Business Minded Students

This two minded track that Mr. Kiyosaki spoke of highly aligns with the fundamentals of ISSN schools. "Since 2003, Asia Society has worked in partnership with school districts and charter authorities to create the International Studies Schools Network (ISSN). ISSN is a national network of design-driven public schools that are achieving success in attaining their core mission: to develop college-ready, globally competent high school graduates." (Asia Society, 2009)

Thinking of the structure and set up of the ISSN school I think they are a great way to run schools and also align with the mission and goals of the ISSN school. With this said, I think it would take a lot of renovation for their model to work in my school district. I think that the model would be very successful if all of the teachers were truly invested and believed in the idea that ISSN is “indisputable [that] we now live in an interconnected and interdependent world.” (Anthony, 2008) And we, as educators, are going to have to work extremely hard to, “fully prepare every young person for the challenges and opportunities he or she will face within the new global village” (Anthony, 2008) that we live in.

As for my students I strongly believe that they would latch onto the ISSN school models. My students are so thirsty for knowledge of the world. They want to know how everything is connected and how it works together, that if they knew that they would have the opportunity to work on projects related to the real world rather then the monotonous routines we train them to go through. While I know that it would take some work to get the kids invested I believe it is possible. My only concern is with investing the parents as well. A lot of my parents are very traditional and just want their students to learn what they are supposed to learn and they can be close minded to an idea like this. Again, I think it would take a lot of convincing that we have to prepare our students for the real world, not just the AIMS and if we want to prepare them for the real world we are going to have to get them to understand and participate in this globalization era.

Knowing that “more than one in five U.S. jobs is now tied to international trade” (Anthony, 2008) I would be a fool to say that I wouldn’t want to attend a school like the ISSN schools. Although, I think I am biased considering I studied business in college and I truly understated the market value that you add to yourself in the eyes of an employer if you are comfortable and confident in your globalization skills. In society today we have to be educated in what is going on in the world and if we can prepare our students for globalization and language diversity in high school it is only going to give them a jump start into their college careers.


Sources

Asia Society. (May 2009) Education and Learning. International Studies Schools Network. http://www.asiasociety.org/education-learning/international-studies-schools-network/international-studies-schools-network

Jackson, A. (May 2008). Educational Leadership. High Schools in the Global Age. Vol. 65. Number 8. Pages 58-62. http://www.trinity.edu/departments/education/Degree_Programs/May%2008%20Ed%20Leadership_jackson.pdf