Hello. I’m excited to learn about your cultures and your education systems.
The U.S. has had a model of education that we’ve followed for a long time—public school is guaranteed for anyone who wants it; kids study with kids who are the same age; we take the so-called “three Rs”: Arithmetic (math), reading, and writing, but we also take courses like history, science, and civics. Anyhow, over the last decade or so, everyone’s arguing about standardized testing—should we do it and, if so, how much.
My essential questions: If this is truly a global economy we live in, then shouldn’t we be doing more to prepare ourselves to live and work in such a world? I mean, there are many foreign students at my college, but I don’t really hang with them or know much about the countries they come from. I think I should! So, what can we do to make sure that schools and colleges prepare us students for a global economy?
You’re right, of course. We do need more global knowledge and cultural understanding. In an article in International Educator, the author points out that although global education is needed, there is really no established curriculum. There isn’t really a standard definition of being globally fluent or competent (Hunter, 2004). A University of Pittsburgh director of international studies defines globally competency as “the ability to communicate effectively across cultural and linguistic boundaries and to focus on issues that transcend cultures and continents” (Brustein, 2003). He goes on to cite attributes like working effectively in different international settings, being aware of global events, keeping abreast of global business, communicating well across cultural barriers, and an ability to adapt oneself to different cultures.
Question to my caravansary: Does your college have a course or curriculum or department, etc., that promotes internationalism? I don’t think mine does.
Well, my college has a study abroad program and office. But for those of us who can’t afford to travel abroad—like me!—there really isn’t much. Except this class, that is. This is an Asian studies class (“World Cultures”) that allows me to have this opportunity to meet you and Jan and learn about other places around the globe. I really want to become globally competent along the lines of the definition and traits you mentioned. There is a lot of migration going on, both within countries and between countries. I want to be prepared to navigate that new, evolving world.
Here at Shanghai University, we don’t have a lot about internationalism either, except for some international business courses. (Obviously, this course was offered by Joe’s college; I’m lucky that my business program agreed to let me do this project in my “International Economics and Trade” class.)
Joe, you mentioned that there’s a lot migration occurring. I was reading about that recently in our selected readings. I was not surprised to see the figures: According to a couple of sources—the Commanding Heights Part 3 episode and Spring’s chapter 7—about 80% of the world’s population growth will take place in urban areas rather than rural. This is happening a lot in China too. There is a big migration from the rural villages to the big cities. Another fact cited by Spring is that that 80% growth will be mostly in Asia and Africa (Spring, 2008).
One of the problems we’re confronting in China now is that college graduates are finding it hard to find “good” jobs—by which I mean jobs working in the so-called “knowledge economy.” (I think you call this “white collar” jobs.) In a recent article in your country’s newspaper The New York Times titled “Next Made-in-China Boom: College Graduates” (Bradsher, 2013), the author starts out by talking about a 20-year-old female Chinese student who aspires to become an English-language expert and an expert on American culture so she can work for a Chinese automaker providing it with cultural insights. The potential problem is that there are tens of thousands of college graduates looking for tough-to-find jobs. Well, there are jobs in factories, but the office-type jobs are harder to get. China is pouring money into an effort to produce the most college graduates “in numbers the world has never seen before” (Bradsher, 2013). There are a lot of factory jobs, but college grads in my country scoff at those. (See another New York Times article: “China’s Army of Graduates Struggles for Jobs” (Jacobs, 2010). But what can they do? If the jobs don’t happen, then one thing they can do is leave the country. That means a loss of highly educated workers.
Well, there are not enough jobs in Nigeria either! This becomes a big problem for my country because if college grads can’t find work here at home, what do they do? Often, the answer is that they leave the country! This gets to the “brain drain” that Spring talks a lot about. He cites one statistic: “Twenty-one thousand doctors have left Nigeria to practice in the United States” (Spring, 2008). And Africa is hit especially hard by this loss of educated and skilled workers. More stats from same paragraph in Spring:
“Over half the graduates of Ghana’s medical schools left the country within five years of graduation. Only 360 doctors out of 1,200 doctors educated in Zimbabwe in the 1990s remained in 2001…Similar examples of the loss of medical personnel can be found for other developing countries” (Spring, 2008).
In fact, Africa as a whole loses about 30% of its skilled, educated workers.
Joe, does the United States have the same sort of problem??
The common refrain is this country is that we’re not producing enough engineers and scientists to fill the available positions. Actually, this isn’t entirely established, though. Writing for the New York Times, John Tierney points out there there is no shortage of engineers and scientists in this country and that’s precisely why we don’t have a lot of these jobs going unfilled. The more specific point he makes is that there are plenty of these workers, only they aren’t from the U.S.; they’re from overseas, especially places like China and India (Tierney, 2008).
But the American education establishment pines for born-in-America scientists and engineers. So what happens if Obama’s administration somehow manages to get our system to produce 100,000 new engineers and scientists? Where will the jobs be? If they don’t materialize, you might see Americans going overseas looking for opportunities. The same brain drain you both spoke of.
In an interview with a T.V. news program journalist, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, Arne Duncan, was asked “Should we be valuing creativity?” His answer was telling. He immediately answered by saying that we need to fund math and science. One way, he said, is to pay math and science teachers more money. He said, sure, critical thinking, but math and science! (“American students in,” 2009).
We have a saying: It’s like a broken record. Meaning that it seems everyone is saying the same thing. There’s almost an obsession with math and science–actually, with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). As if the future of the country and the world depends on this type of knowledge. (When I first saw the acronym “STEM,” I was hoping the “E” stood for “English”! Not just language learning, either, but also literature and writing. But no–engineering.)
We seem to be educating every student to fit this one mold, what could be called a “left-brained model” of learning. But what about exercising and training the right-side of the brain (i.e. the more creative, imaginitive, critical thinking side)?
As for your question wondering about whether we should be educating our students for more than just STEM-type subjects and learning, I agree. One of the problems often cited with a focus on standardized tests is that they focus heavily on easily measurable subjects–math, science, engineering–but aren’t able to measure or assess creative thinking and critical thinking skills. I read an interesting letter to the editor by an American high school senior in the New York Times titled “Sunday Dialogue: Transforming Our Schools.” He bemoaned the limited curriculum that has resulted from No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top legislation, approaches that have focused the education system relentlessly on standardized testing. He goes on to write,
As a student, I want to be taught how to think and create and explore. I’m not a number in a spreadsheet; I’m a creative and motivated human being. I want my teachers to be paid well, given autonomy, and treated like professionals. I want my school to be adequately funded. Is that too much to ask?
If [Barack Obama or Mitt Romney] called for the repeal of No Child Left Behind and the abolition of Race to the Top, and pushed schools to allow students to become the captains of their own learning, he would find millions of teachers, parents, and young people at his side” (Goyal, 2012).
As a high school student, I longed for that kind of power to make some of my own choices. Why not allow me to use some of my precious school time to study music? Why not creative nonfiction writing? Why not political science? As it was, I had very little time because I had to prepare for the gaokao–and that meant a lot of math and science and reading (but only academic-type reading that was selected for us). I think I have a creative side, but I’m only now trying to exercise it.
Well, I would like it if the Nigerian system didn’t follow down the same path of standardized testing, etc. But it already has. Right now, high school seniors have to take what’s called the UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations) to try to get into college. Last year, 1.5 million students sat for the exam competing for only 500,000 spots in higher learning institutions. Sort of like with your gaokao, Jan, it’s a lot of stress!
I want to be able to learn creative and critical thinking. Math and science is fine, but I want to be more well-rounded. I wonder about what the future will require–what skills and what way of thinking? Have you seen any of the TED Talks videos?? (They’re so interesting and it’s a great way for me to practice my English.) My favorite video is a talk by a man named Sir Ken Robinson. The talk is titled “Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity.” Here’s the link:http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
In his talk, he claims that schools “educat[e] people out of their creative capacities.” He also says something that I think is true in this era of intense standardized testing. He says that to be creative requires that you are willing to be wrong, willing to take chances and risk error, but that in our education systems, “mistakes are the worst thing you can make.” It’s true! I can’t think of any time in school where I was encouraged to take chances and risk being wrong. I was only encouraged to memorize facts and procedures and then pull them out to get the highest test score possible (meaning, make the fewest mistakes possible).
See my page on this blog for another question on a slightly different topic!
Caravansaries--Cultural e-Exchange 
Hello. I’m excited to learn about your cultures and your education systems.
The U.S. has had a model of education that we’ve followed for a long time—public school is guaranteed for anyone who wants it; kids study with kids who are the same age; we take the so-called “three Rs”: Arithmetic (math), reading, and writing, but we also take courses like history, science, and civics. Anyhow, over the last decade or so, everyone’s arguing about standardized testing—should we do it and, if so, how much.
My essential questions: If this is truly a global economy we live in, then shouldn’t we be doing more to prepare ourselves to live and work in such a world? I mean, there are many foreign students at my college, but I don’t really hang with them or know much about the countries they come from. I think I should! So, what can we do to make sure that schools and colleges prepare us students for a global economy?
Joe,
You’re right, of course. We do need more global knowledge and cultural understanding. In an article in International Educator, the author points out that although global education is needed, there is really no established curriculum. There isn’t really a standard definition of being globally fluent or competent (Hunter, 2004). A University of Pittsburgh director of international studies defines globally competency as “the ability to communicate effectively across cultural and linguistic boundaries and to focus on issues that transcend cultures and continents” (Brustein, 2003). He goes on to cite attributes like working effectively in different international settings, being aware of global events, keeping abreast of global business, communicating well across cultural barriers, and an ability to adapt oneself to different cultures.
Question to my caravansary: Does your college have a course or curriculum or department, etc., that promotes internationalism? I don’t think mine does.
Abike,
Well, my college has a study abroad program and office. But for those of us who can’t afford to travel abroad—like me!—there really isn’t much. Except this class, that is. This is an Asian studies class (“World Cultures”) that allows me to have this opportunity to meet you and Jan and learn about other places around the globe. I really want to become globally competent along the lines of the definition and traits you mentioned. There is a lot of migration going on, both within countries and between countries. I want to be prepared to navigate that new, evolving world.
Joe and Abike,
Here at Shanghai University, we don’t have a lot about internationalism either, except for some international business courses. (Obviously, this course was offered by Joe’s college; I’m lucky that my business program agreed to let me do this project in my “International Economics and Trade” class.)
Joe, you mentioned that there’s a lot migration occurring. I was reading about that recently in our selected readings. I was not surprised to see the figures: According to a couple of sources—the Commanding Heights Part 3 episode and Spring’s chapter 7—about 80% of the world’s population growth will take place in urban areas rather than rural. This is happening a lot in China too. There is a big migration from the rural villages to the big cities. Another fact cited by Spring is that that 80% growth will be mostly in Asia and Africa (Spring, 2008).
One of the problems we’re confronting in China now is that college graduates are finding it hard to find “good” jobs—by which I mean jobs working in the so-called “knowledge economy.” (I think you call this “white collar” jobs.) In a recent article in your country’s newspaper The New York Times titled “Next Made-in-China Boom: College Graduates” (Bradsher, 2013), the author starts out by talking about a 20-year-old female Chinese student who aspires to become an English-language expert and an expert on American culture so she can work for a Chinese automaker providing it with cultural insights. The potential problem is that there are tens of thousands of college graduates looking for tough-to-find jobs. Well, there are jobs in factories, but the office-type jobs are harder to get. China is pouring money into an effort to produce the most college graduates “in numbers the world has never seen before” (Bradsher, 2013). There are a lot of factory jobs, but college grads in my country scoff at those. (See another New York Times article: “China’s Army of Graduates Struggles for Jobs” (Jacobs, 2010). But what can they do? If the jobs don’t happen, then one thing they can do is leave the country. That means a loss of highly educated workers.
Jan,
Well, there are not enough jobs in Nigeria either! This becomes a big problem for my country because if college grads can’t find work here at home, what do they do? Often, the answer is that they leave the country! This gets to the “brain drain” that Spring talks a lot about. He cites one statistic: “Twenty-one thousand doctors have left Nigeria to practice in the United States” (Spring, 2008). And Africa is hit especially hard by this loss of educated and skilled workers. More stats from same paragraph in Spring:
“Over half the graduates of Ghana’s medical schools left the country within five years of graduation. Only 360 doctors out of 1,200 doctors educated in Zimbabwe in the 1990s remained in 2001…Similar examples of the loss of medical personnel can be found for other developing countries” (Spring, 2008).
In fact, Africa as a whole loses about 30% of its skilled, educated workers.
Joe, does the United States have the same sort of problem??
The common refrain is this country is that we’re not producing enough engineers and scientists to fill the available positions. Actually, this isn’t entirely established, though. Writing for the New York Times, John Tierney points out there there is no shortage of engineers and scientists in this country and that’s precisely why we don’t have a lot of these jobs going unfilled. The more specific point he makes is that there are plenty of these workers, only they aren’t from the U.S.; they’re from overseas, especially places like China and India (Tierney, 2008).
But the American education establishment pines for born-in-America scientists and engineers. So what happens if Obama’s administration somehow manages to get our system to produce 100,000 new engineers and scientists? Where will the jobs be? If they don’t materialize, you might see Americans going overseas looking for opportunities. The same brain drain you both spoke of.
In an interview with a T.V. news program journalist, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, Arne Duncan, was asked “Should we be valuing creativity?” His answer was telling. He immediately answered by saying that we need to fund math and science. One way, he said, is to pay math and science teachers more money. He said, sure, critical thinking, but math and science! (“American students in,” 2009).
We have a saying: It’s like a broken record. Meaning that it seems everyone is saying the same thing. There’s almost an obsession with math and science–actually, with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). As if the future of the country and the world depends on this type of knowledge. (When I first saw the acronym “STEM,” I was hoping the “E” stood for “English”! Not just language learning, either, but also literature and writing. But no–engineering.)
We seem to be educating every student to fit this one mold, what could be called a “left-brained model” of learning. But what about exercising and training the right-side of the brain (i.e. the more creative, imaginitive, critical thinking side)?
As for your question wondering about whether we should be educating our students for more than just STEM-type subjects and learning, I agree. One of the problems often cited with a focus on standardized tests is that they focus heavily on easily measurable subjects–math, science, engineering–but aren’t able to measure or assess creative thinking and critical thinking skills. I read an interesting letter to the editor by an American high school senior in the New York Times titled “Sunday Dialogue: Transforming Our Schools.” He bemoaned the limited curriculum that has resulted from No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top legislation, approaches that have focused the education system relentlessly on standardized testing. He goes on to write,
As a high school student, I longed for that kind of power to make some of my own choices. Why not allow me to use some of my precious school time to study music? Why not creative nonfiction writing? Why not political science? As it was, I had very little time because I had to prepare for the gaokao–and that meant a lot of math and science and reading (but only academic-type reading that was selected for us). I think I have a creative side, but I’m only now trying to exercise it.
Akibe, what do you think?
Joe and Jan.
Well, I would like it if the Nigerian system didn’t follow down the same path of standardized testing, etc. But it already has. Right now, high school seniors have to take what’s called the UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations) to try to get into college. Last year, 1.5 million students sat for the exam competing for only 500,000 spots in higher learning institutions. Sort of like with your gaokao, Jan, it’s a lot of stress!
I want to be able to learn creative and critical thinking. Math and science is fine, but I want to be more well-rounded. I wonder about what the future will require–what skills and what way of thinking? Have you seen any of the TED Talks videos?? (They’re so interesting and it’s a great way for me to practice my English.) My favorite video is a talk by a man named Sir Ken Robinson. The talk is titled “Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity.” Here’s the link:http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
In his talk, he claims that schools “educat[e] people out of their creative capacities.” He also says something that I think is true in this era of intense standardized testing. He says that to be creative requires that you are willing to be wrong, willing to take chances and risk error, but that in our education systems, “mistakes are the worst thing you can make.” It’s true! I can’t think of any time in school where I was encouraged to take chances and risk being wrong. I was only encouraged to memorize facts and procedures and then pull them out to get the highest test score possible (meaning, make the fewest mistakes possible).
See my page on this blog for another question on a slightly different topic!