Health & Fitness
The New "R's" of 21st Century Education
What should education in the 21st century look like? Is it real? Is it relevant? Is it resonsive? That's what we're going for with Anne Arundel County Signature Programs.
Whenever I tell a student (or a parent) that Arundel's Signature program is "Community Development and Global Citizenship" they often respond..."So where are we going?" They mean this, I'm certain, literally, the assumption being that to be a global citizen you must experience culture beyond your own. My usual rejoinder for this line of inquiry is something along the lines of, "We help young people cultivate global competencies which ensure they will be competitive and connected both locally and globally." Increasingly, though, we are looking for opportunities to facilitate trips abroad. Last summer students traveled to a sister school in Japan, and this coming November we plan to take a group of Signature students to Kiplin Hall in North Yorkshire, England. Kiplin Hall is the ancestral home of George Calvert the founder of Maryland. University of Maryland has long had a relationship with this home and community. (To learn more, you can watch this documentary on Maryland Public Television http://www.mpt.org/kiplinhall ). Now, an opportunity that is more common at the college level, will become available for high school students, not just at Arundel High School, but in other schools in Anne Arundel County. Expansive Educational Experiences. That's what we're going for in the Signature Program. That's why I'm back in the UK planning study abroad programs not just for Arundel High School, but for all the high schools in Anne Arundel County. This time I'm not asking England to be my teacher...rather a co-teacher as we together plan an experience for young people that will help them contemplate art, culture, globalization, community development, the global economy, environmental and agricultural practices, and a whole slew of other real world universal concerns that manifest themselves in various ways in any community around the world. Is it real? Is it relevant? Is it responsive? These are the three new R's of education. Tune in over the next week to hear more about the opportunities the world has to offer our local young people.
