International education matters because:

• Globalization is driving demand for an internationally competent workforce. Our nation's trade with Asia, now concentrated in California, has exceeded Europe since 1979 and is expected to approach $1 trillion a year this decade. The majority of future growth for industries of all sizes is in overseas markets; today one in six new jobs created flows from international trade.
• Access to good jobs will require new skills and competencies. Future careers in business, government, health care, law enforcement, and other good jobs will all require global knowledge and skills. Unfortunately, minorities are underrepresented in international careers and must be exposed to global content earlier in their education.
• Solving new national and human security challenges, including terrorism and HIV/AIDS, and the ongoing problems of poverty and environmental degradation, will require increased knowledge of other world regions, cultures and languages.
• Increased diversity in our nation's classrooms, workplaces, and communities, including new immigrants from many different parts of Asia and Latin America, requires greater understanding of the myriad cultures and histories students bring to school.

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Economy and Jobs
The U.S. and global economies have become increasingly intertwined. Today, one in six U.S. jobs is tied to international trade and investment, and over the past decade exports accounted for about 25 percent of U.S. economic growth. Trade with Asia has surpassed trade with Europe and now exceeds $800 billion per year; Asian investments in the United States are valued at approximately the same amount. Yet American students lack even rudimentary knowledge of Asia and other world regions.[1]

Both national and state policymakers have followed the development of trade liberalization and deregulation by the U.S. and other governments, as well as the profound impact of telecommunications during the past decade. These changes, as well as changes in the geopolitical sphere, have meant that previously domestic markets have become international in scope. Increasingly, businesses position themselves as international competitors, even those firms that never used to give serious thought to events outside U.S. borders. James B. Hunt, Jr., former governor of North Carolina, noted that "knowledge of other countries and an ability to work with people from other cultures is going to be needed in an increasing number of jobs and professions. It's not just limited to the diplomatic corps these days." [2] The ability to navigate international issues is becoming an essential asset for many professions, even in traditionally domestic industries. Most of America's growth industries-from multinationals to small businesses-are globally engaged industries, either through exports, imports, investment overseas, or joint research and business ventures. In spite of the current slowdown in the world's economy and continuing uncertainty in the aftermath of September 11, these trends present enormous opportunities for state leaders as they shape their economic development and long-term education plans.

No jurisdiction, from Bangor, Maine to Honolulu, Hawaii, can afford to ignore the global economy and the rising demand for a workforce equipped with international knowledge and skills. Governors and state legislators understand that the economy today transcends state and national borders. The potential for export growth in the future is a very exciting prospect: two-thirds of the world's purchasing power and 97 percent of the world's consumers are outside the United States. In export-related jobs, wages are estimated to pay 13 to 18 percent more on average than non-export jobs. According to recent data provided by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, since 1971 trade and returns on international business investment have risen from 13 percent of the nation's economy to nearly 30 percent.

Paula Stern, former Chair of the U.S. International Trade Commission, emphasized that business and policy leaders in most countries have come to a broad agreement that globalization and "liberal" trade policies are important engines of growth. [2] Entrepreneurial states, especially, have been the beneficiaries of these trends. Whether it is the agricultural or high-tech strengths of California, the biotechnical inventiveness of North Carolina's research triangle, the uniqueness of Kentucky's equine or Tennessee's music industry, states have profited in new world markets from focusing on what they do best.

A free and open system of trade is critical to the most competitive sectors that drive many states' economies. American farmers in places like Indiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Montana, and Vermont plant one in three acres for export and generate a quarter of their profits from exports. Manufacturing exports from states such as Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee are roughly 35 percent of the value of U.S. manufacturing establishments' output. America's wounded, but still dynamic, high-tech sector depends on exports as well, with over $160 billion in foreign sales in 2001. Software producers earn over half of their revenue overseas.

Ultimately, governors in every state care about jobs and having a workforce that can adapt to a changing economy, with opportunities for upward mobility. State economies are the economic engines of the nation; the future prosperity of the United States depends largely on the success of states in educating tomorrow's workforce and in providing their citizens with growth opportunities. As states review their economic ties to the world, the strategic importance of international knowledge and skills to seize these economic opportunities is apparent. If states are truly to address the demand for international competency, they must conceive of international education not simply as an issue of education policy, but also as one of critical workforce development and economic development policy.

For a National Geographic presentation on the importance of geography to the globalizing economy, click here. (Please note that this is a 10Megabyte download)

National Security
Global trade and economic development bring into closer proximity countries, cultures, and civilizations that previously had little experience with one another-a development that has the potential to create fruitful interaction, but also destructive misunderstanding. The U.S. is deeply involved in the economic, political, and social events that occur around the world. National, state and community leaders, as well as their constituencies, must know enough about these matters to be able to act intelligently on the world stage, whether that means establishing new trade partnerships, providing assistance to others, improving life domestically, or defending the nation.

In 1957, the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union was a loud wakeup call for American educators, signaling the need to improve not only science and math achievement, but also knowledge of other nations, political systems, and languages. A half-century later terrorist attacks on U.S. soil have had a similar effect, raising awareness of the need to increase knowledge of other regions and cultures. Schools across the nation have had to incorporate information about Central Asia, the Middle East, and Islam into their curricula. There is new interest in learning about the world among educators, policymakers, the media, business leaders, and the public at large.

Ambassador Nicholas Platt, president of Asia Society, stresses the need for expertise in world languages is a crucial component of the discussion of international education and the national interest: "As September 11 showed us, when the State Department issued urgent calls for speakers of Arabic, we don't have enough national capacity in the major world languages to meet the need of our intelligence and counter-terrorism communities, of our military, for effective partnership with our allies, or for homeland security. Police, public health and law enforcement officials will increasingly need to be able to deal with many different language groups. In all, some 80-plus federal agencies need foreign language expertise. And they are not simply looking for translators, but for analysts and experts in many fields who can interpret the cultural context, too." [2]

International education also should be a two-way street if it is to address the tremendous misinformation about the U.S. in many parts of the world. National security and foreign policy need a foundation in people-to-people diplomacy-the educational, cultural, and exchange activities that promote dialogue and cross-cultural understanding, the sharing of ideas, and the creation of direct personal and institutional relationships. Schools must strengthen educational exchanges and increase opportunities for cross-cultural experiences, particularly for teachers, principals and other educators whose work affects young people directly. Every school in the United States should have an ongoing link, either real or virtual, to a school or schools elsewhere in the world.

As states grapple with the question of how to address issues of national security on a state and local level, international knowledge is the first step toward true global preparedness. The levels of world knowledge and language skills that once may have been adequate for national security are not adequate today. In the face of ignorance and intolerance, international knowledge and understanding are important elements of long-term security.

Social and Cultural Integration
America's education system is out of step with the realities of the nation's changing demographic make-up. The latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics and projections show dramatic shifts in the composition of the country's population. Between 1960 and 2000 the percentage of foreign-born residents rose from 9.7 to 28.4 percent. Within that population group, the countries of origin have shifted from predominantly European to Latin American and Asian countries.2 An education system largely rooted in American and Eurocentric curricula simply does not reflect the growing diversity of the United States.

International influences and cultures have also made their way into the American mainstream in increasingly visible ways. Popular cuisines, films, music, religions, and philosophies from all over the world are tangible evidence of how the world beyond U.S. borders is actually right at the states' doorstep. And yet, teachers and students do not learn anything beyond a cursory, and often outdated, view of the world.

Immigration has the greatest impact on coastal states; however, states in the middle of the country increasingly recognize the advantages and challenges of new, growing immigrant populations as well. These diverse ethnic communities directly link states to countries around the globe. One need only examine the changing composition of most American classrooms to understand the growing diversity of the American social fabric. In the United States since 1995, the Hispanic population has grown 34 percent and is projected to grow 73 percent in the next 20 years. Asian and Pacific Islander population has grown 41 percent and is projected to grow 86 percent.

Furthermore, the influx of new population groups into the United States also brings a multitude of religious and spiritual beliefs. Shabbir Mansuri, Founding Director of the Council on Islamic Education, highlighted the results of a recent Georgetown University study indicating that there are currently 6 million American Muslims, about 3.5 million of whom are immigrants representing 80 different countries of origin, all within a single subset of the U.S. population. And while there are new educational materials available on constitutionally permissible ways to teach about world religions in public schools-such as the First Amendment Center's Teacher's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools-many teachers do not know about these materials. Many lack a foundational understanding of the cultures and religions that their own students bring to the classroom.

States today must acknowledge the need to understand "the changing faces of America's schoolchildren." As Brenda Welburn, Executive Director of the National Association of State Boards of Education, said at the States Institute, state leaders must recognize that "schools are filled with children who bring different cultures, different expectations, and different dreams into America's classrooms." It is the obligation of educators, policymakers, and community and business leaders to seek to understand these differences when shaping a system of education that serves all of a state's and the nation's citizens.

Human Security
Harry Harding, Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and a plenary speaker at the States Institute, called attention to an emerging set of challenges he identified as questions of "human security." Analysts of international affairs, Harding said, are becoming increasingly concerned with these "threats to human well-being from dangers other than the use of military or physical force." Issues of human security such as the long-term effects of global warming or the spread of HIV/AIDS, affect Americans in much the same ways they affect Asians, Africans, or Europeans. The answers to most of the world's major problems, from environmental concerns to communicable disease, lie squarely in the hands of an educated citizenry-people across professional, socioeconomic, ethnic, and religious lines with greater knowledge and understanding of world regions, languages, and problems. Increasingly it is these global issues, along with their local and, often, personal repercussions that demonstrate most clearly the need for international education in every American school and that help to make international content seem relevant to young people.

Humanitarian Responses to Human Need
The United STates plays a privileged role in the world. As a country with enormous power and resources, it is obligated to educate its citizenry to better understand its role and its responsibilities toward other nations. Michael Ward, Superintendent of Public Instruction in North Carolina and President of the Council of Chief State School Officers, highlighted the connection between improving international education and raising children to be compassionate humanitarians with more sensitivity to the world and its pressing issues. Service learning, he suggested, is one possible way to give children international education. Just as the concept of community is expanding to include economic and social influences from beyond state and national borders, so too the concept of community service and awareness should expand through international education to include broader cross-cultural commitment to humanitarian needs.[2]

NOTES
1 Asia in the Schools: Preparing Young Americans for Today's Interconnected World. New York: Asia Society, 2001. p. 36.

2 In a speech delivered at the 2002 States Institute on International Studies in the Schools. To read the full report, click here.

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