always learning

I’m a bit of a late starter with this one, but I am currently reading Naomi Klein’s No Logo and I was struck by this statement:

“Despite different cultures, middle-class youth all over the world seem to live their lives as if in a parallel universe. They get up in the morning, put on their Levi’s and Nikes, grab their caps, backpacks, and Sony personal CD players, and head for school.” (p. 119).

Despite the fact that the items they are grabbing are quite dated, these are our kids. From Germany to Malaysia, every single student I’ve worked with in the last 5 years has an iPod, they all love McDonalds, they watch the same TV shows, wear the same clothes, idolize the same stars. No matter what country you live in, whether they are locals or international students, they are today’s global youth.

I am finding No Logo an excellent companion to The World is Flat. Sure, we need to prepare our students for an increasingly globalized, flatter world, but they’re clearly already living it. I think they might understand even more than we do that they’re all part of the same “global village.” I guess all we’re doing is catching up…

Image from:

http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/NoLogo/images/film_box