Global Education
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What do you expect from good education?
...................... For a start: the acquisition of knowledge, pure and simple.
................................... And what else? Lots, in fact.
Fertile grounds to train understanding and interpretation, creativity and imagination,
................................... self-discipline and the longing for competence, cultural energy and an open mind.
In the long run: Identity.
Sophistication and a wider horizon, a healthy balance of self-esteem and respect for others, mental strength
and responsibility, social skills ranging from empathy to moral courage combined with sound judgement.
...................... Good citizenship, if you like.
What do you expect from good education?
...................... For a start: the acquisition of knowledge, pure and simple.
................................... And what else? Lots, in fact.
Fertile grounds to train understanding and interpretation, creativity and imagination,
................................... self-discipline and the longing for competence, cultural energy and an open mind.
In the long run: Identity.
Sophistication and a wider horizon, a healthy balance of self-esteem and respect for others, mental strength
and responsibility, social skills ranging from empathy to moral courage combined with sound judgement.
...................... Good citizenship, if you like.
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Is your education stimulating, does it free the mind and empower talent, can it kindle curiosity and encourage diversity? Can it make promises and keep them? |
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Demand is high for multilingual, multicultural and multidisciplinary education.
Taking all the hurdles - the tangible ones as much as the barriers of the mind - becomes possible when three things become clear: 1.) You're not alone. 2.) It's not primarily about career planning. It's about fulfilling lives. 3.) You don't depend on cash & connections. Curiosity & cooperation work. To make education a play, a family play, brings a new definition forward. Learning is not a journey towards a finishing line. It is a wonderful way of life: |
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Global education, multilingual studies, the multinational and multicultural raising of a child, these topics are a concern for a growing numbers of parents all over the world. You may well be one of them. As Kevin Bartlett points out in his article in ExpatExchange about the Business of International Education: “Today, the business of international education is booming. With increasing numbers of globally mobile families, there are currently over 1000 international schools world wide, with numbers continuing to rise by about 6 percent a year. Make no mistake, international education is a growth industry with a global annual revenue of over 4 billion US dollars.” |
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What had started as a necessity to serve expatriate families (covering everything from business people to diplomatic staff) is today in fact a highly regarded way of bringing local children in touch with the rest of the world. For those who can afford it. And for those who thrive in international family partnerships!
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Here is an eye-opener from a different perspective: |
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... “A growing number of South Korean families, known as "wild geese," are choosing to live separately, schooling their children in English-speaking countries where the mother and children live while the fathers remain in South Korea to work.
They are driven by a shared dissatisfaction with South Korea's rigid educational system, are seeking to give their children an edge by helping them become fluent in English abroad while sparing them, and themselves, the stress of South Korea's notorious educational pressure cooker. More than 40,000 South Korean schoolchildren are believed to be living outside South Korea with their mothers in what experts say is an outgrowth of a new era of globalized education.” ...
This touches the souls of many parents because they know the dilemma only too well: What they would love to offer their children is very often simply not affordable or out of reach for other reasons. One way to a solution is to see if similar results can be obtained by innovative co-operations and smart partnerships. It is one of the key issues for The Good Mondays Society to establish partnerships with the potential to build such bridges.
Specific solutions are always one-offs, but inspiration is the beginning of all inventions.
Some suggestions from our members are thoughts they intend to put into practice themselves (or have already done so).
We want to pass some of these ideas on to you.
They are driven by a shared dissatisfaction with South Korea's rigid educational system, are seeking to give their children an edge by helping them become fluent in English abroad while sparing them, and themselves, the stress of South Korea's notorious educational pressure cooker. More than 40,000 South Korean schoolchildren are believed to be living outside South Korea with their mothers in what experts say is an outgrowth of a new era of globalized education.” ...
This touches the souls of many parents because they know the dilemma only too well: What they would love to offer their children is very often simply not affordable or out of reach for other reasons. One way to a solution is to see if similar results can be obtained by innovative co-operations and smart partnerships. It is one of the key issues for The Good Mondays Society to establish partnerships with the potential to build such bridges.
Specific solutions are always one-offs, but inspiration is the beginning of all inventions.
Some suggestions from our members are thoughts they intend to put into practice themselves (or have already done so).
We want to pass some of these ideas on to you.
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WHAT IF ... some of these South Korean families were to team up with parents with a genuine interest in establishing connections in East Asia, who like the idea of their own children befriending exchange pupils and offering them a second home, who are happy to welcome them for getting-to know-each-other-visits to let them rest assured that their child will be in good hands?
What if the financial contribution they make for accommodating their child were just what’s needed to help pay off that mortgage and yet considerably less than what the Korean family would have had to finance under other circumstances? An honest cooperation and a caring and friendly home from home. Quite feasible and a lot more family-friendly than the current status quo for many. |
HOW ABOUT ... talented youngsters who have just one weak spot preventing them from bringing the overall performance required to take them into the university of their choice? Partnerships can frequently compensate this.
They can make up for what is perhaps too hard to achieve without support: language training through holidays abroad at a fraction of the cost of a paid package and yet a lot more efficient ... Holiday jobs and internships in fields where it would be awfully hard to get a foot on the door without international friendships ... Genuine peer-to-peer motivation where all parental advice got them nowhere? No limits to your imagination...
They can make up for what is perhaps too hard to achieve without support: language training through holidays abroad at a fraction of the cost of a paid package and yet a lot more efficient ... Holiday jobs and internships in fields where it would be awfully hard to get a foot on the door without international friendships ... Genuine peer-to-peer motivation where all parental advice got them nowhere? No limits to your imagination...
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WHAT IF ... ... parents all over the world would place more emphasis on their own interests, professions and personal goals within this context?
They should, you know. They might end up forming much stronger bonds with partners who are in fact more than just the parents of their own kids’ peers. Parallel friendships enable attractive synergies and double the enjoyment factor on both generational levels. Examples (like these !) needed? The co-operation of journalists, the knowledge exchange between teachers, passions like music or perhaps gardening, the membership in a NGO ... |
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source www.stuckincustoms.com
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WHAT IF ... you found out that you do not really need an all inclusive holiday package with “funimation” for your offspring ?
Simply because a change of environment can be a true eye opener ! What if Global Natives anywhere in the world made it possible - like a catalyst - to communicate your own interests and hobbies to your kids even though they always considered them boring? And the respect you get from others makes them see you in a new light ? Fellow Global Natives can give you the right environment to switch your children from I-want-to-be-entertained-or-else-I-am-going-to-be-a-real-nuisance to a bunch of youngsters who have found out how much more gratification they can get out of taking things into their own hands. True adventure is not a ready made and fully insured thing to be purchased off the shelf. Once they realize that they will not need animation any longer. |
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It is a mind opening experience
watch Dan Pink explain the surprising science of motivation. Contemporary education, very much like modern business, no longer functions on the “carrot principle”. The key factors are: Autonomy: the urge to direct your own life Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. |
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