Global Awareness summary- the author has done a tremendous amount of research/interviewing business leaders and asking them what they want in an employee. The leaders have said they want individuals to be able to ask questions, solve problems, improve the business, and communicate with the world. They also want the students to be able to address global issues.
My Quote: page 26- Mike Summers, vp of Global Talent Management at Dell Computers- "Students have a naivete about how work gets done in the corporate environment. They have a predisposition toward believing that everything is clearly outlined, and then people give directions, and then other people execute until there's a new set of directions. They don't understand the complexities of an organization."
My thoughts- This book was not my first choice (not even my third - but Borders had it) so I probably came in with a bad attitude. But I wanted to get started right away. Then when the second page referred to the book "The World is Flat" I rolled my eyes. I have heard one too many speeches about how we are compared to Japan, India, China etc. Japan students go to school literally year round, Germany places their students into tracks and test the best ones. We are accountable for every child every time. Which we should be- but don't compare us to those who don't. My other thought on this book. Where is the question to the business people- what are you doing to help the schools. Do you have mentoring programs,volunteer at our schools, or aid in the financial way? What are they doing? The teachers today have a very hard job. We are the first generation to be responsible for global awareness/world communication. How do we do it with budget cuts, computers that do not work, and NCLB scores threatening us? When does the "real world" step in and say how can we help?
