I've recently read a book that has changed, for me, the face of international education. Long a proponent of international education in any form (study abroad, work abroad, living abroad, hosting international exchange students, etc.), I am always on the lookout for new ways to teach and incorporate international education in our daily lives - and, of course, on this site. The book? The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education, by Maya Frost.

What this book shares is many unconventional ways to learn about the world through immersion. This approach to international education is one that any experienced international educator will applaud - that of intercultural learning through experience. Maya explores getting an international education through a variety of ways, which is of course valuable in and of itself. However, the real value of the book is the teaching of a new mindset to readers, that there are MANY ways to explore and learn about the world. I am extremely committed to international education, have lived and worked abroad, and we worldschool our daughter. My mind was still blown away - I learned so much from this book. Maya brings in a plethora of experts - academic and professional - to support her work. It is both eminently readable, and highly educational. On each page, I felt the urge to get up and GO, to explore the world with our daughter even more than we do now, and to share the challenges and joys of living in a different culture. Although we plan to live abroad and are working toward that goal, this book solidified my reasons to do so - and challenged me to do it NOW. This change of mindset is called the Bold School Approach, although we are using it to encompass much more than our daughter's schooling.

Maya Frost’s Top 10 Reasons to Consider the Bold School Approach:

1. You are ready to ditch the college-prep drama and get calm, clear and creative in order to discover the best education options available.
2. You prefer to focus on learning (not just achievement) and you seek less stress and much more inspiration along the way.
3. You want to save thousands of dollars on college expenses without sacrificing the quality of education or the opportunities for personal development.
4. You question the current SAT/GPA/AP approach to getting into college and want to avoid standardized measures.
5. You want to take advantage of the most inexpensive and beneficial exchange programs and study abroad options available.
6. You know that you are fully capable of making your own best decisions based on your research (and the info in The New Global Student).
7. You want to finish high school early in order to dive into higher education.
8. You are ready to look beyond math and science and prepare for the global workplace in creative ways.
9. You want to spend time abroad with your family and give your kids some great global skills.
10. You want to make bolder (and more personal) life choices that may include living and working in other countries.

Maya Frost has taught thousands of people how to pay attention to what matters most. Her eye-wide-open approach to everyday awareness has been featured in over 150 media outlets worldwide. During the past few years, she has focused on helping parents recognize what is most important in the education of their children. Her book, The New Global Student, was published by Random House/Crown in May and has been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, USA Today, and Smithsonian magazine. Originally from a tiny farming town in Oregon, Maya has traveled extensively and lived abroad in several countries, beginning with a five-year stint teaching English in northern Japan in the eighties. She lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina with her husband and is happily working on another book.

We were lucky enough to sit down with Maya and talk about her life-changing book, living in a different culture, living an intercultural life, and more. Here's what she had to say...

WE: Please tell us about your book, The New Global Student...

MF: My book, The New Global Student:  Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education, describes how savvy parents can become wise mentors to their kids and give them the experiences they need to become competent, confident and compassionate young adults who are knowledgeable of and engaged in the world.  The book shows how to completely avoid the angst and expense of the traditional hyper-competitive path to college and offers some stunning success stories from students who are thriving by doing things differently.  The students profiled represent the new breed of American global students—those who are diving into higher ed early and gliding into the global economy at 19 or 20 with a red-hot U.S. or Canadian diploma, sizzling 21st-century skills (including fluency in at least one foreign language), a blazing sense of direction, outrageously relevant experience, and no debt.  The key to their success is spending significant and meaningful periods of time abroad before, during or after college.

WE:  What inspired you to write this book?

MF: In 2005, my husband and I decided to sell everything and leave our suburban American lifestyle behind in order to spend time abroad as a family. The tricky part:  we had four teenage daughters to usher through high school and into college in nontraditional ways. 
We stumbled upon some astoundingly advantageous options that any U.S. student anywhere can use to leapfrog over those test-dazed classmates and dive into the most
thrilling and fulfilling opportunities for learning and success.  Our own four daughters are happily launched, and each one blazed her own trail in order to get an exhilarating and personalized education.  I felt that other parents and students would benefit greatly from what we’d learned so I decided to write a book in order to provide both information and inspiration.

WE:  You've got four daughters that have chosen vastly different paths in getting a global education. Can you please share a little bit about this?

MF: I’m a big believer in the benefits of the high school exchange experience.  My husband and his three siblings spent their junior year of high school abroad and so did our three oldest daughters, and this has absolutely transformed our family.  And it’s not true that it has to cost a lot of money—we spent less than $2,000 for each of our daughters to spend an entire year abroad through the Rotary Youth Exchange program.  It was the smartest investment we ever made!

Our oldest daughter spent her junior year in Chile, returned to the U.S., did a dual enrollment program her senior year while working in a clinic and discovering her passion for public health, entered a four-year university in Canada as a junior at 18, got a grant to do an honors thesis, lived on a tropical island while working as a virtual research assistant on a project funded by a Gates Foundation grant, was a teaching assistant in the psychology department, and graduated with a BS at 19.  She traveled around South America for a few months, and then went to New York, where she landed a great job in a family clinic within days despite having no contacts there. (Secret weapon:  a killer condom demonstration in fluent colloquial Spanish.)  She just finished her master’s in public health (paid for by her employer) and is working happily as the program director for a non-profit in New York. 

Our second daughter spent her junior year in Brazil, graduated from high school early, spent a year with our family in Mexico during what would have been her senior year, took classes from six universities in four countries in three languages, and still graduated by the age of 20.  After doing two internships in Manhattan (one for a Latino ad agency, one for MTV International) and working in marketing, she quit to move to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she is working virtually for an American-owned outsourcing company and setting up her own business. 

Daughter #3 spent her junior year of high school in Brazil and then joined the family in Argentina, where she finished high school online, studied with tutors, took online college courses and attended classes at a local university.  She transferred at 18 to a Canadian university and graduated in December at 19 after working as both a teaching assistant and a resident assistant.  She is having the time of her life working as a multilingual events coordinator for Norwegian Cruise Lines, and is currently doing the Mediterranean route. 

Our youngest daughter never attended high school in the U.S. because we left when she was 14. She spent a year as the only foreigner in her private high school in Mexico, then worked with tutors and studied locally when we moved to Argentina.  She got her GED at 16, allowing her to enroll in an American university in Buenos Aires, then transferred to a private university in upstate New York.  She will graduate with a BS in December at 19.

This makes it sound as though they were on a head-down race to finish, but the reality is that they (like the other students profiled in the book) have had far more fun-filled adventures and challenging personal experiences than those on the traditional track.  It’s not about whizzing through college—it’s about finding the learning that lights you up and being free to pursue it on campus, online, on the road and on your own terms and time lines.  

front, left to right: Talya, Teal, Tara, Taeko Frost
back: Maya Frost, Tom Frost

WE:  With the advent of the internet, the world has grown much smaller. How can we best prepare to live joyfully in it?

MF: The internet is a fantastic tool that allows us to discover all kinds of opportunities and connect with others around the world.  In my book, I describe how to set up a study abroad program in college for a fraction of the cost the universities charge and how to do so in a way that makes it safer and far more beneficial.  Instead of simply signing up for a program, students are figuring out they can send their own emails and create their own ideal experiences abroad by connecting with those who can help them directly. 

We like to think that most U.S. college students are studying abroad these days, but the truth is that less than five percent do so and most stay for less than eight weeks!  Part of the problem is that universities steer students toward expensive programs and don’t tell them that there are far more affordable options, so millions of students miss out on the most valuable experience for developing a more global perspective.  Many parents believe that a college semester abroad is going to give their kids a head start in the job market, but employers recognize that a month-long tour of museums does not provide students with the crucial skills they need: confidence in unfamiliar settings, foreign language fluency, and the ability to connect with those from different backgrounds. 

The ability to connect with others around the world is an extremely valuable skill that many use after graduation to find great internships, jobs, volunteer experiences, and grad school programs abroad—and of course, build friendships with people everywhere!  THIS is what will make a difference as we face the challenges of the future.

WE:  What are your top tips for living an intercultural life?

MF: I’ve been abroad as student, a single twentysomething, a newlywed, and a new mother in Japan and again later when we took our four daughters (ages 7, 8, 10 and 11) to India and Nepal for a three-month sabbatical and of course, years later when we made the big move to Mexico and Argentina.  My only regret is that I didn’t spend even more time abroad at every age! When people ask me if there is an ideal time to go abroad, I say that EVERY time is an ideal time—but some stages are easier than others.  It’s really crucial to get clear about what matters to you.  Is it stuff?  Is it status?  Is it experiences?  What do you want in your life—and what do you want to teach your kids? 

It’s easy to get caught up in the silliness about what is supposed to make our kids more competitive in the United States, but I invite parents to consider what will make their kids happy, successful, and collaborative global citizens no matter where they choose to live.

One of the best things we did as a family was to host international students in our home.  We started when we had a house full of preschoolers.  This was so much fun!  Many people think it’s best to wait until their kids are in high school to host an exchange student, but students find it easy to connect with little kids, who are often very patient about teaching them English!  We learned so much from those who lived with us and we developed so many wonderful relationships with people around the world this way.

WE: How can travelers best live like a local, while overseas? And, how can they maximize their trips to see if they could live there?

MF: We have never lived abroad as corporate transfers or diplomats, and never had perks like relocation or education allowances, so we’ve always had to live more like locals than the traditional expat family abroad.  We lived in the heart of the historic neighborhood in Mazatlan, Mexico for a year, and then moved to a very family-oriented neighborhood within the city of Buenos Aires but on the outskirts. In three years, I never saw another foreigner within blocks of my house.  It was a great place, one that our daughters loved, and it was near the colleges they attended.

Now that the kids are out of the house, my husband and I have moved to a sweet studio apartment in the heart of the city, and we enjoy being closer to things. Though many of our friends are expats, they are a very diverse group of people of all backgrounds from over a dozen countries.  The Argentines we know are our teachers, our neighbors and the people we chat with every day at cafes or the produce stand or other places on our block.  We love the mix of people in our lives.

Many assume that only those who are wealthy and/or retired can move abroad, but we have friends from 20 to 92 who are coming up with all kinds of creative ways to make a living abroad.  Often things turn out far better than we could have imagined. We had an annual income in the mid-five figures for the last few years, which is fairly lean for a family of six with four teenagers in suburban America.  But we paid for our daughters’ nearly simultaneous college expenses with what we saved each month while living the life of our dreams abroad on that same income!

For me, living abroad is humbling and humanizing.  No matter how confident or skilled I might become in Spanish (I am far from fluent) or in terms of cultural understanding, I still make ridiculous mistakes on a regular basis.  This forces me to laugh at myself, to not take things too seriously, and to understand that it’s more important to make daily connections with people than it is to fret about my verb tenses!  I feel more creative and more loving in general and truly enjoy being a somewhat odd local in an interconnected global world.

You never know where your kids are going to want to live once they’ve scattered.  It’s been really gratifying to see our girls head out into the world and then come back to us in Buenos Aires!  Our second daughter lives a few blocks away, our third daughter will be based here for the next few months while working on a route through several South American port cities, and our youngest is considering going to grad school here when she graduates in December.  Having our oldest daughter in New York has been great for our family, too—it’s been very helpful with our youngest in college nearby and was a perfect base for the book tour. Buenos Aires feels like home to us, but I know better than to predict the future!  We’re always open to new ways to learn and new places to discover.

WE: Thanks so very much, Maya. Your book can change the world - and we Highly Recommend this book to our readers!

For more information, please see:
http://www.mayafrost.com/

Photo courtesy and copyright Maya Frost.