The Three C's of Global Education

Our high school has a focus on global education as evidenced by the globe centered on our school crest. It is absolutely imperative that schools embrace the need for our students to recognize their place in the world and the impact that hard-working students in China, India, and Brazil will have on their future.

As a high school senior in the eighties, I had only to worry about competing with my in-county peers if I had chosen to go right to work in the textile mills as so many did in the mountains of North Carolina. In-state rivals were a concern when considering a spot in the freshmen class of one of our major universities. The only international concern that was ever spoken of, beyond worries over the potential spread of communism, was of the hungry children in Africa who were held up as a way to convince me to clean my plate at dinner.

Those days are no more. Our students have to be very aware of all of the players in our interconnected world. Their peers around the globe directly compete with them for lucrative positions that are geographically indifferent as long as the employee has the necessary skills and a reliable connection to the Internet. They compete for limited spots in the freshmen classes of the best universities. Competition is the first "C." for our students to be successful they must be fully prepared to compete against their international counterparts.

If we only create a class of competitors, they will be sorely prepared to compete. Our students must be able to collaborate with others regardless of cultural differences. As businesses recruit talent around the world, our students must be able to demonstrate an ability to work on multicultural teams. Collaboration is an equally important "C."

Competition and collaboration hinge on the third "C," Communication. Students need to be able to communicate using 21st century tools, leveraging social media and Web 2.0 tools to share their messages in a variety of mediums. An understanding of the power of a well-crafted message between a skilled sender and receiver will allow them to become a vital cog in industries that span the globe, yet depend on well-timed communication between teammates to keep the work going forward.

My own kindergarten teacher could not have imagined the world I live in, the tools I routinely use, or the on-demand availability of information we have at our fingertips. I would be just as unsuccessful if I tried to guess at the world waiting for our students. Just as she knew that regardless of my circumstances, I would need the skills she taught, we know that our student's future success depends on their ability to Compete, Collaborate, and Communicate.