Comments on: Why don’t more students from the US and Canada study abroad in Mexico?

By: Vesna Beck

Vesna Beck — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 21:01:41 +0000

In reply to Judy Elliott.

Judy, you have expressed the probllem perfectly. I am a retired unversity professor of graduate studies and know exactly what you are talking about. In my opinion, Mexico is not perceived in a positive light in the U.S. laregely due to the press that thrives on crime and mysery. There are so many positive things happening in Mexico today that are admirable and progressive, but cartels sell newspapers and Americans will never learn about the good qualities of Mexico and its people. Academia could bridge the gap if they joined forces to promote our southern neighbor with credible and resourceful initiatives. The other thing to consider is that Spanish is among the three top languages spoken in the world. It’s a huge asset in many careers and professions. What better place to learn it than in Mexico.

By: James Hensley

James Hensley — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 20:45:25 +0000

In reply to David Thomas.

Mr. Thomas, I agree with you at about a 90% level. The information purveyed from the bathroom cloistered U.S. reporters (all media types) is intentionally [of intent] to create a fear of flying – especially to Mexico. But the fact to be faced – reality – is that internet communications available is the sole culprit to be blamed. It wasn’t available (Inet) in span of the fifties through seventies during which numerous ex-military persons studied/graduated from college(s) in Mexico. They took advantage of the G.I. Bill to finance their education. Places (?schools?) like Beaver, Grand Canyon et al pimped study abroad programs too. The G.I. Bill students seldom lowered themselves to participate in those 3 to 6 months scam scenarios.

By: Judy Elliott

Judy Elliott — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 20:29:57 +0000

This is Judy Elliott from Columbia, Missouri. I worked as coordinator for Mexico Programs at the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, and taught several lower level Spanish courses. I have taken over 500 people to Mexico for Spanish language study. I have had students in Monterrey, Puebla, Guadalajara, Mexico City and I have never found a better spot for beginning Spanish language students than UNINTER in Cuernavaca. In my retirement my husband and I have offered 2 scholarships to third semester Spanish students for study at UNINTER. We have faced the same situation ad David Thomas in the letter above. ”
The language departments and international centers of U.S. colleges, including MU, have to think of their liability if something were to happen to a student they have sent to study abroad. So they have opted for other countries that don’t get the bad press Mexico always has. Cuernavaca has been given a level 3 rating for safety by our US government. This has kept MU from accepting our scholarship to send 2 students to UNINTER where the excellent care and instruction are incredible. What can be done about the level 3 rating? elljudy@aol.com

By: James Hensley

James Hensley — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 20:25:14 +0000

Travis Bembenek, you spent a semester in Guadalajara and attempt to foist yourself off as an AKRE. Why don’t more students from the U.S.A. opt to waste study abroad time in Mexico? Simple. Europe is, and will always be, the prime study abroad locale. Enrollment is “best easy” in all of Europe when accomplished without use of any “Study Abroad” program offered by U.S. schools. Beaver/Acadia was one of the renown scam schools to avoid given that those enrolled departed six months later suffering extreme knowledge deficit syndrome – a scholastic form of PTSD.

By: David Thomas

David Thomas — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 16:49:25 +0000

It’s all about the “fear factor.” We attended an intensive immersion language school in Cuernavaca, Morelos, for six months in 2001. At that time, there were more than 30 language schools in the “City of Eternal Spring.” Our school, Cuauhnáhuac Spanish Language Institute, had over 200 students — mostly from the U.S. — during the summer of 2001. That school is now permanently closed. Today, there are only a half-dozen schools still functioning in Cuernavaca, and with much lower attendance than before. Yes, security is a concern, but the U.S. news media is to blame for fomenting the “fear factor.” When’s the last time you heard ANY sort of positive news from México being reported by U.S. media? It’s all negative, stoking the fires of fear in U.S. households, high schools, universities. The language departments of U.S. colleges have to think about their liability if something were to happen to a student they’ve sent to study abroad. So they’ve opted for other countries that don’t get the bad press that México always has. After retiring, I worked part-time for a couple of years as a U.S. rep for 4 Spanish language schools in México…one in Cuernavaca, one in Tepoztlán, one in Puerto Escondido, and one in Sayulita. Only the one in Puerto Escondido is still functioning. I took a group of 4 U.S. adult students to study there for two weeks in 2016. My little group was definitely the minority, as the majority of students were from Germany…at least 25 young German women. I asked the school director why there were so few U.S. students there, and he replied that negative news coverage of México by the U.S. media was a big factor. He said that Germans and other Europeans aren’t fed a steady diet of anti-México propaganda. I’d be curious to know how foreign media reporting on mass murders and random violence in the U.S. have affected the number of foreign students who come to study abroad in the United States.

By: Pajareando El Tuito

Pajareando El Tuito — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 04:36:37 +0000

Why is it so hard to understand Americans’ reluctance to come to Mexico? For college or otherwise? They think Mexico is unsafe. How many of those other destinations listed in the article are on the U.S. State Department’s “Do Not Travel” list? Right now, 6 Mexican states are at the “Do Not Travel” level; 7 states are at “Reconsider Travel”; 17 states are at “Exercise Increased Caution”; and only 2 states in the entire country are at “Exercise Normal Precautions” (Campeche and Yucatan). What university is going to encourage students to come here when they can go places with greater perceived safety? I understand that it’s a perception issue and that Americans’ impressions are fed by the U.S. media. But the fact remains, Americans are afraid of Mexico. I have been in the tourism business for 27 years, and it has always been hard to sell Mexico tours. It takes extra effort to convince potential tour clients that the week or two they will spend here will be safe. It must be much harder for a parent wants to send their naive college student here for a whole semester. We Americans who live here know about the magic of Mexico. Most other Americans are simply afraid.

By: Benjamin Esquivel

Benjamin Esquivel — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 14:03:35 +0000

Guanajuato has an excellent university for foreign exchange students. Located in central Mexico El Bajio, Guanajuato City, San Miguel de Allende, Dolores Hidalgo birthplace of Mexico’s independence and much more. www.ugto.mx

By: Mark Hagerstrom

Mark Hagerstrom — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 13:59:51 +0000

In reply to Paul Yeatman.

Hola Paul! We were classmates at UDLA in the 1970s. I was actually the fifth of my siblings to attend the university, which was previously Mexico City College where beatnicks and Korean War vets on the GI bill went in the 1950s. Vietnam War vets were numerous in the 1970s and there were junior year abroad programs with several US universities including Kent State. The university was created by William Jenkins, the gringo millionaire, who wanted US and Mexican students to study together.

By: Doug Hall

Doug Hall — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 13:55:31 +0000

I am the president of the University of Georgia Alumni Chapter in Mexico City if there is anything I can do to help regarding study abroad programs.

By: Jim Novak

Jim Novak — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 12:25:18 +0000

I spent the summers of 1965-67 in A primitive village in the mountains of La Sierra Madre Orientales. I traveled 6 hours by horseback to arrive in Tlaxco, city of 3000 without aqua por table, electricity, professionals, schools apart de primeria, and coffee growing was the life of the village.Half of the people could not speak Catellano; they spoke Otomi. I came with 500 words and one course in Spanish; I left with a few thousand words and able to speak some simple conversational phrases. Tlaxco never forgot me as the first North American they had known. I never forgot Tlaxco, PUe. I have compadres and hundreds of Facebook friends.Most of my original friends have died, their children and grandchildren still treat me as family. Bottom line: Until you leave your culture, you can never know it. Mexican peasants with little education taught me what it means to be an Americans, yes, taught a well educated Chicago boy what it meant to grow up in the 17th century. When I return, I never have to ear in a restaurant or stay in a boarding house. I am always overwelming with invitations of places to stay and dinners to share the past.