It just breaks my heart that we are trying to enlighten young adults to love others and learn from them by traveling far and beyond and in one stroke a president of the best country in the world does a stupid thing and bans irrationally people who have no intention of harming others.
If you place a 100 students in a room and ask them what they want to do, I don’t think that even 1% of them will say or even contemplate saying that he wants to kill others or bomb others or to become a terrorist one day. Well at least not the students that I have encountered in the 20 odd years I had spent in academia.
The dream of studying abroad crosses everyone’s mind, however the ability may kill that dream or makes it unaccomplishable. So to have a general ban in a country that attracts the highest number of students due to the sheer fact of having the highest number of universities and colleges in the world, is not something that we must keep quiet about.
Let me list down what goes in 99.9% of the students that we come across:
1- First there is the Intention to go for higher education
2- Then there is the Ability to study, academically and financially
3- Of course another major factor is Stability, as the student need to be assured that once he or she gets there there will be continuity and peaceful life so a completion of the studies is rendered possible
4- Last but not least the student thinks of Employability, this factor is as important as the decision of studying abroad, however it doesn’t mean that the intention to study abroad is padded with the hope of staying in that country! One wants the assurance that the degree he or she had gone for will guarantee a job in the future and if the job happens to be in the same country then it’s great and if a job is available in ones home town that is even better.
The problem with most of the countries that are considered study destinations is the visa. Those visa officers presume the intention to stay for work before evaluating the situation of the student. And to me that is a wrong assumption to have. Also with presidents like Trump, the assumption that these students are going to create havoc and disrupt life as we know it is way beyond real, as no one wants to spend at least a million dollar for a four year study will even contemplate creating havoc.
The amount of uncertainty these days for students to achieve their dreams of changing humanity and gaining higher goals, is made impossible by government officials who have a different agenda in mind and voters that chose without thinking.
Sometimes I thank my stars for being in a place that doesn’t change its president every four years.
