Taking the North Carolina K-12 Classroom Global

The topic of how best to prepare today's children to become tomorrow's leaders is one that is continuously debated. A sound education that is built upon a solid foundation of global awareness and understanding along with the proverbial "Three R's" is what seems to be the solution. The question is: how do we arrive there?

Since 1998, World View has been working successfully to rectify the situation, but their efforts haven't gotten much recognition. The challenge facing World View, with only seven staff and three volunteers, is trying to reach over 100,000 teachers in North Carolina - and that is only counting those working in public schools.

Think of World View as a type of rapid response team: who do you call when you have an educator who has never been outside the confines of North Carolina teaching a multi-cultural class? Who do you turn to when you want to assist in bringing cultural sensitivity and awareness to students and teachers who have peers coming into the school from regions all over the world?

World View's mission is as follows:

•Help schools and colleges prepare students to succeed in an interconnected world in which the rules have changed for everyone.
•Accomplish this mission by helping educators:
oIntegrate a global perspective into every subject area of the curriculum and at every grade level;
oRespond to rapid ethnic and cultural change from immigrant students and improve ESL programs; and
oPromote foreign language and international travel.

Before starting World View, Robert Phay was the Director for the Principals' Executive Program, a leadership training program for school administrators established at the Institute of Government. World View came into being because of a recognition that the futures of each new generation rests heavily on their ability to grapple with the constantly shifting terms of interaction globalization has forced upon us. World View recognized the importance of cultural awareness long before a "global education" became a hot topic, and the organization has responded with an effective set of solutions…that have largely gone unnoticed.

Meanwhile in Raleigh, Senator A.B. Swindell (D) tried unsuccessfully to introduce in the 2005-06 Legislative Session Senate Bill 333 entitled "An Act to Provide for a Study of What High School Graduates Need to Know in a Rapidly Changing and Complex Global Society and Economy".

The bill directed the State Board of Education and the Board of Governors at the University of North Carolina to jointly study and determine what educational skills are necessary to remain competitive in today's day and age. The Boards were then to report their findings by May of 2006 to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee. Instead, SB 333 languished in the Committee on the Rules and Operations of the Senate.

The Legislature did, however, somewhat address the issue of bridging the cultural information gap: out of the $6,719,751,118 budgeted for Public Education in the 2006-07 Fiscal Year, $100,000.00 was allotted to the "North Carolina Humanities Council Teacher Institute Program" which "provides funds to non-profit program[s] focused on promoting teaching and learning that develops teacher's capacity to understand, empathize with, and relate to various cultures".

Garnering funding from the Legislature is just one of the difficulties that World View faces. Part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it is the only organization that champions the needs of K-12 education, and because of this it sometimes finds it difficult remaining competitive with other University-run programs, and yet paradoxically its K-12 compatriots are sometimes resistant in sharing funding because World View is seen as a University program.

Director Phay did make news in 2003 when he was able to secure $275,000.00 lobbying directly for World View, but those days are long gone. Under Erskine Bowles, the new President of UNC, there will be no more individual lobbying efforts - UNC will hit the Capitol as a unified front.

Since its inception in 1998, World View has been holding annual conferences both locally and abroad. World View offers these programs to bring educators from all over the world to Chapel Hill for intensive study on a variety of issues so that they may bring those skills back to their classroom. Conversely, it also takes educators overseas in order to allow them to more fully round out their own education and give them the opportunity to meld real life experience with their daily lesson plans.

World View has taken educators to Russia, Finland, South Africa, Central America, Mexico, Eastern Europe, Spain, and China, and it is gearing up to go to India in the summer of 2007. Yet it is still lacking both the recognition and funding that would allow it to bridge the gap between the demands the NC Legislature is putting on students and teachers of K-12 education and the needs that must be met in order to successfully attain those goals.

A Legislative Aid in Senator Swindell's office said that "about 60% of the State budget goes towards education". For the 2006-07 Fiscal Year, that amounted to $9,800,262,009. The Aid also made note of the fact that both Senator Swindell and Democratic Senator Jeanne Lucas (Legislators sympathetic to augmenting funding for education) both co-chair the Appropriations Committee on Education/Higher Education. This could mean that World View, an already established program with a proven track record, may have more of a fighting chance for funding in the 2007-08 Fiscal Year.

Regardless of what happens at the Capitol, World View will continue to do what it does best: effect change one educator at a time. Currently it is offering two Symposiums, one on the "Best Education Practices from Around the World" and another on the "Global Economy". In 2007 its Spring Seminars will focus on both "India" and "Hispanics and Latinos in the Carolinas".

Thanks to its esteemed Universities and its influx of Research and Development, North Carolina continues to offer innovative solutions in every discipline. It should come as no surprise, then, that an answer to how to prep K-12 students for a truly global education can be found right here within the Triangle.

World View can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.unc.edu/world/

References:

Michaux Sits Out in Protest on Budget. The Herald Sun (Durham, NC). April 18, 2003. B1.

North Carolina General Assembly. http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/

Office of Senator A.B. Swindell. (919) 715-3030

World View.
CB #8011
UNC-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8011
(919)962-9264