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Announcements
The
State of International Education in the United States
(An
overview by the US Department of Education,
November 15, 2004)| Download
PowerPoint
Deputy Under Secretary of Education Joseph Esposito outlines in
a PowerPoint presentation the need and demand for international education.
The state of the field report highlights both promising work underway
as well as challenges the education system faces. The report concludes
with what the Department of Education is doing to assess, monitor and
strengthen international education in American schools. For more information
on the Department of Education's initiatives in internation education,
visit their website at www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international.
New
[International Studies] Charter High School to be Built
by 2006
(Los Angeles Daily News, December 10, 2004) |
Read
full article
Los Angeles charter school pioneer Yvonne Chan will break ground today
on her fourth campus -- the final step in creating a free, comprehensive
alternative to traditional public schools for the poorest students in
the San Fernando Valley. The new high school's aim is to graduate "global
citizens" ready to take on the world's most challenging problems, Chan
said. To equip them for that task, the International Studies Academy
will teach its 500 students English, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. Students
will also learn about various cultures and economies, including those
in Asia and the Middle East. Students said they look forward to the
challenge of learning Chinese and Arabic. "Not everybody does that,"
said 13-year-old Carlos Martinez. "It's very exciting that we're the
ones to try it out."
Japanese Officials and the College Board Announce an Advanced Placement
Program® Course in Japanese Language and Culture
Ambassador
of Japan Ryozo Kato and College Board President Gaston Caperton today
announced the creation of an Advanced Placement Program (AP) course
and examination in Japanese Language and Culture, part of the College
Board’s commitment to promoting instruction in world languages and cultures
in American schools. Download
press release.
Delaware,
Vermont, Kentucky, Massachusetts and West Virginia Release State Reports
on International Education
In 2004, five states released statewide reports on international education.
This is the result of a call to action in 2001's educational policy
report: Asia in the Schools: Preparing Young Americans for Today's
Interconnected World and through a program focus of the annual States
Institute for International Education. In 2002, Michigan released the
first state report, Michigan Asia in the Schools. Learn
more.
International
Secondary Schools Network Open New Schools in Fall 2004
Three new small schools focused on international studies started their
inaugural year in Fall 2004 in New York City, Los Angeles and Charlotte.
Directed by Asia Society, with generous support from The Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, the schools will prepare socio-economically
disadvantaged youth for success in an interconnected world. Learn
more.
Southern
Growth Policies Board’s 2004 Report on the Future of the South Focuses
on Competing in the Global Economy
| www.southern.org |
Report (intro)
| Toolkit
Recommendations in the report include increasing exports and international
education, and building relationships with foreign communities at home
and abroad. The report also includes examples of how the South’s public,
private and academic sectors are addressing globalization. A new toolkit
from Southern Growth Policies Board, Globally Positioning the South,
is designed to help communities plan their future in the global economy.
Materials are available to guide citizens in a discussion of possible
approaches, including making sure that businesses have access to information
about global markets and new technologies, that the workforce has the
skills needed in today's global marketplace, and that communities are
making civic connections that will help them build stronger communities
and businesses.
Press Clippings
A Nation Apart?
(California
School Board Association, Winter 2004) | read
full article
Excerpt: "We all
got a geography lesson in the fall of 2001 as the U.S. turned its attention
to Afghanistan. For many Americans — especially younger ones —
the nightly news was an abrupt introduction to the relevance of Asian
cartography. The need to understand the history and culture of places
like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran became strikingly clear.
In the wake
of Sept. 11, schools across the country seized the opportunity to explore
the beliefs and values of inhabitants of the Middle East and beyond.
Indeed, the whole Asian continent — from Turkey to Russia to Indonesia
— has become a vital cog in the world’s economic, security
and social machinery. Sixty percent of the world’s population
lives there."
Asian
languages to make debut in pre-college US exams
(Yahoo! News, December 7, 2004 and International Herald
Tribune, December 8, 2004) | read full article 1,
2
Asian languages will be included for the first time in a key pre-university
US examination, a change that could lure more American students to study
Japanese or Chinese instead of longtime favorites French, Spanish and
German. The US College Board has decided from 2006 to offer Japanese
and Chinese languages in its Advanced Placement Program, known commonly
as AP, which allows students to pursue college-level studies while still
in high school, officials said.
Report:
Culture Gap
(San Francisco Examiner, November 18, 2004) |
read
full article
Students in the United States are inadequately prepared to compete in
the global marketplace, according to a report released Tuesday funded
by one of the world's leading investment banking firms. "If young Americans
are to take leadership roles, they must have a set of skills, as well
as an understanding of other languages, geography and cultures," said
Chris Williams, spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, which authorized the
study.
Report:
Think globally, teach locally
(American School Board Journal, January 2005)
| click to visit ASBJ
website
This article discusses the international studies knowledge gap and the
Schools for the Global Age report. It focuses on advice for
other districts wanting to launch international studies programs including:
secure communtity buy-in and find passionate defenders; expect to supplement
textbooks; ensure all participants' commitment; emphasize world language
mastery and international exchange; embrace technology; and dream big,
start slow and be flexible.
For
more press clippings on The Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes and
the publication, Schools for a Global Age, click
here.
Op-Ed:
Make Global Skills a Top Priority
(Financial Times, July 2, 2004) | read
full article (requires subscription)
Harvard University recently released the groundbreaking report of its
first big review of the undergraduate curriculum in almost 30 years.
The study concludes that in a fast-changing world, students urgently
need knowledge of a wider range of subjects, deeper understanding of
the principles of science and a far greater grasp of international affairs.
It recommends significant reforms of the undergraduate curriculum to
ensure greater international knowledge and experience and stronger foreign
language skills for graduates who will be "globally competent". They
need to be able to appreciate different cultures and to work expertly
in other countries or as part of an international team. The central
question the Harvard committee sought to answer "What does it mean to
be an educated person in the first quarter of the 21st century?" is
not one for elite institutions alone. Education systems across the board
urgently need to be modernised.
Op-Ed:
After Sputnik, It Was Russian; After 9/11, Should It Be Arabic?
(The New York Times, June 16, 2004)
| read
full article (requires registration and fee)
Less than a year after the Soviet Union launched a satellite named Sputnik
in October 1957, America answered with a counterstrike. It was a piece
of legislation, the National Defense Education Act, which aimed at harnessing
brain power rather than weaponry for the cold war. Advertisement Mostly,
the statute poured federal money into stimulating the study of mathematics
and science, disciplines most relevant to the arms race, but a portion
provided incentives for universities to develop skilled speakers of
strategic languages, especially Russian. [Now], of more than 1.8 million
graduates of American colleges and universities in 2003, exactly 22
took degrees in Arabic, according to Department of Education statistics.
Foreign
Language Enrollments Not Meeting Nation's Needs
(The Christian Science Monitor, February 10, 2004)
| read
full article
As of 1994, only 8% of students were studying foreign languages, and
less than 10% of them were enrolled in Chinese and other languages sdeemed
critical to national security. Despite the need for instruction in these
areas, shrinking budgets and pressure to achieve in core subject areas
are putting the heat on American schools to justify foreign language
instruction.
New
Advanced Placement Course in Chinese Language and Culture
(The
New York Times; The
Los Angeles Times, The
Washington Post, The
Xinhua News Agency, December 6, 2003) | Read
press release
Representatives of the People's Republic
of China and College Board President Gaston Caperton today announced
the creation of an Advanced Placement Program®
(AP®) Course and Examination in Chinese Language
and Culture, citing Chinas's growing economic significance and the College
Board's commitment to promoting cultural understanding in America's
schools as motivating forces behind the decision. | Read
full press release (3-page MS Word document).
Where
are the Chinese-speakers of the future?
(The Christian Science Monitor, February 10, 2004)
| read
full article (requires registration and fee)
Despite the fact that Chinese is the most widely spoken language on
the planet - there are 874 million native speakers of Chinese, compared
with 341 million of English - only 50,000 American school children study
it. Like Arabic, Chinese is a critical language, and without an emerging
generation of Chinese speakers, the US faces growing holes in intelligence
gathering, trade relations, and cultural understanding.
Asia
Society Announces $7.5 Million Initiative for Urban International Studies
Secondary Schools
(The New York Times, September 18,
2003) | Read press
release
Asia Society today announced a five-year grant of $7.5 million from
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to establish the first national
network of urban secondary schools devoted to international studies.
The 10 model schools in five cities will provide a rigorous, engaging
education for low-income and minority students in order to prepare them
for college and the working world in an increasingly global society.
International
Knowledge: Let's Close the Gap
(Education
Week May 28, 2003. Vol. 22, no. 38, p. 31, 44.)
| read
full article on edweek.org
(registration
required)
This commentary is a useful summary of the international knowledge gap,
and what local groups, state leaders, and our nation can do to prepare
young Americans for an globally interconnected future.
Ted
Sanders is the president of the Education Commission of the States,
in Denver. Vivien Stewart is the vice president of the Asia Society,
in New York City. She is also the executive director of the National
Coalition on Asia and International Studies in the Schools, on which
Mr. Sanders serves.
Paige Urges
New Focus on International Education
(Education Week November 27, 2002. Vol. 22, no. 13, p. 20)
| read
full article on edweek.org
Excerpt:
"The United States must look beyond its borders to seek new ideas
in learning, information to bring home to students, and strong educational
relationships with other countries, Secretary of Education Rod Paige
said in a speech [during International Education Week]. ...Mr. Paige
said the Department of Education would make new efforts to seek close
educational ties with other countries and participate in international
projects and studies. The goal is to increase U.S. students' knowledge
about other regions, cultures, languages, and inter"ational issues,
as well as to share information about U.S. education policies with other
countries." Rod
Paige is the former U.S. Secretary of Education.
States
Explore Ways to Raise Global Issues in Curricula
(Education Week December 4, 2002. Vol. 22, no.
14, p. 13) |
read
full article on edweek.org (registration required)
Excerpt:
"In the midst of international education week, delegations from
nearly half the states gathered [in Washington, DC] to devise strategies
and seek advice on incorporating global studies into their curricula.
Billed as the States Institute on International Education in the Schools,
the three-day affair brought together educators, policymakers, and representatives
from the business and philanthropy worlds to find ways to close the
"international knowledge gap" that experts say threatens America's economy
and security."
Expand
the Scope of Middle East and Asian Study in Schools
(Published in a variety of newspapers on August 2002,
including Indiana's South Bend Tribune, Utah's Standard Examiner,
Michigan's Saginaw News, and Florida's Fort Pierce Tribune)
| read full article
Excerpt:
"American students know far too little about the rest of the world.
Witness the intensity with which teachers sought appropriate materials
to help their students understand the politics, religions, and cultures
of the Middle East and the central Asian region after Sept. 11..."
John
Engler, the 2001-2002 Chairman of the National Governors Association,
is the governor of Michigan. Jim unt served as governor of North Carolina.
They are co-chairs of the National Coalition on Asia and International
Studies in the Schools.
Two Languages
Better Than One to Keep Mind Young
(Reuters via Yahoo! News, June 14, 2004) | read
full article
Older
adults who grew up bilingual had quicker minds when tested than people
who spoke only one language, the researchers found. They showed less
of the natural decline associated with aging, the journal Psychology
and Aging reports about the Canadian study.
Students
Study Japanese for Fun
(Wall Street Journal, August 5, 2004) | read
full article (subscription required)
The changing nature of the Japanese language student -- from international
business major to pop-culture junkie -- reflects a big shift in Americans'
perception of Japan.
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