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Personal Philosophy of Education
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We live in a globally connected world, a world with changing values, a world with changing norms. Today’s students are faced with problems that weren’t around five or ten years ago. Today’s students also have new technology at their fingertips. Today’s students live in a globalized world and I feel it important that students be exposed to this in their educational experiences.
It is important for students to realize that what happens twenty thousand miles from where they’re standing can profoundly affect their lives. For example, while a student is sleeping, markets on the other side of the globe are opening. Take for instance the Nikkei stock market opens in Tokyo (one of the leading Asian Stock Markets). The market tumbles 100 points with heavy hits on the textile industry. As the day continues, other markets open and their textile stocks drop as well because they all import goods from Asia. Russian, Swiss, French, and British stocks all have tumbling textile stocks. Opening Bell on Wall Street, textile stocks tumble as they have across the globe throughout the night. Your student and his/her friends decide after school that they are going to go to the mall after school. They go to their favorite store, Gap, only to find that the prices on the clothes have raised 20%. A tumbling textile market in Asia can have this affect 17 hours later in the United States.
This seems a crude example but it can demonstrate the connectivity of our world, and it doesn’t need to be stock market related. An army can invade Iraq driving up gas prices, a new computer technology created in Switzerland can change the way you surf the internet, a terrorist attack in Kenya can cause new security measures to be implemented in your school. It is also important to remember that this is a two-way street; events that happen in the U.S. can and do affect what happens in the rest of the world.
Since the connectivity of our world is evident, how do we convey this importance to our students? First of all, integrating an awareness of our world into the curriculum we teach our students, especially in the fields of history and government. Secondly, creating an atmosphere of learning that exposes our students to the different facets of our connected world. And finally, keep students informed on major developments that happen both domestically and internationally.
I cannot express my personal belief in the importance of teaching today’s students about the globalized nature of our planet. Today’s generation of students will continue to create a smaller, more connected world or “global village.” As we become more connected, it is important that students understanding that connectivity and prepare for it.
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