Think Globally, Teach Globally

During the past decade or so, globalization and international studies has rightfully ascended to “hot button” topic status within the academic and pedagogical communities. With the advent of an almost universally accessible internet and satellite technology the field of communications has grown at an exponential rate. A person in Hong Kong can almost instantaneously share information with someone living in Brussels or New York. National economies are now indelibly tied to one another. The rise of the EU and the Euro is concrete proof of this. Immigration trends have also shifted. Once nearly homogenized societies found in Europe and Asia are now facing record influxes of migrants who are, looking for jobs and hoping to start a new and more prosperous life for themselves; these immigrants also hold onto their mother culture, and can now communicate with those they have left behind at will. While some countries struggle with the idea (and ideal) of the “Melting Pot,” America has once again, become polarized by the issue. Conservatives of all stripes work to close boarders, of both a physical and intellectual nature. Others see these shifts as a cause of excitement, and wish to understand, and help others understand this new, and in my opinion, vital world milieux.
In their introduction to Globalization: Culture and Education in the New Millennium, M. Suarez-Orozco and D. Qin-Hillard go to great lengths to trace the above mentioned trends and tie them to the classroom. They argue, quite convincingly, for the need to teach our children how to adopt a global perspective. They report on how the concepts of national and personal identity, cultural mores, and personal communication has shifted in this neoteric, wireless age. They preach the gospel of globalization because they see international boarders being redefined, regional populations in a constant state of flux, and new cultures incubated within the fluid motions of interracial and intercultural marriage. From their pulpit, M. Suarez-Orozco and D. Qin-Hillard call for a radical reconception on how we teach social studies. The changes that they ask for seem daunting, but they are, at this point in our history, absolutely necessary.
The teaching and learning concepts put forth by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), seem to be a good start as far as how to address the issues that M. Suarez-Orozco and D. Qin-Hillard have raised. However I feel that there needs to be a bit more depth added to them. Concepts such as “there are problems as well as benefits related to globalization” (pg. 6) can be ideological minefields for the new teacher. It would help if these concepts could be modeled for educators by the NCSS. More troubling however, is that although the NCSS constructs a logical platform as to why we need to teach social studies, they do not argue for it; there is little that could answer critics in their proposal. In our day and age, it can be vital to ask ourselves “What Would Diane Ravitch and E.D. Hirsch Do?” (W.W.D.R.E.D.H.D) in order to gird ourselves for the inevitable attack, and to let ourselves do the exact opposite.