Empowering Global Citizens

international understanding (Kandel, 1930). Kandel defined international
understanding as “that attitude which recognizes the possibilities of service
of our own nation and of other nations in a common cause, the cause of hu—
manity, the readiness to realize that other nations along with our own have
by virtue of their common humanity the ability to contribute something
of worth to the progress of Civilization” (Kandel, I930: 228). He distin—
guished international understanding from communism, or as antithetical to
nationalism. To foster international understanding at the high school level,
Kandel proposed not a new subject but a special emphasis on the interna—
tional dimensions of the existing subjects, including the arts, science, geog—
raphy, literature, and history. Kandel saw the existing curriculum as holding
the potential to foster international understanding as a result of a specific
emphasis on highlighting cosmopolitan linkages among people. In effect,
he was advocating for the infusion of global education into the existent cur—
riculum of other disciplines.

One alternative to the idea that global education could be infused into the
curricula of other disciplines was the notion that global education required
a specific study of international subject matter. Another view on global
education emphasized the importance of experiences and interactions with
people from diverse cultural backgrounds and national origins that exchang—
es and study abroad provide.

A contemporary of Kandel who also advocated for using global education
to foster international understanding was Stephen Duggan, the first presi-
dent of the Institute for International Education, which he founded with
Nobel Laureates Elihu Root, a former US secretary of war, and Nicholas
Murray Butler, the president of Columbia University. Duggan, who was
known as the apostle of internationalism, was also the first president of the
Council on Foreign Relations. The Institute of International Education
was established to support international understanding as a way to achieve
lasting peace. The institute’s founders believed that student—teacher ex-
changes were a valuable way to foster such international understanding.

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