Ed Tech Geek

Wow. That is about all I can utter at the moment. I just finished listening to Going Global with Alan November, and I have a new fear for this county. For years now I have feared our county’s environmental destruction and disregard for our natural resources and waste, but now I have an additional concern. Alan tells a compelling point of view regarding the education of children in the US and our lack of global perspective and empathy for other countries. I have respect for his opinion based on his own world travels, and I realized how little I knew about education in other counties listening to some of his examples. The truly nerve racking part is the economic ramifications that this could have on our county as a whole. I think we are often such an ethnocentric county that we forget that there is a great big world out there. Foreign relations should be a concern of our county and society as a whole, not just our government, and our large corporations. Education does seem to be an obvious missing link. We in education are so focused on our national requirements, state standards and county requirements that it is easy to forget that there is a much bigger picture. I thought it was interesting that he recommends Skipe, Podcasting and a blog as three things a teacher can do to help their classroom move in a more global direction. Is this really the answer? Why is our government not helping to make our schools more competitive on a global level? Was NCLB supposed to do that? We seem to be stuck with requirements placed on us at a national level that work against this change in the way we educate. Can teachers really change education from the front lines up?