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THE CONTENT OF EDUCATION IN A GLOBAL CIVILIZATION
2nd International Roundtable
November 29-December 6, 1999
Organized By The Council for Global Education, USA
Hosted By CMS, Lucknow, India
An Invitation Too Important To Ignore
THE COUNCIL FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION (CGE) invites you to the 2nd International Roundtable, to be held in India, November 29-December 6, as part of a multi-year process of learning, sharing, continuous improvement and creative thinking on preparing children for the 21st century. CGE is hosting this year's event at the City Montessori School to provide the opportunity for all participants to study the CMS Character Education Model, recognized by many as an exceptional example of a school that fully integrates character and universal secular values with academic excellence.
This special event is designed for those who wish to help shape an emerging discussion on education and its content for the 21st century. Continuing progress towards a quality education will require frequent collaboration and communication among teachers, parents, academics, researchers, students, policy makers and donors. To facilitate such connections and to advance current thinking on the content of education, the International Roundtable will address challenges and practical measures in education that need to be taken to meet the needs of the next millennium. The conference will focus on four critical building blocks of a child's complete education as promoted by The Council for Global Education: Universal Values, Global Understanding, Excellence and Service.
Why Attend?
It is imperative for all schools, organizations and individuals interested in our children's future to participate in this unique Roundtable. All Roundtable participants will be an integral part of a worldwide dialogue on what constitutes education. This year as last year, participants will engage in open format and plenary sessions to discuss human potential, its development needs in the context of the emerging global civilization, and the role of education in meeting these needs.
These Roundtables are a composite part of Panel 2005 - a multi-year process sponsored by the Council for Global Education - which brings together educators worldwide. In 2005, the Panel will culminate in a major world congress and local and regional conferences to finalize a treatise on Global Core Principles in Education.
The Need
Education for the 21st century needs to be different from the predominant 19th-century model of education, whose basic premise has been preparation for employment. Worldwide efforts to bring about changes in education pale when compared to the massive changes that have accompanied this last century in science, technology and economics. This mismatch between what is possible and where we have inadvertently arrived should propel us to re-examine the premise on which education is based.
Other factors are forcing us to rethink education: An increase in violence and drug abuse worldwide, lack of compassion and tolerance, an increased numbers of younger and younger children getting involved in violence and myriad other social ills are forcing us to ask, "What has gone wrong?"
A recent response has been a call for more character education in schools-an answer that seems simple but has massive implications. Implementation of character education that revolves around key values such as respect, tolerance and honesty needs to be discussed and evaluated for its effectiveness in curing social ills and bringing about changes that will prepare our children for a future of increasing global interconnectedness and uncertainty.
Out-of-the-Box Thinking
To address these issues and more, CGE has designed the Roundtable to discover collectively shared perspectives of human potential and its needs in the 21st century. The Roundtable will be a catalyst to begin thinking "out of the box" in order to create a new paradigm in education. This paradigm must be based upon a view of co-existence, which also meets the needs of an emerging global community.
"Much of a child's character is formed in the early years. If we incorporate these values into a child's education - and if we make certain that parents and teachers work closely together - we are making an important first step towards the betterment of mankind ... Today's children are the future."
May Torstensson, Teacher, Sweden.
From The Prague Post, September 28, 1997.
Hosted by: City Montessori Schools, INDIA
12 Station Road, Lucknow, India
Organized by: The Council for Global Education, USA
PO Box 33984; Washington, DC 20033-3984
Tel: 202.496.9780; Fax: 202.496.9781
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