Wayfarer's Diary: Why Students Should Travel?

Whether you are a student, teacher or a parent, I’m sure many of you must have neglected the idea that travel is good for a student’s life.

“ Traveling is just waste of time & money and it is for those who are not interested in studies “ most of you must have heard or said those words once in life! These was a household scenario faced by almost every student of our country, India. Although now the parents/education system is improving their attitude to student travel, still more or less we don’t consider student travel as much as we should.

And so for most of the students in our country, the idea of traveling is far from reality. Even if one desire to travel, they are restricted to it, by the loads of homework from schools, last minute paper writing for college, de-motivation from parents/teachers or preparing for exams. Whatever the reason maybe, traveling is commonly limited to the distance between your school/college to home or tuitions/classes to home or the coffee house you hang out with your friends to home.

This post is my honest attempt to make students, and more importantly teachers, parents and even other people aware of why traveling is important for a student’s life. I’ve listed out few of the many reasons to travel. Being a student or not, these reasons can apply to just about anyone.

Freedom of time

Lastly i’m sure all the teachers or parent or an person who have completed their education must surely be regretting an idea of not traveling while he was a student. Just imagine, given a chance, wouldn’t you’ve traveled more than you did while in your student life? If You’re a student, ask your parent the same question and hear what they say! Once you’re out of school and college, it’s difficult to travel. The hardships of finding a job, securing a home, paying bills, and settling down with a family are realities which restrict one to travel. As student you have more time and to genuinely utilise it, travel is one of the best option to opt for.

Perspectives

You get new to know a new place and with it you learn about the cultures, customs, histories, their achievements in varieties of field such as arts, architecture and science among many more. These provide you a different perspective on life. Perhaps it might even teach you to appreciate the little things that you unknowingly take for granted!

Relieve Stress

It is very difficult to find a student who find doesn't find education system stressful, at all. I’ve seen students of all ages breakdown and its not pretty. To avoid this scenario, i request parents/teachers to encourage students to travel and even arrange conditions for them to make it easier to travel. If you are not okay with the idea of them traveling alone or with their friends, personally travel with them or at least make a safe arrangement for them. Everyone needs to be relieved of stress!

Scholarships

As a students, there are many scholarships which allow you to travel and get to live in and know about a new environment. Although this apply more for the college students but there are scholarships that fund study abroad programs, internships, national and international level research, personal projects, student exchange programs, and language and culture learning programs. There are also few contests and fellowship you can apply as a students.

Travel is Education

The results of student travel are extremely valuable. A student will definitely learn more than they do from a textbook, or from a class lecture, or from taking a exam after exam with minimal sleep. Travel, gives them first hand opportunity to apply the skills they have gathered by learning in their books and more importantly it also make them aware of the skills they have inside of them, which even they are unaware of. Travel teaches Resourcefulness, Self sufficiency and a tolerance and these are only few of the many skills travel teaches you which students can use for the rest of their lives.

This post was originally published on Wayfarers Club.