Abstract:

The topic of education and globalization reminds me of when I was a young girl in elementary school. My best friend and I shared lunch, time on the playground, engaged in academic adventures in which we would exchange our clothes, thinking what the other was wearing was actually better than our own school day attire. In the morning upon arrival, we would slip into the little girls’ room, switch our clothes and go about our educational activities. Looking back now, I cannot remember the reason for wanting to wear each other’s clothes, only that we simply viewed each other as having something better and we had the will and determination to do something about it even if was just for the day. The current effect of globalization on the education policy in the United States is much like my childhood idea of putting on someone else’s clothes. The increased awareness of globalization has the United States looking to other countries, particularly China and India, as possessing a unique quality, namely high- test scores. Due to the historical ratification of the federal law, No Child Left Behind in 2001, the United States has been desperately seeking to wear international clothes, to be like others, forgetting that just putting on someone else’s clothes isn’t always best and disguises the identity of originality. The United States is comparing itself not only to China but to Finland as well, because Finland is at the forefront regarding international rankings of student achievement in the content area of Mathematics, which makes Finland a possible new best friend.
The United States educational system is once again experiencing an influx of disappointment and shock similar to the fear that was created when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I. The U.S. was surprised and frightened to find out that another country had the engineering skills to launch a rocket into space. This fear spurred an urgent call to action, which resulted in an educational emphasis in the content areas of math and science. As we continue our evolution in the 21st Century, it is not a rocket the United States fears, it is their current inferior international education ranking that is creating an alarm. This hyper-focus comparison with our international peers is frightening to politicians, education administrators, teachers and parents forcing everyone to focus on the underachievement of our students and the current state of education in the United States. In response to the international underachieving of American students, the United States has moved quickly to develop state standards with the ever-increasing intensity to rapidly design national standards with a link to their international peers. The purpose of this paper is to define globalization and its effect(s) on education in the United States, to summarize and compare 2009 educational data of the United States in the areas of reading, math and science with other countries in the G-8 and explain why the U.S. is in the race to create national standards with links to international curriculum.

Keywords:

Globalization, Education, National Standards, International Standards.