Learning in the Global Era: International Perspectives on Globalization and Education (review)

In Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft, first published in 1887, German social theorist Ferdinand Tönnies described a major evolutionary shift in the nature of society. His central argument was that social relations were changing as a consequence of societies’ movement from more localized economies to an industrial lifestyle, defined to a great extent by the rise and expansion of the great metropolises. As the context of social life and daily living evolved, changes were also needed in the key social institutions of the age, as well as in the way people thought about life, work, and play.

More than 100 years later, authors such as Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, a professor of globalization and education at New York University, point to another dramatic shift in the nature of societies and social relations brought about by the growing impact of globalization. Suárez-Orozco, and the authors he has assembled in this edited book, Learning in the Global Era: International Perspectives on Globalization and Education, suggest that the challenges facing societies today may be just as monumental as those introduced by the rise of industrialization.

The impetus for Learning in the Global Era derives from the First International Conference on Globalization and Learning, hosted in Stockholm in March 2005; this conference brought together educators, scholars, and policymakers to consider the relationship between globalization and education. Suárez-Orozco’s edited volume is based in part on the premise that contemporary notions of schooling, including basic practices related to teaching and learning, are out of sync with the challenges and opportunities associated with globalization.

To address these concerns, Suárez-Orozco organized his book around three key themes: (a) interdisciplinary approaches to learning and understanding in the global era; (b) learning and the functions of education in a changing global economy; and (c) learning, immigration, and integration.

In the introductory chapter, Suárez-Orozco and Carolyn Sattin define globalization as “the ongoing process of intensifying economic, social, and cultural exchanges across the planet . . . [and] the increasing integration and coordination of markets, of production, and of consumption” (p. 7). They argue that economic forces linked to globalization are “stimulating the migrations of people in unprecedented numbers from and to every corner of earth” and producing “exchanges of cultures that make the old boundaries, as well as the aspired cultural coherence and homogeneity of the nation-state, increasingly untenable” (p. 7).

While the rise of industrialization and modernity helped to solidify the relevance of the nation-state and social relations characterized by the concept of Gesellschaft, today’s global era similarly challenges us to reconsider the ways we conceptualize our lives and the basic institutions and systems of our time. For Suárez-Orozco and his authors in Learning in the Global Era, schooling is the key system of concern.

The central problem addressed in Learning in the Global Era is stated succinctly by Suárez-Orozco and Sattin: “Precious few schools today are organized to nurture the habits of mind, higher-order cognitive and metacognitive skills, communication skills, interpersonal sensibilities, values, and cultural sophistication needed to engage an ever more complex globally linked world” (p. 12). They go on to identify three key failures: (a) schools are not engaging youth in relevant learning, especially learning consistent with the demands of a global environment; (b) schools are not meeting the educational needs of immigrant youth; and (c) schools are not educating enough children at a quality level in many of the poorest parts of the world.

Part 1, “Learning and Understanding in the Global Era: Interdisciplinary Approaches,” focuses attention on “the function and responsibilities of schools to equip all youth with the skills and knowledge required to lead successful lives in increasingly complex, globally linked twenty-first century societies” (p. 20). This section’s four chapters include “From Teaching Globalization to Nurturing Global Consciousness” by Veronica Boix...