Empowering Global Citizens

the impact of human migration on the environment and on the kinds of
knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are necessary to address these issues.
That approach led us to fields such as demography, which is not a subject
taught in many schools but is a topic that we thought was essential for
learning how to address issues about population growth and its impact on
sustainability. Another difference between more traditional global citizen—
ship education curricula and the World Course is our curriculum’s focus
on social entrepreneurship; while a few business classes may be taught in
high schools, we deliberately brought the subject to the lower grades and
coupled it with the development of students’ understanding of interna—

tional development and notions of justice and equity.

In our examination of the IB programs, we appreciated the emphasis on
interdisciplinarity and on the development of research and analytic skills,
but we missed an explicit curricular sequence and the kind of content that
would provide all students with foundational knowledge about globaliza—
tion and global affairs.

Like other global education curricula, we focused on intercultural com—
petencies to develop the values, attitudes, and perceptions of students.
For example, we wanted students to understand how cultures can shape
identities, including their own. With our curriculum, we sought to de—
velop empathy in the students through perspective-taking exercises. We
also draw upon literature and the arts to encourage creative expression in
the global—studies course. As students learn about other cultures through
their artistic traditions — music, dance, theater, and other forms of sto—
rytelling and emotional communication, they can experience emotional
connections which transcend linguistic barriers. Many art forms, particu~
larly performing arts, require collaboration, creativity, and the embrace
of uncertain situations, which makes them a potentially effective medi—
um for cultivating in students the ability to appreciate and engage with
the unknown, therefore teaching them to be more empathetic and open

minded. Participating in an artistic performance is more likely to leave an

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