Read the 2nd prize winning essay for the ILAC International Essay Contest on “How International Education Can Contribute to World Peace.”  Iryna Hryvenko from Ukraine will receive $25,000 CAD to continue her studies at a Canadian university or college of her choice.

As long as mankind has existed and as long wars have lasted. The world has already gone through two terrible world wars the last being World War II which claimed about 60 million lives; humanity has seen the horrors of the atomic bomb from the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki [11, 12]. But unfortunately even today in many parts of our beautiful world human blood is shed for no reason whatsoever. A few examples that easily come to mind would be the massacres in Libya, the ongoing armed conflict in Syria and the latest being Israel and Palestine‘s rising tensions which had multiple nations intervening to prevent war; all of these happening simultaneously and who’s victims consist of innocent families, women, children and even the elderly are primarily effected[7].

One of the most common causes of armed conflicts has been religious animosity. The crusade of Muslims against Jews, the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland (Ulster), and the Iran-Iraq war (Sunni Muslims against Shiite Muslims) [10]. Despite the numerous efforts of international diplomacy and the United Nations, such as The Camp David Accords which was signed into effect by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin[3], The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181[8,9] or The Nobel Peace Prize of 1994 [1], many of these conflicts do not stop, but only grow silently behind closed doors (the events in Syria and Israel/Gaza) [2], and some are permanent in nature (like the majority of the Middle East).

It would be apparent that a well-rounded international education can contribute to the solution for peace especially considering how the current diplomats can’t resolve the issues without conflict. “Education is the key to uniting nations, bringing human beings closely together…Education is a key tool in combating poverty, in promoting peace, social justice, human rights, democracy, cultural diversity and environmental awareness. Education for peace implies an active concept of peace through values, life skills and knowledge in a spirit of equality, respect, empathy, understanding and mutual appreciation among individuals, groups and nations” [6] . Today the younger generation is amounting to more than a quarter of the total labor force, and is becoming increasingly important in all aspects of society and areas of social life. Students in particular have always been the most active part of any society; it is the student protests in the United States that played a vital role in ending the war in Vietnam [5].

Education International Resolution on Education for Peace of 2004 “pledged to promote education for peace and intercultural learning as the best antidote to racist and fundamentalist phenomena in order to prevent social conflict and the recourse to social violence”[6]. Obviously, the educational aspect of promoting peace concerns “the content of education and training, educational resources and material, school and university life, initial and ongoing training for teachers, research, and ongoing training for young people and adults”[6]. However, according to Education International – the world’s largest union federation of over 30 million teachers and education employees, consisting of 401 member organizations in 172 countries [4] – “the skills for peace and non-violence can only be learned and perfected through practice. Active listening, dialogue, mediation, and cooperative learning are delicate skills to develop. This is education in the widest sense”[6].

I would like to elaborate with my own experiences on international education, including leaving home to take residence in a country I had only known of from books and movies to return home and leave again to someplace completely different.

Initially, I’m from Ukraine, having grown up here my entire life one might say I have grown accustom to the educational system and ancient academic traditions.  Ukraine has provided an education around 45 thousand foreign students from more than 130 different countries [13]. I am a fourth year student at the Faculty of Dentistry, Crimea State Medical University named after S.I. Georgievsky. Presently, the university trains roughly around thirty eight hundred students with about thirteen hundred of them being international students. Here it was my first and wonderful experience of international education and cultural exchange in terms of studying together with students from other countries.  International students are not just a fundamental part of our alma mater, but many of them are also prominent and gifted representatives of our university and a role model for other students.  One of those, being a particularly intelligent and skillful dental resident from Lebanon, has had a significant and extraordinary impact on my professional growth.  Ruslan has always been fascinated with the field of dentistry, constantly improving his skill set whenever and where ever possible, and has always had a strong desire to provide the best dental care possible to his patients. Furthermore, he was always eager to share the best of his knowledge and experiences with the younger students and, as a result, I happened to be one of his apprentices while getting hands-on training in the clinic. This notable person, who has become my very good friend with time, by his exceptional aesthetic work and willingness to help and give his competent advice, inspired me tremendously interested and passionate about all the aspects of my major, drove me to pursue more knowledge, to look for, discover, and  learn about new techniques, materials, instruments, and ways of diagnostics and treatments of variety of dental diseases, and strive to master and constantly improve my skills. His contribution to my career development has been striking; I am very grateful and owe him a lot for helping to shape a deeply passionate and skillful dentist in myself.  The effects of this amazing experience of educational-professional cooperation, a feeling of incredible gratitude and newfound friendship extend to most of Ruslan’s other student’s lives.

Pursuing my education further, I had applied and won a scholarship then spent two months studying English in one of the world’s best universities, the University of Alberta, Canada. There were a number of students from many different countries and having different religious beliefs and backgrounds in my class and my dormitory. Yet, they were all studying and living together happily without any conflict; in addition we were having a lot of fun just by spending time with each other. I felt this even more strongly while studying as an undergraduate exchange student in the U.S. during 2011-2012 at the University of Minnesota. I had the opportunity to make friends with so many people from not only America but as far as Canada, Guatemala, Panama, Chili, Great Britain, Netherlands, Denmark, France, Serbia, Austria, Israel, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China, South Korea, Japan, and Australia.

We were living at the “Student Crossing Borders” community in our dormitory and at all times learning more about each other’s cultures by participating and organizing varieties of activities on and off campus, doing our homework and different projects for our classes together, volunteering for different organizations, and traveling around the States. It has been so amazing to always feel each other’s true friendship, love, care, encouragement, and support in all the hardships we were facing at the time. I remember a student from Israel fell in love with a girl from Lebanon, a Danish guy started dating a South Korean girl, a Serbian Orthodox Christian girl found her soul mate in a Jewish young man from France, and an American Buddhist girl got engaged with a Bengali  Hindu guy. I am currently studying in Slovak Republic and I keep getting further evidence that international student communities have the ability and power to develop and cultivate global tolerance, multinational relationships, and all-embracing loving care, undoubtedly contributing to universal peace. Thus, my Polish Roman Catholic classmate has been happily living with her Saudi Arabian Muslim husband for already more than three years, accepting and respecting each other’s religious beliefs and traditions, uniting in harmony with their extended families and friends. Likewise, my Serbian Protestant roommate, having been always fearing and having deep-rooted prejudice against all Arabs and Albanians has now made friends with a lot of Muslim Arabs throughout our school no longer perceiving them cautiously or with enmity. Similarly, our entire international dormitory is like a big multicultural family united in an incredibly amicable spirit.

Meanwhile, almost all of us, “American acquainted” international friends, still keep in touch via Facebook and Skype. We are actively engaged in each other’s life back at home, and truly supporting each other’s national team at different competitions, such as Eurovision song contest, European soccer championship 2012, and the Olympic Games. In addition, many of us either has already or is planning to visit each other in our home countries.  For instance, my friend from Lebanon is coming to see me in Ukraine next summer, and this winter break I am meeting with my Serbian, Algerian, Dutch, and French friends in Paris to celebrate Christmas and New Year together.

In essence, this great experience of studying abroad gave us an opportunity to discover and learn about, respect, adjust to and sometimes even fall in love with each other’s cultures, traditions, beliefs and values. I am convinced that after bringing this great experience of cultural exchange, tolerance, freedom and democracy and especially spirit of friendship and caring love back to our home countries and sharing what we have learned with our relatives and friends; a Jew is not going to fight with a Muslim, a Muslim with a Christian, a Christian with a Buddhist, a Buddhist with a Hindu, and so on.

Consequently, these few  internationally  educational  experiences (which, although, might sound very subjective, are just too powerful testimonies to neglect) have already shown strong potential to  result  in  lifelong  grateful and loving  relationships within the young generations  that will naturally  eliminate any further prejudice, misconceptions or hostility that might arise in our countries towards one another and therefore will inevitably facilitate the  lead to promotion of worldwide peace. Canada and The United States, being such open-minded and multiethnic communities of immigrants, are the perfect place for this type of a great cultural exchange to begin thus contributing to international understanding and union which will ultimately lead to peace and love in our global multinational family.

References:

1        “Award Ceremony Speech.” The Nobel Peace Prize 1994. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1994/presentation-speech.html>.

2        BBC News. BBC, 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/middle_east/>.

3        “Camp David Accords.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Nov. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords>.

4        “Education International.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.

5        “Opposition to the U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_U.S._involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War>.

6        “Peace Education.” Education International. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012.

7        The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/>.

8        “United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181.” - Wikisource, the Free Online Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_Resolution_181>.

9        “United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine>.

10    Williamson, Roger. “Why Is Religion Still a Factor in Armed Conflict?” Why Is Religion Still a Factor in Armed Conflict? SAGE Publications; Life and Peace Institute, Uppsala, 1990. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://sdi.sagepub.com/content/21/3/243.extract>.

11    “World War II.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Nov. 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II>.

12    “World War II.” World War II. CREDO Reference, 2010. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. <http://www.credoreference.com/topic/world_war_ii>.

13    “Образование в Украине.” СТУДЕНТ МИССИЯСЫ. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. <http://studyinukraine.kz/obrazovanie-v-ukraine/>.

Read the 1st prize winning essay for the ILAC International Essay Contest on “How International Education Can Contribute to World Peace.”  ILAC has offered Yulia Khoroshavina a scholarship of $50,000 towards an undergraduate degree or $25,000 towards a post-graduate degree in Canada.

Our world gradually becomes smaller – the population of the Earth is growing at an exponential rate. In these latter days the concept according to which anybody in the world can be connected to anybody else by a chain of about six people gained considerable popularity.  It’s called ‘’Six Degrees of Separation ‘’. Thus, it goes to show, that every person, wherever he/she lived on the Earth relates to each of us. This concept made me think over why this phenomenon turned out to be possible. First of all, due to the technology development that consists in the spread of the internet and the advent of social networks. But if we come to the core of the matter, we can see that the real reason is people’s world mobility. Most of us travel around the world, meet people from different countries, forge relationships with them. Many students go to study abroad, and spend time in a foreign country several years.  Recently the number of programs that allow people to study, or to work abroad for an extended period increased significantly.  Governments of various states, provide grants for international students and form soft immigration policy in order to strengthen relations between countries on the social level. Maintaining relationships between people from different countries has become easier. As a result, people get to know more about other cultures and learn to tolerate them.

After graduating from college or university, a lot of students start to think that they have great opportunities to learn more about the world, learn cultures of other countries, and realize the difference between the world they live in and other places on the planet. I was not an exception. My first experience was bound to Canada. I studied at the International Language Academy of Canada in Vancouver for 3 months. And this trip has changed my personality a lot.  My classmates were people from Japan, Mexico, Korea, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and many other countries. These students came to Canada, in order to gain some knowledge and to get to know the way of life in North America, which was marked in contrast to their own one. Just then, I noticed how different we were. Vigorous and sociable Brazilians, calm Japanese, shy Koreans…we liked different food and even ate in a diverse way (some of us used chop sticks, some- forks). Moreover, we had different accents, and sometimes it took a lot of effort to understand what the partner was saying. But by virtue of this diversity, we got to know that even if anybody does something unlikeable it does not mean that it is wrong. After a while we learned how to put up with the differences and how to respect each other. Many of us became close friends, and we would have never met each other if we didn’t come to Canada as international students.

The most surprising thing was that Canada itself was exact the same as ILAC was. This country is a mix of nationalities, where you will not see any kind of intolerance to any nationality, views, or religion.  Canadian multiculturalism is the way of concurrent existence of various cultures, with a view to their mutual penetration and progress. Canadian multiculturalism, as a national idea, is based on preserving specific features of national traditions. People who immigrated to Canada many years ago try to keep their accent, because they are proud of their origin, and it does not induce aggression from other people.

However, even nowadays such countries as Canada that accept other cultures, religions and conduct peaceful foreign policy are rare. A solid majority of countries still prefer to defend their national interests with resort to force. Hardly, can we count the number of wars that occurred over human history. It is even harder to identify the genuine cause of human aggression. As I can see, the reason why wars break out is that some nations perceived their own superiority over others. Since the beginning of time, main world civilizations have emerged, they were distinguished by their language, traditions and religion. These national features survive to this day. Thus, racial and religious intolerance leads to violence, carnages and long wars; as a result we can see destroyed cities and sorrow of millions of families. In case of people being on opposite sides of the barricades, they become indifferent to those who are considered to be their enemies; rivals aim efforts at destroying each other, only because they have different culture or speak another language. Every day watching the news, we hear about South and North Korea, which are the same nation, but balance on the brink of war because of confrontational political regimes. We see Palestinian and Israeli troops bombing each other.  The result of such conflicts is easily predictable: millions of civil casualties, billions of refugees, hundreds of destroyed cities, enormous environmental disaster, and, consequently, the decline of the human race and civilization.

While I was in Canada, I studied with people from all parts of the world. We had different culture, habits and morals. But after some time being together I realized that all of us want the same thing. Each of us strive to learn English, in order to succeed in life, travel around the world, meet new people. Each of us set a high value on our families and friends. In other words, we all want to live in peace and enjoy our lives. International education gives students a chance to understand that whatever person’s origin, his/her aspirations and goals are the same as the goals of other 6 billion people on the planet. Studying abroad is the way to acknowledge that the world is much wider and richer than it seems to be. I believe that, International education aims to develop people’s ability to speak multiple languages, widen knowledge of various cultures, and enhance awareness of global issues.

After completing our course at ILAC most of us came back to our countries. However, due to the Internet, we keep in touch even now. After a year I met some of my classmates in Japan, and they showed me their country as they see it. Even such an exotic place as Japan seemed to be friendly and nice to me. Few months ago one more classmate from ILAC, the Korean who stayed in Canada for a while, asked me to find a Russian tutor for her brother in Korea. And I did it even though I was in Russia that time. That’s how I proved the ‘’Six Degrees of Separation’’ concept on my own experience. In few weeks a group of Canadian university students come to Russia in order to make a film about Russian traditions. One of my friends who I met in Vancouver asked me to meet them and help with accommodation while they would be in Vladivostok.  Every year hundred thousands of international students go to study abroad. Thereby, there could be dozens of such examples. In my opinion coming in contact with people from different countries, we can change the world for the better.

International education can be that exact way that helps people to suppress world violence and prevent wars.  People who have studied abroad are much more open-minded and tolerant of other nationalities. They stop thinking of themselves as citizens of one exact countries but start identifying themselves as citizens of the whole world. Such idea of cosmopolitanism is capable of erasing aggression, meaningless wars from human history. An increase of student exchange programs can facilitate interrelation between states. As a result, one day we could think of building world without state boundaries and conflicts.

Nowadays state governments are concerned about national interests, which are the most important aspect of making state foreign policy. Usually national interests of one state go against national interests of the other one. Therefore, sides have to rival, wasting budget on armament and state defense. However, it could be spent on social programs, in order to support disabled people or those who faced unemployment. Science also needs much investment, in particular medical researches and space programs.  There are many global problems that humanity can’t resolve nowadays. Issues of global warming, AIDS, hunger and epidemics, exhaustion of natural resources and overpopulation seems to be indeterminable these days. Furthermore, the shortage of resources will be one of the main challenges in the future. The struggle for the access to the energy and food resources at the local, regional and global levels can turn out to be one of the major reasons for confrontation and wars. Therefore, humanity has to create unified world government that will merge efforts to resolve these global issues before they become fatal.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the increase of student exchange programs can change the way of thinking of the whole mankind. First of all it gives young people and adults opportunities to get good quality education, enhance world literacy level and improve educational system itself. It induces science cooperation between countries all over the world. Secondly, international education facilitates development of citizens of the world, people who accept variety of nations and cultures. This can motivate people all over the world to admit universal human values that could be based on global but not national identity.