A classroom as big as the world

It's the eve of the Iraqi election. And in Aaron Becker's classroom, preparations are in full swing. Israeli hip-hop music plays in the background as the Islamists and the Royalists put finishing touches on promotional materials, and members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party search for Kurdish hats.

Then the speeches begin. Iraqi National Congress representatives plead for a democratic Iraq, a speech by el-Dawa is peppered with Islamic references, and the Iraqi Democratic Party explains why delaying the election six months would allow all Iraqi citizens to participate.

Here at Evanston Township High School, it's a surprisingly typical scene.

Ever since the school instituted a global studies requirement in 1988, international history, culture, and foreign policy have infused the curriculum to an unusual degree. Even the after-school program - with Model United Nations, Islamic Awareness, and Japanese Tea Ceremony - has a global flair.

But that global flair makes the Evanston school somewhat of an anomaly in the United States. The scope of most of the nation's schools remains largely limited to the US - or at least Western civilization.

That's a limitation that may eventually cost the US dearly, warn a growing number of educators and business leaders. In a world where business ventures, policy decisions, and even pop culture are becoming increasingly global, US students need a fuller understanding of the world beyond their own national borders.

Many US students lag behind their counterparts when it comes to global knowledge. A 2002 National Geographic Roper poll of young adults in nine countries found that Americans ranked second to last in their knowledge of facts about the world. Only 1 in 7 could find Iraq on a map of the Middle East.

However, a slow process of change is under way, says Michael Levine, director of education at the Asia Society, which works to promote learning about the world in general and Asia in particular. Some states are beginning to change their requirements to reflect a more global curriculum, he says, and a few are recognizing the importance of learning languages.

"I think it's being driven from outside the education community, by the economic development requirements of a global age. Governments and business leaders are seeing the need for a different kind of skill set."

In the eyes of some, Evanston - winner of a 2003 prize for excellence in international education awarded by the Asia Society and the Goldman Sachs Foundation - is a model.

Evanston makes learning about the world a requirement, not an elective. Sophomores take a full year of "global perspectives" courses, with offerings that include semester-long classes on Asia, Africa, Russia, Latin America, and the Middle East - or a year-long humanities course taught by history and English teachers that covers multiple continents.

Students learn about the battle over Chechnya, or take part in a mock peace conference on Kashmir. The international focus goes beyond social studies, trickling into the arts and languages, which include French and Spanish, as well as German, Hebrew, and Japanese.

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