Opinion
Federal Opinion

We Must Lead Through Education

By Anthony Jackson — November 10, 2016 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The election left us a country divided—more so than any of us realized. The work of global education—understanding and respecting people who are different from us and indeed having empathy toward them—is more important than ever. Tony Jackson, Vice President, Education, Asia Society, shares his thoughts.

It’s often said nowadays that we live in a VUCA world: volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. The truth of that statement was brought home with the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, capping one of the most unpredictable and divisive political seasons in American history. It has left many of us stunned, angry, and deeply troubled by the fragmentation along the cultural and socioeconomic lines that have been so blatantly exposed. And for immigrants and people of color, it has left them fearful of their very safety.

President-elect Trump has said that it is time for us to come together as one people. Leading the nation toward this happier state will be an enormous task. But those of us who believe deeply in the power of education to overcome cultural boundaries have a job to do as well.

Our mission at Asia Society’s Center for Global Education is to develop in all youth, regardless of background or social condition, the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will enable them to thrive amid diversity as well as to prosper within a global economy. Never has the need for development of these competencies—these global competencies—been more apparent.

Consider what was missing in our nation’s recent political discourse and indeed in the discourse surrounding Brexit in the United Kingdom. We did not witness an understanding between groups of one another’s history, culture, motivations, or behavior that might mitigate distrust. We did not see evidence of the ability to recognize and weigh diverse perspectives—including those contrary to one’s own. The capacity to communicate across cultural divides was often a bridge too far. We heard too few proposals for action that fairly weighed the benefits and consequences for all groups, especially the most marginalized within our society. And even as we watch, this same lack of global competence is apparent in political conversations in France, the Netherlands, and Italy. But where politicians might fail, we must lead through education.

These are the competencies that we must relentlessly pursue for all children, now more than ever. Developing the competencies of citizenship, of our nation and of the world, is no longer an option for an elite few. They must be a mainstay of education for all if we have any hope of bending the arc of history toward widespread prosperity for individuals and peaceful coexistence of societies.

Whether we asked for it or not, it falls to those of us privileged to educate children, including parents who are the first teachers, to develop these competencies. This is the mission of education in the 21st century, as surely as it is traditional academic excellence.

We can begin by asking our students, what does this election tell us about ourselves? What do they believe is needed to bring us together? If there ever was a “teachable moment,” it is today.

As the African American spiritual guides us in times of seeming peril, we must keep our eyes stayed on freedom. We must keep our eyes stayed on freedom from regression into ever more cultural factionalism. We must keep our eyes stayed on freedom through education to recognize our common humanity.

The call to action has never been louder and the task of education to build bridges of understanding never more urgent. As educators, that task is ours.

Connect with Tony, Heather, and the Center for Global Education on Twitter.

Image: Students at Fort Vancouver High School Center for International Studies. Eric O’Connell.

Related Tags:

The opinions expressed in Global Learning are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Trump Admin. Starts Moving CTE to Labor Dept. After Supreme Court Order
The Education Department put arrangements to move some of its programs on hold while court battles over downsizing played out.
4 min read
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022.
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022. The Trump administration is shifting management of career and technical education programs to the U.S. Department of Labor now that the Supreme Court have given the go-ahead to proceed with downsizing of the U.S. Department of Education.
Nate Smallwood for Education Week
Federal Hope Shattered for Laid-Off Ed. Dept. Staff After Supreme Court Order
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to proceed with 1,400 Education Department layoffs.
6 min read
Supporters hold signs and cheer Education Department employees as they leave after retrieving their personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025.
Supporters hold signs and cheer Education Department employees as they leave after retrieving their personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025. The Supreme Court on July 14, 2025, allowed the Trump administration to proceed with department layoffs that a lower-court judge had put on hold.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Trump Admin. Says Undocumented Students Can't Attend Head Start, Early College
The administration issued notices saying undocumented immigrants don't qualify for Head Start and some Education Department programs.
7 min read
Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami. The Trump administration said Thursday that undocumented children are ineligible for Head Start and a number of other federally funded programs that the administration is classifying as similar to welfare benefits.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Federal How Medicaid, SNAP Changes in Trump's Big Budget Bill Could Affect Schools
The bill will stress a major funding stream schools rely on, leading to ripple effects that make it harder for schools to offer free meals.
6 min read
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington.
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington. The bill cuts federal spending for Medicaid and food stamps—cuts that stand to affect students and trickle down to schools.
Evan Vucci/AP