What is Global Education?
Global Education is learning about issues that encompass and concern the globe
Global Education is an ever-evolving process (always ongoing) of learning and understanding the world and its dynamics. It is a dynamic (changing) interdisciplinary science, that refers to an organized body of knowledge, with substantive subjective AND objective knowledge.
According to the UNiTED NATIONS: “Education is the number one and most effective way to reduce poverty in the world.” POWERFUL!!!
Being a globally educated person is a journey. It is a journey that involves a large set of qualities and understandings. This is another term that has quite often been used mistakenly. Not everybody who travels is truly a globally educated being. Traveling abroad or taking a global class is just a very small portion of being globally educated. On Dr.P’s site, we are on the journey of being globally educated beings.
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According to my own formal research, I identified that the highest level of knowledge of a foreign culture occurs by acquiring academic and cultural understanding in addition to learning to be “functional” in a particular society.
Being functional in the host culture only occurs when there is intentional and substantial interaction with a host culture, this results in the ability to interpret that same culture at a high level of understanding. Furthermore, knowledge of the host culture’s language does not guarantee a deep level of understanding of the host
Being functional in the host culture only occurs when there is intentional and substantial interaction with a host culture, this results in the ability to interpret that same culture at a high level of understanding. Furthermore, knowledge of the host culture’s language does not guarantee a deep level of understanding of the host culture.
At times there is the misconception that studying abroad IS global education. Studying abroad is just one small portion of global education, there is a lot more than having a study abroad experience to be considered a globally educated individual. Too many folks travel abroad having minimal contact with the host culture, not even considering or studying how aspects of the host culture relate globally, yet they consider themselves erroneously global.
At the same time, I have encountered many globally educated people who had never been out of their country, Why? Because the key components of a globally educated person are content knowledge, awareness, connection, interpretation, and inclusion of other cultures in their lives.
In a global world, cultural understanding must be one of the ways to conceptualize knowledge. Cultural knowledge builds good character, the particular quality that considers a set of skills that aim to understand other cultures’ rules and emotions. This understanding allows us to establish a relationship by being “part of” rather than “on the periphery of” that same world.
What is Global/International Development Education?
