Schools urged to prepare for globalization

The Daily Times
Mar. 31, 2006

An international education expert warned area educators Tuesday that schools are charged with ``preparing our children for a world we can't even conceptualize'' -- an increasingly globalized world.

America is ``so busy on our institutional debates that Rome is burning, and we don't even see it,'' said Willard ``Bill'' Daggett. ``Globalization is real, folks, whether we like it or not.''

Elected officials, educators, business leaders gathered throughout the day Tuesday to attend the third annual Leadership Summit at Maryville College to hear Daggett, one of the nation's leading school reform experts.

The summit was co-sponsored by Leadership Blount, the college's Center for Strong Communities and Clayton Homes.

Daggett said the nation's top high schools are teaching their students not only the knowledge that they will need but also how to apply it to both predictable and unpredictable real-world situations.

Daggett, founder and president of International Center for Leadership in Education, cited several reasons why changes are needed and how they can be accomplished.

``The teachers in the highest performing schools in the country are not working harder than your teachers,'' Daggett said during his keynote address.

The state's curriculum is overloaded with information that students won't be tested on and that needs to be addressed.

``This state has never seen a standard it doesn't like,'' he said. ``This state has the most overcrowded curriculum in this country.''

Later in the day, he told teachers that the 25 highest performing high schools in the nation strive not only for core academic learning, but also to stretch all of their students to their full capabilities, engage their students and help them develop personal skills that he calls guiding principals.

Those 25 schools form the core for the Successful Practices Network, a national collaboration of schools that is sponsored by Daggett's International Center. Heritage High School has recently been selected to join the network.

Clayton has agreed to pay for the first five years of Heritage's dues in the network. In addition, he has extended the offer to William Blount High School, if those school leaders want to pursue joining the network.

Points to globalization

Daggett said globalization is a major reason for the need for school reform. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the decision by China, and later by India, to join in the global free-enterprise economic system and the creation of the World Wide Web system linking databases and ultimately people has changed marketplace dynamics.

As examples, Daggett said that in 1995, the year China came to the table, the giant discount-chain Wal-Mart advocated that its goods were ``Made in America.'' Two years ago, 38 percent of the goods were made in China. This year, that percentage jumped to 72 percent, Daggett said.

``That's global economy,'' he said.

India is projected to prepare more income tax returns this year than will be done in this country, he said, and their accountants make 12-cents on the dollar to what American accountants make.

Americans and upcoming students are having to compete with Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, China and India for jobs, which amounts to 3.6 billion people, he said. It's only been 16 years since these countries entered the market, he added.

`Rome is burning'

America is ``so busy on our institutional debates that Rome is burning, and we don't even see it,'' he said. ``Globalization is real, folks, whether we like it or not.''

China has a national policy of having a world-class education for 10 percent of its population, having 100 world-class universities within the next few years and 30 world-class research universities.

China and India are also jumping the language barriers. More students in China are studying English than combined students in the United States, Canada and England, he said. India has more people learning English than in China.

``We are preparing our children for a world we can't even conceptualize,'' Daggett said.

Globalization combined with changing demographics, a reduction in values and beliefs and expanding technological advances contribute to the situation.

``My message is scary, but what is scary is if we don't think about the message,'' he said in between sessions. ``Then you're living in a fool's paradise.''

However, schools are not failing but are actually doing better than they have in the past. The nation's schools have a more diverse student population, are taking more tests and are graduating more students than ever before, he said. But the change in the outside world is evolving rapidly, and schools are not able to keep up with the rate of change.

``Our schools in America are not failing,'' he said.

Team approach urged

After lunch, Daggett heard discussion results from several small groups and made suggestions to the overall group.

He recommended that a leadership team of a core group of people -- teachers, administrators, board members and parents from all three school systems -- be put together to lead educational reform.

The team should decide where education in the county needs to go. Daggett said the school systems need to be committed to the factors that the top schools have found to work.

He also suggested the team plan to go to the 2006 Model Schools Conference in Florida this June where school leaders from the top performing schools will be sharing their stories. Daggett said he would take the team into a private session with one of his senior staff members for more in-depth discussion.

Through a grant from the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, Daggett said a study and analysis of the books and textbooks used by schools, reading requirements of employees by local businesses and other aspects of the county could be done for free, if the county is interested. It's a tool that other communities across the nation have used to access how education is meeting their needs.

Clayton said he was pleased with the daylong conference and hopes to see other local businesses providing funding to the school systems. A strong educational community provides the workforce for a diversified economy, which in turn helps keep property taxes low, he said.












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