Our New Year's Resolution: Shifting the Focus to Global Education

It’s the New Year, and around the world a flurry of resolutions is being made. We all know the usual suspects—exercise more often, eat more healthily, spend more time with our families—but imagining resolutions on a larger scale is often where it really gets interesting. If the United States were to ponder its New Year’s resolutions, what might they be?

One recurrent theme that has interested educators and news sources alike is the need for American students to receive a more global education. Speaking of the potential for U.S. decline in a recent TIME Magazine feature, foreign policy adviser Fareed Zakaria writes, “A crucial aspect of beginning to turn things around would be for the U.S. to make an honest accounting of where it stands and what it can learn from other countries.” “Americans simply don’t care much, know much or want to learn much about the outside world,” Zakaria continues, and while the assessment may sound harsh it echoes the concern many feel that Americans—particularly young Americans—are not as globally aware as their peers in other countries.

The answer many U.S. educators see is to imbue students with a more internationally-aware worldview, whether it be through studying foreign languages, exchanging correspondence with students from other countries, or traveling abroad as a part of their education. And the message is spreading: teachers across the U.S. are bringing international awareness to the curriculum, and Harvard’s Graduate School of Education is even offering a “Think Tank on Global Education” this coming May, positing that, “In order for students to understand and address the multifaceted global challenges and opportunities they will face… today's educators must create opportunities for them to develop intercultural awareness, knowledge and perspective on global issues.” Giving students the gift of a truly global perspective is something Friendship Tours World Travel is fully committed to, and we are proud to be a part of the U.S.’s newest resolution: to help its students become globally educated and aware.