An Urgent Imperative
State Governments Respond to Globalization
States understand the complex reasons to prepare its young citizens for a globalized world. In summary, they are:
The Global Economy
Today, goods and services move seamlessly across borders. Already,
one in five U.S. jobs is tied to international trade1 and the economies of China, India,
and Japan, which represented 18 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP)
in 2004, are expected to represent 50 percent of the world’s GDP within 30 years.2 The majority of future growth for small, medium, and large businesses is overseas. According
to the Committee for Economic Development, a non-profi t organization of more than 200
business leaders and university presidents, “to compete successfully in the global marketplace,
both U.S.-based multinational corporations as well as small businesses, increasingly
need employees with knowledge of foreign languages and cultures to market products to
customers around the globe and to work effectively with foreign employees and partners in
other countries.”3
Security and Global Citizenship
The world is interconnected as never before.
Every major issue faced by the United States has an international dimension — from environmental
degradation and global warming, to pandemic diseases, to energy and water
shortages, to terrorism and weapons proliferation. Th e eff ects of poverty, injustice, and
lack of education elsewhere spill across borders. What we do aff ects others and the actions
of others aff ect us. Th e only way to solve today’s challenges will be through international
collaboration among governments and organizations of all kinds. U.S. graduates will need
language and cross-cultural communication skills to be eff ective problem-solvers in today’s
global context. U.S. citizens will also increasingly vote and act on issues requiring greater
knowledge of the world.
Cultural Diversity within the United States
Not only will U.S. citizens need to work
with citizens of other countries, but increasingly interact and work with people from vastly
different backgrounds and cultures within their own communities. From 1993–2003, the
population of minority students enrolled in U.S. public schools increased from 34 percent
to 41 percent. Th e public school systems of California, Hawaii, Texas, and Washington
D.C. enroll more than 60 percent minority populations, while the minority enrollments in Arizona, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, and New Mexico, all exceed 50 percent.4 Even
small towns in the South are experiencing increased diversity with new populations from
Asia and Latin America.
The Growing Global Talent Pool
In this increasingly
interconnected world, there is a growing global
talent pool. Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) international comparisons
have shown that the United States is 21st in the world in
high school graduation rates and 23rd in student math
performance. Asia Society and National Geographic
Society surveys have also shown that compared with
their peers in other industrialized countries, U.S. high
school students lag behind their peers in knowledge of
other countries and cultures.5 And while learning a secondlanguage is standard in other industrial countries,
only 50 percent of U.S. high school students study any
foreign language.6
Our students are clearly at risk of being unprepared for
the demands and opportunities of the global economy.
This is especially true for disadvantaged youth for whom American schools have historically fallen short. For low-income and minority students, closing the basic skills gap is an essential step, but real equality of opportunity will require all students to become college ready and globally competent. As education systems rapidly expand and improve in many parts of the world,we must engage all of our talent pool. Transforming our schools into learning communities for the 21st century requires policies and practices to ensure that we not only produce more high school graduates, but that those graduates are globally competent citizens, ready to take their place in the world community.
Authors: Vivien Stewart and Gene Wilhoit
Notes
1 U.S. Census Bureau. Table 2. In Exports from manufacturing establishments: 2001 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, 2004) 8.
2 Wilson, W.T. Th e Dawn of the India century:
Why India is poised to challenge China and the
United States for global economic hegemony in the
21st century. (Chicago: Keystone India, 2005). Link.
3 Committee for Economic Development. Education for global leadership: Th e importance of international studies and foreign language education for U.S. economic and national security. (Washington, DC, 2006). Link.
4 National Center for Education Statistics. Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic minorities. 2007. Link.
5 National Geographic Society-Roperl. 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey. Washington, DC: 2002.
6 Draper, J.B. & Hicks, J.H.. Foreign language enrollments in secondary schools, fall 2000. (Washington, DC: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 2002) Link.