I am often asked why I teach and why I decided to teach Social Studies...well the answer is easy. Initially in college my goal was to get into business and hopefully make a lot of money but taking business classes never made me happy. During my first year of college and in high school I always loved my history and geography classes plus I had a great experience running a youth basketball camp in high school for my senior project so for one reason or another I felt a "calling" to teaching. And to go along with that I do feel strongly that the things I teach and what we learn about the world is very significant, but others do not always see it that way.
A challenge I frequently get from students when teaching geography and history is "Why is this important?!?". Well my response to that is understanding the world is now more important than ever. With advances in technology the entire world is more interconnected than ever before. Other countries around the world are emerging as direct competitors to all students and workers alike in the United States (and that will not change):
Shift Happens Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q
Read this Article: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2056610,00.html
So as everyone in the world becomes closer, more connected, and more countries produce large and educated work forces, it is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT that the United States prepares and takes on the challenge. In no way shape or form am I promoting an us-against-the-world mentality but changes in the world order must be acknowledged. It will require effort and understanding by everyone and a great first step is becoming familiar with the rest of the world. In order to figure out where the world is going we need to undertand what has happened and what the world is currently like. No longer is living in the past of unchallenged American dominance acceptable. The new global society needs to be embraced and Americans need to understand the world around them to survive. My favorite radio show host, Colin Cowherd, always says "Live in the is, not in the was". And I cannot think of a better way to sum up this blog entry. Welcome to Global Studies and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
I agree with this blog. The fact that the world is advancing is good. The Americans need to know that the rest of the world will be catching up to the Untied States.
ReplyDeleteI thought the video was very informative. The fact that China is becoming the number 1 English-speaking-country in the world is hard to believe at first, but when you think about how many people live there, I guess it makes sense. China has many smart people, and just a TON of people in general. The rest of the world is catching up with the United States.
ReplyDeleteI thought the vidio made me feel like im not doing enought in the world and should help more. I was very suprised that china has the full top 25% educated people. Also i would have thought they would talk chinnes. is this because they have alot of english imigrants?
ReplyDeleteThis video/blog is very informational. It is crazy how much technology has come over the past years. It is also sad that China is soon to be the largest English speaking country. I personally think that the U.S. needs to step it up a notch.
ReplyDeletethe video made alot of sense on how large the technology system is getting and the advantages people are gonna have in the future and that china is going to become the biggest english speaking country in the world is crazy..
ReplyDeleteThe blog and the video where very informative and i didn't know that china is going to be the biggest English speaking country in the world and the grow in technology is ridiculous
ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty amazing how China and India have way more honors kids than we have kids. I wonder, if China will soon be the number-one English-speaking country on Earth, why aren't Americans working harder to learn major languages where there are more people. If China has more people, and more people are working, and more people know English and other major languages, then won't China soon have the world's largest economy instead of the United States, and we will still be billions of dollars in debt. The U.S. should really start working harder to improve the economy so we don't fall behind, like the Ottoman Empire did after World War I and II. That is why living conditions in the Middle East are so terrible now, and why the Middle East hates us.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's important to learn Social Studies to learn the world like China becoming number one english speaking country in the world. so I think both the blog and video are both very important.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is a little scary on how fast the United States is falling behind to China. Also we do need to learn Global Studies because there maybe be a job that doesn't exist now that will be there in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this blog. Until I read this blog, I didn't realize how important Global Studies was, and how much we need to learn about other areas of the world. It's hard to believe how the world is changing so fast, and how our nation, though seemingly very advanced, we are falling behind very fast. I think that we need to plan better for our future, because if we don't prepare correctly, everything we learn earlier will be outdated.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of thought went into this. Our world is is coming out with technology so quickly we can't catch up. Sonner or later these computers that we are using will be so outdated in a couple of years. It is shocking.
ReplyDeletei agree with what the blog is talking about. i did not know how fast were falling behind compared to china. i also did not know that china is the largest english speaking country in the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this blog that we are falling behind in our society.I did't know that 25% of china's population is equal to the entire population of north america.That's a lot of people.It is also shocking that once we learn things in new technology it will soon be outdated anyway.I also can't believe that china is soon to become the number one English speaking country in the world. That is incredible.We should all learn Chinese! The rest of the world is advancing at a faster pace then we are at this moment in time. Everyone else is growing in knowledge but also in technology at a pretty rapid rate.
ReplyDeleteYou could not have said it beter but that is true it is ashemed that the world wont even look at what they are dooing to mother Earth. By time they realize it will be to late.......
ReplyDeleteI think that it is crazy that China will be the number one English speaking country. Also it is insane how rapidly the technology is growing.
ReplyDeleteI think that your blog is crazy but totally informative and true! All of those facts blew my mind. The hardest to believe was the part about China becoming the number best English speaking country!
ReplyDeleteI think that this blog has a a lot of information. I couldn't believe that China is going to be the number 1 leading English speaking country. And that in college in our freshman year the information we will be taught will be old when we are juniors in college.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the statement that knowing the Earth is going to be very important now, and critically important in the future. The United States is kind of like a role model to other countries in a way. If we start changing the way we live the rest of the worlds population will follow. By doing this our future generations will live better lives without these huge burdens to deal with.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to know about the Earth. We need to know because it will have a huge impact in our future. There is so much stuff that we don't know about the planet we live on.
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