Are Schools Preparing Students with Global Life Skills?

Hello! My name is Manuela Rojas and I am a rising sophomore at Tufts University in Boston. Over the past two weeks, I have worked with the other two members of the strategy research team to learn more about the issue of global education. Our research showed me how the unprecedented amount of contact between cultures that we are seeing in the 21st century calls for immense changes in our approach to education.

As borders between countries become more porous and our world gets closer to having one global economy, there is a growing need for children to be globally competent, a skill that may have been less important in the past. Teachers and policy makers, however, have not incorporated the undeniable changes brought by globalization into the classroom. What is taught to our world’s children today remains remarkably similar to the lesson plans one hundred years ago.

With the other two members of the team, I have learned about how young people familiar with the intricacies of other cultures, histories of other countries, and challenges those countries face are more likely to succeed in the work force. Schools, however, shy away from discussing potentially controversial issues such as religion and decide to concentrate on more traditional areas such as English and Math. I look forward to the rest of my summer here at OWYP and at learning more about ways that I can help to address this growing problem.