Schools must promote greater global understanding

Simon Marcus Gower Principal Harapan Bangsa High School Tangerang, Banten

Globalization is something that has been spoken of and written of in many different contexts, but an area in which globalization has, perhaps, not been thought of enough is that of education. Many schools, it seems, are lagging behind in coming to terms with the effects of globalization.

Of course, the effects are many and various. But among the most common spoken and written about are the free-flowing nature of capital, goods and services between nations, the accompanying economic interdependence of nations and the spread of 'international' (generally taken to mean Western) ideas, ideals, thinking processes and value systems.

All of this has brought about many changes in the way in which we live and so, in turn, it has inevitably influenced the way in which we must educate and prepare students to perform in this 'globalized' world.

There can be little doubt that in many ways globalization has made the world a smaller place. A smaller place in which nation states are very much more prone to a domino effect. An incident in one nation is more liable, now, to have repercussions in many other nations.

There can be now more profound and powerful example of this than what happened around a year ago on a relatively small American island and at the capital of that nation. The effects of those planes being deliberately crashed into buildings for motives of terror have been felt all around the globe. From economic downturns, to all out war and the replacement of unwanted regimes to the nation by nation scrutiny of potential terrorist groups, few if any nations have escaped the domino effect of Sept. 11, 2001.

But what has that effect done to schools and education? In particular, what have been the repercussions for Indonesian schools? In the immediate aftermath of those attacks it was clear that many school students did not have the capacity to comprehend what had happened. For many the horrific reality of crashed planes, destroyed buildings and massive loss of life was nothing that they could truly relate to. High school students were heard to say things like, "Great explosions weren't they, better than the movies." Some expressed admiration for the terrorists with comments like, "They were so clever to do that." And for others still the figures of George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden were reduced to little more than cartoon characters like some Tom and Jerry cat and mouse chase.

Schools consistently missed the opportunity to proffer lessons and learning from those events. It was regrettably the case that many schoolteachers did not use such events to illustrate the need for greater understanding and tolerance of differences. Instead indifference to these 'global' events meant relative inaction on the part of many teachers and so many school students were left either having no understanding of the events or becoming entrenched in ignorance that suggested this was merely a 'West versus Islam' clash.

Certainly globalization has cut across borders and reduced distances between peoples and nations. Technology allows us to see real-time live what is happening on the other side of the globe and so we can feel much closer to distant peoples and cultures.

However, the era of globalization may also be categorized as an era of disenfranchisement and disintegration. At the beginning of the twentieth century there were little more than fifty countries in the world. At the beginning of the twenty-first century that figure had nearly quadrupled so that there are now nearly two-hundred nations all trying to be part of out 'globalized' world.

Schools need to catch-up with the global age. Fundamentally schools must exist in the future tense. They must try to move with the times to equip students for future needs. But presently they may be seen to be lagging behind. Students of today need a broad worldview, so that they may compete and have the potential to understand the complexities of our shrinking yet complicated world.

Students need to be educated with a more open view of the world. Greater appreciation for and understanding of current affairs needs to be encouraged by all schoolteachers. Currently, should you ask a high school student his or her thoughts on the Middle East or terrorist groups around the world being targeted by governments you will likely be faced with blank expressions and no viewpoint or comment by a majority.

Ask a student to name current political world leaders, and you will not get very far. However, ask them to name the latest successful Hollywood movie star or hottest pop babe and you will get responses. Of course there is an element of teenage appeal here but this also represents one of the conundrums of globalization for educators. People can now easily access and appreciate foreign cultural icons and this, in turn, with time can alter value systems, traditions and cultural ways.

Yet a deeper understanding of what is really happening culturally, economically and politically can remain alien and even mysterious. Schools and teachers need to come to terms with the challenges that lie ahead in the age of globalization. Key amongst these is the challenge of having to broaden students' horizons. Without a real worldview students are literally disabled and will be left behind.

The task for teachers is, then, to guide their students through the intricate maze that is globalization. Critical to this 'guidance' is a tolerance and patience for alternative and different ways of life. Only then can students and teachers understand and perhaps assimilate those differences and alternatives. The tools exist for schools to find a way into the global age. With broadcast television featuring overseas productions and the streaming supply of information from the Internet access is not really a problem but interpretation can be more difficult to achieve.

This is surely at the heart of how schools and teachers must catch-up with the era of globalization. Interpreting and putting to best use the wealth and complexity of change and information about the human race that comes to us daily has to be done with sensitivity and intelligence.

It will be all too easy for people to get lost in the globalization maze and so it is vital that schools and educators think fast to develop their curricula and syllabus material to appreciate the global context. This is not at all a small task but the sooner a worldview informs what educators do the better.