Prager isn't paying for his own, LOL. Get 75 folks to sign up for a tour, and you'll get a free ticket, I'm sure.
As far as travel, it is beneficial. I don't advocate sending your recently graduated high schooler off on a year by themselves though. That's a scenario for disaster, IMHO.
We send our teenager to Central America each summer, in order to practice his Spanish and help out some friends who work with the rural folks in several countries.
It does make one appreciate what we have in the US and Prager is right, ask a poor Central American if he's happy, and that question won't have crossed his mind. He's more concerned about where the next meal is coming from or where he'll get medicine for his child, than wondering if he's happy.
I'm thinking my high schooler needs a year working at Wal-mart, to make her appreciate the advantages of higher education!
It does make one appreciate what we have in the US and Prager is right, ask a poor Central American if he's happy, and that question won't have crossed his mind.
Oh, I agree with that! Even visiting Europe made me appreciate what we have in the United States ... things like working toilets, jobs, and people who take baths!
I do think, though, that he's illustrating one of the distortions of our society: the elevation of leisure and expensive recreation to a "necessity." With his plan, young people *might* reach adulthood by 30; presumably Mommy and Daddy are covering the costs until then.