At career expo events that we attend each year there are always a vast number of glassy-eyed, year twelve students wandering aimlessly between the rows of booths looking for answers to their biggest dilemma, "What to do next year?". It appears that they are hoping to literally "bump into" a solution, inspiration or salvation for, in fact, they have failed to identify the answers from within themselves.

Despite a lack of clarity or passion for what they want for themselves, some of these "ambivalent" students will successfully gain entry to tertiary level courses. It is also likely, given the high levels of ambivalence expressed by some of these students, they will continue to struggle with their choices, their purpose and their ability to succeed, to identify with and to integrate themselves into a particular course of study. We can only conjecture, but it seems logical, that these students are at risk of joining the ranks of those who McInnis and James (1995) describe as failing to adapt to the academic and social demands of first year university.

Motivational and affective attributes have long been considered to play a significant role in students' perseverance and enthusiasm for learning (Wang, Haertel & Walberg 1993). For some first year university students, not only do they fail to integrate academically and socially (McInnis and Jones 1995) but they appear to be unable to answer the question, "What is worth knowing about?"

Students who apply for an exchange programs do so with various motivations. What they do not realise beforehand is that student exchange is one of the most challenging and personally rewarding experiences that they could choose.

In fact, it is common for long-term student exchange programs to propel students from indecisive, self-absorbed, socially awkward, adolescents into mature, sophisticated, worldly individuals. Andrews (1993) conducted a study of exchange students who went away for one year and found that they "...went away 17, came back 18, but were actually 27 year olds inside their heads. Emotionally, they made a nine year gain in personality and maturity." It appears that student exchange programs, due to controlled stressors and supportive environments, are one of the perfect experiences for increasing psychological and social maturity levels in adolescents.

Culture shock strips away the beliefs that we have of our sense of being unique individuals. Invariably, we find that we are products of a culture, a montage of cultural stereotypes, definitions and habits. At the same time the limits of stereotypes becomes increasingly obvious and the complexity involved in any human phenomenon becomes increasingly apparent. Kathryn, a current WEP exchange student, wrote in a personal communiqué after five months, "Probably the biggest challenges to date are just accepting some of the cultural differences and getting used to them. Usually I talk about them with my host mum. She'll give me a logical explanation as to why they do something which helps me understand and be less judgmental."

Student exchange is 'reality living and learning', without the cameras, in supportive, non-competitive environments. Student exchange is total-immersion learning (emotional and cognitive) where students are directly involved with explanations of human differences. Our students become participant observers, hypothesis builders and information synthesizers. They come to see daily actions as recordable events and parts of complex, sometimes inexplicable, cultural patterns. They are constantly figuring out options and making decisions about surviving in new and unfamiliar contexts. As Dewey (1910) stated, "Education ... is a process of living and not preparation for future living."

Having come to terms with the "I am", an exchange student can get on with the question, "To what end?" Redefinition of one's life objectives, opportunities for learning and acquiring new perspectives, better understanding of oneself and stimulation of personal creativity are outgrowths of this maturity process.

Much of the insight regarding personal development and change is not understood until later in life. It is difficult for the students who do not have the jargon or knowledge of psychological constructs to understand what they experience while living away from home. For example, James, a current WEP Exchange student in Germany wrote in a personal communiqué, "when I compare what I have seen, done, experienced and learnt, to how much I would have gained from a year working in a fast food place, as I did in year 11, or even anywhere else, my eyebrows raise and a strange smile comes across my face."

I ask, what better way is there to prepare individuals for the social, political and economic realities that individuals experience in culturally diverse and complex human encounters than learning to live in another culture? Once our exchange students return to Australia, it is not a question of whether they will cope at university or in the workplace, or even what course to select. It is, instead, a question of how high they are willing to set their goals.

Debra Cain

Australian Careers Service Newsletter, July 2004