It was my unique opportunity to tap into a very special brain trust last week – MPA seniors who had spent the past quarter looking outward at critical global issues facing our 21^st century world. They had heard from numerous guest speakers on a variety of topics, read and discussed works from divergent sources and were forming clear opinions.

I had one essential question for them: “Based on the issues you’ve uncovered this quarter and based on your experiences here as students at MPA, what one modification to our current programs would have the biggest impact on the preparation of MPA students for a global future?” Their answer surprised me.

The 21^st Century World class is new this year and is a direct outgrowth of the MPA strategic plan, published a year ago. The first of the plan’s three goals is “the global advantage” and urges us to adopt a global focus in order to prepare our students “to live and work in an ever more complex and technologically interconnected world.” A tall order, but a critical one.

As readers of the summer China blog will recall, the decision to move forward with a new Mandarin program was driven in large part by the identification of this strategic goal. The focus of this year’s Parents Association fund raising efforts is largely towards supporting global initiatives. The first round of grant applications to those PA funds is being processed and will be announced shortly.

Equally significant has been the collection of extensive information on the many elements of the existing MPA curriculum and programs that have already had a global focus. Faculty at MPA have been, on their own, adapting to the increasing importance of a global focus. The approval of the strategic plan has encouraged us to take a more organized approach to that focus and to target initiatives that have previously been proposed for consideration.

Which brings me back to the 21^st Century World class and that energized group of students. Primed to challenge assumptions and consider new perspectives by an impressive list of visitors, their readings were anchored by Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat.”

Guest speakers, all drawn from the extended MPA community, included former MPA parents Scott Johnson, whose blog was the first to be honored by Time magazine as “blog of the year,” and Mary Brainerd, President and CEO of HealthPartners. Mary is also a former MPA Board member. Current parents sharing insights with the group were J. Michael McQuade, formerly of 3M’s Medical Division and now with United Technologies Corp,  Dr. Ali Galaydh, former Prime Minister of Somalia and currently with the Humphrey Institute, and Ford Runge, professor of Applied Economics and Law at the University of Minnesota.

MPA alumni parent and HealthPartners President and CEO Mary Brainerd interacts with 21^st Century World students

And as MPA begins to reach an age when our alumni careers begin to blossom, MPA alum Matthew Commers (class of 1988) returned to present on two topics – International Health Promotion and the Impact of Global Climate Change. Since leaving MPA, Matt has lived a global existence, with stints in Berlin, London and for the last ten years running his own health care and public health consultancy in the Netherlands. He has just returned with wife and children to Minnesota and is currently a business development specialist at Hennepin County Medical Center and Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the U.

Guest lecturer topics included, among others, Globalization and the Worlds of Technology and Medicine (McQuade), Islam in a Failed State: The Case of Somalia (Galaydh), and Politics of Food: International Trade and Agricultural Policy (Runge).

So how, you must be thinking, did our 21^st century students answer the essential question? On the wall in my office hang seven large flip-chart post-its with the raw answers to my question about modifications to the MPA program. I had had them work in small groups and required that they come to some consensus. Even so, there was a range of ideas, from more world language opportunities (especially Mandarin) to immersion-based study abroad programs, pen pals, increased technology, contemporary environmental issues and attracting a more diverse student body.

But when faced with the tough choice that we administrators have to make with limited hours in the day and limits on what can be added without taking other things away, it came down to one thing. “contemporary issues,” was the consensus answer.

Granted, the time had run out and students were ready to move on to their next period, so further argument on this point might have been cut short by circumstances. And, as teacher Mike Vergin pointed out afterward as we spoke about it, “contemporary issues” can mean different things to different people.

But the impulse would suggest that, at least after the kind of exposure these students had during the quarter, they were hungry to know more about the world around them as it is unfolding today.

I certainly take this message to heart as it pertains to larger questions for MPA. There is always an important balance to be struck between engaging students with the vast store of acquired knowledge and those events, ideas and concepts that are emerging in real time. And yes, we must know where we’ve been to know where we are going. Or as the saying goes, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

When time is running out on the school year and significant concepts that are central to the subject at hand remain to be discovered by a class, how should a teacher respond to breaking news of a compelling nature and clear relevance to that subject, whether it be in politics or physics?

Beyond the changes we may make regarding our MPA programs, there is something concrete that parents can do to respond to this hunger to encounter the contemporary world, or to nurture its development in children for whom it is not yet a passion. When parents show an active interest in world events and an interest in their children’s understanding of them, it can truly make a difference.

Walter Cronkite use to come to our house every night at 6:30. In fact, dinner had to be over by then so that we could watch the 30 minute black and white broadcast of the CBS Evening News. The fact that my parents took an interest in the world outside our town on a daily basis instilled in me a lifelong interest in what we could call “contemporary issues.”

It is also important that our young people become critical consumers of media. This is especially important with the proliferation of news sources on the internet. (Part of the appeal of Walter Cronkite was that he was widely trusted to present news accurately.) At MPA, we address the broad area of what’s called “media literacy” at various points along the curricular continuum and include analyses of internet sources.

But parents can play a key role at home by being willing to challenge and compare news accounts of the same story. While writing this blog posting on this Saturday afternoon, I’ve checked three news websites. Can you match the news source - Fox News, CNN, Washington Post - with the headline? 1) “Maliki ‘Not America’s Man’”, 2) “Bush, Iraqi PM Pledge to Accelerate Efforts”, 3) “Iraq’s Leader to U.S.: You Don’t Own Me”. - see bottom of this posting for answers.

And for extra credit, check this source, just brought to my attention via email by a 16 year-old student in China. Evangeline writes, “www.phoenixtv.com is not a website from the government but is enjoyed by lots of Chinese people, for it gives us the reality and is more free to talk about the current affairs.” (click here for Evangeline’s complete email to me.)

Ultimately, it is an encouraging sign that our maturing students are coming to understand the importance of knowing the world beyond our borders. I am grateful to the students in the fledgling 21st Century World class for their thoughts and suggestions for our programs. As MPA continues to realize our strategic goals by developing and implementing efforts to “globalize” our programs, parents can do much at home to partner with us.  

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And speaking of the strategic plan, you might be wondering if it is all global all the time.  The second of those strategic goals is “a connected community” and calls on us to “strengthen the connections between the stakeholders in each student’s progress.” The main faculty and staff workshop session over MEA had this goal as its primary focus.

All employees read an excellent article from the Independent School Magazine about Independent School parents. It included some very helpful insights into how independent school parent communities have evolved and changed over the years. We also worked in small groups to share strategies for communicating with parents in this age of rapid electronic communication. 

Answers to news source quiz: 1) Fox, 2) Washington Post, 3) CNN