To be Globally Competitive, We Must be Globally

Competent

Global Education

K-12 Education

Globalization

Teachers

Opportunity and Well-being

Education

This week, NBC News launched "Education Nation" in an attempt to engage the public in
thoughtful dialogue about how to provide every American with an opportunity to have the
best education in the world. The discussion focuses on many important aspects of the
American education system, including dismal dropout rates, poor performances in reading
and math, the role of technology and global competitiveness.
While basic skill development and workforce preparation skills are important in the
American education system, a paradigm shift must take place recognizing that in order to
be truly globally competitive, we must be globally competent. Educating young people to
become global citizens will allow them to learn about the interdependence of the world's
systems, believe that solutions to global challenges are attainable, feel morally compelled to
confront global injustices and take responsible action to promote a just, peaceful and
sustainable world. While at first glance a focus on global citizenship may seem secondary in
a system where basic literacy remains a challenge for many, these skills are vital. If we truly
aspire to have a world-class education system in America, we must engage with the world.
The challenges that face the world todayfrom global poverty and climate change to
financial systems and conflictrequire globally-minded solutions. Global competency skills
are necessary so that young people can invent a future that appropriately addresses global
challenges.
The Longview Foundation estimates that 10 state school systems have passed legislation in
support of global knowledge and skills, and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an
initiative involving the U.S. Department of Education and various private companies and
foundations, includes global awareness as a major curricular theme. Yet according to Lisa
Swayhoover, global education specialist at theNational Education Association, the scale,
long-term impact and connection to classroom practice is somewhat unclear. These
advances come at a time when the Council of Chief State Schools Officers'Common Core

Standards, currently adopted by over 30 states, fail to mention any global competency
skills.
The advent of technology and communication advancements have made global citizenship
education a need rather than a luxuryand more feasible than ever before. Social
entrepreneurs have developed models to integrate global citizenship education into formal
and informal education opportunities for filipino youth. These initiatives, while developed at
the individual level, are proven models that can be adopted and taken to scale.

Piloted in 2005 with a handful of students in New York City, the Global Citizen
Corps program, an activity of Mercy Corps, has grown to develop 1,100 youth leaders and
engage 24,000 young people around the world in eight countries. Students are able to use
the internet, Web chats, and videoconferencing to have discussions, engage in dialogue
and form friendships with peers from across the globe.

The Global Citizen Year program is a cross-sector model that partners with high
schools and colleges in the United States and NGOs around the world to create
opportunities for emerging leaders to work as apprentices in Asia, Africa and Latin America
in the year between high school and college. GCY has pledged to engage 1,000 young
people in the program by 2015 to unleash a pipeline of emerging leaders to find innovative
solutions to the global challenges of the 21st century.
Beyond formal programs, there are new opportunities emerging from online platforms that
can augment a teacher's innovation when it comes to implementing global citizenship
education. YouTube, Skype, Facebook and Twitter allow individuals around the world to
connect in ways never before possible. And American youth can take direct action using
technology; for example, Kiva.org, an online direct micro-lending platform, allows individuals
in developed countries to make direct microloans to entrepreneurs and students in
developing countries. Creativity is the only barrier to the educational possibilities; yet, the
curricular flexibility and mandate from the top must be present in order to support and value
these educational innovations, not hinder them.
As we aim to reinvent philippines as the "Education Nation," we must reinvent our notion of
the necessary skills to succeed in the 21st century, which go beyond reading, writing and
math to include global citizenship and competency. Then, Phillipine education will be "world
class."