The World is Flat

In The World is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman, the notions of how the world has flattened must come from somewhere before it can be further understood. When I think of my classroom of students I always have to be prepared for the question: “But why?” Kids like to know the root of any situation and so an insight to start with might most appropriately be, “Flattener #1: 11/9/89,” the fall of the Berlin Wall –where it all started.  The wall’s demolition marks the end of the Cold War or the communist system (6^th grade terms: an economic and social system controlled by a government that only believes in doing things their way even though they claim to have the peoples best interest in mind) where all the citizens were equal yes, but poor (52). The wall down meant nearly the entire world could participate in the capitalist system (6^th grade terms: an economic system where people have the option to do their own thing to make money without the government holding them down) where the strict controls of communism had left people in great need of profits (53). This physical space in turn allowed for people to visualize the conceptual space, “ –our ability to think about the world as a single market, a single ecosystem, a single community (54).”  It wouldn’t seem that this one event might impact so many but it in fact has; and that trickle affects my students as well.  With that being said I will, “tell my kids:” the competition is far and wide.  Expectations are literally at a global scale and so that’s even more reason to work hard.  As an educator I too must be aware of the level playing field that the children are competing at, hence classroom practices must be a reflection.  To incorporate this “learning,” I could look into curriculum instruction in other countries; compare the other practices with my own model and learn from alternative techniques. 

The Curriculum instruction I hope to improve by studying other systems of teaching is made possible through Friedman’s theory of  “In-Forming” or “Flattener #9.”  This “insight” notes the profound impact of search engines (Google as a pioneer with Yahoo and MSN as grand followers) in equalizing knowledge (177).  Google has allowed for knowledge to be available in all languages allowing for every individual to control their own involvement in the global community, “It is empowering the formation of global communities, across all international and cultural boundaries, which is another critically important flattening function” (183).  People are sure that the information is out there it’s now simply a matter of them finding it on the web. What makes this a move in the direction of Friedman’s flattening notion is that the information is accessible to all people regardless of class, education level, economic status or physical location (generally speaking). Friedman suggests: “In-Forming is about self-collaboration –becoming your own self-directed and self-empowered researcher, editor, and selector of entertainment… In-forming is searching for knowledge” (179).   This flatter seems most relevant to teaching, especially in the case of research scenarios.  Whether it’s in the case of gathering my own resources or leading my students in the right direction to gain insight and knowledge on different topics.  I need to make a better attempt to involve myself in the global community.  The search engines are there as a link to the flattening era but knowing how to narrow searches and broaden resources is a skill that comes with practice and involving myself in dialogues surrounding the matter of “In-forming.”

All the flattener tools lead to a more globalized world, but acknowledging the triple convergence allows for the simple attributes to come together and work most efficiently.  It would seem that, “convergence one” is just a matter of logic, but like any theory it has to be put in writing, or said allowed for the “ah, ha” moment from everyone; which leads to Friedman’s “insight.” The simultaneous improvement of complimentary goods allows for more productivity and efficiency of each flattener.   Learning about each notion is even easier to apply when understanding how they can work together to help both myself as and educator and my students.  Being able to collaborate on projects, search the Internet in the same effort and connect with my students through email at all times is just proof of how convergence one has such an impact. When all flatteners come together there is a new platform of web-enabled collaboration, “ – for the purposes of innovation, production, education, research, entertainment… –like no creative platform ever before. This platform now operates without regard to geography, distance, time and, in the near future even language” (204).  Recognizing how all these flatteners work together allows for more streamline lessons in the classroom.  While some of the theory details may not directly apply to 6^th graders, enough of the concepts can be scaled to fit their lives and converged for more effective classroom practices.  This may mean coming up with projects that are modeled like those of other countries school districts in ways that involve research, classroom software, and/or connecting with other students outside the classroom. I imagine there are ways to go about convergence one that can be molded to fit exact units and lessons.