and our values as superior, and this surely needs to be rectified. Money drives us, and having more money than other countries may make us "better" that way (and this is surely debatable), but in no way does it make us more valuable. In fact, I think it only makes us more comfortable being ignorant because we so quickly judge anyone who is different, or make fun of their accents, when these are the very attributes that makes them so interesting and so brave to me.

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