Global Competence - Response to Glynn and Cliff

I posted a resource on the Education Consultants Network, a group on LinkedIn.  This post is a response to comments by two educators in England to my post sharing ideas on incorporating holidays as a means of helping students develop global competencies.  Their comments, to which I am replying here, are posted on the Read More link.  

This is my reply to them:

Dear Glynn and Cliff,

It seems to me that much of what you said was irrelevant to the purpose of the post.  And there seems to be some misunderstanding on your part of some basic concepts such as:  global competence, global awareness, the 21st century, global, national and some holidays.  

While all children in today’s world are citizens of a global community, they do continue to also be members of a nation.  These various nations have different cultures; all cultures have holidays.  Some holidays are shared in many countries, but are nevertheless celebrated in different ways.

You complain that the images in my Holidays slideshow were “selective” and “not global”, and you used for your point that the Halloween images were from a "highly commercialized, American perspective".  At no time did I claim that the slideshow would be exhaustive, illustrating every holiday in every culture.  And, the highly commercialized images of Halloween in America are valid representations of a holiday celebration.  Your complaint that Halloween in the UK has been ruined by American commercialization is not relevant to the purpose of the post.

If you did actually follow the links you would have found links to Halloween as it relates to All Hallow’s Eve as well as links to traditions for Halloween in many different cultures.  My post was not intended as the ultimate resource for holidays in general, or for Halloween, in particular.  I was not writing a dissertation, simply sharing some ideas.

Cliff, you criticized that you saw no reference to “Father Christmas”.  Actually, Santa Claus is one of many personifications for Father Christmas.  “In the English-speaking world, Father Christmas is associated with the development in the United States of Santa Claus, and most people now consider them to be different names for the same figure.” (from wikipedia)  I believe that this is common knowledge to most people, but it is also easily learned after a cursory search on Google.  As I stated earlier, it was not my intention to provide a comprehensive listing of every possible holiday in the world.  The slideshow was simply a sample.

I always appreciate and welcome suggestions from others; I certainly would not presume to believe that I know or think of all possibilities.  That is the wonderful thing about social media, such as this group on LinkedIn – it is a place where we can share, and in so doing, raise the quality of our offerings to others.  How nice it would have been to receive some suggestions from you on what to include in the slideshow and the related resources to improve their quality!

You surely noted that the slideshow DID contain images of a variety of holidays in a variety of cultures and religions all over the world.  Therefore, it IS global.  And, yes, the pictures were “selective” as someone had to select the images in order to create the slideshow.  How else would a slideshow be created?

You claim that the title of the post is inaccurate, and further proceed to state that it is not about “global competence”, but actually is about “global awareness”.  What is the first step toward global competence, if not global awareness?  It seems you are simply looking for an argument rather than observing the effort made in the post to give educators an entry point into helping their students develop global awareness, the first step in developing global competence.

The post was not merely an effort to advertise 21st Century Schools, but was an authentic desire to share with as many educators as possible some very exciting and relevant ways to connect these holidays with educational goals, including the development of “21st century skills and competencies”, one of which is Global Competence.

It is my belief that sharing these resources and ideas on the Educational Consultant’s Group will enhance the offerings of all of us who work with educators, especially classroom teachers.  The resource is valuable and was freely shared.

The criticism that “21st century” and “global” are not the same, and that there exist many calendars around the world is a ludicrous argument.  I would think that you would not wish to reveal yourself to be so nit-picking, cantankerous and narrow-minded.  Most of the developed world (as well as the developing world) agree that we are living in the 21st century.  Call it what you like, I am referring to the present time.

It is disheartening to see people who claim to be experts and leaders in education spending their time denigrating another educator’s sincere efforts to share something valuable, something about which they are excited and wish to share with others.  

Education is not about arguments based upon semantics as you two also demonstrated in your inane criticisms of Sharon Biggs’ post on instructional leadership – “instructor” vs. “educator”.  You stated “I still cannot understand why educators in the USA refer to themselves as instructors” and  “I keep getting LinkedIn requests to recommend people for instructional design...I did not know the term so looked it up and was horrified to discover its US usage....come on...lets get shut of it.”

Perhaps you two need to hone your global awareness and competencies instead of spending your time and energies making irrelevant and insulting semantic arguments.

awareness – noun - the state or condition of being aware; having knowledge; consciousness.

competence – noun - the quality of being competent; adequacy; possession of required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity.

First, let me state that I am in favour of children's education being global. I see all children (especially today with global communication so much easier) as being global citizens. Where one is born and one's parents'/grandparents' places of birth are mere accidents of location. "Nationality" is a good way of raising taxes and armies. 

Having visited the site(s) and noting (in agreement) the importance of effective communication (see Wagner's "7 survival skills"), I am disturbed by the inaccuracy of the tittle which was what drew me to examine your submission to this network. The article is not about "Global Competence" but global "awareness". 

"Having competence" (being competent) may be defined as "having the set of knowledge, skills and attitudes to carry out consistently, demonstratively and effectively a certain task or duty" or "having legal responsibility for some defined activity". These are syntheses of multiple definitions. Simply "being aware" or "knowing" is not enough for competence to be recognised. 

The content which may be found in the pictures is selective and not "global" and, for example, the picture of Hallowe'en represents only a much-hyped and higly-commercialised 20th century American perspective (see Wikipedia reference to "Halloween". Hallowe'en (as I am sure you know) is the Eve of All Hallows - that is, the evening before All Saints Day in the Christian calendar. 

A title is important. It defines the content which follows. 

Further, I do not understand the contribution the content makes to The Education Consultants' Network other than as advertising the products of the 21st Century Schools organisation.

Especially agree about Hallowe'en.....my parents would not recognise it now since in the UK it has become swamped by American commercialism. And I saw no reference to Father Christmas! 

You may not agree with me Anne, but I want to add that the concept of a twenty first century is nothing like a global concept. It is merely one (western) calendar among many. We do not have to wait until western governments and cultures choose to select an arbitrary turn of the calendar in order to begin working on how we might learn to connect.