EDUC.

105
( GLOBAL TRENDS AND ISSUES OF EDUCATION )

Five Insights for Global Trends and Issues of Education

1. Mumbai might the New Cambridge
While American primary and secondary education continues to lag the industrialized
world, American universities consistently outrank their global peers and, thus, continue to
be a magnet for the best and brightest from planet earth. 6 of the top 10, and 15 of the top
25 universities in the world are U.S.-based, including Northwestern (ranked 24th
globally). However, if you believe that, in the age of globalization, the concept of an Ivy
League of educational will remain a uniquely American offering, think again.
Harvard Business School, for instance, has announced a new program in India focused on
entrepreneurship, strategic management, innovation and corporation accountability. We
shouldnt be surprised to see more top American universities breaking ground on similar
programs in other emerging markets, where a whole new generation of would-be
corporate raiders is ripe for the picking.
We have to expect other countries to develop direct competitors to the Ivy League itself.
According to Inside Higher Education, French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to
develop an Ivy League of Frances own. As part of the countrys Iniatives dExcellence
(Idex) scheme, it would be called the Sorbonne League (cant wait to see the school
mascots), and would include five to seven world-class universities that can vie
internationally for top students and professors. Currently, France does not have even one
university in the top 25 globally. And only one European university makes the cut at all,
ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). Perhaps there is a connection
between Europes under-performing universities and its sovereign debt woes?
2. There Will Be Jobs
Even against the backdrop of a European recession, theres good news on the post-grad
job front. According to U.S. News & World Report, Employers surveyed by the National
Assocation of Colleges and Employers (NACE) say they plan to hire 9.5 percent more
graduates from the class of 2012 than they did from the class of 2011. And according to

the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the areas that look most promising are the so-called
STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
Speaking of engineering, We might as well think of it as the new plastics; the average
salary offered to engineering majors rose 2.8 percent last year to $60,291. Likewise, the
average salary offered to petroleum engineering graduates jumped 7.1 percent to $82,740,
making it the highest-paid major, according to the same U.S. News article . However,
many of these jobs will go unfilled unless there is a dramatic increase in graduates with
the necessary math and science skills to take them. For that to happen, more students
have to start moving away from majors in soft social sciences, such as anthropology, to
harder sciences.
3. Brain Train
Emerging research on the psychology of how we learn will likely influence how we
teach. Developments in neuroscience and cognitive psychology are powering new ways
of thinking about the brain and the perceptions and emotions that contribute to learning.
Music education classes, for example, have shown to enhance education performance by
interacting with many different areas of brain function. A concept obvious to those
who study while listening to Bach or Mozart, and an important one when placed against
the backdrop of standardized-test-driven cuts in music classes nationwide.
Moreover, two Vancouver engineers (and dads) are banking that the launch of their afterschool education program, Einstein Wise, will help students compete globally in math
and all things tech. Their brain training center combines chess with a computer tablet to
create a K-6 program that incorporates math, Mandarin Chinese, Lego robotics, even
yoga. The duo hopes that public schools will incorporate its smart programs into their
curriculum in the near future. Note to the EinsteinWise Men: dont forget about
competitive debate, which empirically improves student performance.
4. Anti-Bullying Backlash
Also trending for 2012-13, is an anti-bullying backlash. Educators in states such as New
Jersey, which just passed perhaps the toughest anti-bullying legislation in the country, are
already feeling overwhelmed by the number of reports theyre receiving and the amount
of time it takes to investigate each bullying complaint. Also troubling to teachers,
students and parents is how to police bullies outside the classroom and schoolyard. We
will see lines drawn by angry parents who feel that schools invade the privacy of their
children when they investigate their lives out of school. If parents want to protect the

privacy of their daily lives, the responsibility to monitor their childrens bullying will fall
squarely on their already overburdened shoulders.
5. Outdoor Education Makes a Comeback
And in a twist on what we now think of as a digital classroom without walls, We should
look for an upstick in outdoor education programs designed to combat everything from
obesity to digital burnout to Vitamin D deficiences. According to the Burlington Free
Press, classes in farming and nature studies, including the study of back-to-the-woods
authors such as Henry David Thoreau, will become part of expanded green learning
iniatives.
However, we will not banish the iPad just yet. In September 2011, the U.S. Department
of Education provided startup funding for a new project called Digital Promise. The
bipartisan, public-private initiative will bring technology breakthroughs into the
classroom to help students with problem subjects such as math.

SUBMITTED BY :
ALOHA V. GARCES
SY 2012-2013
First Semester