Globalization and the Global Citizen :: Professor Caesar Sereseres

Global Connect @ UCI is an original educational partnership developed by UC Irvine's School of Social Sciences to enrich California's secondary school curriculum in international studies. This is accomplished by translating current university-level concepts and knowledge into a curriculum that is age appropriate for high school students. The global studies knowledge-gap in our public schools is a critical problem that needs a flexible and immediate response. Students need lessons they can relate to as global citizens that will affect how they see themselves in the world. They must be capable of thinking in terms of worldwide issues to succeed in their respective lives and careers so that they may contribute to the general welfare of society. This cannot be achieved through textbook curriculum that is outdated by the time it is received by students. Teachers cannot abandon their classroom responsibilities to acquire current knowledge of the quickly changing international environment. Global conflicts and issues need to be brought to the students as current events not as history.