The New Global Student: Skip the Sat, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education

by Maya Frost

Book Overview

Good-bye, Old School. Hello, Bold School In 2005, Maya Frost and her husband sold everything and left their suburban American lifestyle behind in order to have an adventure abroad. The tricky part: they had to shepherd their four teenage daughters through high school and into college. This hilarious and conspiratorial how-to handbook describes the affordable, accessible, and stunningly advantageous options they stumbled upon that any American student...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307450627
• ISBN13: 9780307450623
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Harmony/Rodale/Convergent
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Be adventurous and enterprising with education--carve out a bright future of global opportunities

I inhaled this book, and now my daughter (a sophomore in high school) is doing the same. It is a book that dares to be different--dares you as a parent to stop capitulating to the timbre of conventional thinking when it comes to your children's education. It is a guide for you and your teen(s) to stop that treadmill of competition and initiate an authentic and global education. Inside are specific resources to igniting an imaginative, innovative, and creative fire of opportunity so that your child(ren) can possess a confident and solid footing for the future. The key to an education in today's world is *global* diversity--genuine and authentic. Not a hollow ring of words and concepts being thrown around because they are in vogue. And not just two-week trips or summer jaunts to Europe to pad the educational resume. If your child wants a strong, solid perch on a phenomenal, exciting future, then going global optimally means going abroad for an educational year. Of course, that may not work for every child or household. Frost lays out a variety of attainable ways for your child to have an opportunity to expand her (or his) horizons, whether it is studying abroad in high school or in college, or selecting another option to nurture a global awakening and future. There is no one formula here. But there are plenty of eye-opening tools to assist your kid in taking charge of the high school and college years--without being intimidated by the needless, excoriating, and daunting competition of the conventional route. This is not just rhetoric; this book contains specific and highly useful, concrete information and support for accomplishing adventurous goals. After reading it, I emailed the author with additional questions of my own, and her response was both swift and extremely helpful. My daughter is already initiating a commanding, fresh look at her high school education and seeing it through a bright-eyed, bold new lens. Not every kid l-o-o-o-ves high school or flourishes in the 4X4 path (4 years of high school segueing into 4 years of college). Not everyone thrives on Spring Break, prom, cliques, trendy fashion, and the high school social scene. Maybe your child is a square peg--or a shooting star ready to take off and orbit away from the standard and into the transformative--around the globe. Some teens feel outright depressed on the boilerplate path. This book helps your child discover some alternative routes to achieving his or her goals while attaining a first-class education and college degree. And, believe it or not, they may even graduate early. From both. Additionally, this book is also a guide to studying abroad without breaking the bank. The author is economically wise. She illustrates that you don't need to be affluent with notable or powerful connections to get an international education. Frost's writing style is engaging, entertaining, inspiring, and encouraging. Always encouraging. Interspersed throughout the book ar

A Wonderful Introduction

My wife and I saw a review of Global Student while reading USA Today on vacation, and couldn't wait to get home and order it. Having met while studying overseas, we were already intending to gently nudge our kids in the direction of studying abroad. What I didn't realize until reading this book was how many different kinds of opportunities exist for foreign study, both in High School and College. The options, as spelled out by the Author, Maya Frost, seem virtually limitless. The real crux of the book is that every student can and should create their own personal higher education experience, specifically tailored to their passions and abilities. Given this premise, there is a lot to cover. Anyone who expects to have all their questions about foreign study answered in one $14, 300 page book may have to adjust their expectations. This book provides a well rounded look at the pros and cons of different foreign study programs, the mental and emotional demands that result from these decisions and is full of first-hand accounts by students and families who took the plunge. The book is full of warmth and humor and written in a very conversational tone that I thoroughly enjoyed. It's a great introduction to this topic and points the reader to myriad resources with which to further plan. I'm sure that this summer I'll be reading some of the other books referenced by the author. Decisions of this magnitude require a lot of research and if you are thinking of "Bold Schooling" then reading Global Student is a great place to start.

How to guide for living a life worth living

I believe sometimes in our life we come across a certain book that completely and radically changes our perspective, and in this case, Maya Frost provided a fine piece of work that has altered my way of looking at not only studying abroad, but education and life in general. That education is not limited to the traditional classroom, it encompasses much more. The famous quote, "don't let your schooling get in the way of your education," rings a bell here. Due to an increasingly competitive society, parents and students tend to respond by only pushing themselves, failing to recognize that there is more than option. That it's not a matter of life or death where exactly they attend college. And in her book "the new Global Student," Frost illustrates that traditional 4x4 (high school and college years) among students and parents has led to a wrong priority of values. The current fad is to load up on extracurriculars, AP courses, club positions, SAT prep courses, and the list goes on. However, this is also a very alarmingtrend I believe and after reading "Global student" got the feeling that we are failing to realize that we students and the parents should together be seeking to live lives of meaning and happiness. Far too often, I see an increasingly number of students who are stressed at such tender and youthful ages, boring in terms of their personal and intellectual interests, failing to consider the meaning and purpose of life, and sadly thinking there are no other options. Not only is this a real eye opener of traditional 4x4 thinking and the the immense benefits of someone who actually went abroad with her entire family (4 daughters and husband), it is an entertaining how to guide of how one can literally change their life for the better. If you are interested in living or studying abroad, I highly recommend this. Even better if you are just entering high school or are a parent of high school student(s) (this is also probably the best and only "college admissions" book you'll ever need).

A Must Read for Any Parent

Every parent who worries about what they can and should do to prepare their children for the future should give The Global Student a read. Maya Frost has put together a truly thoughtful piece, providing providing great stories, good guidance, and a different view on how we really prepare our kids for what may come. Maya has gone with the tagline "Good-bye Old School, Hello Bold School," and when you read her story, you understand how appropriate the line is for her story and her recommendations. In doing what many of us talk about but few of us dare actually do, Maya and her family have traveled down a path that really forced one to look at the educational choices we make and why we made those choices. And when you look at the the experiences and successes of her children, you have an even deeper appreciation for how difficult and rewarding the path was. Maya is a fantastic storyteller, and the book really provides some great points for discussion, thought, and action. By refusing to accept the status quo, she has charted a course for those looking to break the norm. And she's woven a fantastic and captivating story in the process.

A refreshing guide to education, parenting, and life

I loved "The New Global Student" so much that I wanted to devour it in one sitting, but there was just too much information to process all at once. So I settled back and enjoyed it. Maya Frost is a wise, witty guide with innovative ideas for global education. She explains her "Bold School" approach: WHY a substantial, immersive international experience before age 20 transforms students' brains as it creates global citizens. And she provides many ideas about HOW to create such an opportunity, safely and inexpensively. Practical discussions about gaining job experience, getting an education with little or no debt, and helping teens develop independence are spot on for the challenges that today's families face. This is a guide about living with passion and without fear as much as it is about traveling. Frost shares her own experiences with her husband and four daughters living in several countries, but she also interviews many other exchange students and experts. What I love the most about "The New Global Student" is that Frost presents a smorgasbord of options and trusts the reader to develop a plan that is right for their family and personal situation. She talks about how to break free of traditional high schools, avoiding piling on AP classes, stressing about the SATs, and all that, but in the end she says, "A traditional four-by-four plan [4 years of high school, 4 years of college] could be the perfect choice as long as it's based on an understanding of all options available." That sums up this book's empowering, positive approach. Recommended for all families, even (especially!) if you have not considered travel abroad. It's a great book to read when the kids are young, to open your eyes to a world of possibility. As someone who blindly climbed the academic ladder all the way to the top, nonstop from kindergarten to my Ph. D., I really wish I had taken a step off the path along the way to gain the independent view that Frost helps readers develop. Using this book for guidance, I plan to open those doors for my own daughter to walk through if she chooses.