TG Article 1: Globalization

Noting the significance of globalization and education throughout the entire world it is easy to see, and not easy to remain ignorant to the fact, that America has been falling behind for decades. The global network is changing every day, though. Stark improvements in education in countries like China and India are apparent as they become more in tune with adopting this new societal institution of economic, political and technological integration.

This leaves many individuals with the question of: What has happened to America, and why does it continue to fall behind? There are a couple of answers which are not so difficult to see.

First and foremost is a consideration for the United States’ lack of involvement in the global economy despite their large ties in every majorly developed country. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that this rise in opposition to globalization can be explained, at least in part, by economic self-interest. But why is there opposition in the first place? The answer is simpler than one may imagine and can be found in the profound representation of dissent that America holds towards new immigration and its own economic insecurity. According to a poll conducted for the Wall Street Journal and NBC News, in 1997, 58% of college graduates said globalization had been good for the U.S. while 30% said it had been bad. When the poll asked a similar question in 2008 (after the financial crisis of 2007), 47% of graduates thought globalization was bad and only 33% thought it was good. Respondents with high school education, who were always opposed to globalization, became more opposed. Unfortunately this road seems no closer to collapse than ever, as a phobia of change continues to consume most of the nation's individuals.

Secondly, US citizens have largely grown detached from education in the grand scheme of things. Looking at the pollings done by WSJ and NBC, there can be no question of education’s involvement in the problem (or the solution).

“As Joel Samoff noted in 1994, observers have reported that structural adjustment policies often encourage an emphasis on inappropriate skills and reproduce existing social and economic inequalities, leading actually to lowered enrollment rates, an erosion in the quality of education, and a misalignment between educational need and provision.”
- State University

The ideas of opposition in American thinking can take sole responsibility for such lack of political execution, but cannot denote the role of student motivation. One does not need a qualified source to analyze that most students in the United States are entirely unenthused by the thought of school. Most view it as a chore and an unfortunate obligation. The distances between students of other countries and students within the United States are such that the ratio of obligation in the United States vs. obligation in China or India are 5:1.

Since when does prosperity come at such a high price? It really never has, but American education policies are making it a new reality. The American dream has become more dreamlike than ever before, and it is because of the existence of these phobias of international communication and educational revolution that the possibility can even exist. It’s time to stop blaming educators on the whole; but rather, blame the lack of innovation Americans are willing to strive for and the motivation its students are willing to create.

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I think this is what Obama was trying to stress the most in his State of the Union speech. Education seems to constantly be put on the back burner, now more than ever. Schools are getting budgets cut and that can only affect our country for the worse in the long run. Instead of focusing so much on military spending as we seem to do, we need to focus on education.