Citizen of the Word

Though I have a great many questions about it in terms of practical day to day applications in my teaching, I like the spirit of this theoretical global initiative. As my mother always said, "You are a citizen of the world whether you want to be or not," probably because her father had immigrated here from Scotland. 

The best education is all about three basic questions: WHO am I? WHO are you? and WHAT do we have in common? From that comes clarity, honesty and true communication. Here, there, everywhere. While all politics (including school policies of all kinds I am assuming) is local, as Tip O'Neill famously said, the ideal of education has never been that narrow. While the worst of politics is often about winning and losing, hopefully education in the 21st Century should be about a different sort of math. 

So I agree with just about everything that was included in the reading. The need to stay curious, be open to creative risk-taking and committed to change seems basic to what is at stake here. It certainly is basic to what I try to teach. The fact that more than 200 million souls have risked their lives and livelihood speaks volumes about where we are headed. 

-John Norton

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John Norton

Arts Chair / US Art Department

BB&N School

Cambridge, MA 02138