Guest Viewpoint: Now, more than ever, schools must address global education

By Andrew F. Smith

2/19/02 – The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 stunned and horrified us all. Before that day, we paid little attention to the threat of terrorism, despite previous, high-profile terrorist incidents in the United States.

Most Americans thought our country was immune from the kind of attacks that have plagued other parts of the world from Northern Ireland to the Middle East to Colombia. In one day, however, we learned that what we didn't know could hurt us.

Of course, no amount of teaching about terrorism or understanding of the Muslim world could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks. But a wise and educated citizenry would have ameliorated subsequent events–such as vandalism at mosques, attacks on Sikhs who wear turbans like bin Laden, and the harassment of innocent American Muslims–because some Americans blamed all Muslims for these terrorist attacks.

A more pervasive response was for many Americans to ponder how anyone could intentionally kill thousands of innocent civilians. The result was that many of us were so filled with fear that we changed our lifestyles, refused to fly in airplanes, and spurned visiting places that could become terrorist targets.

President Bush has warned us that the war against terrorism will be long and unlike any other conflict America has fought in the past. This war will mean casualties, and its prolonged nature may well challenge our resolve to stay the course and root out international terrorists wherever they hide.

This new war will not only involve military conflict in far off places, but also will be fought on the streets of America. This means that American schools are now on the front line. As a result, every school and school district needs to prepare for possible emergencies.

Just as important, every school and school district needs to better prepare students to understand the nature of terrorism and the broader global context in which terrorism thrives. This means teaching students about democracy, as Diane Ravitch and other commentators have pointed out.

And it also means we need to give students a firm grounding in world geography, world history, world religions, world languages and cultures, global economics, and a broad understanding of global issues and challenges.

During the past 30 years, instruction in some of these curriculum areas has improved. Geography, for instance, has been reintroduced into the curriculum in many schools, and enrollment in world history and second language courses has increased.

By and large, however, elementary and secondary schools teach less about the world today than in the past. We must reverse this trend.

One place to begin this massive task is with each school board setting or re-emphasizing priorities for teaching global content and skills. Administrators and teachers could begin by adding new dimensions to the existing curriculum. Of course, this will not solve our problems, but at least priorities set a positive tone.

It is also important for educators to take advantage of targets of opportunity as they arise. For instance, immediately following Sept. 11, students all over America were exposed to extensive media coverage of the attacks and their aftermath. Students asked challenging questions, raised crucial issues, and expressed deep fears, yet most of us were unprepared to respond to our students' needs.

Perhaps nothing could have prepared us for the events of Sept. 11, but as the threat of terrorism will be with us for an extended period, the next time an attack occurs we have no excuse for not dealing appropriately with student concerns.

At the offices of the American Forum for Global Education, just a few blocks from Ground Zero, we have been directly affected by these events. Our response has been to compile a free curriculum unit on terrorism for secondary educators. ["Terrorism: What Every Teacher Should Know" can be ordered from the forum's Web site, www.globaled.org.]

We know this curriculum guide is just a first small step toward a much larger endeavor: Hard-pressed teachers need extensive in-service education. Texts need to be updated, and new supplemental materials need to be developed. Courses need to be added to an already overcrowded curriculum, and parents and communities need to support these curriculum changes.

And yes, we all know that retooling the American education system will cost a great deal of money. We can throw up our hands and say it cannot be done, or we can get to work to make it happen.

In my opinion, there is no other alternative to educating our youth for American citizenship in a global age. For better and worse, we now live in an interdependent world peopled with mass murderers willing to commit suicide to kill thousands of innocent civilians, as well as heroes willing to sacrifice their lives to save others.

As the world draws closer together, we can expect people in other places around the world will increasingly intrude on our everyday lives in unexpected ways. As educators, we have a special responsibility to prepare our youth to meet the challenges created by this interconnected world.

It is a responsibility that we must meet: It is not likely that the United States will exert global leadership for long with a citizenry that is globally deaf, dumb, and blind.