Working Together to Raise Global Children | Stacie Nevadomski Berdan

For the first time in human his­tory, the world is com­ing together as a sin­gle entity. But just because we’re becom­ing more inter­con­nected doesn’t mean that we know how to deal with the chal­lenges asso­ci­ated with it. The world as we know it is chang­ing, and we must adapt to suc­ceed. Accord­ing to the National Research Coun­cil, one of the numer­ous research reports on this grow­ing topic of dis­cus­sion, Amer­i­cans’ “per­va­sive lack of knowl­edge about for­eign cul­tures and for­eign lan­guages threat­ens the secu­rity of the United States as well as its abil­ity to com­pete in the global mar­ket­place and pro­duce an informed cit­i­zenry.” As Amer­i­cans, we must see to it that our chil­dren develop the flex­i­ble qual­i­ties of char­ac­ter and mind nec­es­sary to han­dle the chal­lenges that glob­al­iza­tion poses. To become global cit­i­zens, they must learn how to com­mu­ni­cate and inter­act with peo­ple around the world. We must raise global children.

But how does a par­ent do that, espe­cially if Amer­i­can schools don’t offer what is com­monly referred to as “global edu­ca­tion”? And despite the obvi­ous need for cross-cultural under­stand­ing, we have no national require­ment for for­eign lan­guage edu­ca­tion. It’s not enough for our schools to pro­duce indi­vid­u­als who can read, write, and do math and sci­ence. We need global edu­ca­tion, or more accu­rately, edu­ca­tion infused with global learn­ing, to empower youth by pro­vid­ing them with the knowl­edge, skills and aware­ness nec­es­sary to become respon­si­ble global citizens.

Research indi­cates that chil­dren are most recep­tive to learn­ing about other cul­tures between the ages of seven and twelve, before the onset of puberty when eth­no­cen­trism and stereo­typ­i­cal think­ing tend to increase dra­mat­i­cally. Although a com­plete national over­haul of our K-16 sys­tem to incor­po­rate global edu­ca­tion and for­eign lan­guage learn­ing seems war­ranted, it’s not likely to hap­pen. Global edu­ca­tion, there­fore, might be bet­ter served if local com­mu­ni­ties and school dis­tricts develop and imple­ment cur­ric­ula that work for their spe­cific needs. Indeed small groups are tak­ing action on their own. Pock­ets of school dis­tricts across the coun­try have rec­og­nized the need to incor­po­rate global edu­ca­tion across the board in classes K-12. These dis­tricts are tak­ing the sit­u­a­tion into their own hands; they know that our chil­dren can’t wait and are mak­ing changes — one school dis­trict at a time.

“We engaged local busi­nesses in our school to cre­ate a career com­mit­tee to dis­cuss what our stu­dents were miss­ing or lack­ing when they applied for jobs,” said Dr. Sal­va­tore Menzo, Super­in­ten­dent of Walling­ford Pub­lic School Dis­trict in Con­necti­cut. “We learned that besides soft skills, they’re lack­ing global under­stand­ing and problem-solving skills. We adapted our cur­ricu­lum, added a K-12 lan­guage instruc­tor, and have strength­ened our part­ner­ships among the school, par­ents and busi­nesses in the com­mu­nity because we respected and lis­tened to what they said.”

As par­ents and edu­ca­tors, we need to work together at the grass roots level to cre­ate change.

First, as par­ents, we must teach our chil­dren what it means to be a global cit­i­zen and how to more effec­tively com­mu­ni­cate and inter­act with other peo­ple around the world. Rais­ing global chil­dren does not have to cost much money, nor does it require hun­dreds of hours of free time. The sin­gle most impor­tant part of rais­ing global chil­dren is to instill in them the right atti­tude. Traits such as curios­ity, empa­thy, com­pas­sion and flex­i­bil­ity can­not be bought, they must be taught. To be sure, travel, eth­nic restau­rants and cross-cultural museum exhibits can enhance a child’s global mind­ed­ness. But so, too, can the trea­sure trove of books, music, movies, mag­a­zines and maps avail­able at the local pub­lic library.

Sec­ond, par­ents must get involved with their child’s school and show inter­est in what their child is learn­ing. What­ever classes your school has avail­able in global stud­ies, world his­tory, geog­ra­phy, and related top­ics are well worth sup­port­ing, as they instill global aware­ness right along with the ABCs and 1 – 2-3s. Intro­duce your­self to your child’s social stud­ies, global stud­ies and for­eign lan­guage teach­ers, and ask how you can help them. And be sin­cerely inter­ested in the top­ics your­self. When your first grader comes home to talk about the rain­for­est in South Amer­ica, lis­ten to him and get involved in fur­ther dis­cus­sion and explo­ration of the topic. When your sixth grader tells you about the Geog­ra­phy Bee her school is hav­ing, get out the atlas and start prac­tic­ing for the com­pe­ti­tion. When your teen talks about the Model UN ini­tia­tive being con­sid­ered as part of his high school cur­ricu­lum, sup­port it and even offer to help imple­ment it if need be. And when your child — at any age — talks about his­tory or cur­rent events, get involved and dis­cuss the issues together, show­ing him or her that know­ing about the world and what’s going on in it is an impor­tant part of adult life. But be mind­ful to do as much lis­ten­ing as you do talking.

more… Work­ing Together to Raise Global Chil­dren | Sta­cie Nevadom­ski Berdan.

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Working Together to Raise Global Children | Stacie Nevadomski Berdan