Empowering Global Citizens

We originally designed this curriculum in the hope that it would be ad—
opted by Avenues: The World School, an innovative elite school currently
operating in New York City that plans to eventually establish campuses in
major global cities around the world. Following this chapter, we present
the curriculum itself as we designed it before Avenues: The World School
began operating. We note that this curriculum is the foundation for the
World Course, which is a prominent component of an Avenues education.
The World Course has been further developed at Avenues since its opening;
however, that development is not the focus of this book. As we developed
this curriculum for a well—resourced school which would be established in
New York City, some of the activities and resources presented here may need
to be adapted for use of this curriculum in different circumstances. For in—
stance, some activities involve exploring the city of New York, or Visiting the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, or they involve interviewing parents involved
in occupations likely to reflect those of parents of students in the Avenues
School. While the same activities may not be feasible in other geographies,
the principles which underlie the choice of these activities can be general—
ized, such as drawing on local resources and institutions such as museums,
engaging parents and community members as sources of knowledge and
experience, or exploring the particular cities where the school is located,
whatever those may be. Similarly, the resources listed in this curriculum are
all in the English language, uses of this curriculum in schools where other
languages are used for instruction will necessitate identifying appropriate
resources in those languages.

The goal of this book is to make this curriculum widely available to educa—
tors around the world in the hope that they will use it in whatever way they
find appropriate as they seek to support their students in becoming global
citizens. We believe that we are at the dawn of a new era, one in which global
education will be a part of the significant transformation that will take place
in education in the twenty—first century. Such a transformation will require
not linear extensions of what has been taught in the past or of the ways in
which it has been taught but a fundamental rethinking of the teaching and

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