All The World ... in the Classroom?
From the article:
"But the high-performing Herricks school district here in Nassau County, whose student body is more than half Asian, is taking globalization to the graduate level, integrating international studies into every aspect of its curriculum.
A partnership with the Foreign Policy Association has transformed a high-school basement into a place where students produce research papers on North Korea’s nuclear energy program or the Taliban’s role in the opium trade. English teachers have culled reading lists of what they call “dead white men” (think Hawthorne and Hemingway) to make space for Jhumpa Lahiri, Chang-rae Lee and Khaled Hosseini. Gifted fifth graders learn comparative economics by charting the multinational production of a pencil and representing countries in a mock G8 summit.
Starting this year, every sixth grader at Herricks Middle School is required to take art in French, Spanish, Italian or Chinese, a dual-language approach that the school is considering expanding to gym as well. Preparing to create a Haitian-style painting in one French/art class last week, the students reviewed indigenous plants and wildlife in photos of Haitian rainforests and beaches projected onto a screen."
Exciting and problematic. Exciting because it is pushing kids to learn geography, to learn about economics and international trade and having one subject all in another language seems an interesting idea. However, the "dead white men" literature doesn't have to be entirely pushed aside. I've seen some of this happening at both Eckstein and Roosevelt and I hope we don't lose a lot by trying to expand horizons.We had this as a bit of an issue in the recent debate of AP Human Geography at Roosevelt. There was concern over students not getting enough Western Civilization study in favor of a bigger global emphasis.
This perked my interest:
"The global outlook at Herricks comes amid an $8.4 million investment by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others in a nationwide campaign by Asia Society to create new public schools with an integrated global focus; 10 have opened since 2004, including two in New York, and up to 30 more are expected by 2013."
I wonder if one school might be considered for Seattle. Maybe a Board member could find out.
Also from the article:
"During a social studies lesson last week about rebuilding the South during Reconstruction, Neepa Shah asked her fifth-grade students, “Where else in the world did people feel like they were not heard?”
“Kenya,” one boy said.
Just like that, an American history lesson morphed into one about modern problems facing an African nation trying to rebuild after tumultuous elections. Ms. Shah called up a map of Kenya on her computer screen and pushed students to delve ever deeper into the comparison. “We’re looking at this through the lens of what we just learned in our own history,” she told her students."
Of course this kind of change is never without disagreement:"While many parents support the approach, some have expressed concern that as the district teaches about world cultures, no particular one should be emphasized over another. Those parents boycotted a fund-raising dinner-dance for adults held by the Parent Teacher Association last year because they believed its theme of “A Whole New World” from the Disney movie, “Aladdin,” complete with belly dancers, was overly focused on Eastern culture.
Other parents worried when school officials decided in 2005 that teaching about different religions had to be part of its efforts to investigate world issues. It was a significant shift for a district that was the subject of a important Supreme Court decision in 1962 overturning school prayer.
“I don’t remember anyone saying Pandora’s box, but it was like that, people saying, ‘I think it’s a good idea but I’m nervous,’ ” Mr. Bierwirth said."
Comments
Schools like the ones mentioned in this post are but one solution--sadly, there are too few to have a significant impact and there is too much resistance (largely from parents) to assure that they will be multiplied to the degree needed.
Savvy parents have already figured out that they must take responsibility for their kids' global education.
That's the subject of the book I'm writing for Random House, due in spring of 2009. For more info, visit http://www.TheWorldIsYourCampus.com
Surely there's room in 7 years of middle + high school to read both Hemmingway and Hosseini? Perhaps students could compare some of the similarities between the war zones that both describe, much as was done with Reconstruction and Kenya...
What I find dismaying is the watered downedness of it all. There isn't room to include dead white men because they hardly do any work at any depth at all.
My 9th grader in World History was just learning about the Middle East, including the formation of Israel. He claims that the formation of Israel was discussed without ANY mention of Europe, WWII or the Holocaust.
Most of their study of the Middle East consisted of the students creating travel brochures of the various countries and regions listing such things as climate and cuisine and attractions.
This "savvy parent" has indeed already figured out that I must take responsibility for my kid's global education.
But I also want him to learn US history, which in elementary school was a joke. It isn't on the WASL so it wasn't taught. I had to teach my child who the first president of the US was, what the Declaration of Independence was, what the Constitution is, what the Boston Tea party was and why it happened, about the civil war, the cuban missile crisis, WWI and WWII, etc, etc, etc. It wasn't until an honors class in 7th grade that they touched a bit on US history, but it was treated as a whirlwind 2 month topic in an honors social studies class.
So, no I don't mind my child's schools having an international focus, but I would like it to be in addition to, not instead of US history.
Sure, I fill in the holes for my kid as best I can. Not everyone can do that, and that's what stinks about your comment. I do what I can at home and take every opportunity to teach what I can, but it is piece mealed at best. If we watch a biography on Abraham Lincoln we talk about the US presidents. When we see a documentary on WWI we talk about WWI. When he has a book report due in school where he can use any topic, I encourage him to pick a book on The Boston Tea Party or some other topic of relevance. But, again, my efforts are piece mealed. This should be taught in school following a curriculum.
We can't and shouldn't rely on parents to do the schools job. On the same note, we shouldn't rely on schools to do parents jobs .
Other countries around the world are ascending in terms of both education and economic power PRECISELY because the parents are supplementing the school curriculum with other kinds of academic programs and learning at home. It's not that their schools are necessariy superior--it's that they have a stronger commitment to education outside of the classroom. Watch the documentary "Two Million Minutes" to learn more.
Listen, I'm a parent of four kids who attended public schools, and I know what it's like to feel frustrated by what is not covered in schools but I also understand that it's my job to step in when something's missing.
Obviously, we can and must voice our concerns, but we are misguided if we think that the schools will EVER provide all of the educational opportunities our kids will need to thrive in the future. While we're fighting over whether our kids should learn about the Boston Tea Party in elementary school, parents in other countries are making sure their kids know all about it AND all about their own country's history as well--and it's not considered a hardship but a chance to engage their kids in meaningful learning experiences.
If she did, she would know that Seattle has enthusiatically embraced IB programs and multilingual immersion schools. That the issue with World History followed by World Geography at RHS is in large part an issue of reduced rigor, not purely content. That the issue of content arises because the WA state EALRS (does she know what those are?) require a certain amount of European and North American content by 10th grade.
She is assuming, based on no real experience or knowledge, that the parents in Seattle are reacting to the same issues in the same way as parents in Skokie (or wherever).
She certainly doesn't seem to be aware that the focus of this blog is Seattle Public Schools and that we all spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out how we can provide quality educations for all of Seattle's children, not just our own. In any event, her book appears to promote international travel, not deal in any substantial way with curriculum requirements. I think I'll be skipping this thread from now on--I feel like she is marketing not discussing.
As Josh Billings remarked, "I honestly beleave it iz better tew know nothing than tew know what ain't so." Surely that's always apposite when it comes to global education?
Helen Schinske
Thank you so much for the discussion. I am very sorry if I offended readers here.
I was directed to this blog by a former Seattle student (now a professor at a university in South Korea) and a member of a group of Seattle educators/parents with whom I have been corresponding. It was not my intention to promote the book--instead, I hoped to get a read on things for myself as the group has expressed frustration with what they see as a "provincial" attitude among some parents in the Seattle school district. I appreciate getting a chance to be part of this thread.
For the record, I spent over 30 years in the Pacific Northwest, graduated from U of Puget Sound, my mother still lives in Seattle as do numerous relatives, so I'm not completely ignorant about the issues in your area. In addition, I am profiling two former Seattle students in my book so I felt it would be good for me to read this blog on occasion, as I do with education blogs in other cities across the US.
I am sorry if my presence here has been unwelcome.
Best to you all.