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U.S. Schools Forge Foreign Connections Via Web

American student are teaming up online with classrooms around the world to learn valuable lessons

By Robin L. Flanigan

Ninth graders at the 2,300-student South Plantation High School in Plantation, Fla., were in a videoconference with Egyptian students and journalists last year when President Hosni Mubarak stepped down. Both the Americans and the Egyptians were in awe, clapping and laughing and sharing in a moment of global importance.

“All of a sudden, our students understood what freedom is, what a democracy means, how fortunate they are to be where they are, and how people have to struggle to get to that level,” said Donna Rose, the director of the school’s VALOR Freshman Academy, the academic program for the school’s 500 9th graders. “In a heartbeat, they changed their view of humanity. How could I have done...