David

11/6/08

Study Abroad and America’s International Image

Rubén Hinojosa recently said, "There is an urgent need to improve America's image abroad." Hinojosa is a Texan House Representative. As far as Hinojosa is concerned, America's soft power is waning, and we must do something about it. It has been apparent to many people that, in recent years, the general opinion of the U.S. has declined. Some people think that global perceptions of America are improving, people like Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, a global survey group. "This is the first time there's a little bit of good news about the image of the United States," he says. He says opinions "are not so consistently negative as they have been in the past." One thing is for certain whether or not America's image abroad is improving, and that is that the U.S. will have to work hard to get people to realize once again that it is not just powerful military-wise, but also that is has great soft power.

A proposal in Congress, called the Uniting Students in America proposal, seeks to increase the number of students in study abroad programs to about 1 million college and university students, as opposed to the current level of 223,000. Study abroad programs are a great way to absorb cultures other than the ones here at home, and this magnitude of increase can only be a good thing when it comes to broadening the horizons of students. Many people deride the U.S. for not being globally minded, and not caring about other countries and cultures, and a great increase in study abroad programs in the U.S. will help close that gap between us and the world.

This proposal seeks to make study abroad more common. It hopes to makes study abroad easier, and make the outreach greater so that students will be able to study in more uncommon destinations, such as developing countries. It also seeks to bring the participation demographic closer to that of the composition of colleges and universities in general. There are also plans to help people coming into the U.S. from developing countries and studying here, further dispelling the current ideas of America's nationalism.

It will take more than a few college students to benefit global perceptions of America. A study by Kohut says that a higher percentage of Japanese than Americans say they are paying close attention to the recently-finished presidential campaign, a 3% greater number. When foreigners see such a survey, what are they supposed to think? Are they supposed to think that we don't care about our own presidential election, one that could quite possibly have been one of the most important elections in America's history?

President-elect Barack Obama has had strong backing from foreign countries. In the countries surveyed, Kohut found that every country except Jordan expressed higher confidence in Obama that his rival John McCain. The survey finds many people saying that the U.S.’s foreign policy will change for the better next year, no matter who would have won. Kohut says that this sentiment arises from the fact that current president George W. Bush will be out of the office, and that the candidates, Obama in particular, talk of change, and seem different that the current leadership.

America’s soft power is extremely important in today’s world and the future. Charles Dunbar, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen and Qatar, says, “Everybody likes to be liked, but it really goes beyond that to our interests.” World views of the U.S. play an important role in how other governments think of the U.S. government and how far pro-American individuals will stand with their ideals.

The study abroad proposal has potential, supporters say. “The potential of this program is huge, particularly in its value of dispelling negative attitudes towards the United States that currently exist in some regions of the world,” said Philip Clay, director of international admissions at the University of Texan-Pan American. “These students return to their home countries, not as adversaries, but as advocates for America.”

What the U.S. needs now is a basis for soft power expansion. Study abroad programs are only one small facet in improving America’s image in the world. The U.S. must not stop there, but should come up with many different ideas, many different plans to help us regain our standing in the world as a “soft” power.