Blog 2: Education of the Future

In this article World Class: A Superschool for the Global Age, it  explains a new schooling concept that is clearly the product of globalization on education and the process that is preparing kids for life in a globalized world. This article explains the new school in Manhattan, Avenues, as a 'world school' or 'integrated learning community' because this school's focus is not only on the education that will benefit one here in America but education that will prepare a child for global relations. At this particular school half of all it's subjects are taught in either Mandarin or Spanish. This new school concept is based on the premise that today's global culture the traditional school model has become outdated. An aim is for all pupils to be trilingual by the time they leave school. Part of their curriculum is spending 6 to 8 weeks studying around the world. Character schooling, the teaching of moral and ethical values, is also integrated into the program. No religion is advocated at the school but they are taught in a scholarly manor. Class rooms are furnished with oval tables set in a semi-circle to ensure that there is no back row. Another interesting aspect about Avenues is the technology. All students are given an ipad at the age of 7 and if need be you may attend class virtually when sick. Ipads are the new book bags. Avenues was said to be the most technologically sophisticated school in the country by the wall street journal. Their plan is to open up 20 more campuses around the world within the next 10 years.

I really enjoyed this article because it goes perfectly along with what we have been talking about in class, globalization. Globalization has had an impact on many different aspects of everyday life such as the job market, consumer products and prices, but one wouldn't think about how globalization will effect even the most basic fundamental principles of our societies such as education. It does make a lot of sense to me though to be educated about other countries and their languages because of our growing relations and solidarity between nations and we can only expect for these ties to grow even stronger in the future. Our kids are the future and they should be ready for it.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/9831417/World-class-a-superschool-for-the-global-age.html

Sarah Middleton
2/8/2013
1:11 pm