As we began to look at a global society, we examined two aspects of this which were education and health care. I found that education becoming a global entity was very intriguing and the more we began to discuss this thought in class the more interested I became. Whittling down to the core of what education is, one can extract the latent curriculum, or the unofficial forms of schooling. Some examples of this would be how we as students build up our time management skills and working with groups. The other curriculum we receive from education is manifest, which is the actual information being transmitted. As the level of our education goes up, we expand on these skills and use them to build upon the persons we wish to be.
A specific aspect of how the education system has become homogenized, is that many countries are following the western example. It can vary from how many years we are education children to the structure of the classroom but the trend that I wanted to focus on was studying abroad. Thinking of this idea as something beyond America is different because all the research we see is based off of where we are traveling to as American students. In addition, it is a very new topic and there are not many studies done at this time. Even as I tried to get more information on the topic, all I could find are the increasing numbers of students from the United Sates and the rising popularity of certain locations, mostly in Europe. In my blog, I have included an article listing the top ten places American students venture for a semester or more. While this is interesting I really wanted to see the trends of other countries grabbing hold of the "study abroad" train. It makes me wonder, of these top countries, how many of the students from those locations are studying in different countries?
In my study abroad experiencing of going to the number two country on the top ten list, Spain, I learned an exponential amount that I feel will help me so much in my professional future. The other idea tied to studying abroad popularity across the globe that has been studied, is why students decided to take the leap of faith for their education. As the globe consistently continues to be more interconnected the abroad experience can only benefit. The experiences give insight of the latent curriculum kind and knowledge of in the manifest curriculum. The thought of having students from across the world broadening their horizons to the more global picture is exciting. This is one western trend that I wish to see continue to grow for years to come.
Article---> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/28/the-most-popular-study-abroad_n_1307971.html#s736426&title=10_Argentina
Although some might think that studying abroad homogenizes our education systems, I agree that it actually brings out the differences between our education systems. I also traveled abroad and saw the same form of education there, however, it was done in a completely different way. This somewhat opened my eyes to how our education systems can differ based on cultures.
ReplyDeleteI also feel that the issue with studying abroad is who has the ability to travel abroad. I'm no expert on it but the "developed" countries seem to travel abroad much more than the "less developed" countries of the world (with the exception of those who could be considered to be the elite). This trend, in my mind, could have the consequence of increasing the educational gap between nation-states.