Friday, February 13, 2015

Discussion #1

How well do you think our schools are meeting the goals of this document?  Why or why not? What needs to happen or what are the next steps?

The article Succeeding Globally through International Education and Engagement discusses goals set for our students in different areas in our education system.  Some of these goals are:
  • A world-class education for all students
  • Global competencies for all students
  • International bench marking and applying lessons learned from other countries
  • Education diplomacy and engagement with other countries.
The article suggests, "a globally competent student is necessary because of economic competitiveness, global challenges, national security and diplomacy, and a growing diverse society."
Image CC from Succeeding Globally through International Education and Engagement

In order to answer the question whether or not I believe our schools are meeting the goals of this article I must first look at the objectives.  The article discusses four main objectives:

1.      Increase the global competencies of all U.S. students, including those from traditionally disadvantaged groups.

I believe there is a strong push to help diminish the gap in disadvantaged groups such as inner city schools and less fortunate communities.  In contrast, there is a very strong part of education that seems to be lacking when one is solely focused on global competencies and marking every student on the same higher education page, connection.  I work in an inner city school and therefore get to see this first hand.  Within the past couple years, we have updated our systems, classrooms and devices.  Every classroom has a smart board and every child has a device.  Do those updates put my students on the same level as an affluent community? I do not believe so.  Sure it is one thing to provide these opportunities to our students, but it is another to utilize it in a way the students can connect.  Although my students now have these opportunities to "open new doors" how many actually take them?  When looking at my population, there are many kids who leave school thinking about their job they hate but have to keep to pay bills for their household.  Or another student who is in a violent home just waiting to go back to school so they be out of that environment.  I believe the more important question is, what is global competency in those traditionally disadvantaged groups and then we can look at whether or not they are being met.

2.     Enhance federal, state and local education policy and practice applying lessons learned from other countries to drive excellence and innovation in the U.S. and abroad.

I do not believe our system harnesses this objective as much as we should.  Traditionally, our classrooms provide students with information they will be tested on to assess our schools progress and therefore driving our classroom discussions.  My classroom had the privilege of having a student from China in our class a little over a year ago.  During the school year we discussed what schools look like in China.  How subjects are broken up and taught to the students and what an average school day consists of. The students in my class were astounded by the educational system.  This particular student discussed how in China, students have to apply to high school much like college for our students.  If you did not meet certain requirements you were placed in a workforce.  Am I saying this is how our country should handle our educational system? No; however, I do believe the educational system is valued more when given higher standards.  The emphasis is more on student responsibilities and expectations rather than other factors. 

3.      Advance U.S. international priorities in strategically important countries through active education diplomacy.


I do believe some school systems meet this objective providing students with a meaningful education through internships and other globally connected resources. So if only some schools harness this objective, how can we improve this? I believe we can bring this into our schools more if we continue to push program such as iearn and the mystic seaport exploration. There are many beneficial programs to help our student acknowledge the world that is around them. Embracing this and developing connections can only happen when there is a want from the student population. I believe this "want" will come after we teach them the basics. Opening new doors to other curriculum around the globe and various cultures may be scary for some and therefore students can be resilient. I found in my classroom, the students were questioning the boy from China more once he shared his everyday school schedule with them. Of course, you will have your students who focus on "oh my goodness you had an hour for lunch and could go wherever you wanted"! But most students valued his education because he showcased how much he valued it.

4.     Develop, monitor and continuously improve ED’s international activities in an integrated and coordinated manner

At first, I did not believe our school systems demonstrated this objective to the best of our ability.  Since programs such as STEM, Common Core, and the SBAC testing, many of these objectives are being met.  All of these tests are done to have a blanket, "bar", or level for the children in the United States who adopted them.  I do this we need to continue this work in order to improve our international activities.  I also think it would be interesting to view these programs on a global level and see where our country matches up to other countries.  Then we are truly see as a country where we stand. 





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