COM447
- All
- General
Friday May 25, 2007
Essay#1 - J. Preston - Public Education Reform.
Public Education Reform and Globalization
American public schools have changed their curriculum very little in the past ten to twenty years. It would be a false statement to say that our schools are completely frozen in time, but compared to other aspects of our continuously evolving lives, they seem outdated and obsolete. Children in contemporary schools spend much of their days in classrooms just as their parents and grandparents did: sitting in desk aligned in rows, listening to a teacher?s lecture, writing their notes by hand, and reading from text books that contain information that is outdated by the time they are published and distributed. Public education reform is necessary in order to keep up with the growing phenomenon of globalization.
Contemporary cultural globalization is associated with several developments including global infrastructures of an unprecedented scale, generating an enormous capacity for cross border penetration and a decline in the cost of its use, and an increase in the intensity, volume, and speed of cultural communication and communication of all kinds (Held, 1999, p.341). This concerning subject matter became a major topic of conversation and ridicule when the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, a high powered, bipartisan assembly of Education Secretaries and business, government, and other educational leaders released a blueprint for rethinking American education from pre-k to12th grade and beyond in order to better prepare students to thrive in the growing global economy. While the reports included some controversial proposals, there is nonetheless a remarkable consensus among educators, businesses, and policy leaders on one key conclusion: we need to adjust what we teach and how we teach into the global community of the 21st century.
Back in 1979, the average worker with a college degree earned 75 percent more than the average high school graduate. Because of technology and globalization, the gap has leapt to 130 percent (Washington Post, 2006, p.1). Today?s economy not only demands a high level of competence in the traditional academic disciplines, but also what might be called 21st century (Global) skills. A gained general knowledge of the world around us and how it works is one example. Kids are considered global citizens by today?s standards, even in small rural towns, and they must learn to function in society that way. CEO of UPS, Mike Eskew, talks about needing workers who are ? global trade literate, sensitive to foreign culture, and conversant in different languages.
Developing good people skills is another skill that is necessary to thrive in our growing global community. The cross-border movement of populations has led to new ethnic conflicts as well as the formation of new audiences, while the globalization of money and commodity flows has led to new forms of property, to new international conflicts over property, and over regulatory authority (Wiley, 2004, p87). An individual?s EQ, or emotional intelligence is as important as their IQ for success in today?s workplaces. Most innovations today involve large teams of people, and CEOs are putting emphasis on communication skills and the ability to work in teams and with people from different cultures.
Public education reform is necessary in order to keep up with the growing phenomenon of globalization. Can our public schools, which were originally designed to educate workers for agrarian life and industrial age factories make the necessary shift? The Skills Commission will argue that it is possible only if we add new depth and rigor to school curriculums and standardized test, redeploy the dollars we spend on education, reshape the teaching force, and recognize who runs our public schools (Wallis, 2004 p2).
References.
Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D., & Perraton, J., (1999) Global Transformation: Politics, economics and culture. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Wallis, Claudia, Steptoe, Sonja, Miranda, Carolina, A., (2006) How to Bring Schools out of the 21st Century. Academic Search Premier NC State University.
Washington Post (2006) www.washingtonpost.com Globalization and Schools.
Wiley, S., (2004) Rethinking Nationality in the Context of Globalization. International Communication Association.
Posted at 01:18PM May 25, 2007 by PRESTON, JASON in General | Comments[4]
this is a great topic. this essay worked well as a background and foreshadowing of issues you will hopefully define deeper in the essays to come. i like that you took the last couple paragraphs to put what you view as things that need to be done in order to progress successfully, but not necessarily how. if you could find schools that are implementing programs similar to what you feel are the key points to upgrading our school systems, it would be very interesting to see how they achieved that and to see how many main points you agreed to be important.
very well written
Posted by Allison Cuculich on May 25, 2007 at 10:39 AM EDT #
I agree with Jason that our national school systems need great reform to keep our children up to date on the technology and communication skills that are expected of a young adult entering our higly competitive workforce. The truth is that the financial support is there, our country definitely could do huge reforms in the public school system, but the budget is being pulled and strained by homeland security and a war that seems to have no end. Many states have various counties whose school systems are highly technical and providing children a strong foundation in regards to our globalized culture, but it is based on the county's wealth itself, so the counties with upper social/economical classes have the high tech schools while the poorer counties's public school systems' can hardly pass their children on the so-called standarized tests. Our school systems are still based on the finances of the county, which produces an off slant of children who can, and can not compete. If someone/organization could propose a "basic neccessities" reform of school systems today that would be a start, with a must have list of communication technologies and ways to involve the children on and eveyday level with them. Also involving children in classes regarding various cultures to get them involved with the global community, and to understand it better.
Posted by Danielle Tibbetts on May 25, 2007 at 11:23 AM EDT #
Good one. It is being realistic. People skills is really important for everyone to develop. It would help us get over with the difference among nations and cultures.
With people skills, we can be more open minded with the differences in ourselves. It will help us develop a good relationship with other people.
Posted by People Skills on August 17, 2007 at 12:46 PM EDT #
In globalization, communication skills is really important. Especially for corporations that are in globalization, they need to improve on this aspect. It helps them succeed in their goals.
Communication skills help in improving relationships among people and among corporations as well. With effective communication, business can be done with less hassle and conflicts.
Posted by Communication Skills on December 19, 2007 at 03:49 PM EST #