A new commission, headed by Clark Kerr, the former president of the University of California, is examining how well the nation’s schools teach about other countries and cultures, and will suggest ways of improving “global education.”
Organized by Global Perspectives in Education, a group devoted to promoting international education in the nation’s schools, the 15-member commission met for the first time this month to discuss what is currently being done in the schools, and what needs to be done, to prepare students to live in an international society, said Judith Schwartzstein, the group’s spokesman.
From these discussions, the commission will recommend strategies for improving the way schools teach about other countries and cultures, and their interdependence, Ms. Schwartzstein noted.
In addition, one commission member--John I. Goodlad, author of A Place Called School--will direct a task force to devise ways of incorporating the commission’s suggestions into the elementary- and secondary-school curriculum.
A report on the commission’s findings and proposals, to be written by Mr. Kerr, should be available by next May, Ms. Schwartzstein said. Papers on a variety of topics discussed by the commission will be prepared as well, she said.
The project is supported by Global Perspectives and grants from the Exxon Education, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations. Other commission members include:
Alberta Arthurs, director, Arts and Humanities Program, Rockefeller Foundation; Ernest Boyer, president, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Donald H. Bragaw, president, National Council for the Social Studies; Flora Mancuso Edwards, president, Hostos Community College, Bronx, N.Y.; Mary Hatwood Futrell, president, National Education Association; Roger Horchow, businessman, Dallas; Frank Loy, president, German Marshall Fund-U.S.; Frank Newman, president, Education Commission of the States; William F. Pierce, executive director, Council of Chief State School Officers; Ruth E. Randall, commissioner of education, Minnesota Department of Education; Gloria Scott, vice president, Clark College, Atlanta; Albert Shanker, president, American Federation of Teachers; and Daniel Yankelovich, public-policy analyst, New York City.
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