June 2008 — News
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Global Learning Initiative Helps Kansas Students Collaborate with Peers Around the World
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"What's your definition of jihad?"
A simple question, but profound in that it came from an Egyptian middle school student talking to his peers in my classroom during a videoconference exchange.
Exchanges like this are becoming routine in Douglass, KS, thanks to a Global Learning Program we began in our elementary school two years ago and which we'll be expanding into Douglass High School next fall. This particular exchange took place during a December 2007 conference involving schools in Kansas, New Jersey, South Dakota, Virginia, and Cairo.
The Egyptian students asked the question, and my students answered, "a jihad is a holy war, and it's the basis of a lot of the bombings." But the Egyptians said, "Well, that's not our definition."
They went on to explain that a jihad really means striving to find God. Sometimes in trying to find God you have challenges or trials and tribulations, but for the kids in Cairo jihad is not war. That miscommunication of what a word means can obviously lead to all kinds of trouble. Imagine using that word with that meaning and having people in another country imposing their own interpretation.
The Douglass Global Learning Program seeks to build bridges between people at an early age and, as important, help them to learn to work together on projects--as they will as adults in a global economy. Student growth can be strong when they're able to talk frankly to each other and not have an adult get in the way of their communication.
The Germ of an Idea
We began the Global Learning initiative with the realization that companies in nearby Wichita, and through them Douglass residents, are regularly doing business around the world. One of the Boeing vice presidents, Bob Waner, said, "I'll tell you what I need. Americans are good at taking an idea and running with it, but the Japanese need everything laid-out and tasks assigned, and Italians create and produce in chaos. All have their own approach. I need you to give me graduates who can work with all those cultures and build me an airplane."
