A lot of students were sent overseas to study abroad. Some may even consider studying abroad after completing Form Three. But is it really a good time to study abroad after completing Form Three? In this essay, I would like to share with you my views on the pros and cons of studying abroad after completing Form Three.
One argument in favor of studying abroad after Form Three is that students could grab a chance to improve their English. In Hong Kong, students seldom communicate with others in English, both at school and at home. But when they are studying aboard, they must speak English in order to communicate with each other. As they speak more English, they could improve it.
Another advantage is that students could learn to be independent. When students study abroad, their family members would not be with them, so they would learn to be independent eventually as they have to take care of themselves.
Another important argument is that students could learn how to get along with people from different backgrounds. When students study abroad, they might have classmates from different countries. Students must adapt to their styles and cultures in order to make friends with them. Eventually, they would learn how to get along with different people, and learn the foreign cultures.
From the above, we can see that there are clearly advantages in studying abroad. However, there are also some disadvantages.
The first disadvantage is that students may face discrimination. Because of the skin color and smaller body size of Hong Kong people, the foreign people might have racial discrimination against us.
A serious disadvantage is that students would lack parents’ supervision. When students are not under supervision of their parents, they might skip classes. Besides, they might even be influenced by the culture there and start drinking alcohol and gambling as a Form Three Student is not very mature.
Another problem is that students would have to adapt to a new environment. The weather, food, culture and living styles of foreign countries are totally different from Hong Kong . If students used to have a comfy environment in Hong Kong , it would be difficult for them to get used to a new environment. And most important of all, students would not have their friends in Hong Kong along with them when they study abroad, and they would have to make new friends.
As a conclusion, there are both advantages and disadvantages to studying abroad after completing Form Three. However, I believe that, on balance, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages as students are not mature enough at that time. Therefore, I believe studying abroad after completing Form Three is not the best time. In my opinion, the best time would be after completing secondary school or even university because students would be a lot mature, and they would not be easily affected by the culture and start smoking, gambling, drinking alcohol as they have better self-control.