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Whither Global Education

Can money spent on international schooling buy the best preparation for the dynamic and unpredictable world of globalization?

Certainly that is the message parents receive as they pay whopping tuition bills at the top schools in Beijing and Shanghai, but it is difficult to pinpoint exactly how different forms and methods of education affect anything. So, what are we to make of schools’ claims that they prepare the “global child” with the most advanced “global education?”

It depends, and we don’t have any hard answer for which system is best. In my personal experience, I think that international schools and international colleges bring a much larger fraction of their students to a minimal, threshold performance for professional work in all fields. Partly this is because they are expected to do so for the economy, but partly it is because the education is designed to prepare a higher proportion of graduates for knowledge-based careers. In Asia, education is used more for filtering out students and allocating a few scarce professional jobs to the top students. Consequently, graduates of top Asian institutions routinely go to the West and perform extraordinarily well, thereby gaining access to the top ranks of professional jobs.

Globalization has changed the supply of technicians and engineers. With an abundance of talented graduates and a global labour market, wages have stagnated or declined in most western nations. What used to be a sure-fire ticket to the upper middle class is now just a pretty-good ticket for an average job.

The global economy has placed a premium on students with true bilingual fluency combined with western professional skills. As multinational organizations increasingly field teams of technicians, marketers, writers, financiers, graphic designers, and analysts, the most valuable members are those who can work with everyone. English is the most important language, but for Americans and other native English speakers in China, there is a real premium on at least conversational Putonghua. 

But language is only part of the battle. Cultural “globalism” implies tolerance for a wide variety of norms, but a preference for modern multiculturalism. Educations that stress sensitivity and awareness of modern norms, through teamwork and communication, are now part of the global canon. The classes are much noisier than those I remember from my youth, but students’ have more confidence and ease with communication.

In China, schools for international students come in three main flavours: Chinese, home-country (e.g., British, Canadian, French, Korean, Arabic, other), or International Baccalaureate (IB). Chinese pedagogy is evident in many of the bilingual programs and in the branch schools of leading local high schools and primary schools that target foreign students. 

Home-country schools are generally more upscale with tuitions approaching the highest levels in China. The British National Curriculum has many adherents, because of its traditional form and proven pedagogy. Many of these schools are modern, with extensive playing fields, athletic equipment, and classroom technologies. The exit exams are generally based on the British system, although many schools are offering the IB as the culmination of high school, because of its international acceptance.

IB represents a mixed bag of teaching styles, from very progressive elements in primary and middle years to more traditional curriculum and testing by the end of high school. It is also a very demanding programme, with extensive requirements such as a second language and a major essay required for graduation. Colleges all over the world value the IB, with many American colleges giving a full year of credit to IB graduates.

Overall, the IB is really the only system that has evolved with a truly global perspective, with the Theory of Knowledge, a second-language, and integration of different cultures and philosophies. It will be interesting to see if IB evolves into a truly multilingual curriculum, with English as a second language for students with a wide variety of native tongues. 

We know that education will continue to change under the influence of globalization, but what form these changes should be much debated. Some western educators emphasize the need for learning-how-to-learn and process over content. Howard Gardner, the father of the Multiple Intelligences Theory, says much of what he memorized in school is now just so much software on cell phones and laptops. Traditionalists, from China or the West, point to the achievements of their graduates in today’s economy. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” could easily be their rallying cry.  

The fact is: We really don’t know which education will be best in the next few decades. A certain amount of caution is in order, but I prefer to think we know something about how education could improve. Parents are justifiably sceptical of “modern” and “progressive” learning that eschew any conventional norms for achievement and quality, but in my opinion the traditionalist’s emphasis on facts and content is mostly an artefact of standardized testing. We must find ways to assess achievement without resorting to multiple-choice tests. Then we can reward students who exhibit judgment, passion, clear communication, and creativity. These are the students who will succeed in the brave, new, knowledge-based economy.