International Education free essay sample

From my Limited exposure It seems that resent attempts to define I. E. Eave had more in common with the education theorists of the past (Erasmus, Interiors) who were soused on enhancing and nurturing shared values rather than with contemporary theorists like Taylor and Melvin who focus more on strategies. Definition problems aside the foremost reason why I think I. E. Can meet the challenges of a global society has to do with technology itself. As discussed in class, there is a tension between national and global education the former educates its citizens to be committed and loyal [citizens] to the nation-state [and] to ones own country'(Gutted, Defining International Education, p. 9), while the latter works to cake students aware that we all inhabit a common planet with common resources, limitations, and problems that need to be tackled with the needs of greater humanity In mind (Ibid, p. 38). In the past there would be very few people who would be able to speak to those greater needs due to the difficulties of connecting people personally involved in and informed about global issues. We will write a custom essay sample on International Education or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page At the same time their national identity can be maintained because the individual can remain in their own country. Our newfound ability to be grounded at home while engaged elsewhere in he world is a powerful step towards reducing the tensions between national and global education. More than that, because the internet is such an inexpensive, immediate and personal medium it allows the average citizen to choose their own global connections and fill in knowledge gaps from sources they trust.For the first time in history global issues and communication are as personal as neighborhood issues and communication have been, making it easier to look for commonalities rather than differences among the earths peoples (ibid, p 35) and harder to see people outside the nation as the other. Besides shrinking the world down to personal proportions while opening it up on a global scale the internet facilitates I. E. Ideas that, in the past, were more theory than reality. An example would be the Erasmus Mobility Project in Europe (mentioned by Beck in her footnotes, p. 5).The idea of the project was that study abroad is so valuable that at least one in ten students should have that experience. Due to the prohibitive cost of study abroad for most people initiatives like this are bound to fail. But with todays technologies students can easily study abroad and/or work collaboratively with others. A great example of this is the International School of the Americas in San Antonio, Tx. : recognizing that graduates need to know how to work with colleagues from other cultures they organized a program in which Juniors carry out a collaborative biology project with students from a sister school in Japan.Much of the work is done face-to- face by means of video-conferencing. Another project allows students to learn a foreign language, in real time, with native speakers of that language and in return teach them theirs. Not only does this reinforce language skills on both sides it also provides insights into how persons from other cultures often view the world quite differently than we do which, in turn, promotes both knowledge of the world and respect for other peoples (Goldman Cash. , n. D. , p. 5).Technology can also address some of the problems with I. E. Beck discovered in her study. Foreign students reported loneliness and high tuition and/or living costs as some of their biggest concerns (p. 7). As education goes online students wont need to leave their home country because of limited opportunities (Beck, p. 7) because they will be able to access quality education online. This could also help with another problem Beck identified brain-drain, which has negative implications for the sending countries