Sometimes journeys take an unexpected turn.

On July 1, 2008, I began a new job as the World Languages Program Supervisor at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Olympia. This is an amazing opportunity for me, and I am honored to be able to devote myself full-time now to supporting the learning and teaching of world languages throughout our state.

This will be my final post on this blog, but I will continue to work on creating "education for a global age." I'd like to thank the PI for inviting me to blog. It was an enriching experience.

You can find me at www.k12.wa.us. Search on "world languages."

I ended my April 2, 2008 post with a comment about the future of the Washington State Coalition for International Education:

We've recently applied for our sixth State Innovations grant. If we receive it, that will probably be a good sign that our work should continue.

I'm happy to report that we did receive the grant -- and for the full amount that we requested. So, let me share a little of what we plan to accomplish with this year's grant. (You can read about this and all the other projects of the Coalition on our Coalition > Projects page.)

Chinese Language Teachers Network Support

I am really excited that our grant this year can offer support to the newly formed non-profit, Chinese Language Teachers Network. I have been working with leaders from this group of outstanding Chinese language teachers for over two years now, and they are amazing. They have put together an ambitious project plan for this year's State Innovations grant.

Project Purpose: Develop a cadre of excellent teachers of Chinese from the local communities, as well as abroad

You can read about the specific activities they are planning on their project page on International Education Washington: 2008 Projects > Chinese Language Teachers Network Support.

Global Connections through Technology

We will also continue our collaboration with Bridges to Understanding and Seattle Public Schools. Bridges to Understanding is committed to "engaging students worldwide in direct, interactive learning and storytelling to build cross-cultural understanding."

I am personally fascinated with how Bridges projects can bring together the Arts (photography); Literacy (storytelling); Global Issues (such as Climate Change); World Languages (stories are told in major languages, like English and Spanish, as well as indigenous languages of the local community); Geography, History, Economics; and Experiential, Service, and Project-Based Learning -- all wrapped up with Technology as the mediator. Wow!

Project Purpose: Provide guidance to schools that want to internationalize their curriculum through technology

The grant will support up to four middle school teachers from Seattle and another school district to participate in Bridges' workshops this summer to learn how to use digital storytelling in their classrooms to engage students in making global connections. They will then have the opportunity to share their experiences at a public workshop in the fall.

You can find out more about their specific plans by checking the project page on International Education Washington: 2008 Projects > Global Connections through Technology.

Mapping & Enhancing Language Learning Support

The State Innovations grant will also provide support to the Mapping & Enhancing Language Learning (MELL) project, which is a collaborative effort of four National Resource Centers at the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies, UW Language Learning Center, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington State Coalition for International Education, and Washington Association For Language Teaching (WAFLT) to provide a better picture of what languages students are currently learning in our K-12 schools and community language programs.

Project Purpose: Provide critical policy information about the state of world language learning and teaching in Washington state to educational agencies, committees, and policy makers

With this year's State Innovations grant, we will be helping develop and disseminate a number of policy briefs about the state of world language teaching based on our 2007 survey of high schools. I've reviewed the draft briefs, and they are very interesting. These briefs will cover topics such as:

(1) High Schools that don't offer World Languages
(2) Demographics of schools compared by number of languages offered
(3) Trends in languages offered
(4) Years of language study offered
(5) Trends in World Language Endorsements

We'll have links to the briefs as they get published on the project page on International Education Washington: 2008 Projects > MELL Support.

The other major activity will be organizing a World Languages Summit this fall at the University of Washington. The planning for that is just beginning.

And the work continues...

Five years ago a group of people met at Seattle Central Community College for a kind of "focus group" on international education. The group brainstormed definitions of international education. (You can read them at What Is International Education?)

That meeting was the birth of an affiliation known as the "Washington State Coalition for International Education," which runs the website Internationaledwa.org. After five years, three summits, many, many workshops, and myriad communications, it makes sense to take a moment to reflect on the Coalition and our work. Aysha Haq, who is our newsletter editor, recently posed some questions to me about the Coalition and its future. We decided to post them on this blog in the hope that we would encourage others to join in the conversation. So, read on and don't be shy about posting your comments.

Aysha: How would you describe the Coalition as an organizational entity?

Michele: When I first read The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman, I finally understood what kind of organization the Coalition is. It is a true "flat world" organization where small is big. We are really small. No office. No staff. No organizational structure (e.g., 501(c)3). Just a website and some email lists. But, I can tell from our communications that our reach is wide. Not only have we engaged people at all levels throughout Washington, but we reach people from across the US and overseas, as well. It's very exciting really.

Maybe as an organization we are also an example of "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle." We reduced our overhead by not creating our own organizational structure. We reused other organizations' efforts by graciously accepting their offer to serve as fiscal agent for the small grants we have received. (I'd like to personally thank the Alliance for Education, Associates in Cultural Exchange, the World Affairs Council of Seattle, and the Washington Council on International Trade for providing this service.) And we have recycled by not just creating our own new programs and events, but by promoting everybody else's (in essence, we've recycled their calendar of events).

A: What do you think the most important accomplishment (s) of the Coalition and our State has been in these last 5 years with regard to enhancing international education?
M: I think we've had a number of accomplishments with the Coalition. Perhaps the most important has been to realize that we don't have to wait for someone else (e.g., the education establishment) to decide that international education is important. Instead, we have focused on energizing those who are already convinced – helping them connect to each other and to resources to accomplish their dreams and most important, to believe that what they are doing matters.

In terms of the state itself (not just our Coalition), the best is yet to come. The Legislature just included in its budget for the first time in decades money for the position of World Languages Supervisor at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. This was our #1 recommendation coming out of the 2006 International Education Leadership Summit that the Coalition organized. Having state-level leadership and coordination will make it possible to even better connect the huge array of local initiatives regarding world languages, in particular. It will also allow us to attract many more visiting teachers from China and other countries to enhance the quality and quantity of language and culture instruction that we offer in our schools.


A: What do you think is the key next step that our state needs to take with regard to international education?
M: Much of our work so far has been in support of current teachers in current classrooms. It is time to give attention to how we develop new teachers. One of our recommendations from the 2006 Summit was to create a Masters in Teaching of Chinese Language at the UW. I think establishing such a program (not just for Chinese, but other languages too) would be a major step forward. It is definitely doable, but it would require a cross-disciplinary approach.

There is very interesting work happening in Michigan, for example, on globalizing teacher education. I think we could do something similar across all of our teacher preparation programs in the state. In this day and age, how can we think that a teacher is ready to prepare students to live, work, and thrive in the 21st century unless that teacher has had significant global experiences?


A: As the main leader behind the Coalition, what would you like to see our state accomplish in the next X years?
M: I don't generally think of myself as the "main leader" of the Coalition because I experience the Coalition as an incredibly diverse and inspired grassroots organization. I see leadership from folks involved with the Coalition all the time! Nevertheless, I guess I have been a bit of a constant (that's what happens when you manage the website… ).

The goals that David Woodward on the Coalition Steering Committee back in 2003 helped formulate still seem valid today:

1. The integration of international perspectives into the P-20 curricula.
2. The expansion of world language education, with an emphasis on early childhood education and improving second language proficiency outcomes.
3. The encouragement of all forms of international exchanges.

So, in the next five years, I'd like to see us bridge the K12-higher ed boundary by demonstrating what it looks like to integrate international perspectives into coursework at both levels. I'd like to see us achieve a number of K-14 language pathways where students have had a chance to begin learning a language early (by K or 1st grade) and we see what it looks like when they transition into college. (What do the colleges need to do to be ready for them? How far can they go by their second year of college in terms of developing a high level of proficiency in the language?) And, I'd like to see much more creative application of technology to facilitate international exchanges in ways that we have perhaps not even thought of yet.

A: How do you think the Coalition can help?
M: The Coalition can help by doing what it does best: be a hotbed of people trying different things, coming together, learning from each other, challenging each other, generating excitement, and creating new possibilities. That, to me, means lots of communication, forums for exchanging ideas, and opportunities to apply what is learned with real live teachers and students.


A: What kind of support and resources do you think the Coalition will need to sustain itself and accomplish X-year goal?
M: I've always favored keeping the Coalition "lean and mean." I wouldn't want to see it focused on gathering resources for itself. It should be about making things happen "out there" in myriad other organizations, schools, communities, etc. I see the Coalition in the role of facilitator for all the good work that is already happening. (Well, of course, sometimes the Coalition might also be the instigator – someone has to get things started.)

I honestly don't know how long the Coalition will need to exist in order to serve its purpose. Perhaps what we have done so far is enough. Perhaps not. We've pretty much taken it year by year. We've been tremendously fortunate to receive five State Innovations grants since 2003 from the Asia Society and Longview Foundation. It has been amazing to see how much can be accomplished with rather small sums of money (about $15,000-$20,000/year). We've recently applied for our sixth State Innovations grant. If we receive it, that will probably be a good sign that our work should continue.

Note: If you'd like to know more about the Washington State Coalition for International Education, a good place to start is our Media Kit.

I guess I should leave town more often.

While we were hanging out in St. Petersburg, Russia, earlier this month visiting my son, who has been teaching English there for about a year and a half, the 2008 Washington State Legislative Session came to a close. I had a few minutes at an Internet cafe -- enough time to get the message that although the World Language bills themselves did not pass, the Legislature did provide funding for both the World Languages Supervisor at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and new pilot programs for Chinese and Spanish.

If you've read any of my earlier posts, for example:
Busy Weeks for World Languages (October 15, 2007) or
Progress for World Languages in the Legislature (February 13, 2008), you'll know that I've been following several World Language bills that have been making their way through the Legislative process the past couple of years. This session was looking pretty hopeful, but nothing had been resolved by the time I left for Europe on March 7.

What I hadn't quite expected was that the bills themselves might die, but that the goals of the bills would be accomplished through the budget process.

(I guess I shouldn't have been surprised; I certainly had seen the opposite happen. For example, last year, the World Languages Supervisor bill made it all the way to the Governor, but she vetoed it because no funding was provided in the Budget.)

Caleb Perkins, Supervisor for Social Studies and International Education at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), called me this week to let me know that OSPI is currently drafting the job description for the new position and the RFP for the pilot programs. They should be posted in the next week or two (maybe sooner) on the OSPI website.

This is truly an amazing development in our state.

I'd like to personally thank the legislators who led the way: Rep. Shay Schual-Berke and Rep. Zach Hudgins for House Bill 2523 - Creating the position of world language supervisor in the office of the superintendent of public instruction and Sen. Pam Roach for Senate Bill 5714 - 2007-08 Creating a pilot program of Spanish and Chinese language instruction.

Isn't it great that we have both Democrats and Republicans supporting this effort?!

Update April 2, 2008
I just received a notice today from Sen. Pam Roach's office that Governor Gregoire vetoed the budget provision for the pilot program of Spanish and Chinese language instruction. It was in a section with a number of worthy items that the Governor vetoed because the budget is tight this year and it's not clear that these efforts would be sustainable. That's a good point. However, it's still disappointing. Sen. Roach indicates she plans to reintroduce the bill next session.

A whirlwind trip to Germany, Russia, and France this past week has given me an excellent opportunity to reflect on my theme of education for a global age.

Some first impressions...

1. Japanese sushi restaurants are everywhere. It was definitely easier to order California maki on Nevski Prospekt in St. Petersburg than to purchase pirozhki (Russian pastries deep-fried or baked, filled with meat or cabbage or potatoes). While sushi wasn't quite as prevalent in Paris as baguettes and croissants, it was definitely available in virtually every part of the city we visited. In Dusseldorf, Germany, packets of sushi were sold at the local grocery store just feet away from that fabulous thick German bread, sausage, and cheeses.

2. Yes, McDonald's is everywhere, but somehow not all that noticeable. Actually, Subway was more visible in St. Petersburg. Still, they don't really feel all that "American" somehow. They're just another entry from the global marketplace.

3. Paris is incredibly multicultural. The Latin Quarter (Left Bank, near Notre-Dame) is full of Greek, Turkish, and Arabic restaurants, as well as Chinese. The area around the Gare du Nord (train station) has blocks of stores displaying gorgeous Indian saris. Our waitress at a small French restaurant in Montmartre one night was definitely Asian.

This is not just about food. It makes one realize that the cultural stereotypes that we tend to teach in our American classrooms fall far short of the reality of these global locations. What does it mean to be French (or German or Russian) today?

In the old days in America, students (at least the college-bound ones) picked a language and studied it for a few years in high school, and maybe junior high, if they were lucky. We were either in the Spanish track, or French, or German. (Some studied Latin, but, then, that wasn't about learning a language that could be spoken in some country today.) More recently, Japanese has gained popularity.

We perceived that it was enough to learn one other language/culture.

I've got news for everyone. It's not.

One is a starting place. But in today's world, it will take knowing something about many. No, maybe we won't become fluent in all those languages or be able to read their great literary works, but we'll need to know something in order to understand their perspectives on the world.

I wonder where we'll fit that into the school day...

There are two bills in the Washington State Legislature this session pertaining to world languages. Somehow they remind me a bit of the current presidential campaign.

One bill (SB 6466) was sponsored by a Republican (Sen. Pam Roach), and one (HB2523) was sponsored by a Democrat (Rep. Zach Hudgins, along with Rep. Shay Schual-Berke).

One bill (SB 6466) would set up a task force to study the teaching of languages in the schools and report back to the Legislature by January, 2010. The other (HB2523) would establish the position of Supervisor for World Languages at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

While Republicans and Democrats don't agree on everything, they do seem to agree that in this most trade-dependent state in the nation that is aspiring to create a "world-class" education system, it only makes sense for our schools to begin taking another look at the teaching and learning of world languages.

It's about time. And I salute all three of these legislators, plus all the others who signed on in support of the bills, for having the vision and perseverance to bring these bills to the Legislature at a time when most folks would rather talk about Math and Science. (Not that they aren't important too...)

If you have never followed the path of a bill making its way through the Legislature, I encourage you to take a look. Let's follow the path of House Bill 2523 - Creating the position of world language supervisor in the office of the superintendent of public instruction, for example.

Jan 7 Prefiled for introduction.
Jan 14 First reading, referred to Education. (View Original Bill)
Jan 18 Public hearing in the House Committee on Education at 1:30 PM.
Jan 29 Executive action taken in the House Committee on Education at 1:30 PM.
ED - Executive action taken by committee.
ED - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. (View 1st Substitute)
Minority; do not pass.
Feb 1 Referred to Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.
Feb 5 Public hearing and executive action taken in the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Education at 8:00 AM.
APPE - Executive action taken by committee.
APPE - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. (View 2nd Substitute)
Minority; do not pass.
Feb 6 Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
Feb 12 Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
Feb 13 2nd substitute bill substituted. (View 2nd Substitute)
Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
Third reading, passed; yeas, 65; nays, 32; absent, 0; excused, 1. (View Roll Calls)

In short, today, February 13 -- about five weeks since it was filed, the bill was voted out of the House. Now begins the long trek through the Senate.

The good news this year is that the bill included a fiscal note, i.e. funding. It's not much funding -- about $137,000/year, but that's better than last year when the bill made it through both the House and the Senate all the way to the Governor with no funding attached. She vetoed it.

I've been told that in the Legislature they call this kind of money "budget dust." Well, it's budget dust that would make a HUGE difference to schools across our state that are trying to launch, revive, or enhance their world language programs and are having to manage with virtually no leadership or direction or support from their state department of education.

We'll see how it survives or evolves in the Senate. (I wish we had some Super Delegates to count on...)

The path of Senate Bill 6466 is no less interesting, but as of today, it is still in the Senate, although yesterday (Feb 12) it was passed by the Senate Ways & Means committee. It, too, has a fiscal note this year. The amount is slightly smaller -- about $114,000/year, and it does not entail any new state employees at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Both bills have their strengths. I don't see any disadvantage to either. Indeed, the synergy between the two could be powerful.

A task force would be much more effective if it could include the person responsible to the state for supporting and expanding world language learning and teaching throughout the schools. And a new Supervisor for World Languages could make much faster progress with access to key education leaders that would be members of the task force according to SB 6466:

Members of the task force shall include representatives from the office of the superintendent of public instruction, professional educator standards board, higher education, the Washington state school directors' association, the Washington education association, the association of Washington school principals, and world language nonprofit organizations.

We'll see what happens next.

One side or the other may be insistent that "their" bill is the right one. Perhaps neither bill will make it into the budget and on to the Governor's desk.

Or... maybe in this most interesting and surprising of election years, both sides will find a way to do what is in the best interest of this state and our kids.

It's been a busy month in Washington state. There are two new world language bills in the Legislature currently (more about them soon), but, what caught by eye today was the new electronic issue of Edutopia, a publication of GLEF (George Lucas Education Foundation). The lead article is entitled "As the World Learns: Education as a Vital Global Marketplace Represents the Future."

The article acknowledges the widespread notion of the "global marketplace." Certainly globalization and trade have been major themes since the 1990's. (Who could forget WTO in Seattle?) But the article points out that the global marketplace is not just about stuff; it's about ideas. More specifically, it's about education.

Education is not oil, or electricity, or soy beans, or gold, but it represents something more important than any of those: the future.
-- http://www.edutopia.org/global-education-2008 retrieved 1/25/2008

The main article links to a whole series of individual stories from various countries around the world. I clicked first on an article entitled Teaching Active Learning and Critical Thinking in Bulgaria's Public Schools since that's a place I spent some time -- back in the old Communist days. It was inspiring to read about the creation of the New Bulgarian University, the nation's first private university, which has created a lab for researching active learning and presenting workshops for teachers.

You see, to my mind, the concept of "Education for a Global Age" is not just learning ABOUT the world; it is learning WITH the world about how we as human beings learn, think, and communicate. How exciting to hear that a bunch of teachers in Bulgaria are grappling with the same exciting research on learning styles that we are in America.

My next stop was the article Child's Play: Japan's Ground-Breaking Child Development Web Site. It highlights the Child Research Net http://www.childresearch.net/, a website that offers a wealth of research for educators and parents about everything from evolutionary biology to robotics to school curricula. You've heard of other great concepts from Japan, like Kaizen (continuous improvement). It's time to add Kodomogaku to your vocabulary.

Kodomogaku takes an interdisciplinary approach to children's issues. These issues demand not just one, but multiple perspectives. Take learning, for example. This is not a topic reserved for education experts. We also look at it from the perspective of brain science to study memory formation and at the classroom environment where learning takes place. This yields insights into the deeper, underlying issues involved.
-- http://www.childresearch.net/SCIENCE/SCIENCE/index.html retrieved 1/25/2008

Yes, yes, yes. Isn't that the same message we've been getting from the international studies on math (e.g., TIMSS)? Those studies call our U.S. math curriculum "mile wide, inch deep." Isn't that kind of how we approach lots of things pertaining to education in this country? We do it at the surface. We get stuck in one "right" way of thinking and refuse to consider multiple perspectives. We prefer to stick to our core discipline rather than seeking interdisciplinary approaches.

There are ten more fascinating stories you can peruse, but I'll end this blog with a link to the additional resources http://www.edutopia.org/global-education-2008-resources. In the article Global Education on a Dime: Low Cost Ways to Connect, I learned about at whole variety of cheap new tools (and I thought I was relatively tech savvy...), including Flash Meeting and Ning.

They also mention one of my favorites, iEARN, the International Education and Resource Network. We have an excellent Starter Kit for International Collaborative Projects based on iEARN projects on the International Education website http://internationaledwa.org. And Bridges to Understanding (which I highlighted in one of my December blogs) has just launched its new Bridges Climate Change Curriculum that is also full of great tips for international collaborations.

I think there's a future in this global education field...

Continuing the theme of inspiring stories, today I want to introduce you to an amazing organization called Bridges to Understanding www.bridgesweb.org.

Bridges to Understanding engages students worldwide
in direct, interactive learning and storytelling to build cross-cultural understanding.

The work of Bridges to Understanding embodies some of the key principles of "education for a global age" as I envision it:
1. It takes education out into the world and brings the world into the classroom.
2. It involves the students themselves in creating the lessons.
3. The product of the learning is both the learning experience itself and something of great value that can be shared beyond the classroom (i.e. the digital stories that the participants create).
4. The program is rigorous and teaches students real-world skills that they can apply throughout their lives.

A good place to begin is to peruse the Gallery http://www.bridgesweb.org/projects/gallery.html. For example, Una Esperanza (Guatemala) tells the story of how garbage has taken over a beautiful lake in Guatemala where the town of Santiago Atitalan is located. In the voice of a young girl from the town and through a series of powerful photographs, the viewer comes to understand the power of knowledge and hope to make a difference in the world and in one small town.

Take it a step further. The film is narrated in Spanish with English subtitles. Imagine using it as the focus for a lesson in a Spanish language classroom. Students could listen first to see what they can understand. Then, they could watch the film and expand their understanding through visual context. Students could retell the story of Santiago Atitalan in English or in Spanish and consider how we in America face similar challenges in cleaning up our waterways.

Bridges has selected the theme of Climate Change as a focus for the 2007-2009 school years: "How is Climate Change an opportunity for us?"

Students will explore this critical issue from their local as well as global perspectives, and share their learning through online forum dialogues, video conferencing and digital stories. Eleven classrooms in Seattle are directly paired with eleven classrooms in Peru, Guatemala, South Africa, India, Canada and the West Bank and Israel and they will look at the political, cultural and physical causes and effects of global warming. Developing a sense of global interconnectedness, an understanding of the implications of climate change for each others region, and empowerment to act on the issue are the goals of this project. Community engagement is the cornerstone for student success.

I hope it will be a productive year, and I look forward to many new stories from around the world.

Happy New Year to all!

At this time of year, what better thing can we do than spend a moment enjoying some inspirational stories about education for a global age? I'll share some of my favorites.

This one has been on my mind because I get email alerts each time Erden updates his website. But, can you imagine? He's updating it from a human-powered boat somewhere in the Pacific!

Through his non-profit organization, Around 'n Over, Erden Eruç is on a mission...

• To inspire and to inform young people by developing educational activities based on the realities of human powered exploration and adventure, including, but not limited to, geography, mathematics, natural science, physical fitness and social studies
• To inspire and to instill the values of selflessness, sacrifice and perseverance in young people so that they might develop into good citizens, and stewards of this earth
• To assist poor communities in their struggle towards self-sufficiency by providing basic educational aid and resources, know-how and facilities

http://www.around-n-over.org/around-n-over/

Erden is on a multi-year trip, "Six Summits Project - a Human Powered Journey," that he began on February 1, 2003 when he left Seattle -- by bicycle -- to reach Alaska and climb Denali (Mt. McKinley). Now he is on Stage 2 -- circumnavigating the globe by rowing himself from California to Australia.

Currently on Day 160, he posts regularly to his website. It is fascinating to share his journey as it progresses. The December 16, 2007 post talks about life in smaller forms:

Marine viruses are an important element of life in the oceans where a lot of protein and 50% of the world's oxygen are produced. Most of the genetic diversity in the oceans by far consists of viruses. These tiny creatures are a major driver behind biochemical cycles in the ocean and we still know very little about the numbers of viruses in the ocean sediments.

How interesting to learn this fact from someone you know is currently surrounded by an ocean full of these viruses (as well as fish, birds, and other sea life), rather than just reading it in a book.

Simply following Erden's journey would be educational enough, but he and his non-profit have gone beyond that to build an Education Portal on their website that links to resources and lesson plans and educational partners, such as the National Museum of Education in Akron, Ohio. They host a site where students can ask Erden a question, while he's rowing across the Pacific. (Visit http://nmoe.org/erden/erdenmail/question.htm.)

If Erden's story is not inspiring, I don't know what is. But, I'd love to hear stories about what inspires you in the realm of education for a global age... Please tell me in your comments.

Did you know that November 12-16 was International Education Week?

Celebrating and Promoting International Education and Exchange: International Education Week (IEW) is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to recognize the global exchange environment between the United States and other countries.
http://iew.state.gov/

Maybe you'd like to try your hand at one of their global IQ quizzes?
http://iew.state.gov/quiz.htm
They include Geographic Economy, Cultural Geography, and Cities of the World.

There is a Statement from President Bush (PDF) which says:

Education is the gateway to a hopeful tomorrow. By learning new languages and experiencing foreign cultures, more Americans can understand the challenges of the world around us.

Isn't that the truth? Without that understanding, that personal experience of other cultures, we risk oversimplifying things. We risk making assumptions that seem correct to us, as Americans, but have little to do with the reality faced by others around the world.

You can read Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Statement too. It says:

In a world where challenges transcend borders, education is essential for making the world more peaceful and more prosperous. American students can better understand global issues by learning other languages and experiencing other cultures first-hand. Moreover, our country has no more valuable asset internationally than the friendship of the millions of young people, citizens, and leaders around the world who understand the United States because they have studied here.

Yes, I agree. There's no more valuable asset than the personal connections between peoples of different cultures. But, it must be a two-way street. Although Secretary Rice notes that this year the U.S. awarded the largest number of Fulbright scholarships (for study or teachingn abroad) ever, it's still a rather small number given the impact of the world on the U.S. and the impact of the U.S. on the world today.

Governor Chris Gregoire also issued a Proclamation for Washington State (PDF). It states:

WHEREAS we live in an increasingly interconnected world and improving global literacy among our citizens contributes significantly to our nation's foreign policy, economic competitiveness, and national security...

For so many reasons, from peace to security, from economy to foreign affairs, it is time to take the time to learn about the world around us.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'd like to highlight some of the initiatives I've seen in the schools and community that are doing just that. Stay tuned, and if you have ideas to contribute, please submit your comments.

Happy Thanksgiving!