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How do the authors define global competence–how does that definition differ from that of Hanveyâs?
What is a âsignature pedagogyâ? Provide one example from any US teaching you have been exposed to and any Chinese equivalent.
What makes âsignature pedagogiesâ powerful approaches to quality teaching for global competence?
4. Review pages 8-17 and identify which of her âsignature pedagogiesâ you find the most interesting and potentially use in your classroom teaching and why.
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Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
1
Signature
Pedagogies
in
Global
Competence
Education:
Understanding
quality
teaching
practice
Veronica
Boix
Mansilla
&
Flossie
Chua
Interdisciplinary
and
Global
Studies
-‐
Internal
Working
Paper
Address
for
Correspondence:
Veronica
Boix
Mansilla
Project
Zero
Harvard
Graduate
School
of
Education
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
2
“What
I
thought,
since
all
the
movies
that
I
saw,
is
that
they
would
be
more
poor,
that
they
[e-‐pals
in
South
Africa]
would
not
have
a
city,
that
their
homes
would
be
made
out
of
dried
up
mud…
I
was
really
surprised
because
they
looked
nothing
like
that…
they
have
a
lot
of
the
things
that
we
do,
they
have
video
games
and
a
city…
I
was
really
surprised….
‘cause
they
have
good
teeth,
real
clothes,
full
hair.
[Working
with
our
South
African
e-‐Pals]
is
cool
because
we
can
talk
with
people
from
different
continents…
We
can
see
how
people
on
the
other
side
of
the
world
live,
and
what
they
do,
not
at
all
as
I
imagined
it…”
Richard,
Grade
4
New
York
Overview
Preparing
our
youth
for
a
time
of
unprecedented
social,
economic
and
environmental
global
interdependence
requires
that
we
reconsider
what
matters
most
to
teach
and
learn
and
what
kind
of
learning
might
prove
most
effective.
A
fast-‐growing
literature
on
global
competence
instruction
and
assessment
is
shedding
light
on
the
opportunities
and
challenges
we
face.
Introducing
new
countries
and
festivals
into
already
crowded
curricula
or
proposing
forced
connections
between
quadratic
equations
and
farming
in
Namibia
will
not
yield
the
deep
learning
we
seek.
Teaching
for
global
competence,
goes
beyond
delivering
new
content
through
transmission-‐centered
pedagogies.
Rather,
we
argue
here,
it
calls
for
a
pedagogical
approach
uniquely
tailored
to
nurturing
deep,
relevant,
and
sustained
global
learning.
In
this
paper,
we
propose
that
successful
preparation
of
our
youth
for
the
contemporary
world
requires
that
we
seriously
address
four
fundamental
questions:
1. What
are
the
global
competence
learning
outcomes
we
seek?
2. What
kind
of
instruction
effectively
nurtures
deep
and
relevant
global
learning?
3. What
does
quality
teaching
for
global
competence
look
like?
4. How
do
we
prepare
teachers
to
teach
for
global
competence
with
depth?
To
address
these
questions
we
draw
on
an
empirical
study
of
exemplary
practices
in
global
competence
education.1
Through
a
series
of
case
studies,
we
investigated
how
award-‐winning
global
education
teachers
create
conditions
to
foster
global
competence.
To
understand
the
promise
and
power
of
their
pedagogy,
we
visited
their
classrooms,
documented
selected
lessons
and
interviewed
them
before
during
and
after
their
units.
We
also
interviewed
students,
analyzed
student
work
and
curricular
materials.
Close
analysis
of
these
master
teachers’
practices
in
the
form
of
individual
case
studies
and
comparatively
1 This
study
was
made
possible
by
the
Longview
foundation.
We
thank
Jennifer
Manise
for
he
unwavering
support
of
this
multi-‐year
investigation and her leadership in the field of Global Education.
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
3
across
cases
has
enabled
us
to
identify
and
illustrate
a
series
of
signature
pedagogies
in
global
education—i.e.
units
of
instructional
practice
that
may
prove
uniquely
potent
in
nurturing
globally
competent
youth.
Here,
we
introduce
a
“signature
pedagogies”
approach
to
global
education
and
illustrate
it
with
two
cases
of
exemplary
teaching
in
elementary
public
school
classrooms.
We
first
revisit
global
competence
as
the
capacity
and
disposition
to
understand
and
act
on
issues
of
global
significance
(Boix
Mansilla
&
Jackson,
2011)
and
place
this
definition
in
the
larger
context
of
the
learning
theories
that
inform
it.
Next,
we
turn
to
quality
instructional
designs
by
introducing
a
signature
pedagogy
approach
to
teaching
for
global
competence.
We
then
illustrate
signature
pedagogies
[herein
SP]
using
two
elementary
school
case
studies.
We
conclude
by
examining
the
implications
of
a
SP
approach
for
teacher
education,
share
currently
unanswered
questions,
and
outline
next
steps.
I.
Educating
for
“Global
Competence”-‐
What
are
the
learning
outcomes
we
seek?
A
constructivist
view
of
deep,
long-‐lasting,
and
relevant
learning
We
define
global
competence
as
the
capacity
and
disposition
to
understand
and
act
on
issues
of
global
significance
(Boix
Mansilla
&
Jackson
2011)2.
Developed
collaboratively
by
Asia
Society
and
the
CCSSO,
and
informed
by
Harvard
Project
Zero’s
research
on
learning
and
instruction,
this
definition
builds
on
a
few
key
premises
about
the
kind
of
learning
necessary
for
preparing
our
youth
for
the
world.
Firstly,
global
competence
is
cast
as
a
capacity
to
understand
-‐-‐
to
use
disciplinary
concepts,
theories,
ideas,
methods
or
findings
in
novel
situations,
to
solve
problems,
produce
explanations,
create
products
or
interpret
phenomena
in
novel
ways
(Boix
Mansilla
&
Gardner
1999,
Wiske
1999).
With
its
focus
on
disciplinary
and
interdisciplinary
understanding,
this
definition
embodies
deep
subject
matter
learning.
Secondly,
if
“understanding”
speaks
of
depth
and
flexibility
in
subject
matter
expertise,
“global
competence”
as
a
disposition
speaks
of
depth
in
terms
of
student
ownership
and
transformation.
Dispositions
involve
the
ability
to
think
with
information,
the
sensitivity
to
opportunities
in
the
real
world
to
do
that,
and
an
inclination
to
do
so
over
time
(Perkins,
Tishman,
Ritchhart,
Donis,
&
Andrade,
2000).
Dispositions
are
about
the
‘residuals’
of
learning
beyond
formal
contexts
(Sizer
1984);
they
are
about
the
“kind
of
person”
a
student
will
become
(Boix
Mansilla
&
Gardner
2000).
Focusing
on
dispositions
directs
2
This
definition
was
developed
at
the
Council
of
Chief
State
School
Officers.
The
Global
Competence
committee
was
led
by
Asia
Society’s
Tony
Jackson.
Its
published
articulation
and
exemplification
was
informed
by
research
conducted
by
Veronica
Boix
Mansilla
at
Project
Zero,
Harvard
Graduate
School
of
Education.
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
4
our
educational
efforts
to
nurturing
young
people’s
habits
of
mind
or
orientation
towards
globally
competent
thinking
and
behaviors.
Finally,
as
global
competence
focuses
on
issues
of
global
significance
and
action
to
improve
conditions,
learning
must
be
visibly
relevant
to
students
and
the
world.
When
significance
is
considered,
global
competence
curricula
becomes
a
call
for
authenticity,
for
carefully
looking
to
the
contemporary
world
for
topics
that
matter
most
to
examine.
Beyond
knowledge,
skills,
attitudes
and
behaviors
Our
treatment
of
global
competence
also
favors
an
integrated
view
of
learning,
targeting
a
complement
of
practices
such
as
“investigating
the
world,”
“taking
perspective”,
“communicating
across
difference”,
and
“taking
action”
(see
Graphic
1).
Such
characterization
puts
a
premium
on
meaningful
and
purposeful
units
• Recognize)and)express)how)diverse)
audiences)perceive))meaning)and)
how)that)affects)communica7on.)
• Listen)to)and)communicate)
effec7vely)with)diverse)people.)
• Select)and)use)appropriate)
technology)and)media)to)
communicate)with)diverse)
audiences.)
• Reflect)on)how)effec7ve)
communica7on)affects)
understanding)and)collabora7on)in)
an)interdependent)world.))
• Recognize)and)express)their)own)
perspec7ve)and)iden7fy)influences)
on)that)perspec7ve.)
• Examine)others’)perspec7ves)and)
iden7fy)what)influenced)them.)
• Explain)the)impact)of)cultural)
interac7ons.)
• Ar7culate)how)differen7al)access)
to)knowledge,)technology,)and)
resources)affects)quality)of)life)and)
perspec7ves).)
• Iden7fy)an)issue,)generate)
ques7ons,)and)explain)its)
significance.)
• Use)variety)of)languages,)sources)
and)media)to)iden7fy)and)weigh)
relevnt)evidence.)
• Analyze,)integrate,)and)synthesize)
evidence)to)construct)coherent)
responses.)
• Develop)argument)based)on)
compelling)evidence)and)draws)
defensible)conclusions.)
• Iden7fy)and)create)opportuni7es)for)
personal)or)collabora7ve)ac7on)to)
improve)condi7ons.)
• Assess)op7ons)and)plan)ac7ons)
based)on)evidence)and)poten7al)for)
impact.)
• Act,)personally)or)collabora7vely,)in)
crea7ve)and)ethical)ways)to)
contribute)to)improvement,)and)
assess)impact)of)ac7ons)taken.)
• Reflect)on)capacity)to)advocate)for)
and)contribute)to)improvement.))
Inves&gate*the*
World*
Learners))inves7gate)the)
world)beyond)their)
immediate)environment.)
Recognize*
Perspec&ves*
Learners)recognize)their)
own)and)others’)
perspec7ves.)
Take*Ac&on*
Learners)translate)their)
ideas)into)appropriate)
ac7ons)to)improve)
condi7ons.)
Communicate*
Ideas*
learners)communicate)their)
ideas)effec7vely)with))
diverse)audiences.)
Understand*the*World*through*
Disciplinary*and*Interdisciplinary*Study*
Global)Competence:))
BoixNMansilla)&)Jackson)2011)
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
5
of
practice
in
the
world,
thus
moving
global
competence
beyond
itemized
lists
of
“knowledge,
skills,
attitudes
and
behaviors”
(Lagerman
1989,
Gibonne
2006).
While
such
lists
may
help
teachers
navigate
the
complex
multidisciplinary
space
of
global
education,
rich
and
deep
global
competence
learning
pays
attention
to
the
inseparable
interaction
of
knowledge,
skills,
attitudes
and
behaviors.
This
holistic
view
of
global
competence
learning
makes
authentic
purposes
for
learning
more
visible
to
students,
whether
they
seek
to
understand
human
impact
on
the
environment
as
an
example
of
“investigating
the
world”
or
make
sense
of
belief
systems
different
from
their
own
as
a
way
to
“take
perspective”.
Integrated
practices
of
global
competence
like
the
ones
proposed
add
relevance
and
meaning
to
students’
learning
experiences,
facilitating
meaningful
transfer
of
learning
beyond
classroom
walls.
Quality
teaching
enhances
students’
sensitivity
to
opportunities
to
employ
the
competencies
they
have
developed
productively
in
life
beyond
school.
In
sum,
if
we
are
to
prepare
our
youth
effectively
for
the
world,
we
need
clarity
about
the
kind
of
learning
we
are
after.
Our
proposed
constructivist
approach
puts
a
premium
on
global
competence
as
deep,
relevant,
and
long
lasting.
Learning
that
highlights
the
key
role
of
disciplinary
and
interdisciplinary
expertise
foregrounds
an
integrated
view
of
complex
learning
capacities
such
as
investigating
the
world
or
taking
perspective,
and
aims
at
the
development
of
habits
of
mind
or
dispositions—attending
to
the
long-‐
terms
residuals
of
learning
and
transfer.
II.
Teaching
for
global
competence:
How
should
we
design
instruction
for
the
kind
of
learning
we
are
after?
Conceptions
of
learning
like
the
ones
described
above
demand
carefully
tailored
pedagogical
approaches
that
effectively
nurture
the
kind
of
learning
we
are
after.
Pedagogical
recommendations
abound
in
the
global
education
literature
today.
They
address
generic
teaching
practices
such
as
cooperative
learning,
interdisciplinary
themes,
community-‐based
learning
and
portfolio
assessment
(Asia
Society,
2011;
Appleyard
and
McLean,
2011;
Longview
Foundation
2008,
Merryfield,
1994;
Roberts,
2007;
Zhao,
2010).
They
also
include
instruction
specifically
tailored
to
global
content
such
as
comparing
civilizations
(Asia
Society,
2011;
Koziol,
2012;
Merryfield,
2002)
or
interpreting
sources
from
distant
places
(Lapayese,
2003;
Vaino-‐Mattila,
2009).
These
recommendations
offer
productive
instructional
directions
for
practicing
teachers
and
teacher
educators.
Yet
implementing
them
with
quality
requires
that
we
understand
how
exactly
a
given
learning
experience
is
designed
to
maximize
students’
global
competence.
For
example,
upper
elementary
school
teachers
teaching
about
ancient
civilizations
often
design
compare-‐and-‐contrast
activities
for
student-‐selected
topics:
e.g.,
food,
sports,
activities,
government,
or
natural
resources.
Such
activities
might
develop
students’
comparison
skills
and
provide
specific
information
about
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
6
civilizations,
but
they
fail
to
foreground
why
certain
comparisons
matter.
Instead,
comparing
civilizations
to
understand
why
they
rise
and
collapse
puts
knowledge
and
skills
in
service
of
a
larger
inquiry
with
clear
past
and
present
significance.
Engaging
in
purposeful
inquiry
and
building
a
robust
mental
schema
for
the
rise
and
fall
of
civilizations
will
support
students
to
‘think
with’
the
information
they
acquire
to
understand
this
broader
phenomenon.
More
importantly,
students
thus
educated
may
use
their
understanding
as
a
“lens”
to
understanding
contemporary
developments
–from
climate
instability,
to
overfishing,
population
explosion,
war-‐-‐
that
might
put
our
civilization
at
risk.
What
makes
for
more
versus
less
compelling
learning
experiences
in
global
education?
How
can
we
design
instruction
that
goes
beyond
information
acquisition
and
nurtures
young
people’s
capacity
and
disposition
to
understand
and
act
in
the
world?
Signature
pedagogies
in
global
education:
our
contribution
“Signature
pedagogy,”
a
term
advanced
by
Lee
Shulman
(2005)
in
the
post-‐secondary
education
context,
refers
to
a
pervasive
set
of
practices
used
to
prepare
scholarly
practitioners
to
“think,
perform
and
act
with
integrity”
in
their
professional
domain
(Shulman,
2005,
p.52).
Examples
of
signature
pedagogies
vary
greatly
across
professional
domains,
and
include
diagnostic
rounds
in
medicine,
case
method
in
law
and
business,
critiques
in
engineering
and
art
studios.
In
its
original
application
to
professional
learning,
a
signature
pedagogy
approach
assumes
that
quality
teaching
is
deliberate,
pervasive
and
persistent;
teaching
reveals
learners’
prior
assumptions,
it
engages
them
in
transformative
actions
and
requires
ongoing
assessment.
Signature
pedagogies
organize
learners’
experience
to
familiarize
and
acculturate
them
with
the
hallmark
habits
of
mind
and
practices
that
they
are
expected
to
develop
as
a
result
of
their
education
in
a
given
field
or
discipline.
While
earlier
research
on
signature
pedagogies
examined
teaching
practices
in
disciplinary
and
professional
tertiary
contexts,
our
work
extends
the
notion
of
signature
pedagogies
to
K-‐12
environments
and
particularly
to
global
education.
We
define
signature
pedagogies
in
global
education
as
a
pervasive
set
of
teaching
practices
that
nurture
students’
capacity
and
disposition
to
understand
and
act
on
matters
of
global
significance.
They
represent
characteristic
instructional
“tropes”,
“paths”,
or
“motifs”
that
are
repeated
over
time
in
learners’
education
to
familiarize
them
with
hallmark
globally
competent
habits
of
mind:
investigating
the
world,
taking
perspective,
communicating
across
difference,
and
taking
action
in
ways
that
are
informed
by
disciplinary
and
interdisciplinary
perspectives.
In
this
paper
we
introduce
two
SPs:
“research
expeditions”
(also
seen
as
a
“travel
pedagogy”)
and
“purposeful
comparisons”.
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
7
A
“research
expedition
pedagogy”
focuses
on
understanding
a
distant
place.
Expeditions
help
individuals
experience
a
given
place
–
physical
and
environmental
qualities,
built
and
natural
landscapes,
people
and
social
organizations,
as
well
as
manifestations
of
culture
in
the
form
of
taste,
values,
practice,
relationships
and
beliefs.
Through
expeditions,
learners
typically
observe,
live
and
engage
with
a
novel
environment,
often
encountering
unexpected
contextual
information
not
usually
captured
in
textbook
narratives
or
presentations.
Ultimately,
learners
develop
a
sense
of
personal
connection
to
the
places
explored.
A
“purposeful
comparisons
pedagogy”
builds
on
the
premise
that
an
individual
can
understand
the
world
by
examining
a
single
phenomenon
across
multiple
locations.
Powerful
comparisons
are
guided
by
a
question
that
makes
cross-‐case
analysis
necessary.
They
often
involve
creating
a
model
or
a
frame
that
helps
us
distil
relevant
aspects
of
each
case,
identifying
similarities
and
differences
to
inform
our
understanding.
Insights
resulting
for
these
global
comparisons
are
more
than
the
sum
of
their
local
parts.
They
leverage
learners
capacity
to
explain
the
phenomenon
in
question
or
find
more
informed
solutions.
As
the
cases
suggest,
signature
pedagogies
offer
students
ample
opportunities
to
engage
in
“junior
versions”3
of
authentic
practices
in
relevant
fields
(e.g.
research
expeditions
in
anthropology,
cross
case
comparisons
in
international
relations).
But
what
makes
signature
pedagogies
powerful
approaches
to
quality
teaching
for
global
competence?
What
distinguishes
them
from
more
generic
teaching
designs?
Six
principles
that
underlie
signature
pedagogies
as
here
proposed
address
these
questions:
Core
principles
for
quality
practice
Our
analysis
and
conceptualization
of
exemplary
teachers’
practices
reveals
six
defining
principles
of
signature
pedagogies
in
global
education.
We
introduce
them
here
and
illustrate
them
in
the
next
section.
1. Clear
global
competence
purpose:
Signature
Pedagogies
focus
deliberatively
on
the
development
of
global
competence
-‐-‐
the
capacity
and
disposition
to
understand
and
act
on
issues
of
global
significance-‐-‐
as
its
central
aim,
attending
to
deep,
relevant,
and
long-‐lasting
learning.
3
In
his
book
Making
Learning
Whole,
David
Perkins
coined
the
phrase
“junior
versions”
to
describe
the
best
‘threshold
experiences’
as
learning
experiences
that
provide
students
with
opportunities
to
see
the
‘big
picture’
of
the
issue,
topics,
etc.,
under
study.
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
8
2. Strong
disciplinary
foundation:
Signature
Pedagogies
provide
students
with
meaningful
opportunities
to
engage,
apply
and
think
with
disciplinary
concepts
and
modes
of
thinking
in
developmentally
appropriate
ways.
3. Attentive
to
learning
demands:
Signature
Pedagogies
are
purposefully
designed
to
address
global
competence
learning
demands
including,
but
not
limited
to,
overcoming
stereotypes,
managing
emotions,
and
understanding
complex
causality.
4. A
case-‐based
core:
Signature
Pedagogies
do
not
teach
about
“the
world
in
general”
but
about
global
issues
in
context.
Resembling
case-‐based
pedagogy,
they
focus
on
specific
issues
and
contexts—environmental
crisis
in
the
Peruvian
Amazon,
ocean
rising
impact
on
coastal
communities
in
New
York
and
Cape
Town.
5. Spiraling
presence:
Specific
Signature
Pedagogies
appear
often
and
in
increasing
complexity
throughout
a
student’s
learning,
providing
opportunities
to
develop
global
understanding
and
dispositions
with
growing
autonomy.
6. Adaptive:
As
with
most
innovative
professional
practices,
Signature
Pedagogies
lend
themselves
to
revision
in
response
to
emerging
global
trends
or
events,
new
digital
tools,
or
careful
reflection
about
learning.
III.
Signature
Pedagogies:
Pictures
of
practice
To
illustrate
the
how
a
signature
pedagogies
approach
and
the
principles
above
can
organize
and
deepen
instructional
practice
we
turn
to
two
cases
of
exemplary
global
competence
instruction
at
the
elementary
school
level.
The
two
Signature
Pedagogies
below
are
informed
by
the
work
of
two
experienced
public
school
teachers
and
recipients
of
the
Fulbright
Distinguished
Teacher
award,
who
were
selected
for
their
commitment
to
a
performance-‐based
view
of
learning,
their
inclination
to
reflect
about
and
improve
their
practice,
and
their
capacity
to
articulate
the
reasons
driving
their
instructional
decisions.
III.I.
A
Pedagogy
of
Travel
Nurturing
global
competence
through
research
expeditions
to
a
distant
place
How
do
we
help
young
people
understand
distant
places
and
people
in
meaningful
ways?
How
do
we
support
them
to
make
sense
of
issues
unfolding
in
faraway
contexts
and
connect
to
them
personally?
Sara
Krakauer
teaches
5th
and
6th
grade
Social
Studies
at
innovation
Academy
Charter
School,
a
public
school
in
Western
Massachusetts.
Her
“Global
Action”
unit
seeks
to
help
students
learn
about
world
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
9
geography
and
culture
through
“travel”
without
leaving
their
classroom:
students
“visit”
distant
places
such
as
Zambia
and
Peru
to
learn
about
their
geography,
culture
and
history,
through
the
lens
of
local
issues
relating
to
health,
the
environment
and
poverty.
Sara
leverages
available
technologies,
media
and
her
own
travel
stories
to
make
these
“virtual
travels”
possible.
In
her
classroom,
Google
Earth,
Skype,
films,
photographs,
maps
and
graphics
are
regularly
used.
Sara
explains.
My
goal
is
to
expose
students
to
a
wide
range
of
perspectives
and
places
in
the
world
and
help
them
see
that
their
perspectives
and
their
culture
isn’t
the
only
thing
out
there….
I
want
to
really
give
the
students
a
chance
to
feel
what
it’d
be
like
to
be
there
[In
Zambia
Peru
or
Guatemala],
to
get
to
know
a
place
well
rather
than
learn
a
little
bit
about
lots
of
different
places.
What
is
special
about
this
place?
What
are
people
there
proud
of,
what
are
they
struggling
with?
So
I
focus
more
on
having
a
personal
connection
that
means
something
rather
than
just
learning
facts.
Learners
who
understand
a
distant
place
move
beyond
“just
learning
facts”.
They
are
able
to
visualize
and
navigate
local
environments
with
nuance
and
develop
a
sense
of
the
lives
of
the
people
inhabiting
such
places
and
their
relationship
with
their
natural
and
cultural
habitats.
“Understanding
a
distant
place”
involves
learning
to
take
the
perspective
of
various
actors
to
examine
local
spaces,
issues
or
events.
It
invites
a
holistic
or
systemic
approach
to
learning
that
goes
beyond
naming
isolated
rivers
or
cultural
practices.
Rather,
it
involves
understanding
a
place
and
its
people
in
dynamic
interaction.
Even
among
very
young
students,
understanding
a
distant
place
in
depth
involves
thinking
with
“big
ideas”
to
make
sense
of
the
physical,
natural
and
cultural
dynamics
of
a
given
location.
Among
these
younger
learners,
ideas
such
as
“a
community
of
people,
animals
and
plants”
or
the
notion
of
“fighting
over
what
we
should
do
with
the
forest”
serve
as
precursors
of
more
complex
disciplinary
notions
of
“ecosystems”,
“interdependence”,
“conflict”
and
“sustainability,”
which
are
typically
used
in
science
and
social
studies.
Key
experiences
in
a
travel
pedagogy
arc
A
powerfully
designed
travel
or
expedition
involves
at
least
four
kinds
of
learning
experiences
that
play
out
iteratively
throughout
a
unit
or
project:
finding
purpose;
being
there;
making
sense;
and
connecting
personally.
1. Expeditions
begin
with
a
purpose
Quality
learning
takes
place
when
students’
efforts
are
driven
by
a
meaningful
and
engaging
purpose.
In
her
unit,
Sara
invites
students
to
become
“international
researchers”
who
learn
about
people
and
places
that
are
far
away,
communicate
with
people
who
are
different
from
them,
and
identify
problems
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
10
and
find
solutions
that
are
respectful
of
local
people
and
their
environments.
“We
travelled
to
the
Amazon
forest
in
North
East
Peru
to
study
the
conflict
between
indigenous
communities
whose
traditions,
culture
and
diet
depend
on
local
trees
and
plants,
and
[Exxon
Mobil]
an
oil
company
that
is
contributing
to
deforestation
by
extracting
and
exporting
oil,
Sara
explains”
Clarity
of
purpose
enables
students
to
identify
relevant
sources
of
information,
craft
more
informed
and
targeted
questions
for
expert
class
visitors,
and
understand
why
their
learning
matters.
To
ensure
that
students
share
the
sense
of
mission
for
their
travels
and
develop
a
genuine
curiosity
for
the
places
they
will
visit,
Sara
begins
the
unit
with
the
film
Africa’s
Child.
The
film
introduces
students
to
concepts
like
malaria,
life
expectancy,
birth
rates,
HIV/AIDS,
sanitation,
measles,
vaccines,
and
water.
Sara
complements
the
film
with
personal
travel
stories,
photographs,
local
newspaper
articles.
This
initial
exposure
helps
students
uncover
the
multiple
dimensions
of
the
place
culture
and
problem
they
will
study,
and
raise
potent
inquiry
questions:
why
do
poor
local
farmers
support
deforestation
in
Peru?
Why
do
some
people
in
the
city
not
care
about
deforestation?
These
questions
serve
as
a
diagnostic
assessment
of
the
students’
initial
beliefs
or
preconceptions
and
set
the
stage
for
a
genuine
inquiry
orientation.
2. “Being
there”:
Helping
students
to
experience
places
and
people
Traditionally,
in
social
and
environmental
sciences,
deep
understanding
of
a
place
occurs
through
fieldwork.
Today’s
technologies
enable
teachers
to
create
multiple
virtual
proxies
for
actual
field
experiences.
In
Sara’s
unit,
the
“journey”
to
each
new
country
begins
in
Google
Earth
as
the
class
“zips
across
the
landscape”
from
Logan
Airport
in
Boston
to
Zambia
or
Peru,
aerially
seeing
the
destination
country’s
various
topographies,
areas
of
wilderness,
and
development.
Students
“walk”
or
“drive”
down
the
streets
and
visit
places
through
YouTube
videos
taking
note
of
what
they
see.
They
experience
local
attractions
through
photographs,
films,
essays
and
music.
Further
immersion
happens
when
guest
speakers
from
destination
countries
join
the
classroom
in
person
or
via
Skype.
To
deepen
their
sense
of
“being
there”,
Sara
assigns
students
key
roles:
In
Peru,
“Journalists”
monitor
local
news
(e.g.
the
Herald
or
“el
Sol”]
for
important
daily
developments
with
particular
attention
to
news
about
the
environment,
indigenous
communities
and
the
rainforest
crisis.
“Guides”
investigating
activities
specific
to
the
place
(e.g.,
bull
fighting
and
natural
reserves)
with
particular
attention
to
experiences
that
might
help
them
understand
their
focal
issue
in
a
larger
context.
“Treasurers”
manage
a
limited
budget
for
the
group
and
teach
others
about
the
local
cost
of
living,
currency
and
exchange
rates.
They
estimate
costs
for
transportation,
or
activities
prioritizing
expenditures
with
the
group.
A
series
of
weekly
guest
speakers
and
skype
meetings
with
people
from
their
target
places
further
enriched
the
students
sense
of
“immersion”
in
their
place
of
study
Visualization
is
essential
in
supporting
students
to
understand
a
place.
“Seeing”
Peru
in
multiple
ways,
cities,
environments,
maps,
data,
and
relationships
is
key
to
developing
a
sense
of
place.
Sara’s
own
documentation
of
her
travels
add
a
personal
layer
to
this
visual
expedition.
Quality
“seeing”
in
a
a
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
11
pedagogy
of
travel
of
this
kind
involves
“slow
looking”
which
awakens
and
engages
the
mind:
staying
close
to
an
image
of
the
Port
of
Iquitos
by
the
Amazon
river,
or
another
of
the
banking
district
in
Lima,
can
provoke
powerful
questions
for
further
inquiry:
What
do
you
see?
How
is
this
image
similar
to
how
you
imagined
Lima
to
be?
How
does
what
you
see
extend
your
thinking?
Such
questions
invite
students
to
engage
deeply
with
visual
representations
and
prepare
them
to
“read”
places
closely.
Effective
use
of
visuals
challenge
students’
assumptions
about
what
life
looks
like
in
countries
under
study.
According
to
Sara:
“[The
students]
tend
to
think
it’s
all
mud
huts
in
Africa
and
then
they’ll
see
a
ten-‐story
bank
or
billboards.
Often
times
the
urban
landscape
is
not
something
they
associate
with
Africa
[or
Latin
America].
We
talk
about
the
kinds
of
assumptions
people
make
and
why
and
how
what
they’re
seeing
doesn’t
meet
their
assumptions…
It’s
important
because
students
won’t
care
about
a
place
unless
they
have
some
understanding
of
what
it’s
like.
3. Making
sense:
Supporting
students
to
advance
and
revise
interpretations
Making
sense
of
a
distant
place
is
challenging.
Students
must
move
beyond
what
they
see,
read
and
hear,
to
inquire,
weigh
possible
interpretations,
deliberate,
corroborate,
and
consider
context.
A
pedagogy
of
travel
encourages
students
to
ask
questions
that
consequently
“tool”
their
sense-‐making
capacities:
How
typical
is
what
we
see?
How
does
context
(natural,
historical,
etc.)
shape
the
lives
people
live
(e.g.,
their
needs,
available
resources,
opportunities)?
How
do
people
in
this
region
draw
on
the
resources
they
have
(e.g.,
natural,
creative
uses,
resilience)
in
order
to
improve
their
lives.
These
questions
invite
students
not
only
to
examine
the
information
they
have
critically,
but
also
to
begin
to
hold
complex
and
contradictory
ideas
in
the
same
mental
space:
how
might
“resources”
come
to
mean
different
things
to
people
in
my
community
and
in
a
different
place?
Why
does
“improvement”
of
life
seem
to
be
different
for
different
people?
What
does
“enough”
or
“wealth”
really
mean?
Interpretations
abound
in
Sara’s
class.
Students
discuss
videos,
images,
graphs.
They
compare
simple
data
and
create
complex
representations
of
their
target
place.
Sara
explains:
“Videos
were
helpful
in
helping
students
see
and
connect.
We
also
worked
on
graphing
and
mapping
data
on
topics
like
life
expectancy,
access
to
clean
water
of
rates
of
AIDS
infection.
Students
created
thematic
map
to
show
data
in
different
countries
and
compare
them
to
Zambia,
the
country
we
were
working
on.”
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
12
Similarly
after
examining
multiple
videos
of
the
Amazon
rainforest
and
the
impacts
of
deforestation
students
produce
rich
ecosystems
descriptions.
They
learn
to
manage
complex
information
and
to
“make
sense”:
“I
want
to
see
the
best
ecosystems
descriptions
possible.
What
are
the
research
questions
you
have
about
this
ecosystem?
What
makes
for
a
good
ecosystem
description?
What
will
be
valuable
information?
What
do
we
need
to
find
out
about
the
threats
to
this
ecosystem?”
Students’
co-‐construct
and
then
apply
criteria
for
quality
descriptions
to
group
presentations
on
specific
aspects
of
the
ecosystem.
Collectively
their
descriptions
informed
design
of
a
three
panel
wall
mural.
The
first
panel
depicts
the
pristine
rainforest,
its
various
species,
resources,
and
interdependencies.
The
middle
panel
starts
including
excavators
and
fallen
trees.
The
third
presents
two
visible
paths,
“what
happens
if
the
environment
is
not
taken
care
of”,
and
what
if
it
is.
Sara
described
this
project
with
pride:
“Seven
students
worked
on
this,
creating
different
parts
of
the
image
and
sharing
every
part
of
the
vision
and
research.
They
then
created
a
stop-‐motion
animation
with
their
mural
as
the
background.”
Helping
students
make
sense
of
the
places
and
people
they
encounter
required
that
Sarah
also
challenged
misconceptions
and
stereotypes.
Early
in
the
unit,
students
researching
clean
water
in
Guatemala
assumed
that
the
issue
lay
with
the
Guatemalans’
ignorance
of
the
importance
of
clean
water,
and
subsequently
created
a
video
with
the
message,
“here
in
America,
we
drink
clean
water.
Let
us
send
our
clean
water
to
you.”
Sara
quickly
attended
to
this
problematic
perspective
by
drawing
her
students’
attention
to
the
complex
problem
of
water
access:
what
is
access
to
clean
water,
and
why
might
somebody
not
have
such
access?
Relevant
sources
(country
reports,
documentary
videos,
conversations
with
guests
from
Guatemala)
became
key
to
challenge
her
students’
preconceptions
and
support
them
to
build
a
more
complex
understanding
of
the
Guatemalan
water
crisis.
Similarly
reading
daily
local
news
confronted
students
with
front-‐page
crises,
violence
and
problems
that
risked
reinforcing
cultural
stereotypes
about
the
developing
world.
“We
had
to
have
conversations
about
this,
Sara
explains.
She
asked
students
why
they
thought
that
they
were
seeing
primarily
negative
news.
“The
kids
would
come
to
understand
that
newspapers
were
not
reporting
the
good
stuff”
Through
close
analysis
of
selected
sources
and
classroom
discussions
where
students
advance
and
calibrate
their
proposed
interpretations
of
the
people,
issues
and
places
under
study,
an
ongoing
expectation
to
reasoning
with
evidence
ensues.
“What
make
you
say
so?”
“How
do
we
know
this?”
In
a
pedagogy
of
travel,
quality
instructional
design
supports
students
to
understand
the
dangers
of
unfounded
assumptions
when
making
sense
of
distant
places
as
well
as
the
importance
of
gathering
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
13
additional
data
to
more
deeply
understand
a
different
people
and
place.
A
commitment
to
thoughtful
interpretation
also
shapes
Sara’s
invitation
to
students
to
prepare
a
presentation
that
not
only
describes
the
issue
and
place
under
study
but
also
helps
explain
how
the
local
geography,
natural
environments
and
cultures
shape
the
experiences
and
opportunities
of
people
far
away.
Most
importantly
the
presentation
should
be
created
with
the
two
audiences
in
mind:
locals
there,
and
locals
here.
4. Connecting
personally
A
final
essential
aspect
of
the
travel
pedagogy
here
advanced
involves
inviting
students
to
connect
personally
with
the
people
and
places
“visited”.
How
does
our
life
compare
and
connect
to
that
of
the
people
we
study,
and
how
do
you
communicate
with
and
relate
to
them
in
meaningful
ways?
Sara’s
students
deepened
their
understanding
of
how
the
geography,
culture,
and
people
in
a
place
shape
local
issues
and
their
possible
solutions.
Peru
is
far
from
the
students’
home
in
Massachusetts,
and
inevitably,
ruminations
about
“people
there”
sparked
conversations
about
“us
here.”
Students’
learning
instilled
a
sense
of
proximity
and
a
personal
investment
in
Peru,
Guatemala
and
Zambia.
The
Peruvian
Amazon
region,
for
instance,
gained
a
special
place
in
students
mental
representation
of
the
Latin
America
region.
Sara’s
students
spoke
extensively
about
how
their
lives
and
that
of
others
they
had
studied
differed
and
how
they
felt
connected
through
shared
experiences
such
as
love
for
family,
of
for
one’s
place
of
birth,
as
well
as
more
mundane
and
simplistic
ones
such
as
“they
do
things
outdoors
and
we
do
things
outdoors”)
Direct
interaction
with
local
peers
also
challenges
students
to
recognize
their
own
assumptions
and
culture.
For
instance
during
a
skype
conversation
a
student
in
Botswana
asked
Sara’s
class
how
they
were
dealing
with
the
problems
of
guns
in
schools
in
the
US.
Students
were
taken
aback
and
soon
they
recognized
that
the
issue
was
real
and
that
it
was
likely
to
have
dominated
the
media
accessed
by
their
peers
far
away.
Connecting
personally
involves
viewing
oneself
through
the
eyes
of
others.
Finally
greater
challenge
for
younger
students
when
seeking
to
connect
personally
with
a
distant
place
through
these
expeditions
is
seeing
how
both
“we
here”
and
“they
there”
are
pare
of
a
broader
global
system
in
which
their
own
actions
might
impact
(thus
connect
with)
other
parts
of
the
world
in
positive
or
negative
ways.
One
student,
Leah
feels
that
it
is
wrong
for
companies
to
drill
for
oil
in
the
rainforest
and
understands
that
the
oil
goes
to
fueling
cars
and
homes.
Yet,
when
asked
about
connections
between
the
issue
she
studied
and
her
own
life,
she
did
not
see
our
daily
consumption
habits
as
having
far
reaching
consequences.
She
proposed,
appropriately,
signing
petitions
and
planting
more
trees
as
helpful
actions
to
be
taken
over
there.
But
did
not
yet
consider
cutting
down
on
our
use
of
oil
here.
I
sum,
a
“pedagogy
of
travel”
or
research
expeditions
invites
students
to
understand
particular
places
selectively
as
accessible
ways
to
engage
a
complex
global
issue.
Through
a
clear
inquiry
focus,
a
wealth
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
14
of
visual
materials
and
immersive
digital
experiences
of
“being
there”;
delicate
treatment
of
evidence
and
interpretations
to
“make
sense”
of
a
distant
place
and
a
deliberate
effort
to
connect
personally
with
the
locations
and
issues
under
study
a
pedagogy
of
travel
prepares
students
to
understand—in
Sara’s
words,
“that
the
world
is
not
as
big
as
it
seems.
That
there
are
so
many
opportunities
out
there
if
they
take
a
risk
and
go
outside
their
comfort
zone.
The
world
is
so
full
of
new
ways
of
thinking,
new
ideas,
new
beauty,
places
to
explore
and
issue
worth
pursuing”.
Ultimate,
a
travel
pedagogy
has
the
potential
to
instill
in
students
“an
appreciation
for
the
world
beyond
themselves,
an
ability
to
make
sense
of
the
unknown,
to
make
connections
beyond
their
own
culture
and
communicate
and
act
in
more
informed
and
considerate
ways.
III.II
A
Pedagogy
of
Comparisons:
Nurturing
global
competence
through
cross-‐case
analysis
How
can
we
support
young
people
to
engage
with
global
issues
that
can
seem
impossible
to
ameliorate?
How
might
we
help
them
see
local
instantiations
of
such
issues,
and
learn
to
advance
better
explanations
or
more
informed
solution?
Kottie
Christie-‐Blick
teaches
4th
and
5th
graders
in
Cottage
Lane
Elementary
School,
New
York.
Deeply
interested
in
and
committed
to
mitigating
the
impact
of
climate
change,
Kottie’s
“Climate
Stewards
Go
Global!”
unit
seeks
to
nurture
students’
global
competence
by
investigating
the
relative
impact
of
climate-‐related
ocean
rising
on
coastal
communities
in
New
York
and
Cape
Town,
South
Africa.
Her
unit
invites
students
to
understand
how
a
global
phenomena
such
as
climate
change
and
sea
levels
rising
play
out
in
two
locations,
and
the
actions
they
might
take
in
collaboration
with
their
South
African
peers
to
mitigate
climate
change.
Learners
make
purposeful
comparisons
across
cases
when
they
are
guided
by
an
inquiry
question
that
is
meaningful
and
relevant
to
them.
By
studying
how
rising
sea
levels
are
at
the
same
time
similar
and
different
for
New
Yorkers
and
South
Africans,
Kottie’s
students
begin
to
understand
how
a
single
phenomenon
might
impact
different
natural
and
human
communities.
As
they
begin
to
identify
trends
or
patterns
across
the
cases,
students
begin
to
distil
relevant
aspects
of
each
case
into
a
model
or
frame
that
they
may
use
to
study
other
global
phenomena.
Key
experiences
in
the
pedagogy
of
comparisons
arc
A
powerfully
designed
cross-‐case
analysis
involves
at
least
four
kinds
of
learning
experiences
that
may
play
out
iteratively
throughout
a
unit
or
project:
finding
purpose;
creating
models
or
frameworks
for
comparisons;
understanding
real
contexts,
making
informed
decisions.
1. Finding
purpose:
Focusing
on
comparisons
that
teach
Why
is
the
ocean
rising?
What
will
happen
if
it
rises
one
or
two
meters
higher?
Will
all
coastal
communities
be
affected
in
the
same
way?
What
can
we
do
to
mitigate
climate
change?
Is
one
solution
enough
for
all?
How
can
we
work
with
friends
from
around
the
world
to
find
the
best
solutions?
For
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
15
Kottie’s
students,
the
problem
of
sea
levels
rising
was
a
pressing
and
present
one;
they
had
firsthand
experience
with
the
devastating
impact
of
Hurricane
Sandy
on
their
community
that
year.
As
they
walked
around
the
neighborhood
to
survey
the
damage,
saw
photographs
of
large
yachts
washed
up
from
the
Hudson
onto
people’s
properties
and
houses
and
took
note
of
crumbled
away
homes
in
the
floods,
they
began
to
realize
the
importance
of
understanding
why
there
was
severe
flooding
even
though
there
was
not
much
rain
during
the
hurricane.
How
might
that
be
prevented
in
the
future?
For
Kottie,
empowering
her
young
students
to
take
positive
action
against
climate
change
is
imperative.
“Our
planet
is
warming
up,
she
explains,
with
far-‐reaching
implications
for
us
all.
The
conversation
in
scientific
circles
now
is
how
Earth
will
respond,
how
well
the
living
things
on
Earth
will
be
able
to
adapt,
who
will
be
the
winners
and
the
losers,
and
what
we
can
do
to
slow
down
our
warming
climate.”
Her
“Climate
Stewards
Go
Global!”
unit
was
designed
to
help
her
students
understand
the
confluence
of
factors
that
led
to
the
severe
flooding
in
their
own
community,
as
well
as
the
connection
between
“what
they
had
experienced
firsthand
already,
and
this
whole
global
issue
of
sea
level
rise
and
how
that
connects
with
global
warming
because
they
weren’t
sure
of
that
connection
yet.“
Collaborating
with
a
classroom
in
Cape
Town,
South
Africa,
made
sense
because
rising
sea
levels
visibly
affected
life
in
both
coastal
communities.
Most
importantly,
the
comparison
would
enable
the
children
to
see
how
a
common
global
phenomenon
can
have
different
forms
of
impact
requiring
distinct
locally
relevant
solutions.
2. Creating
models
or
frameworks
for
comparison
To
help
her
students
visualize
how
the
melting
polar
caps
raise
sea
levels,
and
how
such
changes
could
affect
landscapes
and
communities
differently,
Kottie
adapted
a
model
she
had
seen
in
the
Nobel
Center
in
Norway
into
a
maquette
for
her
classroom.
She
invited
students
to
place
tiny
models
of
houses
on
the
lower
levels
of
the
maquette,
and
then
experiment
with
the
rate
at
which
the
ice
cubes
placed
on
the
higher
levels
melted
and
flooded
the
lower
levels.
When
they
saw
how
their
“houses”
were
swiftly
swept
away
by
the
cascading
waters
or
the
rising
seawaters,
the
students
became
agitated,
and
many
moved
their
“homes”
to
different
parts
on
the
lower
levels,
but
found
that
the
result
remained
the
same.
The
students’
emotional
response
directed
their
attention
to
understanding
why
their
“houses”
could
not
be
protected
if
the
ice
caps
continued
to
melt
and
the
sea
levels
rose.
The
students
deliberated
about
how
the
landscape
and
economic
resources
would
affect
their
ability
to
survive
in
the
created
scenarios.
The
experience
brought
several
key
ideas
to
life,
from
understanding
causal
factors
that
are
distant
in
time
or
space
from
their
effects,
to
the
necessity
of
“preparedness”
among
inhabitants
of
coastal
communities
and
the
ways
in
which
ocean
rising
would
affect
communities
differently
The
maquette
experience
was
followed
up
with
various
other
cases
of
impact.
Kottie
showed
them
photographs
of
the
devastation
wrought
by
Hurricane
Sandy
in
their
own
neighborhood
and
other
locations.
She
also
brought
them
on
walks
to
survey
actual
scenes
of
destruction.
Students
read
books
on
the
impact
of
climate
change,
as
well
as
watched
a
BrainPOP
movie
on
global
warming
and
its
effects.
As
they
studied
impacts
in
communities
far
away
as
well
as
their
own,
students
wondered:
what
causes
weather,
how
do
we
impact
it,
and
how
does
it
impact
us?
As
the
students
began
to
digest
the
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
16
causes
and
consequences
of
climate
change
across
the
cases
they
studied,
key
concepts
like
global
warming,
greenhouse
effect,
pollution,
Keeling
Curve,
etc.,
began
to
make
sense
as
relevant
features
of
each
case,
and
clear
trends
across
cases.
3. Understanding
real
contexts
The
maquettes
illuminated
the
confluence
of
factors
that
shape
the
differential
impact
of
ocean
rising
in
various
communities,
preparing
the
students
to
compare
real
communities
next.
Kottie’s
students
communicated
with
their
South
African
ePals
through
blog
entries
that
began
as
carefully
crafted
introductions
that
scrupulously
adhered
to
the
guidelines
that
the
teachers
provided
in
an
effort
to
ease
their
students
into
the
task.
Without
exception,
the
introductions
were
template-‐like:
name,
age,
family,
interests,
food,
and
questions.
As
the
students
became
increasingly
comfortable
with
one
another
and
more
confident
about
their
ability
to
communicate
with
peers
halfway
around
the
world,
Kottie
invited
the
children
to
share
their
understanding
of
the
causes
and
impacts
of
global
warming
in
the
two
different
locations.
The
blog
exchanges
were
opportunities
for
her
students
to
develop
the
habit
of
comparing
the
impact
of
the
same
phenomenon
in
different
locations.
For
Kottie,
“it’s
so
important
to
bring
a
global
perspective
to
it
because
it’s
not
something
we
can
solve
on
our
own.
There
are
only
twenty-‐two
of
them,
how
much
difference
are
they
going
to
make
worldwide?
They
know
it
doesn’t
give
them
enough
power.
When
I
start
talking
to
them
about
what’s
happening
globally,
in
other
classrooms,
not
just
in
the
US,
they
start
to
realize
that
now
they
are
part
of
something
bigger
than
themselves,
and
they
feel
they
have
power
now,
not
doing
something
on
their
own,
but
part
of
something
bigger
than
themselves.
Any
authentic
teaching
of
global
problems
needs
that
perspective.“
Her
students
realized
that
they
were
not
alone
in
their
endeavor
to
combat
global
warming.
Students
also
learned
to
recognize
how
global
warming
was
neither
“a
myth”,
nor
an
event
in
the
far
future.
Rather,
its
devastating
effects
were
actually
happening
now.
One
student
shared
how
she
used
to
think
that
global
warming
would
affect
only
certain
people,
and
how
interacting
with
her
ePal
made
her
realize
that
it
was
a
global
rather
than
localized
issue.
The
students
also
learned
how
the
impact
of
global
warming
was
differently
framed
in
each
context.
For
instance,
while
the
rising
sea
levels
were
seen
as
a
threat
to
communities
living
along
the
coastline
and
Hudson
River
in
New
York,
it
was
a
big
concern
in
Cape
Town
because
tourism
–
an
important
source
of
revenue
for
the
city
–
was
affected.
By
deliberately
juxtaposing
the
two
locales,
Kottie
was
able
to
demonstrate
how
context
was
important
in
understanding
responses
to
global
warming.
By
connecting
American
students
with
those
in
South
Africa,
Kottie’s
unit
helped
them
understand
how
context
shapes
the
way
we
think.
As
the
students
learned
more
about
one
another
through
their
blog
interactions,
they
began
to
realize
how
their
respective
contexts
inclined
them
to
propose
different
mitigation
methods.
For
instance,
although
both
classes
presented
similar
mitigation
measures
(e.g.
riding
bikes
to
school),
Kottie’s
students
expressed
surprise
at
some
of
their
ePals’
proposals,
such
as
growing
bamboo
which
create
30%
more
oxygen
than
trees.
They
later
came
to
understand
how
their
ePals’
more
comprehensive
grasp
of
mitigation
methods
was
unsurprising
given
how
climate
change
in
South
Africa
was
framed
as
one
of
the
greatest
threats
to
the
country’s
development
goals,
triggering
governmental
responses
to
climate
change
as
early
as
2004,
and
spurring
local
businesses
and
citizen
interest
groups
to
start
movements
toward
sustainable
living.
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
17
Making
informed
decisions
As
her
students
came
to
understand
how
climate
change
could
lead
to
changes
that
were
often
far
away
from
the
initial
emissions,
and
how
often
the
causes
and
consequences
of
climate
change
were
intertwined,
Kottie
shifted
the
conversation
to
mitigation:
what
could
they
do
about
mitigating
climate
change
now?
The
challenge
to
students
was
clear:
what
can
young
people
like
themselves
do
to
effectively
make
a
difference?
Kottie’s
students
considered
and
proposed
solutions
that
they
could
feasibly
put
into
action:
being
less
wasteful
so
that
they
needed
to
buy
fewer
products;
presenting
a
persuasive
case
for
why
their
parents
should
purchase
hybrid
vehicles;
looking
for
opportunities
to
speak
to
their
family
and
friends
about
the
impact
of
climate
change,
and
inspiring
them
to
participate
in
mitigation
activities.
Each
action
was
carefully
considered
in
light
of
how
it
directly
slowed
down
climate
change.
For
instance,
Jessica,
Shane,
Kelly
and
Dan
proposed
how
using
less
electricity
helped
because
“power
plants
put
a
lot
of
carbon
dioxide
in
the
air
when
they
burn
coal,
oil,
or
gas
to
make
power”,
and
how
growing
plants
slowed
down
climate
change
because
“plants
absorbed
the
carbon
dioxide
in
the
air.
The
bigger
the
plant,
the
more
carbon
dioxide
it
takes
in!”
Additionally,
Kottie’s
students
also
worked
groups
to
discuss
their
ideas
for
mitigation,
and
worked
towards
a
consensus
about
one
idea
that
they
felt
they
could
reasonably
commit
to
taking
real
action
on.
For
instance,
one
group
decided
that
they
would
commit
to
using
less
electricity
by
turning
off
the
lights
and
powering
down
devices
when
they
were
not
in
use.
The
group
also
created
an
animated
video
(http://staff.socsdblogs.org/christieblick/climate-‐stewards/)
to
invite
viewers
to
join
them
in
taking
action
against
climate
change.
As
a
class,
Kottie’s
students
also
learned
that
by
disseminating
what
they’d
learned
through
oral
presentations
and
written
articles,
they
could
reach
a
wider
audience.
They
helped
Kottie
write
an
article
that
was
published
on
the
National
Oceanic
and
Atmospheric
Administration’s
website
(http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/climate-‐stewards/talking-‐about.html),
and
also
requested
to
present
information
about
climate
change
and
mitigation
methods
at
a
school-‐wide
assembly.
IV.
Signature
pedagogies
revisited:
Deepening
global
education
instructional
tropes
In
what
ways
do
the
two
units
described
illustrate
foundational
signature
pedagogies
principles?
How
can
a
signature
pedagogies
approach
contribute
to
yield
the
meaningful
learning
that
we
are
after?
Studying
world
regions
and
comparing
cultures
or
civilizations
are
common
tropes
or
motifs
in
global
teachers’
instructional
repertoire.
Preparing
information-‐rich
country
reports,
comparison
charts,
posters
and
presentations
are
ubiquitous
activities
in
the
global
classroom.
A
signature
pedagogies
approach
invites
teachers
to
reframe
these
common
practices
along
six
core
principles
so
that
they
can
effectively
nurture
students’
global
competence
in
ways
that
are
deep,
relevant
and
long-‐lasting.
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
18
1. Clear
global
competence
focus.
Sara
and
Kottie
invite
students
to
understand
and
act
on
issues
of
visible
global
significance
–e.g.
malaria,
deforestation,
climate
change
and
ocean
rising.
These
real,
contemporary
issues
awaken
students’
interest
and
sense
of
themselves
as
current
not
only
“future”
global
citizens.
In
both
cases,
teachers’
specific
inquiry
questions
set
the
stage
for
depth
over
coverage.
Students
do
not
“travel
to
Peru”
to
hang
around
and
“discover
what
is
there”,
Instead,
they
must
make
sense
of
the
conflict
between
a
powerful
oil
company
and
local
stakeholders
in
the
Peruvian
Amazon.
They
contact
peers
in
South
Africa
to
share
ideas
about
climate
impact
in
their
two
cities.
Their
goal
is
not
merely
to
gather
information
about
each
country
but
to
understand
a
complex
issue
in
rich
and
compelling
ways.
To
meet
this
goal,
students
in
both
cases
learn
to
establish
the
significance
of
the
issues,
seek
out
sources
from
other
cultures
(e.g.,
news
or
e-‐pals’
blogs).
They
draw
on
such
sources
to
make
sense
of
the
distant
place,
stakeholders’
experiences
or
climate
impacts.
They
share
their
analysis
and
conclusions
in
class
and
across
audiences.
Students
in
both
cases
begin
to
learn
to
take
perspective
and
action.
In
short,
in
both
cases,
learning
experiences
are
designed
to
create
multiple
opportunities
for
global
competence
development.
2.
Strong
disciplinary
foundation:
Both
cases
invited
students
to
engage,
apply
and
think
with
disciplinary
concepts
and
modes
of
thinking
in
developmentally
appropriate
ways.
Sara’s
student
explore
use
geography
lens
as
they
visualize
the
Earth,
understand
“place”,
and
explore
the
dynamic
interaction
of
physical
environment,
the
economy
and
culture
as
they
examine
how
regional
landscapes
and
natural
resources
shape
people’s
experiences.
Kottie’s
students
in
turn
become
fluent
in
climate
change
science
including
essential
modes
of
thinking
such
as
drawing
on
empirical
evidence
to
argue
that
global
warming
is
not
“myth”
and
modeling
complex
causal
systems.
In
the
area
of
information
and
communication
technologies
students
develop
critical
sourcing
and
respectful
communication
skills
as
they
learn
to
navigate
news
outlets
in
Peru
or
communicate
with
e-‐pals
in
South
Africa.
In
each
case
student
begin
to
develop
the
habit
of
drawing
on
disciplinary
expertise
not
as
a
means
to
“do
well
in
school”
but
as
a
lens
through
which
to
make
sense
of
the
world.
A
fundamental
reframing
of
the
purpose
of
disciplinary
instruction
is
at
play
in
a
signature
pedagogies
approach.
3.
Attentive
to
learning
demands:
Signature
Pedagogies
are
designed
to
address
global
competence
learning
demands.
For
instance,
both
teachers
anticipate
that
students
will
exhibit
stereotypes
about
people
in
the
developing
world.
They
make
students’
beliefs
visible
early
in
each
unit
and
design
learning
experiences
to
target
and
transform
these.
Sarah
invites
students
to
walk
around
and
reflect
on
their
reactions
to
Lima’s
banking
district
where
skyscrapers
challenge
oversimplified
ideas
of
rural
Latin
America.
Similarly,
Kottie
invited
students
like
Richard
in
our
opening
vignette
to
draw
their
e-‐pals
before
meeting
them
on
skype.
Attending
to
learning
demands
these
teachers
use
cognitive
dissonance
to
challenge
and
revise
social
stereotypes.
In
a
similar
vein,
Kottie
anticipates
that
learning
about
climate
change
will
require
that
her
students
ages
nine
and
ten
learn
to
manage
fear
and
complex
emotions.
Climate
change
can
feel
overwhelming
even
to
adults
she
explains.
Yet
she
purposefully
concludes
her
unit
by
empowering
children
to
propose
solutions
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
19
and
deciding
on
actions
they
can
take
themselves.
Further
attending
to
learning
demands,
Kottie
creates
a
concrete
manipulable
3D
model
of
coastal
flooding
that
enables
her
students
to
gauge
complex
dynamics
in
accessible
ways.
Specific
learning
demands
such
as
the
distance
in
time
and
space
between
causes
and
events
are
address
through
richly
concrete
means.
4.
A
case-‐based
core:
Fundamentally
case-‐based,
Sara
and
Kottie’s
units
examine
big
and
complex
ideas
in
the
context
of
specific
local
cases.
In
the
“travel,”
and
“comparisons”
signature
pedagogies
above
concrete,
multidimensional
and
“real”
cases
make
complex
global
issues
accessible
and
manageable.
Because
they
are
framed
as
problems
that
call
for
explanation
and
solutions
this
case-‐centered
approach
invites
students
to
go
beyond
collecting
and
summarizing
information
in
a
traditional
“country
report”
or
“poster”
fashion.
Instead
cases
provide
parameters
for
student
to
apply
or
think
with
the
information
they
obtain
in
order
to
explain
the
roots
of
the
issue,
produce
thick
description
of
a
local
ecosystem
and
its
people,
or
proposed
locally-‐relevant
solutions.
5.
Spiraling
presence:
Sara’s
and
Kottie’s
units
illustrate
“travel”
and
“comparisons”
signature
pedagogies
in
the
elementary
school
context.
Multiple
opportunities
to
experience
quality
travel
and
cross
case
comparisons
over
time
promises
to
instill
in
students
not
only
the
capacity
to
investigate
a
place
and
take
perspective
but
also
an
inclinations
to
doing
so
over
time—to
develop
a
habit
of
informed
travel
or
leveraging
comparisons.
Signature
pedagogies
as
here
outlined
can
contribute
to
nurturing
a
global
disposition
by
inviting
students
to
“travel”
often
in
a
year
or
across
educational
levels
to
gain
a
deep
sense
of
a
place,
its
people,
and
its
challenges.
Students
who
encounter
opportunities
for
well-‐scaffolded
“travel”
and
“purposeful
comparisons”
like
the
ones
here
described
are
likely
to
become
“better
global
expeditioners”
over
time.
6.
Adaptive
practice:
A
final
quality
principle
to
guide
our
analysis
of
the
cases
above
is
the
adaptive
nature
of
a
signature
pedagogy.
A
pedagogy
of
travel
or
one
of
purposeful
comparisons
does
not
embody
a
fixed
set
of
steps
to
be
followed
nor
an
established
curriculum.
Rather
each
signature
pedagogy
is
enriched
by
further
inquiry.
Teachers
adapt
their
teaching
designs
on
the
basis
to
emerging
global
trends,
new
digital
tools,
or
careful
reflection
about
learning.
A
signature
pedagogies
approach
to
global
education
embraces
the
view
of
teachers
as
professional
inquirers
of
their
practice.
In
sum,
our
explorations
of
exemplary
global
teachers
practice
so
far
has
enabled
us
to
identify,
analyze,
and
illustrate
two
signature
pedagogies
can
directly
inform
quality
instructional
designs
geared
to
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
20
nurturing
global
competence.
The
six
foundational
quality
criteria
proposed
can
guide
teachers
in
their
efforts
to
nurture
student
learning
that
is
deep,
relevant
and
long
lasting.
Teachers
may
ask:
Does
my
unit
or
project
have
a
clear
global
competence
focus?
Is
it
grounded
in
relevant
disciplines,
nurturing
application
of
big
ideas
and
modes
of
thinking
that
characterize
the
domain?
Can
I
anticipate
the
learning
demands
that
this
unit
will
present
and
plan
accordingly?
Can
I
identify
particular
cases
and
locations
in
the
world
that
provide
a
rich
and
accessible
representation
of
the
particular
issues
I
am
interested
in
exploring
with
my
students?
Will
there
be
enough
opportunities
throughout
the
year
for
my
students
to
“travel”
or
to
“compare
cases”
so
that
they
can
develop
a
disposition
toward
deep
engagement
in
the
world?
How
could
I
adapt
or
improve
my
design
vis
a
vis
emerging
global
phenomena,
or
my
experience
teaching
and
learning
for
global
competence?
Clearly
the
travel
and
a
cross-‐case
comparisons
pedagogies
here
proposed
are
not
the
sole
signature
moves
in
quality
global
education.
Other
tropes
can
be
envisioned
such
as
a
“social
entrepreneurship”
or
a
“global
convention”
pedagogy.
Yet
the
signature
pedagogies
outlined
so
far
represent
powerful
examples
of
how
quality
teaching
for
global
competence
can
be
embodied
in
holistic
and
culturally
relevant
narratives
(traveling,
comparing-‐cases)
that
give
meaning
and
direction
to
the
teaching
and
learning
experience.
V.
To
conclude:
Added
value
and
a
note
on
teacher
expertise
In
this
chapter
we
proposed
that
preparing
our
youth
for
the
contemporary
world
requires
that
we
develop
an
informed
position
toward
four
fundamental
topics.
First,
we
must
be
clear
about
the
kind
of
learning
we
seek.
We
argued
that
that
global
competence
can
be
seen
as
the
capacity
and
disposition
to
understand
and
act
on
issues
of
global
significance.
We
made
the
cases
for
a
holistic
articulation
of
such
capacities
calling
for
learning
that
puts
a
premium
on
deep,
relevant
and
log-‐lasting
learning.
Second,
we
proposed
signature
pedagogies
as
a
promising
approach
to
characterize
the
kind
of
instruction
that
effectively
nurtures
deep
and
relevant
global
learning.
Drawing
on
our
study
of
award-‐winning
master
teachers
we
articulated
two
signature
pedagogies
“a
pedagogy
of
travel”
and
one
of
“purposeful
cross-‐case
comparisons”
as
well
as
six
quality
principles
on
which
they
stand.
We
then
illustrated
each
signature
pedagogy
with
a
detailed
account
of
units
taught
in
two
public
school
elementary
classrooms
and
applied
the
stated
principles
to
each
case.
We
conclude
this
chapter
by
turning
to
the
potential
contributions
of
a
signature
pedagogies
approach
to
the
field
of
global
education
and
its
implications
for
teacher
expertise.
The
quality
of
global
competence
instructional
designs
pivots
on
teachers’
assumptions
about
the
content
they
teach,
how
learning
happens,
and
who
learners
are.
Responding
to
this
state
of
affairs
a
signature
pedagogies
approach
to
global
education
may
contribute
to
the
field
in
at
least
five
ways:
• It
commits
teachers
to
nurturing
deep,
relevant,
and
long-‐lasting
learning
that
stands
beyond
the
acquisition
and
reorganization
of
information
Boix
Mansilla
&
Chua,
2016
21
• It
attends
to
the
learning
demands
associated
with
global
competence
and
addresses
them
proactively
• It
connects
to
well–known
instructional
tropes
or
motifs
(writing
a
country
report
or
comparing
civilizations)
that
are
already
ubiquitos
in
K12
educaton
and
inviting
teachers
to
connect
an
then
transform-‐deepen
their
practice.
• It
echoes
culturally
relevant
practices,
such
as
travelling
or
comparing
places,
thus
enhancing
the
likelihood
that
students
will
recognize
opportunities
to
use
what
they
have
learned
outside
school.
• The
approach
positions
students
as
genuine
inquirers
able
to
explore
a
topic
or
place
beyond
their
teachers’
own
knowledge
base,
and
inviting
teachers
to
serve
as
learning
coaches
or
travel
companions.
•
It
integrates
students’
learning
experience
moving
beyond
a
“collection
of
loose
activities”
into
a
holistic
learning
journey
in
which
student
take
part.
• It
views
teachers
as
professionals
able
to
make
informed
judgments
about
their
instruction
and
to
respond
and
adapt
to
emerging
events,
new
technologies,
or
observations
on
student
learning.
What
do
teachers
need
to
know
and
be
able
to
do
in
order
to
design
quality
instruction
of
the
kind
we
see
in
Sara
and
Kottie’s
classrooms?
How
can
we
reframe
teachers’
expertise
in
order
to
capture
the
multiple
forms
of
expertise
that
inform
quality
professional
practice
in
global
education?
What
do
we
learn
about
teacher
expertise
that
may
inform
the
preparation
of
future
and
current
teachers
to
prepare
our
youth
for
the
world?
While
an
extensive
treatment
of
these
questions
exceeds
the
scope
of
this
chapter,
it
is
worth
pointing
out
that
our
preliminary
analysis
suggest
at
least
four
distinct
forms
of
expertise
embodied
in
these
teachers
practice:
a
flexible
n
understanding
of
the
disciplines
they
teach
reinterpreted
in
global
terms;
an
understanding
of
general
pedagogical
principles;
an
understanding
of
their
students,
their
interests
and
passion
as
well
as
the
learning
demands
they
confront.
And
last
but
not
least
an
understanding
of
the
world
in
the
form
of
informal
often
experiential
expertise.
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ED 116 99
3
AUTHOR
TITLE
INSTITUTION
SPONS AGENCY
PUB DATE
NOTE
AVAILABLE FROM
EDRS PRICE
DESCRIPTORS
ABSTRACT
DOCUMENT RESUME
SO 008 81
9
Hanvey, Robert G.
An Attainable Global Perspective.
Denver Univ., Colo. Center for Teaching International
R
el
ations.; New York Friends Group, Inc., New York.
Center for War/Peace Studies.
National Endowment for the Humanities (NFAH),
Washington, D.C.
Nov
7
5
31p.’
Center for War/Peace Studies,
2
18 East 18th Street,
New York, New York 10003 ($1.00)
MF-$0.76 Plus Postage. HC Not Available from EDRS.
*Conceptual Schemes; Cross Cultural Studies;
*Cultural Awareness; Decision Making; Elementary
Secondary Education; Futures (of Society); *Global
Approach; School Role;”Social Studies; *Teaching
Techniques; Values; Wo
rl
d Affairs; *World Problems
A more complete understanding of global
perspective
is provided in this essay through an examination of the modes of
thought, sensitivities, intellectual skills, and explanatory
capacities which contribute to the formation of a global perspective.
With an emphasis on both a formal and informal educational level, the
essay is divided into five sections which examine the requirements
for an attainable global perspective. Section 1, Perspective
Consciousness, underscores the need to recognize the concept tha
t
everyone’s perspective is shaped by subtle influences and that others
may have different perspectives. Section 2, State of Vq: Planet
Awareness, examines the problems and solutions for increasing the
ability of individuals to intelligently interpret information about
world conditions. Section 3, Cross Cultural Awareness, describes the
different degrees of -cross- cultural awareness and the,necessity to
reach a stage beyond empathy where one has the capacity’to imagine
oneself in a role within the context of a foreign culture. Section 4,
Knowledge of GlObal Dynamics, analyzes the world as an interdependent
system where the issue of growth may be the predominant contemporary
problem. Section 5, A.;–z1.11Ass of Human Choices, emphasizes that
increased global’ iperspectiVb will require difficult value decisions
about the solutions to our world problems. (Author ‘DE)
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* of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes availab e *
* via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDTS is not
* responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproduct ons *
* supplied by EUS are the best that can be made from the original. *
**********************************************************************
CENTER FOR
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jg”;;1–
/Om \
ittali(11111100°
An
Attainable
Global
Perspective
ROBERT G. HANVEY
This exploration was made possible partly through a grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities to the
CENTER FOR TEACHING ‘INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS,
which commissioned Robert G. Hanvey to undertake the
task. It is published by the Center for War/Peace Studies.
CENTER FOR TEACHING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Graduate School of International Studies
University of Denver, Denver, CO 80210
CENTER FOR WAR/PEACE STUDIES
218 East 18th Street, New York, NY 10003
An Attainable Global Perspective
Robert G. Hanvey
CONTENTS
Introduction
Dimension 1:
Perspective Consciousness
Dimension 2:
“State of the Planet” Awareness
Dimension 3: Cross-cultural Awareness
Dimension 4:
Knowledge of Global Dynamics
Dimension 5:
Awareness of Human Choices
8
13
This e .say is a beginning effort to define some elements of what we call a
global perspective to flesh out some of the things- we will need to know
and understand,,if we are to cope with the challenges of an increasingly inter-
dependent world. The views are those of the author, published here to begin
the discussion, debate, and analysis which will be necessary for a widespread
and more complete understanding of what global perspectives are and how
they can become part of the school curriculum.
Another exploration of questions raised for education by interdependence
is the publication A New Civic Literacy: American Education and Global
Interdependence by Ward Morehouse, Interdependence Series # 3, published
by the Aspen Institute for Humanist;c Studies, Rosedale Road, P.O. Box 28
20
,
Princeton, NJ 08540. This is available at $1.00 per copy.
Robert G. Hanvey
An Attainable Global Perspective
Introduction
This is an attempt to describe certain modes of thought,
sensitivities, intellectual skills, and explanatory capacities
whiCh might in some measure contribute to the formation of
a global perspective and which young people In the U.S.
might actually he able to acquire in the course of their for-
mal and informal education. That is what-is- meant here by an
attainable global perspective. By speaking in such terms, we
imply a modesty of goals. This indeed is our orientation, to
provide some contrast with the general practice of stating
objectives in ideal and often extreme terms.
What is a global perspective? Operationally,we will say that
it consists partly of the modes of thought, skills, etc. that
will be discussed in the following pages. But as conceived
here a global perspective is not a quantum, something you
either have or don’t have. It is a blend of many things and
any given individual may be rich in certain elements and
relatively lacking in others. The educational goal broadly
seen may be to socialize_ significant collectivities of people so
that the important elements of a global perspective are repre-
sented in the group. Viewed in this way a global perspective
may be a variable trait possessed in some form and degree by
a population, with the precise character of that perspective
determined by the specialized capaciues, predispositions, and
attitudes of the group’s members. The implication of this
notion, of course, is that diversified talents and inclinations
can be encouraged and that standardized educational effects
are not required. Every individual does not have to be
brought to the same level of intellectual and moral develop-
ment in order for a population to be moving in the direction
of a more global perspective.
In keeping with modesty of aspirations it is especially.
important at the outset to admit the limited impact of for-
mal schooling and the often profound impact of informal
socialization. Schools are hard put to match the drama and
appeal of the mass media or the grip on behavior and attitude
2
exerted by the peer group. Furthermore, whatever is learned
while young is continuously reshaped by later experience.
The world view of an American farmer will no doubt reflect
his schooling to some extent, but it is likely to be most impor-
tantly influenced by exigencies associated with his role as a
farmer and by attitudes currently held by his most important
reference group other farmers.
If adult role and informal agencies of socialization are
very important, can the schools contribute meaningfully?
Yes, especially if they are able to stake out areas of special
competence. The schools must select a niche that comple-
ments the other educative agencies of the society. To the
extent that those other agencies and influences work against
a global perspective the schools can perform a corrective
function; to the extent that the other agencies are glib and
superficial the schools can seek to be more thorough; to the
extent that the other agencies have blind spots the schools
can work to supply the missing detail; to the extent that the
other agencies direct the attention to the short-term extra-
ordinary event the schools cart assert the value of examining
the long-term situation or trend (which is sometimes extra-
ordinary in its own right).
Consider, for example, public information and socializa-
tion in the U.S. with respect to nuclear weapons policies. For
many years the governments of the U.S. and the USSR have
influenced each other in multiple ways by developing, main-
taining, and threatening to use nuclear weapons of awesome
destructiveness. The populations of each country, and the
population of the world, have been held hostage to this terri-
ble threat. But neither government really informs its popula-
tion about the true dimensions of the threat. Films of
H-bomb tests, for example, have not been shown to the
American or Russian people. Generations of school children
grow up without examining this profound influence on
national and international policies, without really under-
media threshold
“event”
vl
“event”
long-term phenomenon
standing what a single warhead would do to a city and its
environs. Occasionally, when th,;..e is some change-or special
event such as a weapons test or a political agreement the
long-standing theories of deterrence will be reviewed in the
media. But there is little probing of the assumptions that
underlie the policies, or reexamination of the potentialities
of destruction. The media are event-centered. A volcano is of
interest to them only when it erupts.
The result of this pattern is that the general perception of
important phenomena is limited and distorted; the public
sees only those manifestations that are novel enough to rise
above the media’s threshold of excitability. But the phenom-
ena, watitettrt%they policies of deterrence, or ,corporate
investments in the developing countries, or government
investments in scientific research, or the protein consump-
tion habits of industrialized populations, continue to affect
our lives, visible or, not.
In fairness to the media it must be admitted that such
phenomena are not, by and large, intrinsically interesting to
most people. To specialized groups, yes, but not to broad
publics. And interest is what keeps newspapers and television
stations alive. It must also be admitted that some newspapers
provide extremely important resources for broad p’iblic edu-
cation and that the television networks occasionally reach
millions with significant documentaries and background
stories. But the general characterization of the media as
event-centered is not, I think, unreasonable.
The media, of course, are more than event- centered. They
are culture-bound and culture-generating. That is, they re-
flect the culture and reinforce it but are also capable of
turning it in new directions. The culture says, “Consume!”
and the media transmit that message ingeniously, seduc-
tively, repetitively, persuasively. Very persuasively. And the
audience responds to the cultural command. It does not
question what it is told to consume. Electric heating is
3
clean be the proud owner of an all-electric house. Be sure
that the new car can reach 60 miles per hour in ten seconds,
even with the air conditioner on. Buy the lawn fertilizer with
the weed killer built in. Then the times change and the mes-
sages change. Consume, yes, but also conserve. And watch
for environmental effects. And the media, always there on
the growing edge of cultural transformation, pass the new
messages along with the same devotion to technical quality
am’ the same servility to whatever it is currently correct to
believe in that particular society. the messages may be social-
ly useful or not. But the influence is there, the long reach
into every home and hotel room and bar, the powerful rein-
forcing of enduring cultural ideas, themes, stereotypes,
coupled with the equally powerful capacity to mobilize alto-
gether new patterns of belief and opinion almost overnight.
If this is the way the media are: event-centered, and
potent servants of both traditional and emergent elements of
the national culture, what then for the schools? The schools,
after all, are also carriers of the national culture. But the
schools must stake out a niche that balances and corrects the
media. The schools may be bearers of culture but they are
also agents of an academic tradition that encourages scrutiny
of that which seems conventional and obvious. If the media
direct attention to events, the schools must look beneath the
apparent event at the phenomena really involved. If the
media say, “Believe this way!” the schools must reveal that
in other times and other places people believed and now
believe in quite different ways. At the very least every young
person should have experiences in school which demonstrate
in a lasting fashion that (1) there are substrata to the visible
event and (2) culture affects the perception of human affairs.
Thus educated, the person’s reactions to reports in the media
should be, minimally, “There may be more there than meets
the eye,” and “Other eyes might see it differently.” Those
are truisms but the schools can put flesh on them.
DIMENSION 1
Perspective Consciousness
the recognition or awareness on the part of the individual that he or she has a
view of the world that is not universally shared, that this view of the world
has been and continues to,be shaped by influences that often escape con-
scious detection, and that others have views of the world that are profoundly
different from one’s own
Few of us in our lives can actually transcend the view-
point presented by the common carriers of information and
almost none of us can transcend the cognitive mapping pre-
sented by the culture we grew up in. But with effort we can
at least develop a dim sense that we have a perspective, that
it can be shaped by subtle influences, that others have differ-
ent perspectives. This recognition of the existence, the malle-
ability, and the diversity Of perspective we might call per-
spective consciousness. Such an acknowledgement is an im-
portant step in the development of a perspective that can
legitimately be called global.
Achieving perspective consciousness is no small ace=
plishment. It is probably true that most people in most soci-
eties do -not sense the uniqueness of their own or their
society’s worla view. Herman Kahn in The Emerging Japa-
nese Superstate tells the following anecdote:
The Japanese do not think of themselves as being
racist. I once brought sharp surprise to a number of
senior Americans and Japanese with whom I was hav-
ing dinner by suggesting that in some ways Japan is the
most racist nation in the world. One of them asked me
to explain what I meant. I started, of course, with the
obvious point that the Japanese, at least in comparison
with other groups, are relatively pure racially. There
are, so to speak, no blond Japanese, no red-haired
Japanese, no blue-eyed Japanese. And the attitude of
the Japanese toward miscegenation is very different
from that of, say, the French or the Chinese. If some-
body is born of a mixed marriage in France or China
but grows up perfectly familiar with and skilled in the
indigenous culture, he is largely accepted. That is not
true in Japan. The children of mixed marriages are
more or less permanently barred from participating
fully and comfortably in the society. Those bars also
hold against children born in Japan but of Korean or
Chinese parentage. One crucial point in the discussion
was that the Japanese do not normally notice that they
discriminate against these minorities, because the dis-
4
crimination is so thorough that the issue usually does
not arise [my italics] . I asked the Japanese if they
could imagine, for example, having a General of Kore-
an parentage. They could not. I pointed out that it
was perfectly possible in China.*
It could be argued that people are very aware of differ-
ences in perspective, or at least of opinion. The Japanese may
helbe blind to t racism, but Americans are surely aware of
the racist elemlts in their own society and keenly aware
that different factions within the society have different views
4 appropriate behavior with respect to minorities. And if the
media are important shapers of perspective, isn’t it true that
conflict and dispute are the main diet of the press and elec-
tronic media? Anyone exposed to these influences must cer-
tainly know very early in life that people differ radically in
their perspectives.
Opinion and Perspective
Here, I think, one must make a distinction between opin-
ion and perspective. Opinion is the surface layer, the con-
scious outcropping of perspective. But there are deep and
hidden layers of perspective that may be more important in
orienting behavior. In such deep layers lies the Japanese view
of other ethnic groups. Korean inferiority, note, is not a
matter of opinion to the Japanese. It is profoundly assumed
and thus not recognized as racism by the Japanese. Similarly,
in the deep layers of Western civilization has been the
assumption that human dominance over nature is both at-
tainable and desirable. This, too, until recently, has not been
a matter of opinion.
One of the interesting things that reform and protest
movements do is to carry out mining operations in the deep
layers. They dredge to the surface aspects of perspective that
Herman Kahn, The Emerging Japanese Superstate (Prentice-Hall,
1970), pp. 72,73.
perspective
opinion
ordinarily unexamined
assumptions,
evaluations,
explanations,
conceptions of
time, space,
causality, etc.
yyliall
5
have never before seen the light of day. Once made.visible,
these nay become the foci of debate, matters of opinion.
The environmental movement surfaced the assumption of
man’s right to dominion over nature and thus posed some
philosophical choices that had previously escaped notice, The
feminist movement raised, the consciousness of women and
men with respect to.”woman’s place.” They labeled the most
commonplace behaviors and. attitudes “chauvinist,” and thus
revealed the deeper layers of perspective in action.
I have suggested that with effort we can develop in the
young at least a dim sense, a groping recognition of the fact
that they have a perspective. And this is very different from
knowing that they have opinions. At the present time the
schools and the media socialize all of us to he traders-in
opinion. We learn this through .discussion and debate,
through the contentious format of forums and organizational
meetings, through talk shows and newspaper columnists. We
learn, especially, that the individual is expected to have opin-
ions and to be willing to assert them. And we learn tacit rules
about “tolerating” differences in opinions so asserted.
We can also learn, if we approach the task with a sure
sense of purpose, how to probe the deep layers of perspec-
tive. A variety of specialists and social commentators regu-
larly operate in these realms and there are well-developed
methods and techniques. Some of these methods can be
learned and practiced. For example, some (but not all) values
clarification exercises can heighten awareness of otherwise
unrevealed aspects of perspective. At the very least if should
be possible to teach almost any young person to recognize a
probe of the deep layers when he sees it. Such probes come
in many forms, from the ironic humor of a “Doonesbury”
cartoon strip to the pop sociology of a book like Future
Shock.
There are practical steps that schools can take to develop
perspective consciousness in students and to develop other
dimensions that will contribute to the enhancement of a
global perspective. We turn, now, to those other dimensions.
DIMENSION 2
“State of the Planet” Awareness
awareness of prevailing world conditions and developments, including emer-
gent-conditions and tr
conditions, resource
science and technol
nds, e.g. population gtoWth, migrations, economic
and physical environent, political developments,
y, ealth, ilk:nation and intra-nation conflicts, etc.
O
For most people in the world direct experience beyond picture of world conditions? That question matters because
the local community is infrequent or nonexistent. It is not it is’ difficult to imagine a global perspective that does not
uncommon to meet resiaents of’Chicago neighborhoods who jaielude a reasonably dependable sense of what shape the
have never traveled the few miles to the central business/ world is in.
district, or sophisticated New Yoi.ktaxicab dr”,
never been further south than i delphia. If this is true for
a geographically mobile society like the U.S. it is even more a
fact for other parts of the world. Tourism, urban migrations,
commerce, and business travel notwithstanding, most people
live out their live§ in rather circumscribed local suiroundings.
Communication Media and Planet Awareness
But direct experience is not the way that contemporary
peoples learn about their world. Margaret Mead writes:
Only yesterday, a New Guinea native’s only contact
with modern civilization may have been a trade knife
that was passed from hand to hand into his village or
an airplane seen in the sky; today, as soon as he enters
the smallest frontier settlement, he meets the transistor
radio. tIntil yesterday, the village dwellers everywhere
were cut off from the urban life of their own country;
today radio and television bring them sounds and sights
cities all over the world.*
Nonliterate villager or suburban housewife, if doesn’t
matter that one stays close to home. Information travels,
rapidly and far. News of a border crisis in the Middle East
reaches within hours the shopkeeper in Nairobi, the steel
worker insSweden, the PeruVian villpger. There is now a dem-
onstrated ;,techntcalcaNcity for simultaneous transmission of
messages ,to almost tKentire human species, The character
of the messages is something else again. Here we must ask,
Do the messages received on those millions of transistor
radios and television sets contribute meaningfully to a valid
41
* Margaret Mead; Culture and Commitment (Natural History Press/
Doubleday, 1970), p. 71.
6
Generally speaking, the media in almost every country
will transmit news from around the world. As we discussed
earlier, the fundamental quality of news is its focus on the
extraordinary event. An outbreak of influenza is news;
endemic malaria is not. A rapid decline in values on the
world’s stock excha-nges is news; the long-standing poverty of
hundreds of millions is not. So, there are significant limits
and distortions in the view of the wkirld conveyed by news
media. Nonetheless, the prospect is not entirely bleak. For
one thing, the characteristic interests of the news media can
be exploited; events can be staged in such a way as tos call
attention to world conditions not ordinarily juaged news-
worthy. A world conference can be con \’ened on food or
population or pollution problems. The conference itself is-
news. More importantly, the condition that gives rise to the
conference takes on a neWlevel of visibility–worldwide. And
the news media are the instruments of this increased
awareness.
Communication media, of course, transmit more than
news. The local community’s images of the world outside are
drawn to a substantial degree from the make – believe, world of
cinema and television drama. Tie distortions associated with
dramatic presentations are well documented. The lifeways
and cultural types of other countries are frequently carica-
tured; ironically, the lifeways and types of one’s own society
are also commonly caricatured. While the export of films and
television series from a country may mean an improved bal-
ance of payments, it by no means assures an improved bal-
ance of perspective. The world consumers of Aanerican tele-
vision and film can be excused for believing that, the U.S.
population consists largely of ranchers, doctors, policemen,
and gangsters.
if
‘°1
Limits to Understanding
There are other sources of distortion. Political ideology
chokes off the flow ”1. some inhumation, the defense and
security syndrome nations blocks still other intormatiop,
and the selective disinterest of audiences constricts yet other
channels. As an instance of the first, Americans until recently
have had little access to inforimition about Cuba under
Castro. As an example of the second ‘-,the testing, of nuclear
weapons by the French and the ImIiansIkrecent years pro-
duced few hard details about site, yield, fallow. etc. (Govern-
ments have ways to obtain the intOrmation; puhlics do not.) As
ti- patterns of audience interest and disinterest\ consider how
little attention is paid to the affairs of small rations, or to
conditions in the rural areas of the world. And) with no com-
plaint from the audience.
Finally, there is the matter of the technical nature of
world data. There aie now unprecedented resources for gen
crating information shout the state of the planet, and for
sharing and processing the inhumation in order to obtain a
sense of the important patterns. But the procedures are high-
ly technical and the results expressed in technical terms. A
certain level of education is required to see the full signifi:
cance of the data. The case of ozone in the stratosphere is
instructive.
While environmental scientists are concerned about too-
high ozone levels in the air of cities (since it produces emphy-
sema-like effects) there is also concern about the possible
depletion of ozone in the stratosphere. Ozone in the strato-
sphere blocks out much of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
Such radiation is so harmful that scientists believe that sur-
face life did not evolve on the earth until after the ozone
layer had been formed. There is now a real possibility that
gases released into the air by man will redu,_7e this ozone by
significant amounts. One villain is the propellant gas used in
aerosol cans. This gas is very inert in the atmosphere (which
is why it can be mixed with the many compounds found in
spray cans), but recent research has shown that it breaks
down under certain wavelengths of ‘ultraviolet light. When it
breaks down, chlorine is released, which acts as a catalyst and
destroys ozone. Thus, the gas escapes into the atmosphere
when the spray can is used; it does not degrade in the atmos-
phere (since it does not react with other gases); some of it
seeps into the stratosphere, is broken down by ultraviolet
light, and the released chlorine destroys ozone. Predicted
results: increased number of skin cancer cases, possible biCt-
logical damage to vegetation and some insect species, possible
effects on plankton in the oceans, possible effects on climate.
This is a world condition. Even if we stop using aerosol
cans now, piopellant gas which might destroy an estimated S
percent of the planet’s ozone layer has already been released.
If the propellant gases continue to be produced and produc-
tion increases at its present annual rate, then ozone depletion
might reach 30 percent by lq94.* ,
These projections are not certainties. Furthermore, the
ozone, even if depleted. will eventually build to original
revels if the destructive agents ere controlled. So the situation
is not necessarily dire. But there is a basis for concern. The
“Stratospheric Pollution: Mult!T Threats to Earth’s Ozone.”
– Science, October 2 5, 1974, pp. 3.1S-338.
question is, Who will understand and share that concern’? Can
a problem like stratospheric ozone depletion he widely com-
prehended so that it becomes a living part of what a general
populace ‘vows about the planer? Or are such problems
fated to stay Within the private realms of specialists’?
Overcoming the Limitations
This is an instance where the energies of the schools, prop-
erly directed, might resolve the question in favor of the gen-
eral populace. It’ from the earliest grades on students ex-
amined and puzzled over cases where seemingly innocent be-
haviors the diet rich in animal protein, the lavish use of
fertilizer u n the suburban lawn and golf course were shown
to have effects that were both unintended and global in
scope, then there could be a receptivity for the kind of infor-
mation involved iu the ozone case. The ozone situation
would not seem forbidding; it would be another instance of a
‘model already documented. Students would have a frame-
work within which to handle it. As for the technical aspects
of the ozone .situation, these do not seem beyond the reach
of science and social studies departments that focus coopera-
tively on the technical dimensions of significant planetary
conditions. It may be true that school programs are not typi-
cally organized for such qe,-.task, but it is not outside the
boundaries of our predilections or our capacities.
Suppose the schools do not Work at the task of increasing
the ability of individuals to consume information intelli-
gently about world conditions, or even at the simpler task of
transmitting raw information about such conditions. Sup-
pose, for example, that the schools choose to ignore environ-
mental conditions, problems of world resources, trends in
population, the economic circumstances of various world re-
gions, political developments, social movements, changes in
technology, developments in world law, etc. Can a “state of
the planet” awareness be achieved without the participation
of formal educational institutions? I suspect so. Despite the
flaws and distortions of the media there is simply no ques-
tion that people everywhere are being reached with a flow of
information about planetary, conditions a flow that would
have seemed impossible even a generation ago. The quantity
of information will probably continue to increase. And so
will the quality. General public awareness of the_ state of the
planet may be one of the more attainable elements in a
global perspective.
‘Furthermore, we are not entirely dependent on broad
public awareness, whether it comes from the media or the
sdio’ ‘-. Since a global perspective is here defined as a collec-
tive achievement, the role of specialists should he given its
due. Every society depends on its specialists to sense aspects
of the environment not generally perceived by the masses. If
the specialists are aware of important conditions in the
world, then in effect the whole society has the benefit of
that awareness (or at least potentially has the benefit of it).
Perhaps few people can grasp the meaning and danger of
exponential growth in population aid resource consumption.
But if those few can share their alarm with policymakers the
direction and value orientation of whole nations can he
altered.
7
DIMENSION 3
Cross-cultural Awareness
awareness of the diverSity of ideas and practices to be found in human socie-
ties around the world, of how such ideas and practices compare, and including
some limited recognition of how the ideas and ways of one’s own society
might be viewed from other vantage points
This may he one of the more difficult dimensions to at-
tain. It is one thing to have some knowledge of world condi-
tions. The air is saturated with that kind of information. It is
another thing to comprehend and accept the consequences of
the basic human capacity for creating unique cultures with
the resultant profOund differences in outlook and practice
manifested among societies. These differences are widely
known at the level of myth, prejudice, and tourist impres-
sion. But they are not deeply and truly known in spite of
the well-worn exhortation to “understand others.” Such a
fundamental acceptance seems to he resisted by powerful
forces in the human psychosocial system. Attainment of
cross-cultural awareness and empathy at a significant level
will require methods the circumvent or otherwise counter
those resisting forces. Let us think afresh about what such
methods might he, with a full reclignition of how difficult
the task will he and a corresponding willingness to discard
ideas that don’t work.
Does Understanding Follow Contact
One of the cherished ideas of our own times and of earlier
times is that contact between societies leads to understand-
ing. The durability of this notion is awesome considering the
thousands of years of documented evidence to the contrary.
Consider the following example. When the French began to ex-
plore North America they came into contact with a number of
aboriginal granps. At various times they attempted to muster
the males of these groups into fighting units. The Indians
clearly had no aversion to fighting; they were warriors, skilled
in the use of arms, proud of triumphs over an enemy. But they
would not take orders. French commanders had no control
and the so-called chiefs of these groups depended on persua-
sion, which might or Might not he successful. Every individual
Indian warrior made his own decisions about whether to join
a raid or war party, worked out his own battle strategy, and
left the fray when he chose.
This kind of contact between the French and the Indians
provided the French with detailed information on the ways
of. their Indian allies information they noted scornfully in
their journals, sometimes sputtering in rage and frustration.
But the behavior they described was incomprehensible to
them. By virtue of the concrete experienceS that the French
had with the Indians, the French had rich data but no
understanding. The French were able to see Indian behavior
only in the light of their own hierarchical social system,
where it is natural for the few to command and the many to
obey. Social systems that worked on other principles were
literally unimaginable.
Of course, now we are more sophisticated. What happens
when the nature of the contact between groups is not one of
exploitation or domination but rather one of sympathetic
assistance, and where there is at least some preparation for
the cultural differences that will be encountered? Here is an
account of Peace Corps experience in the Philippines:
Most human relationships in the world are governed
by a pervasive fatalism, in the Philippines best de-
scribed by the Tagalog phrase, bahala na, which means,
“never mind” or, it will be all right” or, “it makes no
difference.” Ainericans, more than any other people in
history, believe man can control his environment, can
shape the forces of nature to change his destiny. That
peculiarity, which is essentially Western, is quintessen-
tially American.
Most of the peoples of the world also value depen-
dency and harmony relationships within the in-group.
Rather than stress independence in relationships
freedom from restraint and freedom to make choices
they emphasize reciprocity of obligation and good Will
within the basic group and protection of that group
against outgiders. It is the group family, tribe or clan
which- matters and not the individual. In the Philip-
pines, this phenomemon is perhaps best described by
the term utang na bob which means a recipiocal sense
of gratitude and obligation.
The value of independence in relationships and get-
ting a job done makes us seem self-reliant, frank, em-
pirical, hardworking, and efficient to ourselves. To Fili-
pinos, the same behavior sometimes makes us seem to
be unaware of our obligations, insensitive to feelings,
unwilling to accept established practices, and down-
right aggressive….
Nearly all volunteers had to struggle to understand
and deal with Filipino behavior that, when seen from
our peculiar stress on independence in relationships as
1 i
opposed to Filipino utang na look was deeply distress-
ing. . . Filipinos wanted to he dependent on others
and have others dependent on them; they were often
ashamed in the presence of strangers and authority
figures; they were afraid of being alone or leaving their
families and communities; they showed extreme defer-
ence to superiors and expected the same from subordi-
nates; they veiled true feelings and opinions in order
not to hurt others or be hurt by them
It is one thing to study and understand utang na
boob. It is another to have a principal treat you as a
status figure and to insist that you tell him how to run
his school, or to have children in your class cower in
what seems to be shame, or to have neighbors who care
much more that you should like them and that you
should have a pleasurable experience than that you
should get, your job done,
Filipinos, with their incessant hospitality and curi-
osity, repeatedly made it plain that for them the main
job of Peace Corps volunteer& was to enjoy themselves
and to enhance pleasure for those around them, an
approach to life best described by the Filipino phrase,
pakikisama. . . . Nothing was more difficult for volun-
teers to understand or accept than that Filipinos
wanted them for pleasure in relationships and not to
achieve the tasks to which they had been assigned….
It was not just the Filipino’s stress on utang na boob
and pakikisama which interfered with getting the job
done. It was also bahala na, the widespread fatalism of
the barrio which showed itself in the lack of emotion
at the death of little children, the persistent and nearly
universal beliefs that ghosts and spirits control life and
death, add the failure of Filipinos to keep promises and
appointments. Why should the job matter when fate
governs human existence?
During the first two years, four volunteers resigned
and twenty-six others were sent home, usually by
mutual agreement, because they were not able or will-
ing to cope with the extraordinary psychological bur-
dens of being Peace Corps volunteers. Some volunteers
developed a “what’s the use” attitude and failed to
appear at school, or made short unauthorized trips
away from their barrios. Withdrawal was sometimes
followed in the same volunteer by extremely hostile
behavior against the Philippine Bureau of Public
Schools, Washington, and the Peace Corps staff. Some
volunteers, particularly those in the first group, wished
there was some honorable way for them to cut short
their tour of duty without an overwhelming sense of
personal failure.*
The American Peace Corps volunteers, like the French
officers of the 17th century, could not escape the poWerful
influence of their own culture, especially since that culture
was so deeply embedded in the very definition of the ink.
sion. The task was to render assistance. And success was
measured by some kind of closure, “getting the job done.”
Filipino behavior stood in the way of getting the job done.
There were distractions, delays, and detours. And the posi-
tive reinforcements that a busy, efficient American would
have received in his home setting were nowhere to be found.
T;’wrence H. Fuchs, “The Role and Communication Task of the
Change Agent Experiences of the Peace Corps in the Philip-
pines,” in Daniel Lerner and Wilbur Schramm, ads., Communica-
tion and Change in the Developing Countries (Honolulu: .East-West
Center Press, 1967), pp. 242-245.
4
9
The result: puzzlement and frustration equivalent to that of
the French in their relations with Indian groups.
Achieving Understanding
But stink volunteers did solve the cultural puzzlsL
A male volunteer from South Catalina, 4.,12,,:as as
much admired by Filipinos and volunteers as ariY.vol-
unteer in the project. Almost from ,the first,,he ac-
cepted people for what they were, learned-the dialect,
made friends, and seemed to enjoy that/More than any-
thing else. After two years, he. wrote, “I consistently
belived and followed a life based on getting away from
all identity or entanglement with the Peace Corps. My
reasons were . . . figure out a little bit about what
was going on in The Philippines, to see what was really_
significant in my own place, to try to understand, lite
here, and to learn to function in a way that could be
meaningful to me and the community. I burrowed into
life here unmindful of anything but my community
and involvement and survival….”
Although everyone had thought that he epitomized
the ability of a volunteer to live deeply in the culture
after it’s* months, he wrote toward the end of his
third year, “I have continued to change here and have
now sort of reached a point of being able to feel with
others. This is different from understanding howlhey
feel. I am able to be a part of them as they ‘do things
with each other and me. . ..”*
D was a success in both Filipino and Peace Corps terms.
So was another voluntee
r.
Acmale volunteer from Massachusetts ran what ap-
pears to have been highly successful in-service training
classes on English and science for teachers. He also had
effective adult education classes and a successful pig-
gery- poultry project. He seemed to blend into his com-
munity almost from the beginning, becoming one of
the first volunteers to learn the dialect from his region
and use it extensively. He enjoyed serenading at night
with the gang from the sari-sari store and drank tuba
with the older men. who, as he put it “had the pleasure
of learning they could drink the American under the
proverbial table.-t
These two cases teach us some useful things. Both volun-
teers genuinely joined their communities. They learned the
language, sought to “burrow in.” Most importantly, they ac-
cepted the Filipinos on their own terms and made friends
with them, presumably long before their own understanding
of the local culture had developed. D wrote, “The people are
different, but willing to take me in….” Somehow or other,
the Filipino traits that so frustrated other volunteers were
not an obstacle to these two. Instead. these two acceptpd not
only the worth of the Filipinos but the worth of their ways,
enough to practice them joyfully. And out of that long przie
tice came D’s remarkable statement that lie was now able to
feel with others.
Did the two volunteers “go native”? In a sense. Perhaps
the most important respect in which this is true lies in the
Ibid., p. 253.
t Ibid., p. 250.
th ial atitlL tj tbC !cil .t tfltt(a
a ai Ia:t I he e teL’is iii
lic I hat tip ttii va it iced in two
i 11 iia have LCU itil’nailv .ahte to tee pai-
iit: iii 1:. ‘va ‘atists Iii to iink tuba with the
et it, that pai ii tion t hate vua tat
tl:iL the tz: ;’r nz! iur itei’e nut
v ltee: ( inv,ltf the ,ippi av.tl t
ap ‘.Li . attic inr tiatil ie1 icr that 1) cli
– r ” cii cia it i the Peace (‘oip a the ap
Iik ! hi’s
icli an awareness ul minol it world-views, The i ssmg ele-
ments arc lespect aiid pai ticipation. The society offers limit-
ed ialitic,zions t’ir reinforcement of respect toi mulorities
and vei limited penalties tar disrespect. And ii ofhrs
bsolutelv no rewards to those of the white matoritv who
might seek to participate in mlnorit behavior patterns. The
sit U. It)fl tOT the miiioi it gro Us is st)niewhat dift’eretit
tilL-IC ale o.ial rewat ds !ui pai ticipatilig in the majontv cul-
ture and many individuals shuttle moic or less successtuhiv he-
t’.cen the tvvu worlds oi woik out some kind of synthesis.
Q6ions
–
-‘
l mat av areness of a proknnii suit iS exiremeI
a dii ticimit tt attain – what are the optluns Are tho. esser
varieties of awareness that ijught nonetheless he said to con-
IV. h t’ I tribute to a Iohal perspective’ Are there better methods
a’ -‘i a :at a ,i than have typically been employed to reach awareness” Is the
\ ; coal it sd sv urt liw hule. ,e does d1tis,’cii It unit awai eness
mattel
I ct me talk to that last question lust Yes, cross-cultural
.iWaIeIlcSs does matter. a the tolk Ing matur reason ii for
it other. Several million years of evolution seem to have
produced in Us a creature that does not eiisl! ecogni/e the.0
menibers of its own species. That is stated ii rather esagger-
atd form but it refer-s to the tact that human rtroups coin-
tiTonir ha-dittkuit un aicepting the liuntanne of ithei
human eruup.ia a a a .’- an’ Irc’ ,
a ; a. . a . \pdl idLe that I) teit that L -t.s e call a group ot piimitives iii nitrthemn Noi th
a i I n a et’u. aint teelmg m l’thpm v at America Fskimos this nahie. originated h certain
a h it , ii 011 Pri’ C. Csfl\’dlaht it :’: . Indians to the south of the Eskimos, means “Eaters of
a a at ter au-ta: ‘pe icu iii tue dtt -ut:es 0 Raw Flesh” however. the I skinios’ own name h
a 0 iItiIili2I.ittts ate u-pi- thiellisdlves is not I-skiifl hut Is Inupuk. meaning ”RealI’eipIe’ By their name the- provide a contiast he-
t’ ‘
-‘
a’-ie’c ttttt.tl thiits Itt_s id iitht_ ips tt I ittt. I I uJit ht_
a ,. -‘: a- OetweeT Rt’t’iltS ,.!dt ‘ ‘ \,people Out me tievem real.
‘I T. ae. ‘:uITn %1.tn
1.1,1 t- at .0 .:ai i nv. .it’e
-V. 1 IT nat
unii Pucipotion Miaaiii Elemonts
‘a a ,’,- ‘ : Ta Tun- .iIn:L.-
a. ca _ – . i’ !:- e.. :
i-u ,’ ic ktnd ‘h,i
– , ,, ‘., i a .’: u t’;g lIitei’ at
I. .i”: na a.i it 1:tCII Sustdiflthl attot,..
. I, a !,’IT . -.,tiute u- I” 1 1
La’ TI. a’.a I he L Lilait Il a
Ih.t!
1 ,:L’-a SI ‘ i ,in’ge’ l t
i”, “, ,’- ” ,,. – utte u-Lean it’. ill the III
:.LI.-C. t a
V.1′ an, ”Ii” ,Lna,,.’ Ci a. leava tht
ta. Lit ,aJro’,i aV.aICtlC-:, iS nt le tiL’d- ‘, ‘- t” an. V. 0 TC.I, hI t’,
– a ,’ a.a:u’ i,’V,eaal t.. L cur ‘a’lti e
a .’L .- t’ in ,-l:.d’, tepitc mnlcgtatlaI ant
( 1.1.0. ‘a u a-a’: vtc-l’un’t aJ:teta
I hi.: nractieg iat naming one’s own group “the peopie”
and 1 mi i icati in ic lia 11 rig alt ‘timers to iu- t -quit c-human
‘ft ii’. fats heeii docupñemed in ,’toiiIitera te goups all over the
vvatld, But ii u sIr1u-1r one maniksi,tiuu ot -t species ti .ut
that sI iw . it s’h I in rim ski ii populations as well – It is t hiert_’ in
hi i’,t uk’ taca’ ot the white patents tlemnonstiatmg against
-t_ i. tol h usmn1 – .0 will find it lurking in the hat_’kg n mud as
Russians and ( ‘t Indst_’ meet at the negotIating table itt work
mat what is tstitibl a houndai s. dispute. And it flares into
gemi during tribal disputes in Kena
It ikt list . it_c. have bee it an adaptive t i aim – Pc rlips_ ui
– e nova tend to miepiecate. it still is. e call it
chauvinism rather titari self-esteem. (‘hem l. . there are positive
ct ue t:. a’.soci,tled Vv ithi a strong sense of g4ii iLleuitul . I uy.
us a virtue evcr whiee. dmsiovalt a!tlioitetl cveivwhere –
I he iti ct ha i mm )ny t grit ups is ‘t tenet biened ii a0arm’ssim in
.ai he displat_e1 – diver ted to external taigeus. %nd it agures’
‘am mti is n be List i tied, t hen it I met ps i I the cii ems is not quite
bimau It helps evei moi e it time enem can be siiowp to he
engag it ig in pi act ucc hat am e SO mm ut ragei musl duff em cut ft m
tue ‘- mvv it that lit c’. td ii he cued ib lv labeled u’r h uin,m
‘1 I-cia’ Wa’ ,r itnie vv hen the mimd,ti U mat ‘malt CIUps m’
–I
‘It c nh’Ii ii I t’,’.’. ,m 11 n )t’tt t’mIj’tC L)ut’ m lit’ ‘U U itt-bin
t’,t”.Sm’i itt, . i ‘i”
humans was the basis for the survival of the species. But in
the cGtitext of mass populations anti weapons of mass
destructiveness, group solidarity and thoi associated tendency’
to deny the full, humanness of other peoples pose. serious
threats to the species. When we speak of “humans” it is
‘important that we include not only ourselves and our imn e-
diate group but all Iciur billion of those other bipeds, hoy-
ever strange their ways.
This is the primary reason for cross..:ultural awareness. If
we are to adMit the humanness of those others, then the
strangeness of their ways must become less strange. Must, in
fact, become believable. Ideally, that means getting inside the
head of those strangers and looking out at the world
through their eyes. Then the strange -becomes familiar and
totally believable. As we have seen, that is a difficult trick to
pull off. But there may he methods that will increase the
probability of success. Further, there are lesser degrees of
cross-cultural awareness than getting inside the head; these
mote modest degrees of awareness are not to be scorned.
Levels of Cross-cultural Awareness
We might discriminate between tour levels of crosscul-
tural awareness as follows:
Level Information Mode Interpretation
. awareness of superficial
or very visible cultural
traits: stereotypes
tourism, text-
books, Nation-
al Geographic
.tvolVievable,
144.citerc, ”
iizt?11,. ,
II.
*
awareness of significant
and subtle cultural
traits that contrast
markedly with one’s
own
culture con-
flict sittua-
tions
f
‘unbelievable,
ice. frustrating,
irrational
III. awareness of significant
anti subtle cultural
traits that ,ontrast
markedly with one’s
own
intellectual
analysis
believable,
cognitively
IV.
4,”
awareness of how
another culture feels
from the’etandpoint
of the insider
cultural
immersion
living the
culture
believable be-
cause of sub-
jective fund-
iarity
t
At level I, a person might know that Japanese were exag-
gerated in their politeness and gestures of deference. At level
II are those who know, either through direct or secondhand
experience, of cultural traits that significantly (and irritat-
ingly) contrast with one’s own practices. The French in their
telations with some Indian tribes and the Peace Corps volun-
teers who failed to adjust might be at this levet. So, too,
might those who despair over the seeming inability of many’
developing countries to control population growth. At level
III are those who might know, fir example, that the really
distinctive aspect of the Japanese social hierarchy has
nothing to do with the forms of politeness but rather exists
in the keen sense of mutual obligation between superior and
inferior. The level ill person accepts this cultural trait intel-
lectually; it makA sense to him. ‘Peace Corps violunteers
might have had this kind of intellectual understanding before
actual contact with host cultures. After that contact, sonic
of them slipped to level II and some moved to level IV.
According to this scheme, “believability” is achieved only
at levels III and IV. And I have argued that b,clievabiiity is
necessary if one group of humans is to accept othet mem-
bers of the biological species as human. I have also noted
the rigors of the climb to level IV. This seems to leave level
III as the practical goal. But-is lev I III enough?
My position is that level III is i deed more attainable than
level IV, end it if a ,reasonably worthy goal. But not quite
enough. We should try to attain at least some aspects of level
IV awareness. We can, There are new methods to be ex-
plored. And there is a more general reason for encourage-
ment. The evolutionary experience that seemed to freeze us
into ‘a small-group psychology, anxious and suspicious’ of
those who were not “us,” also made us the most adaptive
creature alive. That flexibilit/y, the power to make vast
psychic shifts, is very’ much with ns. One. of its manifesta-
tions is the modern capacity for empathy,
Beyond Empathy
Daniel Lerner in The Passing of Traditional Society
writes:
‘Empathy . . . is the capacity to see oneself in the
other fellow’s situation. This is an indispensable skill
‘for people moving out of traditional settings: Ability to
empathize may make all the difference, for example,
when the newly mobile persons are villagers who grew
up knowing all the extant individuals, roles and rela-
tionships in their environment. Outside his village or
tribe, each must meet new individuals, recognize new
roles, and learn new relationships involving hvitself….
. . . high empathic capacity is the predominant per-
sonal style only in modern society, which is distinctive,: rt
ly industrial, urban, literate andparticipant. Traditional-
society is nonparticipant it deploys people by
ship into communities isolated from each other and
from a center .. .
Whereas the isolate communities of
traditional
society functioned well on the basis of a highly con-
strictive personality, the interdependent sectors of
modern society require widespread participation, This
in turn requires an expansive and adaptive self-system,
,ready to incorporate new roles and to identify personal
A’alues with public issues, This is why modernization of
any society has involved the great characterological
transformation we call psychic mobility . . . In mod-
em society more individuals exhibit higher empathic
capacity than in any previous society.*
It’ Lerner is correct, modern populations have a dramatic-
ally .different outlook, a dramatically different readiness for
change, than traditional populations. That difference must
have been learned and by millions of people. If the latent
capacity tor empathy can he learned or activated, then it
may not he too much to work toward a psychic condition
that teaches a step beyond empathy. Magoroh,Maruyama, an
anthmpolgistphilosopher, describes that next step as trans-
spetion.
*’ Dania Lerner, The Passing of’ 11(rditihnal ,S*,)eiety (Free Press,
1958), pp. 50, S I. I/
11
1 ‘it
Transspection is an effort to put oneself in the head
. . . of another person. One tries to believe what the
other person believes, and assume what the other per-
son assumes.. . . Transspection differs from analytical
“understanding.” Transspectiin differs also from
“empathy.” Empathy is a projection of feelings be-
tween two persons with one epistemology. Transspec-
Thon is a trans-epistemological process which tries to
learn a’ foreign belief, a foreign assumption, a foreign
perspective, f lings in a foreign context, and conse-
quences of s ch feelings in a foreign context. In trans-
spection a erson temporarily believes whatever the
other perso believes. It is an understanding by prac-
tice.*
Empathy, then, means the capacity to imagine oneself in
another role within the c text of one’s own culture. Trans-
spection means the capac. y to i gine oneself in a role with-
in the context of a for ign – culture. Putting Lerner and
Maruyama together we might chart the psychic development
of humanity as follows:
Traditional peoples
Modern peoples
unable to imagine a viewpoint
other than that associated with
xed roles in the context of a
local culture
able to imagine and learn a vari-
ety of roles in the context of a
national culture
Postmodern peoples able to imagine the viewpoint
of roles M foreign cultures
Magoroh Maruyama, “Toward a Cultural Futurology,” Cultural
Futurology Symposium, 1970 American Anthropological Associa-
tion national meeting, published by Training Center for Commu-
nity Programs, University of Minnesota.
Or, we might show the sequence of development in a
more graphic way, as involving a movement froth the con-
strictions of focal perspectives through the expanded psycho-
logical flexibility necessary for role leaning in large, hetero-
geneous national societies, to the advanced versatility of
“global psyches” that travel comfortably beyond the con-
fines of the home culture. (The gray zone is home culture.)
The modern personality type did not develop because it
was planned. It emerged in the context of changing social
conditions. The postmodern personality type, similarly, is
not likely to be produced by educational strategies. But if
there is a broad social movement, an essentially unplanned
intensification of human interaction on the world stage, then
educators and other interested parties can y th’ett. minor
but nonetheless useful roles in the unfolding ama. For edu-
cators; that will mean providing students with maximum ex-
perience in transspection. And maximum experience means
more than time. It means a climate in which transspection is
facilitated and expected and in which the expectations are
reinforced. Under such circumstances the schools might pro-‘
duce a slightly higher proportion of persons with the kind of
psychic mobility displayed by D, the Peace Corps worker
who could feel with others. That would be a gain.
If more and more individuals reach the vantage point of
level IV awareness there will be another kind of gain. Dispell-
ing the stray geness of the foreign and admitting the human-
ness of all human creatures is vitally important. But looking
at ourselves from outside our own culture is a possibility for
those who can also see through the eyes of the foreigner
and that has significance for the perspective consciousness
discussed ealjier. Native social analysts can probe the deep
layers of their own culture but the outside eye has a special
sharpness; if the native for even a moment can achieve the
vision of the foreigner he will be rewarded with a degree of
self-knowledge not otherwise obtainable.
global
perspective
transspection capacity
natio Al
pew alive
high impolitic nape ‘nay
‘. local
perspective
Imo empathic,
capacity
traditional
modern
postmodern
12
I
el
DIMENSION 4
Knowledge of Global Dynamics
some modest comprehension of key traits and mechanisms of the world
system, with emphasis on theories and concepts that may increase intelligent
consciousness of global change
-How does the world work? It is a vast, whirring machine
spinning ponderously around a small ‘yellow sun’? Is there a
lever we can push to avert famine in South Asia. or one tha’t
will cure world inflation, or erne to slow the growth of world
population’?,ls it our ignorance of which levers to move that
results in tragedy a crisis? Is it our ignorance of how the
gears intermesh tha causes breakdowns in the stability of the
system?
Or is the ma me useful as a metaphor? Is it perhaps
better to think f the world as an organism, evolving steadily
inresponse to the programing in its germ plasm? Are wars
and famines merely minor episodes in the biological history
of a planet serenely following a script alre y written?
– The latter view is not a comfortable one for people in
industrial societies, raised tocbelieve that al ost anything can
be engineered, including the destiny of the world. But the
machine image doesn’t quite work, either, although we con-
tinue (as I have done) to speak of “mechanisms.” The idea of
a machine suggestg an assembly of parts that interconnect in
a very positive fashion, so positive that when you manipulate
one part you get immediate, predictable, and quantifiable
rYesp’onse in other parts. That does not seem to des:bribe the
world as we know it.
But both machines and organisms are systems of intercon-
nected elements and it is the idea of sy..tem that now pre-
vails. How does the world work? As a system. What does that
mean? It means we must put aside simple notions of cause
and effect. Things interact, in complex and surprising ways:
“Effects” loop back \and become “causes” which have “ef-
fects” which loop back . . . . It means that simple events
ramify unbelievably.,
The World as a System
The World as a system, is it well understood? Are the
interactions, however complex, charted and analyzed? Not
yet. I3ut the dynamics of the world systerq- are under inten-
sive imfestigation, frequently in the contekt of-policy plan-
ning by governments and corporations. These ask their advi-
sors. “What will happen if we make decision A as opposed to
decision B?” Th.-re are a number of strategies for answering
13
O
that kind of question, but the world conceived as a sysign is
intrinsic to all of them. This kind of exprience and other
studies have generated a small body of knowledge about im-
portant factors in the world system and about the dynamics
tic the system how the elements interact. Many aspects of
that knowledge are very technical and beyond general under-
standing, but certain concepts and principles are reasonably
accessible. Some like the concept of feedback are al-
ready making their way into the domain of popular. know-
ledge. Other ideas, with a bit of effort and ingenuity, can be
put within the reach of non-specialists.
These ideas will hav considerable value as constituents of
a globalperspective, pri arily because they replace simplistic
explanations and expect tions with more sophisticated, ex-
planations and expectati . For example, the simplistic ex-
planation of high birth rate n some of the less developed
countries is lack of education an lack of technology. People
don’t know how to control repro tion and they lack the
means to do,so,. The solution, then, is t dd information and
birth control devi . The systems view, by contrast, is that
there are more f ctors. operating in the situation than one
initially imag1hes. And you’d better find them and figure out
how they connect to the other factors. That assumption of
hidden complexity alters radically the interpretation of glob-
al phenomena. It reduces the likelihood of contempt for
those peasants who, strangely, do not seize the opportunity
to limit family size. And it improves the long-range possibili-
ties for real control of the situation. lc
The systems view in itFelf, however, does not guarantee
that hidden or subtle factors will automatically he revealed.
For thqt we must turn to a variety of independpnt inquiries
which have-lattempted to isolate and measure/ such factors.
Many !of these studies have been part of the general move,
menKtn recent years to understand and facilitate economic
develppmen.t. Why have some countries leapt ahead of others
in economic productivity?Why is there resistance to technical
inn9vatiori in some situations, acceptance in others? The
mote conventional answers to these questions have been in-
creasingly challenged ,14/ explanations that involve factors of
culture and psyctrlrOgy, such as patterns of motivation and
cognition. Perhaps these newer explanations deserve no
special standing, but they do direct the attention to factors
that ar’ ih,t ordinarily considered.
This is worth noting. Because it is also true of systems
thinking. The results of thinking in systems terms often of-
fend what we like to call common sense. Similarly, the newer
explanations ask us to believe things about ourselves and
others that tall outside the ordinary repertoire. We must
,–‘learn not only to accept the intricacies of system interactions
buy the influence of cultural expectations.. and cognitive
states that we do no usually sepse. The implication is fithis:j
much of what shoul be learned about global dynamics’ will
not be learned in informal arkinonformal settings, i.e. the
media’s view of how the wor Avorks cannot he counted on
to incorporate our best kno ledge of how the world works..
So we must use the schools t transmit that knowledge. This
Principles of Change
As stated., these are dry bones. So let’s put some flesh on
them, beginning with tile question of how students might
learn some basic principles of change. One of the most im-
portant and illuminating principles is that
things ramify
Suppose there is a pond. in the pond and around it live
several hundred species of animals and plants. One day a new
species is introduced to the pond habitat. What will happen?
The innocent view is that you have simply added something.
You had several hundred species; now you have one more.
By contrast, the educated view is that the introduction of a
is appropriate because the knowledge is technical, and it is., new species to the pond system may bring profound changes.
necessary because the knowledge often runs against the grain The population of some species may dwindle, others ex -.
of common belief and thus requires special justification;The plode; s )me may perish altogether. The new species may
classroom, with all its limitations, is a reasonably good envi.,),,have uch Teets because it disturbs complex relationships
ronment for mastering the technical and legitimating the new had acl ieved some degree of equilibrium. The new ele-.
and strange.
The School and Globai Dynalefts
But let’s begin to talk in more colic
ly might the schools teach aim
swer proposed
selection being, Does the particular learning contribute to an
understanding of global change? Because the control of
change is the central problem of out era. There are changes
we desire and seem unable t(). attain.- And there are changes
we wish to constrain and, as yet, cannot. There is also an-
other kind of change in spite of our difficulties we are
growing in our capacities.to detect and manipulate change. A
hal perspective that fails to compreled both the prob-
lems of change and the promise of improved control will not
he worthy of the name.
Three categories of learning about change suggest them-
terms. Whz+e-ra4.;t-
obal dynamics? The alit
selective, with the criterion” it
I. Basic Principles of Change in Social Systems
the ramifications of new elements in social1 systems
unanticipated consequences
overt and covert functions of elements
feedback, positive and negative
II. GtOwth as a Form of Change
4sired growth in the form’of economic devel-
opment
esired growth. in the form of exponential
increase in population, resource depletion,
etc.
III. Global Planning
national interests and glt)bat planMag
attempts to model the world system as related
to national policy formulation
14
meat sends shock waves through the entire system because
the habitants of .the pond envirotioent are hound up with
one another; wherever and however the new element enters
the life of the pond, the -effects will ramify through the
systcin.
. Social systems operate in equivalent ways. Consider the
case of the Papago Indians of Southern Arizona. Around the
turn of the century Indian agents began to provide the Pap-
ago with farm wagons .Until that time, the primary means of
transporting goods had been the horse, used as a pack animal.
Papagos had their own meths is of packing. They
made saddles of two cylindrical bundles of whe’at stilw
or grass tied together with leather thongs and slung so
that one rested on each side of the horse’s hack. Goods
to he transported were put in panniers, made of fiber
or rawhide nets, which were slung over the strawpack
saddles
The Indians customarily changed their residence
with the season. During the inter months they livedAl
in the mountains, where ther were permanent supplies
of water in the form qf springs. In the summer they
moved down into the valOys to plan and harvest crops
of corn, beans, and w,*t. The inter and summer
villages were from 6 or 8 to . -r 20 miles apart.
Trading expeditions were frequently organized by
the Papagos for the purpose of obtaining seeds to plant.
. . Buckskin, grass rope, large baskets, and pottery
ollas were the usual trade goods. Papago traders some-
times went as far `as 250 miles on such expeditipns
reaching Bisbee, Arizona. and Hermosillo, Sonora….
Papago villages were small, ‘rarely consisting of more
than a hundred people, rid were organized as land –
using, political units, lay g claim to some permanent
water supply in the moo tains and to an area of arable
fields in the valley. Um Ily a charm, a large dirt-
banked reservoir, held the mestic water supply for a
field village during the summer months….
Hardly any surplus was produced in the desert vil-
lages, and there was no full-time specialization of labor.
All the men, including even the curing and diagnosing
shamans, worked in/the fields. They took care of the,
horses and managls!ditlieir packing, and most men could”
engage in the simple crafts of leather and woodwork-
ing. Women, besides cooking and ‘performing other
household duties. were part-time specialists in pottery-
making and basketry. The older hays and girls gathered
wood from round about the village, armload by arm-
load, and also carried the water inq ollas from the
charms or springs to the houses.*
Then came the won, vhich was welcomed by the Pa)-
ago even as it began to transform their lives. The wagon was a
thing of iron-and wood. Keeping it in repair required iron-
working, so a new skill and a new role for males- devel-
oped, that of :lacksmith. On the other hand, the skills of
making panniers and pack saddles fell into neglect since tack-
ing goods on individual horses was no longer necessary,
The wagon made it possible to haul watucfrom the reser-
voirs to the households in large metal barrels, which grad-
ually replaced the clay ollas. The female craft of making ollas
became much less important and the women devoted less time
to it.
The wagon was also a c mvenient means of hauling fire-
wood. The men began to cut wood in large quantities, replac-
ing the random gathering of women and children. Some of the
wood was sold in nearby tomihs and this stimulated interest
in the possibility of se(ling surplus corn and wheat to towns-
‘people, Thus the Papa hegar to move more actively into
the ,cash economy of the area, Although contawith local
towns increased, trading contact with .Mexicans decreased in
terms of numbers of Papago males involved..One or two men
on the wagon could make the trading expedition in place of
the much larger number of men and horses previously re-
qtrired.
And the wag lildan effect on- community- solidarity.
Accep nee of the wagon as a resource of the whole
village under joint management was surely nut a part of
the expectation of the Indian agent. He probably
thought in terms of individual ownership. What hap-
pened was an adjustmrint to fife existing social organi-
zation and property,c0cepts of the Papagos. The vil-,
lage headman brouglithe wagon into the4ulture as a
unique resource. like the land, the use of which must
he shared, This sharing led to the new group activity of
road-building, in accordance with the same pattern as
land improvements.-‘r
Things ramify. A new element is, in trodnologies
.'”. disappear or decline, The sexual division of labor changes.
New skills are learned, Old patterns of contact with outsiders
erode, new patterns emerge. Community activities find a new
focus. The effects of a lowly farm wagon on packhorse
culture.
The Papagos and their wagon seem remote from us,siow.
And not, perhaps, -very important. But cases like this docu-
ment the natural behavior of social systems in useful ways:
From such cases students can, learn not only that new ele-
ments have the power to alter whole systems but that there
are inevitably unanticipated consequences. The Papagos
wanted the wagon. They, had practical tasks deafly in mind.
And it served many of their intentions. But it seems unlikely
that they intended the destruction of certain traditional
crafts, or a new division of labor, or increased partiefrifiv
in the region’s cash economy. If they-Dad wished for any tit
* Edward H. Spicer, ed.. Human Problems in Technological Change
(John Wiley & Sons, 1967), pp, 25, 27.
t Ibid.. p. 31.
these effects, it seems just as improbable that the wagon
would have been chosen as the instrument for bringing them
about. And yet, it was the instrument.
Partly because our understanding of complex social sys-,
terns is limited, surprise continues to be the rule. Carroll
Pursell, a historian who specializes in American technology,
puts it this way: there are always more effects than intended.
To a considerable extent we have traditionally tended to
blind ourselves to this fact. We have dismissed those unin-
tended consequences as “side effects,” as if they cre of minor
importance. But the “side effects” are often the6ost impor-
tant effects. In recent years the ecology movement has per-
formed a major job of consciousness raising in this regard.
There are now laws and regulations that require organizations
to anticipate and assess the environmental consequences of
their activities. A new level of consciousness is thus rein-
forced by government fiat. There are no equivalent pressures
to examine oth kinds ofimpact, but sensitivity is growing.
What the s iety is learning is that
r there are no “side effects” bur
there are surprise effects
What this rulesaysis that when you intervene in a social
system he prepared for surprising consequences too profound
to be dismissed as “side effects.” -“,’
The extent to which consequences li,’-a11 he both surprising
and profound is nicely demonstrated by the case of bottle-
feeding technology. It. is an article d faith in the developed
countries that “modem” practices are superior to “tradition-
al” practices, and that if less developed lands will incorporate
modern practices the lives of their peoples will he improved.
The bottle-feeding of infants is a modern practice involving
special containers and nipples and commercially marketed
“formulas,” most of whicll must he mixed with water. In
recent yeks bottle-feeding has become a symbol of modern
sophistication in developing countries, although it is begin-
ning to lose its appeal in the countries where it has its origins.
In the United States, the breast has been gradually
transmogrified from its nutfitional role into a cosmetic —
and sexual symbol so potent that an American woman
may no longer nurse her baby in public. The trend is
beginning to reverse: over the last decade there has
been a grass-roots movement to resume breast-feeding,
a back-to-nature reaction against the unwarranted in-
trusion of technology into an intimate, aspect of family
life. Ironically, just when American mothers are put-
ting babies back to the nipple, women in under-devel-
oped countries are imitating in droves the Western fad
for the bottle,*
What .are the consequences of brittle-feeding for the per
ple of developing lands? Erzonornic loss, for one thing.
Twenty years ago, 95 percent of Chilean mothers
breast-fed their children beyond the first year: by
1969, only 6 percent did so, and only 20 percent ofI
the babies were being nursed fin.’ as long as two
months. Potential breast milk production in Chile in
1950 was 57,700 tons, of which all but 2900 tons, or 5
percent, were realized, By 1970, 78,600 tons (or 84
15
I o
Nicholas Wade, “Bottle- Feeding: Adverse Effects of it Wes rri
Teehnology.” Science, April 5. 1974, pp, 45-4fi.
1110,1_.
A global perspective appropriate
to the times must include . . .
insight into particular patterns
of change, those most character-
istic of the times.
percent) of 93,200 potential tons were unrealized. The
milk of 32,000 Chilean cows would he required to
co sensate for that loss,*
B edirig tends to he an urban phenomenon in devel-
opin_ .ntries although declines in breast-feeding are also
report d in rural areas, Even when calculated only for urban
populations the losses are substantial.
An estimated 87 percent of the world’s babies are
born in the developing countries, about a quarter of
them in urban areas. If 20 percern°9 f the-estimated 27.
million mothers in urban areas cl.pAiot breast -Feed; the
loss in breast -milkls $365 million. If half of the other
80 percent do not continue to breast-feed after the
first- six months, the, total loss reaches,, $780 million.
These estimates, however, clearly understate the situa-
tion-, losses to developing countries more likely are in
the billions.l.
These figures do not adequately depict the losses in per-,
sonal terms. The poor cannotafford to buy muc of anything;
they especially cannot afford to buy what they o not need. A
poOr woman persuaded that bottle-feeding is superior to
breast-feeding is simply b’eing robbeii: henceforth she denies
her child the superior nutrition she possesses and allocates,
,– :.carte resources for the purchase of inferior nutrition.
The child is alsoz,being robbed, possibly of life itself. For-
mulas must he mi0t) with water and local water supplies are
often contarninatelSevere diarrhea is much more common
in bottle-fed babies than in those who are breast-fed.
.-
.
According to a 1970 studytin San Salvadk three-
quarters of the infants who di rom the end of the
first through fifth month had bee reast-fed less than
thirty days. if at all: of those who d in the last half
of the first year of .life, slightly ove ralf had been
breast-fed less thaw a month. . . . -peat s of children
from diarrheal diseases (which are \ usually nutrition
related) in Recife, where only 22 percent of the chil-
dren were breast-fed at least one month, were nearly
thrd’ times the rate in Kingston. where the correspond-
ing figure is 73.percent.** ._\
–t-
…
Even when children do not lose their lives they and
their society may lose a portion of their human potential.
* Alan Berg, The Nutrition Factor (Brookings Institution, 1973), p.
90.
+ Ibid., pp. 92.93.
** ‘bid_ pp. 94, 95.
Adequate nutrition is crucial to the full development of the
brain and it is especially important in the early’rnonths of
life. As breast-feeding has declined, the average age of chil-
dren suffering severe malnutrition has dropped from eighteen
months to eight months. Malnutrition at that early age often
leaves permanent handicaps.
There is another consequence. of bottle- feeding. Nursing
mother are less likely to become pregnant. In societies
where breast-feeding is common, births are spaced more
widely. Lactation is a kind of birth control, and bottle feed-
ing removes this natural constraint.
Economic loss, infant mortality,.improper brain develop-
ment, population growth. Surprising and profound conse-
quences of a minor technoiogyintroduced to the developing
peoples of the world. The commercial food companies in-
tended only to expand their markets and increase their
profits. The go nmental agencies with their dry milk feed-
ing programs irTended only to improve nutrition. But the
consequences ramified beyond and in some respects contrary
to intentions. That has been the common experience of tliose
who seek to ,change even the smallest elements of social
systerns.
Much of the difficulty in anticipating consequences origi-
nates in the failure to discern the complex functions of system
components; Breast-feeding has a very obvious function: to
provide nutrition for the infant. But it has taken much re-
search to shoW that there are special factors in that nutrition
which build the\body’s immunity systems and thus guard
against disease throughout h1 Another hidden function of
breast-feeding, as mentioned tove, is birth spacins, Thus,
there are obvious functions an less obvious, concealed or
unknown,. functions. When we remove a component from a
system we Are unplugging not only the obvious connections
but often inadvertent tearing loose the concealed wiring of
all those other-function . The best and often th-emost
,painful way to learn all he functions of a component is to
remove it from the system. That, in effectis what happened
when bottle-feeding supplanted breast-feeding in the develop-
ing countries. We now know much more about the complex
functions of breast- feeding.
Sometimes, of course, the concealed wiring is not very
concealed. People know /bout it, at least *ntuitively. This is
one explanation for resistance to change. eople, realize that
a seemingly small change will turn their w rld upside down.
A classic case of this is described by Elting orison in Man,
Machines and Modern Times. At about the turn of the cen-
tury the American naval bureaucracy was re isfing the efforts
of a young officer to introthice a new kind f gunsight pio-
neered by an English admiral. The new gunsi called for a
new system of gunnery, called continuous-aim firing, and was
much more accurate. Using the old system the Navy had
tired 9500 shots, during the Spanish-American War, and regis-
tered 121 hits. But we had won the war, so why change the
system? Under the new syste by contrast,
… one naval gunnelt-mad ifteen hits in one minute at
a target 75 by 25 feet (at a range of 1600 yards): half .
of them hit in a bull’s-eye 50 inches square.*
Eventually, the young officer won his case but only after
* Elting E. Morison, Men. Machines and Modern Times (M.I.T. Press,
1966), p. 22.
the intervention of President Roosevelt. Why the resistance?
Here is how Morison explains it.
The opposition, where it occurs, of the soldier and
the sailor to such change springs from the normal hu-
man instinct to protect oneself, and more especially,
one’s way of life. Military organizations are societies
built around and upon the prevailing weapons systems.
Intuitively and quite correctly the military man feels
that a change. in weapon portends a change in the
arrangements of his society. . . . In the days when
gunnery was taken lightly, the gunnery officer was
taken lightly. After 1903, he became one of the most
significant and powerful members of a ship’s company,
and this shift of emphasis naturally was shortly reflect-
ed in promotion lists.* ,
Morison’s hypothesis seems eminently reasonable, i.e. it is
quite likely that there are times when people intuitively un-
derstand the cQmple ‘ty of their social arrangements and the
fragility of those ar ements. There are surely other times
when such understanding is lacking and people single-ind-
edly pursue narrow goals without anticipating any effect-
‘t cept the uhievement of those goals. Ih trying to understand
change and resistance to change both possibilities must be
kept in mind. But perhdps the most useful adjunct to our
understanding is the rule that reminds us metaphorically of
the multiple and often hidden functions of elements in a’
system: iip
look for the concealed tiring
Suspect, in other words, that the obvio function of the,
element is not its only function; track d n those other
functions. The obvious functiop of a naval gunsight is to aim
aPgun. The hidden fun5iori’of that naval gunsightt was to
serve as the technological base of a social hierarchy. Proof?
Change the gunsight and watch the hierarchy change.
Let’s take stock. Three rules have beenproposed:
things ramify
them are no “side effects” but
there are surprise effects
look for the concealed wiring
Do these ,..ontribute to an understanding of c,hange in
social systems? In a small way, perhaps. The first two rules
constitute a prescription for caution and humility. They say,
“Watch out, consequences can be unexpected and pro-
found.” ,The third rule helps to explain the reasons for that
taution and humility the connections that tie the system
toather are comple4,and to some extent hidden from view.
Technological Innovation and Change
But we need to know more. global perspectiv appro-
priate to the times must include n t only general phnciples
but insight into particular p rns of change, those most
characteristic of the, times. e cases sketched above the
Papago and their innocent acceptance of the farm wagon, the
* Ibid., pp. 35-37.
Navy bureaucrats’ resistance to the new gunsight, the de-
structive effects of bottle-feeding are small episodes in a
worldwide movement that has been building for several cen-
turies. This movement undergirds what might be called the
technological innovation pattem of change. There are two
elements in this pattern: the generation of new technology
and the diffusion’of technology from one society to another.
Since World War II this has been an especially powerful pat-
tern in the world. The reconstruction of war-devastated lands
and the emergence of proud but poor new nations called
forth major programs in technical assistance. The economic
redevelopment of the industrial countries that “lost” the war
enabled fresh starts and engineering breakthroughs; Japan,
for example, jumped ahead in steel, shipbuilding, and elec-
tronics. The Cold War stimulated high technology develop-
ments in nuclear weapons, biochemistry, space capabilities,
computers. Educational institutions produced increasing
numbers of scientists and engineers to feed the growing de-
mands Of governments and corporations. Billions allocated to
R & D (research and development) assured their employ-
ment 4),M other billions were allocated over the years to2technic= aid, to transfer advanced technology from the
“haves” to the “have-nots.”
The rapid pace of technological development and its diffu-
sion shapes and Shake§!_our lives. But we hardly notice. We
cannot imagine living under other circumstances. Like riders
in a racing car our senses are dulled by the roar of our pas-
sage and we do not feel our speed.
Is it possible to become more aware of this pattern of
world change continuing revolution in technology that
transcends all ideologies and undermines all traditions? If so,
to what purpose?, Will increased awareness bring increased
control? That will depend to some extent on the nature of
the awareness. The desirability of technological innovation
has not been questioned until very recently. Now there is a
questioning attitude, with respect to environmental conse-
quences. But there is only slight attention to other kinds of
effects. In general, the benefits of technological change con-.
tinue too seem concrete and immediate, the risks tenuous and
distant. Confidence in technological solutions remains high,
particularly in the developed countries.
Under these circumstances, gains in awareness will require
very focused effort. I* would suggest three targets. First, v
young people should be sensitized to the global consequences
of technological decisions which seem to be the_legitimate
responsibility of the individual, or corporation, or nation.
Stratospheric ozone depletion is a case where individual in-
dulgence in a minor convenience and corporate interests in
the sales of that convenience may be leading to a condition
of global peril. There are similar cases livorthy of study.
4
Second, students must be encouraged to imagine what has
hitherto been unimaginable the abortion of certain tech:
nologies, We need some classroom games and simulations in
w1-ich the central task is to decide about pulling the plug.
Like, the psychopathic computer in the film “2001,” the
machines and their advocates will threaten and mutter as the
process of disconnecting them proceeds. The nuclear energy
ihdustry, which is a prime candidate for abortion because or
the totally unresolved problem of radioactive wastes, can be
17
2u
Is°
expected to go down fighting. The readiness to contemplate
abortion of selected technologies will be facilitated by knowl-
edge of alternatives, some themselves technological, some
involving new institutions and values. The “need” for nuclear
energy-, for example, rests On certain assumptions about the
inevitability and sanctity of economic growth, and the avail-
ability of alternate energy resources. These assumptions are
not inviolate, we should be willing to entertain alternative
assumptions.
Which brings us to the third and most important aware-
ness that our beliefs about the naturalness and the good-
ness of technological change are related to our beliefs about
the naturalness and goodness of economic growth. The belief
in the desirability of economic growth comes close to being a
universal secular religion. Advanced industrial countries,
however wealthy, pray that growth will continue and view
temporary interruptions as calamities. The less developed
countries pray at the altar, too, hoping to achieve rates of
economic growth that will more than match rates of popula-
tion growth, Sophisticated technology and continued ad-
vances in sophisticated technology are widely viewed as the
necessary instruments of this growth. In advanced economies
the movement is in the direction of automatic machinery and
the gradual phasing out of tasks requiring human labor and
human thought. In the developing countries the problem of
production is seen in terms of machines that will amplify
human labor, chemicals that will increase the fertility of land
and suppress insect pests, and transportation that will link
the hinterland to markets.
It seems unarguable that developing countries should seek
and be helped to improve the material conditions of life and
Particularly. to eliminate the direst kinds of poverty and suf-
fering. Growth that will provide adequate nutrition, health
care, and shelter is not _to be despised. That means increases
The belief in the desirability
of economic growth comes
close to being a universal
secular religion.
in agrictrisural productivity at the least, developments in
transportation and communication, possibly major efforis to
develop and improve industrial production. But improved liv-
ing standards may also come by improvements in the social
arrangements through which people obtain the necessities of
life.
How do you help developing countries grow? The domi-
nant Westeritr–rwdel calls for increased use of complex ma-
chines and the training of technicians to operate and main-
tain til’em. Apply the knowledge of scientific experts. Use the
latest variety of seeds, even though they require irrigation
and heavy application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
The main thing is to increase production through efficient
use of all the factors that contribute to output toolsore.
sources, labor, knowledge.
The Western model of economic growth is strongly orient-
ed by the value of efficiency and by the goal of maximum
production. It does not attend, typically, to the problem of
equitable distribution. The ruling assumption is that if pro-
ductivity rises everyone in the society will benefit, at least to
some degree. There is another model of growth, represented
by the ideology of Mao’s China:
The Maoists’ disagreement with the capitalist view
of economic development is profound. . . . Maoists
believe that while a principal aim of nations should be
to raise the level of material welfare of the population,
this should be done only within the context of the
development of human beings, encouraging them to
realize fully their manifold creative powers. And it
should be done only on an egalitarian basis that is,
on the basis that development is not worth much un-
less everyone rises together; no one is to be left behind,
either- economically or culturally. Indeed, Maoists be-
lieve that rapid economic development is not likely to
occur unless everyone rises together….
While they recognize the role played by education
and health in the production process, their emphasis is
heavily placed on the transformation of ideas, the mak-
ing of the communist man. . . . The Maoists believe
that economic development can best be promoted by
breaking down specialization, by dismantling bureau-
cracies, and by undermining the other centralizing and
divisive tendencies that give rise to experts, technicians,
authorities and bureaucrats…. Maoists seem perfectly
willing to pursue the goal of transforming man even
though it is temporarily at the expense of some eco-
nomic growth. Indeed, it is clear that Maoists will not
accept economic ,development, however rapid, if it is
based on the capitalist principles of sharp division
of labor and sharp (meaning unsavory or selfish) prac-
tices….
While capitalism, in their view, strives one-sidedly
for efficiency in prOducing goods, Maoism, while also
seeking some high degree of efficiency, at the same
time and in numerous ways builds on “the worst”:
experts are pushed aside in favor of decision-making by
“the masses”; new industries are established in rural
areas . . . expertise (and hence work proficiency in a
narrow sense) is discouraged; new products are domes-
tically produced rather than being imported “more ef-
ficiently”; the growth of cities as centers of industrial
and cultural life is discouraged….
Of course, Maoists build on “the worst” not because
they take great delight in lowering economic effi-
ciency; rather, their stated aims are to involve everyone
in the ,development process, to pursue development
Without’ leaving a -Single person behind, to achieve a
valanced growth rather than a lopsided one. .. .*
The Wegtern model of growth has significant achievements
to its credit, but does not always travel well when applied to
the problems of the less developed countries. It creates new
scientific and technical elites in countries which may be fran-
JohiA. Gu ey, “Maoist Economic Development: The New Man
in the New ‘hina,” in CharleSX. Wilber, ed., The Political Econ-
omy of Development and Underdevelopment (Random House,
1973), pp. 308-310, 312.
18 it
2.1
tic to lay aside a societal structure controlled by elites. It
fosters new dependencies, not the least of which is a depend-
ency on fossil fuels. And it is based on an ethic of individual
striving and achievement that often runs counter to the Mode
of groups which treasure cooperative social activities and
goals. Most important is the primacy of growth itself the
ultimate goal is an unceasing expansion in the production of
goods and services. In the service of that goal technological
progress is viewed as an unblemished asset.
The Maoist model subordinates growth to other considera-
tidns: equitable distnbution of material benefits, collective
participation. the denial of legitimacy as well as opportunity
for self-striving, localism, and inventiveness by nonexperts.
Nonetheless, growth is important there also, and has been
achieved. The Maoist model may travel no better than the
Western model but on the home grounds there seems to have
been substantial success. China is still “underdeveloped” with
a per capita GNP of perhaps $160 but:
The basic, overriding economic fact about China is
that for twenty years she has fed, clothed and housed’
everyone, has kept them healthy, and has educated
most. Millions have not starved; sidewalks and streets
have not been covered with multitudes of sleeping. beg-
ging, hungry, and illiterate human beings: millions are
not disease-ridden. To find such deplorable conditions.
one does not look to China these days hut, rather, to
India. Pakistan. and almost anywhere else in the under-
developed world.*
China’s contrast with other sectors of the less developed
world is striking, but the contrast with the values and strate-
gies of the Western industrial world is no less striking. For
those seeking cross-cultural perspective on groWth and devel-
opment Mao’s China offers a superb curriculum.
Let me stop for a moment to revieiv. The dimension un-
der discussion is that of global dynamics. with an emphasis
on principles, patterns, and mechanisms of change. A few
cautionary principles of systems change were illustrated.
Then I argued that an understanding of global change
required not only the guidance of principles but awareness of
certain dominant patterns of change in the real world. One
such major pattern was technological innovation. I suggested
that consciousness of that pattern required, among other
things, a recognition of the link between ideas about tech-
nology and ideas about growth. The almost universal com-
mitment to growth was noted, as was the existence of a
major society China now practicing a form of develop-
ment in which growth, while important, is subordinated to
other values.
What I have not yet said, at least directly, is that growth
itself is perhaps the most significant change in the contempo-
rary world. It manifests itself in the form of increases in the
absolute numbers of human beings, in the size of political
units, in the produCtivity of goods and services, in the inten-
sity of interactions among human groups. These forms of
growth depend on other forms of growth increases in the
consumption of resources, in the extension and grip of politi-
cal authority, in the organizational management of people
and things. And they spawn yet another form of growth
increases in the waste products of human activity, thermal
pollution of the atmosphere, chemical pollution a air, land,
and water.
Growth, then, has two faces. There is the smiling face that
promises improvements in material welfare. And there is a
tragic face that we have preferred not to see. Some who have
recently, dared to look upon it say that it too holds a prom-
ise. The promise that growth in the human population,
growth in the consumption of resources, growth in pollution,
cannot continue for very much longer. The limits have al-
most been reached.
That; diagnosis or warning has been circulating for some
Growth itself is perhaps the
most significant pattern of
change in the contemporary
world.
time. Harrison Brown worried about it in The challenge of
Man’s Future in the 1950s. A more dramatic form came
several years ago with the publication of The Limits to
Growth. This was the report of a research team at the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology sponsored by the Club of
Rome. Using a great deal of data, and positing specific quan-
titative relationships among factors, the team projected pro-
ductivity, population, resource, and pollution figures into the
next century. The graphs spewed out by the computer were
shocking. Several important mineral resources were k:ni the
verge of exhaustion: in practical terms, for example. zinc and
tin ore might he unavailable within twenty years, and petro-
leum would last only another half century. There were other
supply problems. Arable land is a finite resource. At present
rates of productivity. agriculture can support perhaps eight
billion people. The world could have that many people short-
ly after the turn of the century. Inerease.productivity?.0.K.
But if population growth rates continue, that only delays the
day of reckoning for a few decades. By the middle of the
21st century the human race would have banged its head
against a hard and final wall no further increases in food
possible from agriculture as we know it.
Limits scared people and they sought reassurance. It was
available, abundant, and free. But events and new studies
‘tend to bear out some of the grim forecasts of the Limits
analysis. A very recent study by Mesarovic and Pestel* looks
at the future of the world system region by region. Various
scenarios, testing the effects of different policies, were
played out on the computer. The results for one region —
South Asia were especially tragic unless population growth
could be quickly halted and unless the region could be given
massive help in industrializing its regional economy.’Sia:e
* Mihajlo Messarovic and Eduard Pestel, Mankind at the Turning
* Ibid., p. 315. Point (E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc./Reader’s Digest Press. 1974).
19
2
these two conditions are not likely to be met, the tragic
scenario will probably be played out with real actors.
I have suggested that a global perspective should include
some understanding of change, and that growth may be the
dominant form of change in the contemporary world. That
sounds academic and not particularly important. What the
Limits and Mesarovic-Pestel studies assert, however, is that
=0.4, growth is of critical importance. The central message of these
studies is awesome. It goes something like this: Before very
long the world system is going to break down. That doesn’t
inecn- tural catastrophe but it does mean that the system will
suffer some terrible shocks, The reason for the impending
breakdown is that population, resource Consumption, and
pollution are grbwing exponentially. Since the world popula-
tion is already large,’ since many nonrenewable resources are
almost used up, since the environment’s capacity to absorb
pollutants is already strained, such growth cannot he con-
sidered benign. Exponential growth is treacherously rapid
and will bring us to the earth’s finite limits and thus to a
condition of severe stress within a few generations.
Schools and the Issue of Growth
This is an iftrportant message. it may not be entirely ac-
curate inits analysis, but as a wrning of probable danger it
deserves wide dissemination. By all agencies, including the
schools. The young as well as the rest of us need to be
apprised of the situation.
My impression at the moment is that issues’of growth are
not commonly found in the schools’ curricula. ThisOs not
too surprising. There needs to be a context, a persistent, con-
text. Not just the occasional spasm of interest in this prob-
lem and that. And there needs to be some consensus in influ-
ential quarters that growth can be thought about, ques-
tioned, planned. In other words, this is an issue open to
rational thought and thus a proper subject, for inquiry in
those of our institutions that teach and subscribe to reason.
The problem of a context wilt be solved if teaching for a
global perspective begins to play a larger ‘part in the orienta-
tion of curricula and ‘there are other possible contexts if
that does not occur. The prOblem of legitimacy is, I think, on
the way to being solved by-events-and by the convergence of
several broadly based social movements. The environmental
and countercultural movements of the late sixties and early
seventies hammered away at the values that undergird the
cult of growth. Energy politics in the last few years has
shaken the serenity of true believers previously untouched by
the protest movements. The movements forced people to
look at subtle costs of growth hitherto ignored. The rise in
the price of oil forced even the hardiest capitalist to think
twice about the conventional costs. So awareness has to some
extent already been raised, doubts have been uttered, and it
no longer requires bravado or ideological intemperance ‘to
think about growth. The underlying commitment of the soci-
ety (ours and most others) to growth will doubtless continue,
perhaps even be reinforced by the shock of apostasy, but
agnostics are not in any danger of becoming outcasts.
But can the schools manage the issues? At the outset I
suggested the need for modest expectations, for “attain-
ability.” Assuming that it is increasingly respectable to dis-
cuss the problematic aspects of growth in precollege class-
rooms, is it in(ellectuallyipractical to do so? The answer, I’m
afraid, is a rather .stkoared affirmative. Affirmative because
the impqrtant forms orgrowth in the world today, and the
mechanisms which feed them, are not too difficult to un-
derstand. Subdued because the issues are intricate.
Exponential increase is the crucial aspect of growth that
must be grasped.Positive feedback (when dominant over
negative feedback) is the mechanism that energizes it. Feed-
back simply refers to a situation in which the “effect” of
sonle event loops back and influences the next event. Imag-
ine a city whosestreets are clogged with automobile com-
muters., An expressway is constructed to handle the traffic.
The availability of the new expressway encourages more
automobile commuting, which has the effect of clogging the
expressway. So more expressways mu.it be built, which in
turn will soon be clogged.
clogged
streets
more auto
traffic
new
expressway,
In effect, the more tiaffic the more highways and the
more highways the more tralqic. In population, the more
people the more births and-the more births the more people.
That’s, positive feedback. If automobile commuters were
rational, the long delays on the crowded expressways, the
increased rate of accidents, and the hours of breathing ex-
haust fumes might prompt the search for alternative trans-
portation. Clogged streets might lead to mass transit and less
auto traffic. That’s negative feedback. Sometimes positive /’
and negative feedback are in rough balance. When they are’
‘not, when positive feedback is stronger than negative fed-
back, high rates of exponential growth can result .lb the’caSe
of world population, birth rates have remained high in many
regions while death rates (negative feedback) have declined,
producing a net growth of 2% each year. That’s 2% of a.
growing population so each year the world adds more people
than it added the year b e. Thus exponential growth: a
constant rate of grow pplied to a growing amount.
Year Population
Number Added
(at 2% growth)
1975 4000 million
1976 4080 80 million
1977 4161.6 ” 81.6
1978 4244.8 ” 83.2 ”
1979 4329.7 ” 84.9
1980 4416.3 ” 36.6 ”
If the world added 80 million people each year that would
be linear growth; if you graph it you end up with a straight
line. But the world is not adding the same number of people
20
each year; it is adding the same percentage (in this case “:re)
of a growing total. Graph that and you end up with a steep-
ening curve, the signature of dramatic and possibly cata-
strophic growth.
The dynamics of feedback and the characteristics of expo-
nential growth are not beyond the reach of young students.
Once grasped, they set the stage for at least a beginning
comprehension of issues related to growth. The basic issue,
and the most profoundly heretical, resides in the simple ques-
tion “Is growth desirable:Ahat question can be applied to
hundreds of specific instances, from plans to increase the
agricultural productivity of South Asia to the housing poli-
cies of local communities in the U.S. It is not; of course, a
simple question at all. Not too long ago it was. The answer
was always “Of course!” Should community X permit real
estate developers to build thousands of new houses on the
edges of the city each year? Of course! Why? Well, partly
because some people still live in substandard housing. but
mostly because a lot of people who live reasonably well want
to live even better. But what if the additional housing over-
loads the water and waste-disposal systems? That could be a
problem, but we have.to think about the local economy, too.
If we don’t keep building, a lot of carpenters, roofers, elec-
tricians, and other craftsmen won’t have work and that
means they won’t be able to buy the things and services that
keep the rest of us at work, and you know where that leads.
2
So even it’ continued mowth brings problems we don’t dare
stop, do we? Now you’re \getting it!
Questioning the desirab4Ity, growth forces all kinds of
subterranean assumptions to the surface. That can be unset-
tling.– like picking one’s way through a philosophical mine-
field. Those bumps on the ground are value choices you
never thought about before. Touch one and if move
your equanimity for some time to comer
Is it realistic to imagine that precollege students can safely
and usefully trod such difficult terrain? Usefully, yes, in a
minor sort of way. Simulations can give students practice in
the emergent arts and techniques of growth assessment.*
Such simulations, of course, offer the merest shadow of
actual experience, but they anticipate and legitimate a world
where growth is increasingly subject to critical evaluation and
less and less the outcome of cultural momentum. Safely? If
that means without stress, no. We are in the process of tran-
siting from one psychic Order to another psychic order. We
are beginning to see things that we never saw before, to know
things that we ‘never knew before, to doubt things’that we
never doubted before. It isn’t comfortable. We are changing
and it hurts.
71
* See: “Simulating National Policy Choices.” Intercom No. 77 (Win-
ter 1974/75). Center for War/Peace Studies.. pp. 42-48.
rl
DIMENSION 5
Awareness of Human Choices
some awareness of the problems of choice confronting individuals, nations,
and the human species as consciousness and knowledge of the global system
expands
Imagine a land of permanent dusk, a rough terrain
through which winds a darkly gleaming river. Here and there
across the landscape and along the river campfires glow.
Around each tire a cluster of people, huddled against the
dark, preoccupied with its own affairs. From time to time,
there are forays into the area away from the light of the
canfPfires and sometimes a brief contact with other groups.
Not always a very rewarding contact. Each group has devel-
oped distinctive ways of living, ways that seem appropriate
and natural to its members. bizarre and threatening to out-
siders. But the dark separates and allows each group to cul-
tivate its own mysteries and what it sees as its own territory,
the area illuminated by the flickering light of its own camp-
fire. And in the dark lie downstream group does not know
that the upstream grt4pabides by the same liver. (Jr even
that it is a river and not a sea.
But now imagine (hear with me!) that the long night be-
gins to end. The campfires which had once been the center of
each group’s existence now seem pale and the whole land-
scape is etched by brightness and shadow. The people stand
amazed and trembling, their previous perceptions and under-
standings and myths washed away by the glare. The hills,
each of. which in the dark had been experienced singly. are
now seen to be connected. forming a chain. Each group along
the river sees for the first time that other groupshe
same flowing waters. There are patterns to .i.(r/r1 valleys
and forests and a network of trails, a yellow and dusty On-
broidery of meadows vividly green. Outcroppings of ii;ock
that in the dark had seemed mysterious and ominous \,tre
shorn of their personalities and reduced to the ordinary .–AN
other peoples that in the dark had seemed illysterious and
sometimes ominous now look only awkward and a bit un-
sure.
This is fantasy but it as also a fair qegiction of the
situp in which human species now finds’ilsell. Flooded
by nevi4nowledge of how social and physical systems work
and interact on the global stage, sensing trends and patterns.
never sensed before, newly able to see into the distance of
time and imagine the future consequences of present aoions.
In the glare of new understandings, the old centers of our
–
existence grow pale and old habits lose their authority. So we
stand awkward and unsure, troubled by the need to resolve
strange new questions, lacking confidence that the ethical
principles of the past apply.
Pre-global to Global: A Transition
Throughout this paper I have talked of changes in aware-
ness. Awareness of our own cultural perspective, awareness
of how other peoples view the world, awareness of global
dynamic’s and patterns of change. In this final section I wish
to emphasize that such heightened awareness, desirable as it
is, brings with it problems 4,4 choice. As an instance, in a
-pre-awareness” stage the undoubted benefits of pesticides in
agriculture, forestry, and the control of diseases such as
malaria provide clear jugification for prolific application.
But then information about thti dangers of pesticides be-
gins to accumulate. DDT is found in the tissues of organisms
far removed from the points of appliziit-ton. Some species are
threatened with extinction. Risks not only to present human
populations but to future generations are identified. In some
countries the use of certain pesticides is halted altogether. A
change of awareness has occurred and new behaviors have
resulted. In sonic parts of the world.
Where is the problem of choice’? It lies in the tact that
pesticides like DDT are still in use. Widely. Hundreds of mil-
lions of people depend on DDT to control malaria and agri-
cultural pests. Ask someone in the developed countries if
DDT is still in use and he will likely say no, answering in
‘,n.ms of his own country’s practices. But use the question
on a world basis and the answer is yes. Viewed as a collec-
tivity, the human species continues to use DDT.
This continued use constitutes a de facto human choice.
In a conflict between the rights of living populations to con-
trol obvious and immediate threats to health and the rights
of other living and future populations to freedom from sub-
tle and long-term threats to health and subsistence, the for-
mer wins out. The immediate and the obvious triumph over
the long-term and subtle. But although the choice seems to
have been made the problem of choice remains. There is a
new cognition in the world. We now know that there are
0,-
t
long-term and subtle risks. Once we did nut. We now admit
that other peoples ond future generations have rights. Once_
we did not. That new ‘knowledge has not had the power to
halt the use of DDT where life and health are under severe
threat. but it has had the effect of blocking its use in many
other parts of the world, To put it. simply, there are now two
possible hehavi, it; with respect to DDT:
it it will solve a problem. use it
it it will solve a problem, don’t use it
The second of these hehaviorsniriginattn; in the new cogni-
tion. the new awlarent>s.,at,f4S and rights.
The DDT situati4 is simply’ an instance, a small manifes-
tation of the ma .)r cognitive revolution ;that is now under-
way. But 14 is a representative one. Many practices once
essentially automatic, whose benefits were assumed. are now
questioned. They are questioned because we know new
things. We ‘:now how to measure minute quantities. We
know that factors interconnect in complex ways. We know
that there are limits It the resources and carrying capacity of
the planet. In the context of the new cognition, action does
nut pioceed automatically. Calculations of advantage and dis-
advantage become explicit and detailed. Choosing a course of
behavior becomes a more reasoned process. That shift
from the automatic to the calculated is a very important
expression of the cognitive revolution we are now experienc-
ing.
Let me expand on the concept of cognitive revolution.
particularly as represented in the writings of the economist
Robert Solo. Soh) developed the concept of “cognitive revo-
lution” in his ho6k Economic Organizations and Social
Systems. In that hook he analyzed and compared stages of
economic development in terms of what people could ques-
tion and think about.
Those values, conceptions, relationships, and tOrms
of functional organization which, for a society. are set
beyond the pale of critical evaluation or reasoned
change are called here traditional. Those that ale con-
sidered open to critical evaluation and are systematic-
ally challenged and changed will be termed rational__
For every society there is a zone of the rational and a
zone of the traditional. What is contained in the zone
of the rational vis a vis the zone of the traditional is of
fundamental importance in determining the capacity of
a society for economic development.
most Americans consider any machine or mech-
anism. any technique or process of production, or
any business organization to be properly subject to
critical evaluation, to reasoned study, to purposeful
change. In the light of this rational cognition of
mechanism, of technical process. and of business organ-
ization, Ameridans have developed the ways and means
of subjecting these to systematic analysis. evaluation
and change. For sonic other societies, and particularly
the “developing” ones, the cognition of mechanism, or
process, and of business organization fall within the
zone of the traditional. They are … outside the scope
of systematic challenge or change.*
* Robert A. Solt. Ecemmnic Weani:atioas. and StIcial SyStOna
(Bohbs-Morrill Co., Inc.. 19(17), p. 376.
Solo goes on tunexamine three stages of historical eco-
nomic development in these terms. In the craft economy,
individual activities, various technical processes. and the rela-
tionships among economic actors all fall within time tradi-
tional. The craft economy “. . manages itself, following its
beaten paths. moving by an ancient clock4ork that has been
driven into the instinc.ts of the individual and into the habits
of the group.”
;
The shop economy was ushered in by the Industrial Rev:).
lution.
The Industrial Revolution was part of a general
assault on the traditional society by the individual in
the rational pursuit of his self-interest … each was on
his own, out for himself. free within the scope of his
personal powers to inquire, to manipulate. to change
the world for the sake of personal advantage . . Each
operation, and consequently the whole economy, was
driven by the open-ended desire of the single individual.
tor more for himself, more to consume. more to pos-
sess, more to display, more as a mark of worth and
success. The “craft economy.” of artisan and peasant
became the “shop economy” of the technician-inven-
tor and the free-wheeling entrepreneur . The watch-
words in the shop economy were not authority but
efficiency, not continuity but progress, not status but
success . . . The ancient rhythms of the crafts were
stop-watched, manipulated, speeded. divided into
parts. analyzed, redesigned. ..
Rationality, however. stopped at the shop door.
All that’ went on within ‘his factory or shop was
sub4litted to the critical inquiry and creative imagina-
tion \Pf-the owner-entrepreneur. But what of the inter-
action of his ship with all the myriad of others? . . .
These interactions were not brought within the zone of
the rational. What occurred in the market vortex was
not subjected to critical analysis or reasoned, deliber-
ated change.**
Then came the Organizational Revolution.
Another fundamental change in the scope of the ra-
tional cognition: now occurring. In the name of eon
mimic planning, or of political direction, or through the
development of autonomous corporations that encom-
pass a vast number of complex activities, the rational
:cognition is being extended beyond the scope of indi-
vidual supervision and of private self-interest. Virtually
all economic relationships are being opened to inqiiiry.
to analysis. and to the possibility of control and s:.-s-
tematic change … this extension of the rational cogni-
tion is coining about in many ways and has been ex-
pressed in a variety of functional organizations. In
Russia and China it is being engineered, from the top
downward with the rationality introduced first in the
control of general relationships and in’reference to col-
lective goals. In- the United States and Western Europe.
emerging out of the __rationality of small entities. it is
occurring in the corollary growth of the large corpora-
tion and the extension of political responsibility.
23
Ibid., pp. 377, 378.
J. Ibid., pp. 379, 380.
* Ibid., p. 38i.
Ibid.. pp. 381, 382.
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runderstood,practices d pkilieies that have destructive et -,
feet S beyond the national borders ean he followed withortir
lecogintion ot the scif destruative implication, Further.
since the protection of national interests is an Qxpansive
enough concept to include suicidal displays or pride and
determination. the scale of destruction visited on others can.
he awesome. Frit the fast 25 years it has lvvien
Russia and the U.S. to contemplate seriously the use of
weapons that would devastate not just the two countries but
the planet. for generations to come. That kind of non.
ehalance about eftects on others epitomnics the pre – global
cognition.
Global Awdreness and Human Problems
The emergent global eognition contrasts sharply with the
pre-global. Lone-‘orm aons.equences begin to he considered.
Linkages between events are seen in the more complex light
of systems theory. Social goals ands values are made explicit
and vulnerable challenge. And nations begin to note that
their Interests.and activities are not separable tiom the inter-
ests and activities of others. Finther, systematic attention is
given to problems that transcend the national. regional. of
tonal. Human problems.
A global cognition has certainly not been achieved. Pre.
global forms of knowing continue to orient muali cif human
behavior. But the transition is UuderiA,.*, driven by the con-
vergent energies kir a Variet3, or social movements. If the
essence cii the transition is the shut from the unquestioned
for the consciously considered, then science must be seen,as
the most potent of these movements. Demanding. exposurti
of assumptions. active and systematic collection of eviden.:e,
and a fluid read mess to alter conclusions in the light kif new
data, the ethic and procedures of science pose a profound Lind-
lengc to oilier modes or knowng. The challenge is world-
wide. Scientific inquiries have been so manifestly. productive
that sclerosing methods are universally employed. permeating
almost every aspect of human activity.
Within the main current of the scientific cut. or
elaisiaIy associated with it are developme?Its ni ,eahirology
that constitute a movement in their own right. f here are the
and observation Ilhttinnents Thai make it possible
to detect, monitor. count, and analyze. tiny quantities of
chemical -, patterns pit niii,:ro-;:hange on the earth’s orrface,
tiler irrimagnetie radiatii in. microscopic stiactures. These are
more than devrfes for generating the data that leads to put,
iutowiedge. They are tools for monitoring the a:aro-realm:in:es
of human actir in. Whether a satellite sensor detectinr, an tilt
spilt or a gas ahromatograph measuring the partsTai
of imr m animal tissue. such instruments extend the iminan
nervous sy stem and thus the probability of human action
hirsad on rational calculations of effect.
Other technologier, and institutions are contributing to the
emergence oi a gbilial cognition. The ct impute: plays an nn.
Portant role in Work’ dentoriaPine and economic studies and
n the sy!,tents engineering movement. the latter. winch had
its early appheations in military and corporateat planning, uses
the computer to work rapidly. through the thousands tit equa-
or ins that posit how and with what qziantnative ti’qce various
factors in the worlO system relate to one another. System,
engineering and its models of how the world works can Ile,
challenged on many grounds, not the least of which is thaelts
forecasts may he just plain wrong. But accuracy at this
point is less important than intention and effort. Studies like
The Limits to Growth represent an altogether new level of
concern with long-term effects, complex ‘linkages of factors,
and the worldwide consequences of local decisions and
actions. Computer technology clearly facilitates this particu-
lar approach and the consequent healthy shticks to conven-
tional wisdom inherent in its “counterintuitive” results.
I don’t wish to exaggerate the influence of science and
technology on the development of to global cognition. Other
forces are at work, even a few aimed directly at the target.
But the unaimed, the inadvertent, are perhaps the more im-
portant. This would certainly include anything tending to
enrich the vision of nation-states as they pursue their “inter-
ests.”. Even the much maligned multinationals might con-
tribute to such an enriched vision. Corporate managers with
far-flung interests may take a longer, more complex view
some instances than political leaders. Their pvirrsperitives are
not channeled by popular attitudes; their interests are not
served by the success of any one nation. The multinationals
as organizations are creators and beneficiaries and necessarily
guardians of what is’ fashionably called interdependence.
The Mild:11’4 of that term interdependence testifies
in itself to the reality of the movement towaid a global cog-
nition. I have beer-etroubled at times by the facile use of the
term, believing than ,41. was a technical concept and meant to
be used with tealmitil precision. If interdependence meant
innitual dependence did that extend to asymmetrical relation –
snips” For example, what about trade between tfie eco.
rionneally weak and the economically strong, where in one
simse each needed the other but posse#e.d decidedly unequal
bargaining powers? Or what about the’imutual dependence of
antagonists. e.g.. military establishments? Externa/ threats
are the primary !umlauts of military organilationS; with a
high enough level of threat they grow and careers flourish.
They depend for those threats not on their friends but on
their enemies. Surely that is a kind of interdependence.
All of the complaining was nonsense on my .part It took a
while but it finally hit me. Interdependence was not a tech-
nical term at all. It was a code word. Social movements need
their code words and of course they use them a 110 erndely.
But the core message was there. The word was a distilled
argument. a challenge to the conceit ot autonomous power
and privilege, a call for recognition of cvniner.rions and conse-
quences dial vulnerabilities dial the old Cognition did not
admit. And, like other code words, it was a badge of identity:
To speak of interdependence was to belong to those who
Rnew how the world really works.
Let us consider. Proposition one: we ‘are in a rood of
transition, moving from a pre-global to a global cognition.
Proposition two: global cognition is characterized by new
knowledge of system interactions. by new knowledge of
long-range and wide-range effects, and by a more ;einiscions
use of such knowledge in planning human action. Proposition I
three: as such knowledge and its rational use expands. human
choices expand. Proposition tour an awareness of this ex-
panded range ,tit choice constitutes an import alt dimension
of a global perspective.
Awareness and Alternative Choices
Concretely, what might such awareness involve? It might
involve knowing of proposed alternatives to continued
economic growth, as in the so-called steady state world or
equilibrium society. It might involve knowing af,alternatives
to national policies of humanitatian aid and technical assis-
tanee. as in proposals for concerte, efforts by the developed
nations to build not only the agricultural and industrial capac-
ities of developing regions but a more coordinated global
economy in which emergency needs for food aid would he
much reduced and in which.necessaly food imports could he
paid for by regionally specialized industrial exports. Or, in
sonie contrast to the high technology on which the latter
proposals depend, it might entail knowing of the small-scale,
self-sufficient food and energy systems being devised by John
Todd and the New Alchemists group at Woods Hole* or spme
exposure to E.F. Schumacher’s ideas about “intermediate
technology. “t It might consist merely in recognizing that the
energy deficit used to justify development of such dangerous
technologies as the fast breeder reactor is the product of a
particularly gluttonous way of life, and that changing our
habits may he a reasonable alternative to risking our habitat.
World Hunger: A Case Study of Alternative Choices
As a way of exploring in more detail what an increased
awareness of choices might mean, consider the problem of
hunger and malnutrition in some areas of the developing
world. Prevailing practices call for donations of food to meet
emergency situations and technical assistance to increase
local productivity. both allocated- largely at the discretion of
individual governments. Motives tend to he mixed. political
aims ckarly interwoven with humanitarianism. The West sees
fragile economies as susceptible’ to infection trom the left
and seeks to strengthen their resistance. The collectivist
countries use aid to build-political debt and opportunity.
looking toward eventual restructuring of the total society.
The competitors. however, share this: they meet their own
cultural/ideological expectations and serve their ow. political
interests through the actions they undertake. The primacy of
those expectations and interests is never in doubt.
The prevailing practices, at least at current levels. are not
doing the job. The secretary-general of the UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organization noted in a recent speech that the
goal of self-sufficiency -in food within a decade could not be
met and that “the most urgent need . . . in the immediate
years ahead will he for a radicals. increase in food aid on a
guaranteed basis.”‘” The 1974 World Food Conference sug
rested that the deVeloping countries work toward an annual
increase of agricultural production of 3.6 percent, a rate of
increase that, unlike the current 1.6 percent. would outrun
population growth. In his appraisal the FAO official said,
“To speak frankly, it is clzi_at that such a transformation can-
not he brought about within the next ten years.”
° Nicholas Wade. “New Alchemy Institute: Search fur an Alterna-
Ow Agriculture.” Science. February 24.1975. pp. 727-729.
. Sthumacher, Sinai/ ic Beautiful (Harper Row, 1973’1.
” 1,)ri, Tunc.c. June 26.1975.
Conventional Answer
The conventional assessment of the situation, then, goes
something like this. Hundreds of millions of people lack ade-
quate food. They should be helped. Help consists of direct
food transfer, technical assistance, and investment. Such help
has averted immediate calamities. there have been break-
throughs in agricultural-productivity, but there are no guar-
antees of long-term assistance, and-investment commitments
are insufficient. Furthermore, the recipients seem unable to
achieve some of the changes in their societies, e.g. land re-
form and income redistribution, which might facilitate eco-
nomic development and gradually eliminate the need for out-
side assistance. So the problem of hunger in the world re-
mains unsolved.
One conventional answer (at least in the West ) to the
stubbornness of the problem is to increase the level of assis-.
tance.- This is essentially what the FAO official was prop9S-
ing. More direct food aid, more technical assistance, more
investment in agricultural production by both the developing
and the develplYed countries. (Population control has been a
standard component of the conventional answer but this has
become an increasingly delicate subject. with much suspicion
of Western motives.)
Increases in assistance are not everywhere accepted as the
answer. but some level of aid is assumed. A June 1975 item
in the New York Times noted that “the European Common
.Market governments refused early today to 1 crease their
contributions of grain to needy countries.”* Deb: e centers
not on whether there should be aid but on I much, of
what type, where allocated, for what reasons, and with what
probable results. These are questions discussed by national
and regional policymakers. and the answers reflect national
and regional priorities and concerns.
The discussion, of course, is highly technical and the
sketch I have given does not do justice to the vtriety of ideas
or the sophistication of analyses that play a part in decisions.
There have been decades of concentrated attention to prob-
lems of economic development, thousands ;If studies and
projects and progt anis. On the basis of this work by the
specialists. however, broad policies are developed and the
)lic acquires a rough sense of what the alternatives are. It
is my impression that until quite recently the public concep-
tion of alternative policies for dealing with world hunger
reduced the question to “How much aid should my country
contribute?” There arc two ‘assumptions in that question.
The first is that aid should he given. The second is that
decisions about aid are properly national or regional as in
the case of the Common Market.)
Challenges to Traditional Approaches
Consider. now, some ideas that challenge or bend the ,e
assumptions and the traditional approaches to aid. The big-
gest public splash has been made by the,roposal to apply
the criteria of triage to decisions about aid, and by Garrett
Hardin’s “lifeboat ethics.” Triage is a battlefield surgery con-
cept that focuses assistance on those whoi need help and can
be helped. Those who cannot be,s.aved tin(‘ those who will
survive without aid receive no attention. Hardin’s lifeboat
20
0
0 New York Tinter, June 26.1975.
analogue simply proposes that pulling the drowning into a
lifeboat already- filled and ready to swamp dooms all: the
survival of some requires letting others go under.
These are public shockers and have been widely de-
nounced as morally reprehensible. Triage says don’t assume
that every desperate situation can he salvaged: allocate your
resources on the basis of deliberate judgments about who can
really he helped. Deny the self-gratifications of charity mind-
lessly diffused and substitute the more sober rewards that
come from concrete improvements in selected situations.
Hardin’s message is somewhat different. lie raises the possi-
bility that the giving of aid can he dangerous: don’t risk the
whole human species in order to save part of it. Triage says
he effective. Hardin says he careful. Both deny the easy satis-
factions of the humanitarian impulse and both ignore politi-
cal criteria.
A message in a similar vein conies from Jay Forrester of
MIT. Forrester’s work is in computer models of systems and
in recent years he iras turned his attention from engineering
systems to social systems. His studies have led to the follow-
ing view of humanitarian efforts:
Humanitarian concern means help for one’s less for-
tunate fellowman. At times such help is based on a
much too simplistic view of the situation. It is usually
aimed at immediate goals. Long-term and short-term
goals may he in conflict. When does help in the present
lead to increased distress in the future?
Consider an overpopulated country. Its standard of
living is low, food is insufficient, health is poor, and
misery abounds. Such a country is especially vulnerable
to any natural adversity. … Droughts bring starvation:
but is that due to weather or to the overpopulation
that made sufficient food stocks impossible? The
country is operating in the overextended mode where
all adversities are resolved by a rise in the death rate.
. But suppose that humanitarian impulses lead to
massive relief efforts from the outside for each natural
disaster. What is the long-term result? The peopb! who
are saved raise the population still higher. With more
population the vulnerability of the country is in-
creased. . . . Disasters occur oftener and relief is re-
quited more frequently. But relief ‘leads to a net in-
crease in the population, to more people in crisis. to a
still greater need tOr relief, and eventually ro a situa-
tion that even relief cannot handle.*
In many ways this is not a new argument but in Forrest-
er’s case it derives from and is holstered by a relatively new
procedure of forecasting the computer modeling of
systems. In a rather famous paper, “The Counterintuitive
Behavior of Social Systems-, Forrester details the advantages
of this approach:
It is my basic theme that the human mind is not
adapted to interpreting how social systems behave. Our
social systems belong to the class called multiple-loop
nonlinear feedback systems. In the long history of
human evolution it has not been necessary for man to
understand these systems until very recent historical
times. Evolutionary processes have not given us the
Jay W. Forrester. -Churches at the Transition Between Growth
and World Equilibrium,- in Dennis L. Meadows and Donella H.
Meadows, eds.. Thwarri Global Equilibrium: Cullcted Papers
(Wright-Allen Press. Inc., 1973), pp. 351. 352.
mental skill needed to interpret properly the dynamic
behavior of the systems of which we have now become
a part….
Until recently, there has been no way to estimate
the behavior of social systems except by contempla-
tion, discussion, argument, and guesswork. . . It is
now possible to ‘construct realistic models of social
systems in the laboratory. Such models are simplifica-
tions of the actual social system but can be far more
comprehensive than the mental models that we other-
wise use as the basis for debating governmental ac-
tion….
T11 mental model is fuzzy. It is incomplete. Fur-
within one individual a mental model
chang ss with time and even during the flow of a single
convirsation. . . . Fundamental assumptions differ but
are never brought into the open. Goals are different
and ire left unstated. . . . it is not surprising that con-
sensus leads to laws and programs that fail in their
objectives or produce new difficulties greater than
those that have been relieved.
For these reasons we stress the importance of being
explicit about assumptions and interrelating them in a
computer model. . . . But the most important differ-
ence between the properly conceived computer model
and the mental model is in the ability to determine the
dynamic consequences when the assumptions within
the model interact with one another. The human mind
is not adapted to sensing correctly the consequences of
a mental model. . . The inability of the human mind
to use its own mental models is clearly shown when a
computer model is constructed to reproduce the
assumptions held by a Single Then it usual-
ly happens that the system that has been described
does not act the way the pertin anticipated.*
Forrester would argue, then, that solutions to the world
food problem should be determined lzk fashioning a very
explicit model of how the world system works (what affects
what ), adding pertinent data, and then letting the computer
test the consequences of alternative policies. This, in fact, has
been done. Mesarovic and Pestel, in their study Mankind at
the hinting Point, tested hundreds of scenarios for South
Asia, a region particularly susceptible to food shortages.
Their standard scenario qscumed that “the historical pattern
of development based on a somewhat optimistic view of the
past and present situation will continue.”
We. . . assume that an equilibrium fertility level will
he attained in about fifty years. We also assume, quite
optimistically, that the average use of fertilizer per hec-
tare in the entire regiort will surpass the present North
American level toward the end Of the fifty-year period:
At that time South Asia alone will consume more fer-
tilizer than the whole world consumed in 1960.
Assuming that the fertilizer is used on every piece of
land under cultivation. the yield per hectare will -in-
crease by about 1000 kilograms approximately the
increase that the Green Revolution brought to the best
lands in India and Pakistan. Still proceeding optimisti-
cally, we assume that all remaining arable land in South
Asia is quickly brought under cultivation. and that all
technological inputs. such as irrigation systems (which
must accompany the fertilizer to produce high-yielding
* Jay W. Forrester, -Counterintuitive Behavior of Social Systems.-
Technology Review. January 1971.
grain), will be available as needed. Finally, we have
assumed that no mass starvation takes place. The dif-
ference between the .food needs of the region and the
food production in the region. . . is assumed to have
been made available by other regions.
Our computer analysis, pregnant with optimism,
shows dearly that the food crisis in South Asia will
worsen. In spite of all the advancements assumed, the
availability of fertilizer and land assumed, the protein
deficit will continuously increase: by the year 2025 it
will he up to 50 million tons annually. Such de kits
‘could never be closed by imports: to pay for
quantity of imports, South Asia would have to spend
one third of its total economic output. and three times,
what it earns frdm exports. But even if South Asia had
that kind of money, the physical problems of handling
those quantities of food would be incredible. In one
year the region would then have to import 500 million
tons of grain twice as much as the total tonnage of
all goods now being shipped overseas from the United
States. … Moreover, these quantities would have to be
every year, in ever increasing amounts, with-
out end. In sum, it would be impossible.*
What Mesarovic and Pestel really expect for South Asia is
tragedy. Since the demands of the ‘standard scenario cannot
be met, the problems will be resolved by natural means a
much increased death rate. The only way to avert the
tragedy, they say, lies in policies tested in another scenario.
These policies include a population control plan that looks to
fertility equilibrium in 15 years, a concerted effort by the
developed world to build the agricultural and industrial capac-
ities of the region. and the creation of a coordinated world
economic order.
In the fifth scenario, investment aid is provided to
South Asia in sufficient amount and at the time needed
to close the food-supply gap and the export-import
imbalance. The magnitude of such a program will re-
quire a concerted effort by the entire Developed
World. The export potential of South Asia would he
increased substantially, and the world economic system
would have to be modified so that South Asia could
pay from exports for most of its food imports. These
exports would have to be industrial, since the regional
food demands Obviously will absorb the local agricul-
tural output. But to make this scenario feasible, the
Developed World must help South Asia to deli, lp its
own exportable and competitive industrial spe.
tion.
Scenario five the only way to avert unprecedent-
ed disaster in South Asia requires the emergence of a
new global economic order. Industrial diversification
will have to be worldwide and carefully planned with
special regard for regional specificity. The mast effec-
tive use of labor and capital, and the availability of
resources, will have to be assessed on a global, long-
term basis. Such a system cannot be left to the Mercy
of narrow national interests, but must rely on long-
range world economic arrangements.t
Note the prime condition for saving South Asia. Not the
erratic provision of aid at the discretion of individual nations
but a massive, concerted program in the context of a coor-
dinatz.d world economy.
* Mesarovic and Pestel. op. cit., pp. 121. 122.
a Ibid., pp. 125, 127.
r.
These four view points —,triage, lifeboat ethics, Forrest-
er’s ideas about humanitarian lm, the Mesarovic-Pestel con-
clusions represent alternatives to conventional responses to
the hunger problem. And, in some measure, all display the
distinguishing marks of global cognition. All suggest that cus-
tomary responses to the needy be set aside and replaced by
more deliberate, more effective measures, even though these
outrage conventional wisdom or morality or national sensitiv-
ities and sovereignties. Simple theories of cause and effect
(the problem is a food deficit: the solution is more food) are
set aside in favor of more complex theories. Assumptions,
criteria, and goals are made much more explicit. And the
goals themselves change, from simple rescue of those in im-
mediate distress to consideration of the survival of the spe-
cies. Further. the nation as the main actor in policymaking is
challenged in favor of coordinated global planning.
To know of these alternative viewpoints is to expand
one’s repertoire of choice. To know of them, also, is to be-
come aware of problems of choice, dilemmas that do not
present themselves when the vision is more limited. In spite
of the difficulties raised, however, this increased conscious-
ness is surely an important constituent of a global perspec-
tive.
Access to such alternatke viewpoints is not especially
difficult these days but it Is by no means automatic. Efforts
must be made and acme of those efforts can take place in the
schools. An operationally defined missioi.-, for educators
might be to increase the number of solutions that students
can propose for a given problem and the quality of the solu
tions, as measured by criteria of global cognition. That would
include beingzensitive to the likely consequences of different
policies and particularly to the differences between short-
term and long-term consequences. After instruction, a stu-
dent would be able to advance more solutions, including
some that rest on nonlinear theories of social dynamics and
that incorporate a concern for peoples and generations other
than those that seem to be involved.
Such an increase in awareness is, I think, a fairly modest
goal. I am not proposing that students choose. among alterna-
tives only that they know of them. This in itself is a mildly
revolutionary step. It means becoming more conscious,
potentially less bound to custom and convention. Is such
awareness enough? ,Enough for what? We are talking here of
a global pers ctive, from which other things may flow. Let’s
say, simply that such an increase in awareness is a solid and
necessary ase from which to proceed.
* * *
I have discussed five dimensions off global perspective.
Are there more? I am tempte to be aggislAnd say no, this
is it, the final crystalline i. But of course there are more,
as many more as anyone ares to invent. And that, of course,
is precisely the case. Such dimensions are inventions, con-
structs of the mind. This particular set is just one assemblage,
a collage of ideas selected and shaped by one individual’s
proclivities aad prejudices. This is not to say that there are
not real changes underway in human consciousness. I am
convinced that there are and that they are in the direction of
something that can be called a global perspective. But any
particular description of that phenomenon is properly sus-
pect. Even this one which is, by coincidence, my favorite.
28
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