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Should economic globalization be encouraged? why or why not?

What are ways to engage Americans about thinking of globalization in different terms?

  • It has struck me that most mainstream Americans are completely lost about what has happened with globalization. Instead of going out and trying to understand their biggest competitors, the Chinese (on an individual, not just government basis) and how they think about globalization, they turn inward and try to find answers in America's past, and in the founding fathers. But the founding fathers never had globalization as an issue! My point is that you will not find answers to globalization in the past, and a new paradigm needs to be constructed. I have benefited because I have lived most of my working life outside of the US in Asia. This has resulted in a communications gap when I visit the US: I find that most Americans live in a world completely different from mine, and they appear stuck in a pre-globalization world. Moreover, many thought that globalization would be about the rest of the world becoming more like the US, but when that hasn't happened, they appear confused, then angry, and want to withdraw into their pre-globalization world. (Which really doesn't work, because when they go shopping, there is a more than 90% chance that whatever they buy is made in China.) In simple terms, most Americans don't even know how to begin to think about what globalization means. What are ways to get them to change their thinking? Or is there no answer, and will the US be wandering in the desert for 40 years until a whole new generation takes over?

  • Answer:

    One place to start is in our classrooms by raising this very question with our students. Students need to do much more than just learn a foreign language, usually at a minimal level. They need to interact with people of other cultures, MANY other cultures, not just Hispanic cultures. They need to explore the hows and whys of behaviors and customs. They need to see themselves through the eyes of people from other cultures, as this article says, on an individual basis.  The majority of Americans are not aware that most Europeans believe that almost all Americans speak Spanish. Many American students study Spanish, which is admirable, but once Americans leave the shores of America, Spanish alone is inadequate for most of us.  We need exposure to many other cultures and languages in order to become truly globalized.  There's a lot of work to be done.

Susan K Browder at Quora Visit the source

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Susan, Lloyd: The vast majority of people I know are as you described, they have only one POV, theirs, the way they grew up is their answer.  I see a glimmer of hope as I've substitute taught in local high schools for 6 years.  I sometimes ask junior and senior classes how many have a passport.  Thirty to forty percent raise their hand.  I then ask how many have traveled to a foreign country and almost as many raise their hands.  I grew up in this same Zip Code area and forty years ago nobody would have had a passport and traveled abroad.  Young people today are much more widely traveled.  I am truly amazed at the family vacations and mission trips these youngsters are exposed to.  It may come to what Paul Denlinger suggests in his question: "Or is there no answer, and will the US be wandering in the desert for 40 years until a whole new generation takes over?"  I suspect we will slowly, slowly come to  understand globalization.

Mike Mabe

Susan, you say "As the article says," (on an individual basis). Correct me if I am wrong are you not implying that it is an INDIVIDUAL choice for students when deciding how worldly they become. In addition to this you say, "The majority of American's are not aware that most Europeans believe that almost all Americans speak Spanish." What sources did you use to cite this information? I have lived abroad, and I must say I never met nor do those that remained good friends, a European neither in Belgium, Prague, London, or Germany that expressed this belief.

Charlene Greenwood

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