Final post

Global citizenship can be explained as a moral and ethical point of view, which can show the understanding of individuals or groups of local and worldwide areas. Global citizenship is not just a class based on current news, but about the culture as well. To become a global citizen you must be open to many cultural ideas and customs. The easiest way of becoming a global citizen is having an open mind. I was very fascinated how we saw and listened to music and movies from other areas and how their culture and traditions were mixed into the film and music. For example Chuke De India was a great movie that showed many of the traditional Indian music and actions. I was surprised how even if you are listening to music in another language you can still kind of understand what they are saying. I also feel that music is a great way for people to become global citizens. Everyone loves music and a lot of people can respect and enjoy a good song even if it is in another language. Also food from other areas of the world had a particular culture to it. Indian food is a great example of this. Indian food uses many certain spices that aren’t used in many of dishes around the world.  Restaurants also help with spreading culture. There are thousands of many different kinds of foods that restaurants cook that spread the culture.  Film is such a popular way to spread culture also. Chuke De India is a great movie that not only has a great story to it but also shows so much culture. To be a global citizen you must show respect for everyone. Being born in Japan and living in India, England and now here has changed my life culturally. I have made many friends in India, and England still to this day. Actually recently I have become  facebook friends with them. This brings up another great point that the internet can help spread the beliefs and thoughts of other cultures. Today youtube and wikipedia and thousands of other websites have helped spread cultural beliefs.

 

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The Steps to Global Competency-Final

In Global Citizenship, a Primer, we focused on the five elements of global competence: investigate the world, recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, take action, and apply knowledge.

For the first step, investigating the world, we learned how to connect what’s going on in our community to what’s going on across the globe. First, we looked at the impacts that other cultures have on our local lives. For example, we have access to foods from other cultures, like Mexican and Chinese food. I was very surprised when we went around the room saying where our clothes were made in the beginning of the class. Almost no one’s shoes were made in the US and neither was my Texas Longhorns t-shirt. We also did “look and listen” at the beginning of each class to learn a little about a different culture. We focused the most on Indian culture by watching Chak de India and performances by Indian comedians, as well as eating Indian food. In addition to watching movies, we also investigated the world by doing research about taxation and terrorism.

For the second step, recognizing perspectives, we learned how to expand our horizons and understand the point of view of others. We did this by reading articles and case studies, so we could study all sides of the story. For example, in the case studies on terrorism I learned that people that we call terrorists might be considered freedom fighters in another part of the world. We also read an article about a man who visited a college in China and asked the students whether they thought the Tibetians or the Chinese were the problem in the China-Tibet conflict, and they all thought it was the Tibetians. However, the same speaker asked that question in a college in America and got the exact opposite answer.

For the third step, we learned how to communicate our ideas by blogging about a topic we’re interested in or commenting on another post. In our posts and responses, we talked about our topic after studying all the different perspectives and then making an opinion about it. Global citizens should consider all sides of the story before deciding what they think about it instead of basing their beliefs on stereotypes.

The last two steps are about using what you already learned to make a difference in the world. By expanding our horizons and learning about the impact of other cultures in our lives, we’re on our way to becoming global citizens. However, you don’t have to make a huge difference in the world to be a global citizen. Making a change in your community is just as important.

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Dissecting Global Citizenship: A Journey into Unfamiliar Cultures

Throughout the three weeks of Global Citizenship: A Primer, I have learned and relearned many aspects of what it means to be a global citizen. This class broadened my horizons about the issues taking place around the globe. Gaining global competency is one of the main goals highlighted in this course. Investigating the world, recognizing perspectives, communicating ideas, and taking action combine to form the definition of global competence. By being global competent, one understands the world and interprets issues by understanding both sides of the story and using this information to communicate and can execute tasks that help the world become closer to unity.

Understanding the definition global competence was the key to the class.  Utilizing this knowledge, our class explored some of the many issues of the world. First, our class chose to research the views on homosexuality in the countries of our favorite food (in my case sushi). When I researched, I identified the perspectives of the Japanese society and their views on gays. I found that the outlooks are somewhat relaxed and accepted, similar to the United States. Next, I learned about blue zones and the key to being healthy and living longer. In a blue zone, a population has a significantly higher life expectancy due to healthy habits. Other pieces of research included, ikigai, the drive for a person to get up in the morning in Japan, and civil discourse in the United States.

After finding our research, we logged our information in Word Press. Word Press is a blog site where groups, in this case our class, could blog our ideas and we could all comment on each other’s. I feel that Word Press was an effective tool in helping me understand global competence. Not only could I show my own feelings, but I could see what everybody else was thinking and could get feedback about my post from them.

For the first thirty minutes in each of the class periods, we would partake in listening and learning. We heard beautiful songs of foreign artists who sang with their hearts. Interpreting these songs was a main part of these sessions. Along with the songs, our class watched the movie Chak De! India. This fast paced and dramatic movie about India’s disrespected team was not only entertaining but informative as well. I had no idea that women in India were treated with less equality than in the United States and that field hockey was treated with such enthusiasm in their culture.

As far as the course goes, I have come to learn and relearn many things. Specifics like the treatment of gays in India or the problem of the lack of civil discourse in the United States. I thought that India’s would be accepting to gays, but in fact they are not. These are only small examples from the huge issues that I might be unaware about. I feel that everyone is our country should strive to be more globally competent. There is no specific person that needs it more than the other. Many people in the United States may have false beliefs towards certain issues and need to be enlightened. To allow the population to become more globally competent, I would say that classes in schools need to include more about the other parts of the world and their perspectives rather than those of the United States themselves. This is just a small suggestion to the many possibilities.

Global Citizenship: A Primer, was by far the best class I took this semester. Do not think that I am trying to suck up. Everyday in the class was a mystery. I looked forward to discovering facts from other cultures that I had no idea about. The usage of songs, videos, and the blogs, kept me engaged throughout the whole class.  If I had to make any suggestions I would say to stay on topic more. I do like how free it is to choose the topics you want to research it keeps you more interested in your topic.

Overall it was a great class and I wish I could take it again next year.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Harris Green

The Guide and findings of a Global Citizen

In this course, I have learned that the entire world is connected. Each person is connected to and affected by people in completely different continents. Each countries economy is based off one another, and if one crashes (U.S.), they all start to decline. In everyday life, I eat foods of different cultures, including Mexican, Italian, Chinese, etc. A great majority of the objects I own were made in China. All of these points reinforce that we depend on each other from one person to another and one country to another. Also the worlds entertainment business is connected, with there being tons of successful Mexican actors/actresses and directors in the American movie business, as well as actors/actresses from Italy, Spain, China, Germany, I could go on and on.

I’ve learned about the tax system in the U.S. and how it matches up to China’s, more specifically the relationship of China’s production of commercial goods shipped to America for consumption and how that relates to tax. I then learned about different issues in various countries caught up in civil war and whether the groups involved were revolutionaries or terrorists. That jumped to watching a bollywood film, Chak Del India, where I realized that Indian films are very similar to American films, except for the length which shows more details about the subject of the film, and that bollywood films love music and dance and incorporate that into their films. Also bollywood films are much more realistic, with the actors looking like everyday people, unlike American films which make their actors/actresses look like super models. In fact I learned so much about how our world is so connected, that it was scary and very surprising, and after I do not know how I ever did not know our world was not connected.

When I started interim term in Global Citizenship, I had stereotypes about different cultures, such as every Indian woman wore saris, were very traditional, and treated as subordinate to men. This stereotype was shattered after I watched Chak Del India, seeing women in more modern clothes that girls in the U.S. where. The were in some ways treated as subordinate to men when they almost were not sent to the championships, but they proved equal when they won the championship. I have had to un-learn that stereotypes are true just because I saw a picture of Indian women wearing saris so they must all wear saris, because that is far from the truth.

I think that to be a successful global citizen, you have to do many things: understand that your perspective could be very different from someone else, communicate with other people about their perspective, sharing ideas and asking questions with one another, and then teach the world about the different cultures and their differing perspectives. Anything that you have learned that tells you to ignore these principles or disregard these, you have to get rid of them. I think you can help achieve these principles in many different ways, join after school clubs about different cultures such as the China club or Indian club. The main point to being a global citizen though is to just be active in your community, don’t wait for somebody else to.

 

Filed under: Uncategorized, James Britt

Final Post

This class has taught me a lot about other cultures and their views. When we first started in class, we discussed, as a generalization, how we could work harder to become global citizens in our rapidly changing world. At first, everyone suggested things like getting to know other cultures and eating the various foods different countries had to offer. But, as we became more involved in this class, we built a better foundation establishing what it means to get to know and understand another culture. Understanding isn’t necessarily knowing the language or being able to navigate oneself through that country’s international airport, but it’s knowing the traditions, meanings of customs, and principles within a particular society. For example, watching “Chak De! India” was a really fun thing to do, because who doesn’t like a safe, predictable sports movie? But as we watched more deeply, it wasn’t just a sports movie at all. Chak De was a prime example of Indian pride and customs. It displayed differences between people from various regions and castes through out India, it depicted women and what their stances in life should be (subservient to the man of the house and feminine), and it also showed the relationship between India and other countries (Pakistan, England, Australia, etc.). One thing this movie definitely made me “un-learn” was the idea that Indians wore Saris all day and ate Indian food for every meal. This was very, very false. In fact, most of the Indians in Chak De were dressed like a lot of Americans dress, except for special events like the field hockey banquet with Australia. Also, one of the biggest, most important scenes in the movie take place at a McDonald’s! But, they apparently eat lamb-burgers instead of hamburgers, since cows are very sacred in India. I really liked the use of music in Chak De. Music is much more meaningful in Bollywood films. Throughout the movie, whenever Khan would have an enlightening moment, there would be a voice singing “I was once your third color” and :you are my master.” I don’t really know what they mean by that, but im very certain its meaningful to the people of the Hindi faith, or at least the people of India as a generalization. To become a global citizen, I have decided that it is very important to cleanse oneself of any assumptions or stereotypes while learning about a particular culture, so you can really get the true meaning and gist of what a certain aspect of that culture might be trying to portray. Before watching Chak De, I assumed that most of India looked like “Slumdog Millionaire,” which is definitely not the case. You can learn so much about other cultures without even leaving your living room (which would be smart to do before actually heading off to a country you know little to nothing about). Becoming a global citizen, in my opinion, is not necessarily agreeing with, but just understanding everyone’s points of view.

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Global Competence As the Key to Success- FINAL!

I have enjoyed every minute of Global Citizenship, A Primer. Not only have I learned many new and exciting things, I now understand what it takes to be a true global citizen.

Each week, the class had meaningful discussions and decided on a topic that we wanted to further address. We then spent the rest of the week blogging about that certain issue in various countries of the world. For example, during the first week of class, our assignments included researching homosexuality in the countries from which our favorite food comes from. Therefore, as I researched and blogged about gays in Chinese society, I learned that their views were very different than a lot of people living in America.

For example, most parents want to continue their legacy or family business by having their children continue to reproduce. However, a lot of parents in America want their children to be happy, and they don’t expect them to be part of a family business. In other words, it is more accepted here for children to have goals and to be whatever they want to be when they grow up. As I continued to explore this topic, I realized that the Chinese have a harsh view on homosexuality for many reasons. Religion, education, wealth, the agricultural influence, and the importance of large families are all factors that play into China’s strict ideology. Knowledge of the roles that these factors play in different societies allows a student to be globally competent.

I think that all Kinkaid students should enroll in this course in order to learn the importance of being globally competent. Globally competent students understand that although we are citizens of one country, we are still affected by what goes on in countries around us. These worldly students are able to put their opinions and views aside, and not make judgments about other people until learning about their circumstances. Most importantly, globally competent students have an open mind, are eager to learn, and do not listen or base their ideas off of stereotypes.

Before taking this class, I had never learned how to blog. However, after a few days, I came to love this new form of communication that allows students to share information and fun facts with one another. After reading my classmates posts, I was intrigued when I learned that countries such as India, China, and Italy have many of the same issues that we have here in America. Some of these issues include gay rights and marriage, health care, and the effects of the environment.

Learning about these topics that occur in such far away places has allowed me to see the world in a new and exciting way. In order to be a global citizen, I think that it is necessary for people to celebrate the rich cultures of each country that make us all different. As a globally aware student, it is my job to help widen the lens of narrow- minded people. I think that young children and students my age need the least help with this task, since they are all young and not quite so concerned with politics or money.

Our warm up exercise each morning is called “Listen and Learn,” and it provides time for us to watch videos, movies, or interviews and hear music from other cultures. I am so grateful that we have taken the time to do this, as it will defiantly benefit me when I travel to foreign countries. Overall, this has been my favorite class and I look forward to continue to be a successful global citizen.

 

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Global Competence As the Key to Success

I have enjoyed every minute of Global Citizenship, A Primer. Not only have I learned many new and exciting things, I now understand what it takes to be a true global citizen. Each week, the class had meaningful discussions and decided on a topic that we wanted to further address. We then spent the rest of the week blogging about that certain issue in various countries of the world. For example, during the first week of class, our assignments included researching homosexuality in the countries from which our favorite food comes from. Therefore, as I researched and blogged about gays in Chinese society, I learned that their views were very different than a lot of people living in America. As I continued to explore this topic, I realized that the Chinese have a harsh view on homosexuality for many reasons. Religion, education, wealth, the agricultural influence, and the importance of large families are all factors that play into China’s strict ideology. Knowledge of the roles that these factors play in different societies allows a student to be globally competent. I think that all Kinkaid students should enroll in this course in order to learn the importance of being globally competent. Globally competent students understand that although we are citizens of one country, we are still affected by what goes on in countries around us. These worldly students are able to put their opinions and views aside, and not make judgments about other people until learning about their circumstances. Most importantly, globally competent students have an open mind, are eager to learn, and do not listen or base their ideas off of stereotypes. Before taking this class, I had never learned how to blog. However, after a few days, I came to love this new form of communication that allows students to share information and fun facts with one another. After reading my classmates posts, I was shocked and surprised to learn that countries such as India, China, and Italy have many of the same issues that we have here in America. Some of these issues include gay rights and marriage, health care, and the effects of the environment. Learning about these topics that occur in such far away places has allowed me to see the world in a new and exciting way. In order to be a global citizen, I think that it is necessary for people to celebrate the rich cultures of each country that make us all different. As a globally aware student, it is my job to help widen the lens of narrow- minded people. I think that young children and students my age need the least help with this task, since they are all young and not quite so concerned with politics or money. Our warm up exercise each morning is called “Listen and Learn,” and it provides time for us to watch videos, movies, or interviews and hear music from other cultures. I am so grateful that we have taken the time to do this, as it will defiantly benefit me when I travel to foreign countries. Overall, this has been my favorite class and I look forward to continue to be a successful global citizen.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Julia Shaffer

Final Blog

When I saw “Global Citizenship, A Primer” on the list to choose classes for Interim Term I was excited and wanted to learn more. The next three weeks taught me so much more about the world and how important it was to be a global citizen than I thought possible. If the United States of America wants to survive and compete in the 21st century than we need to be globally competent. In order to be globally competent we have to recognize perspectives, take action to make a difference, and communicate ideas with the world. The movies and discussions we had taught the class the different perspectives from around the world on different issues. Our class studied gay marriage, healthcare, and climate change. I studied Chile on the topic of gay marriage and learned that it is not legal but many people there are trying to make it legal. I discovered that gays cannot have the same rights as different sex couples. We learned about “Blue Zones” which are places where people live much longer than the life expectancy. They do so by eating right, and exercising. Blue Zones are in Sardinia (of the coast of Italy), Japan, and even one right here in the United States. Chak de! was a great movie to learn about the culture of India. It was about an Indian women’s field hockey team winning the World Cup against all odds. Field hockey is India’s most popular sport but the women still do not get much attention until they win. This video shows people how much different India is from the United States culturally. We also learned about foods in India. I think the generation that needs the most help to learn to be globally competent is the current generation of adults. They did not grow up learning to think globally but in the 21st century it is essential. Though they me the most needing of help the most important generation is my generation because if we learn to be expert global thinkers than we can help the United States and the rest of the world succeed when it is most important. The best public education is not in the United States but in Singapore. This wasn’t surprising to me but what was surprising was that we were number 25 on that list. If we can look at what other countries are doing to improve their public education than we can improve ours. That is being globally competent. I hope I can use what I learned in this class to be a better global citizen and that the United States can learn to be global and cooperate with other countries like China to be successful in the future.

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Global Citizenship Final Reflection

In Global Citizenship, A Primer, I have learned about the different cultures around the world and how to appreciate them from a new perspective. A great tool in life is to learn how to see things from many different viewpoints. With this skill, people are able to solve issues more efficiently. It also improves their social skills, which makes them more effective when working with other people. In this class we have discussed some of the biggest issues on our earth. We studied and learned why these issues existed, what the best way to approach them is and how to resolve them.

The two issues we studied in depth were taxation and defining terrorism. I wrote about the economy in Greece, and although they try to follow a similar system to the other European economies, they have fallen into a financial crisis. We used PBS to find helpful videos about our topic, and I found an interview with the Greek Finance Minister. The interview covered all of the information I needed to have a full understanding of why Greece is in their financial crisis, and PBS proved to be a very useful source.

We watched and listened to many types of media covering current events in politics including C-Span. We watched several interviews from C-Span to learn about what information they delivered and how they presented it. Many organizations today attempt to deliver their news from a neutral standpoint so they can entertain members from all political parties, but it is very difficult to stay completely unbiased all the time. We talked about the importance of rhetoric and how it is used in politics to make a point. There was suspicion swirling around Sarah Palin and if her use of rhetoric was connected in any way to the recent shootings in Arizona. We discussed why this was likely a coincidence because analogies of fighting are often used to make points in politics because they are aggressive.

We discussed the many ways people can learn about different cultures. Today, there are millions of people moving to new countries, and all of them are taking knowledge and experience with them. Our packet on global competence introduced the ways that someone can learn about the world by connecting to others. The packet also reminded us that everyone has a heritage, and our very own family might have lived in a culture that we do not know about at all.

“Chak de! India” was a great movie that showed us about the unique culture of India. It was a very lengthy movie, but we learned that most Indian films are around three hours unlike American movies, which are usually less than two. We discovered the tremendous pride that each Indian has. When the Indian men’s field hockey team was playing Pakistan, the announcer described the match as “way more than a game.” When Pakistan defeated India, Kabir Khan was humiliated, and the burden of losing that game was not lifted until he avenged himself when he won as the coach of the women’s team. The day after we finished “Chak de! India”, Mrs. Forster brought our class delicious Indian food so we could taste the culture of India also.

Although I have only lived in one country during my lifetime, I can safely assume that now I have taken this class, I have become a much more enlightened global citizen.

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Final Blog

Global Citizenship, A Primer focused on a different topic every week. The first week we focused on taxation, both domestic and foreign. I learned a lot about where the taxes come from and where they end up going. Most of the economic burden falls to the upper class, and I learned about how that affects the system. Other people in my class focused on the taxation laws in other countries. This is an important topic because it affects the global economy and will affect our lives one day. Learning about this now will allow us to be more affective global citizens as we grow up.

We covered an important side topic by watching Chak de India. That movie focused on prejudice within a country through a sports story. There were several parallels that could be drawn between India and America. For example if I tell someone in New York that I am from Texas they immediately picture a dusty town with tumbleweed. It is important to remember that we are American and be united.

For effective learning in this class, I had to forgo any stereotypes I had ever heard. We read about the story of the Chinese students who were amazed that anyone could find China at fault for the trouble in Tibet. To be honest I kind of assumed that the people in China were idiots if they could see all the damage being done and not doing anything about it. In America we have a certain lens especially concerning human rights, which is why we respond a certain way. But I do think that China is they type of country that should widen their lens. Google is illegal because the government is scared of what the people might search. Children in China haven’t had the opportunity to learn anything else. In the world today with all the opportunity to interact with other cultures I think in the long run it will cripple China on a global scale.

One thing that surprised was how easy it is to make connections to other parts of the world. I loved that we ate Indian food one day during class. Somewhere on the other side of the world a girl my age was probably eating the same thing I was. We watched a Bollywood movie, which is something an Indian family might have been doing at the same time. People at Kinkaid have interesting ancestry, which connects them. For example Skylar is part white Jamaican.

We talked about when force is acceptable. I like this topic because there is no right answer. You can see throughout history people using force and thinking it’s the right thing to do while we see it as brute force. The Holocaust is probably the best example. Hitler thought he was creating a superior race, but he brutally murdered six million people. There are many sides to every story.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Karen Brownman