Global+Challenges+Teitelbaum

Global Challenges for the next 25 years.  One of the unwritten “objectives” of today’s teachers is to prepare students for productive and meaningful life after college. The challenge, of course, is that the future is a moving target. What was true as far as the “future” for our parents and for us is no longer the case for our students and for our children. With the development of new technologies, the growth in population and changes in climate and political systems, educators will have to rethink and retool not only their teaching strategies but also the skills and characteristics that they want to see developed in their students. What will the “well-equipped” graduate have to look like or possess in order to be successful in “tomorrow’s” global society? Great question.  Before tackling this question of preparation, one will have to look at a few of the major global trends that will likely impact the lives of citizens of the world in the next 25 years. The first one that probably comes to mind for most people is climate change. Global warming, whether people think it is a myth or not, is affecting the oceans, the polar ice caps, and life in general on the planet. Future generations will have to make adjustments on a large scale in order to make life manageable. Another huge trend that will touch multiple nations is the growth in areas of world economy and population and the subsequent stress on energy, food and water resources. Our students will be the ones negotiating with other governments on trade and they will be the ones deciding alternate forms of fuel and whether or not our dependence on fossil fuels will continue. One other major trend is the potential for continued conflict in certain areas of the globe (Middle East, for example) where repeated attempts for peace have failed. Today’s youth will be the ones negotiating treaties (or perhaps waging war) and deliberating over matters of international concern in the next 25 years.  Now what characteristics will such individuals have to possess in order to cope with and manage these trends? In other words, what knowledge and skills will they have to equip themselves with (or will we, as teachers, have to equip them with) in order for them to make this world one in which they can live productively, peacefully (hopefully) and sustainably? Parker (1999) espouses “deliberation” as a decision-making skill that students should possess when confronted with an “ill-structured” problem. These major global trends all seem quite ill-structured, and there are many opinions out there regarding ways to “solve” the problems. Today’s students (tomorrow’s leaders) will have to develop deliberation skills in order to best arrive at decisions that will lead to the best possible solutions, no matter what the problem. A good way to implement such a practice is through simulations in classrooms. Within the context of deliberation, students work on their communication and collaboration skills, which are so important around the negotiating table, and across national borders. Teachers give groups of students an ill-structured problem, a scenario, and they will have to work together in order to come up with a solution, or perhaps several possible solutions. Evidence of collaboration and effective communication along with up-to-date use of technology will be necessary. Students may even want to collaborate with cohorts in other schools in other states or countries.  Students will also have to develop now the characteristic of foresight or vision, that is, the ability to see the big picture. Foresight will allow students to navigate through change and help them take action. We as teachers must remind students constantly to keep the big picture in mind, to not lose sight of the goal, to see the forest despite the trees. Being goal-oriented and a visionary will (hopefully) allow student to avoid being tripped up by obstacles along the way. Teachers must try to incorporate goal-oriented or problem-based curricular activities into their lessons on a regular basis in order to develop these skills in their students.