The World is Flat

In the book “The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman, the author observes that the world is no longer a collection of countries functioning independently of one another, but rather all countries, and specifically all economies, are tied closely together in one large economic web. World events and technological advances have driven this flattening, and now, more than ever, our economy in the US is tied closely to the economy of the global market. In my personal travels to Japan, United Kingdom, China, Sweden and other places I have seen this first hand.

It is our job as educators to prepare our students for the future. While we have no idea what the world will look like in ten, or even five years, we do know that the globalization of economies and culture will play a role. It is against this backdrop that we decided as a school system to expand our students’ global horizons. Beginning with West Columbus High School’s partnership with Denmark, we sent teachers and students abroad, and students and teachers from Denmark came to WCHS. East Columbus sent teachers abroad to China, and teachers from China recently spent a week at ECHS. Students from China and East Columbus will continue the exchange program later next year; South Columbus will begin their exchange program with Denmark next year as well. We hope to bring Southeastern Early College on the project with an exchange program with China in the next year. These programs are made possible by the Center for International Understanding.

I have occasionally heard the wisdom of creating these exchanges challenged. There is extra time and expense involved, so why do we do it? The answer is simple: If our students are to have a chance at success, they will have to have a global perspective. I would argue that a student who leaves high school with little understanding about global society is in as much danger as a student who cannot read or write. We cannot take every student abroad, but we can bring the experience back to our schools to help create broader understanding among all of our students, teachers and administrators of the global society in which we live today.