Reflections on Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat"

There are so many things to take away from this video. Friedman's chapter one entitled "while you were sleeping" really intrigued me when he mentions the 3 eras or tiers of globalization. Many parallels to education can be drawn from this chapter. The ten flatteners were interesting and really made sense. Their convergence that created the flat world where everyone is on the same playing field and all can plug in and play is mind boggling. I especially was interested and intrigued by the insourcing example of UPS...some companies never touch their products! He stressed that connecting all knowledge pools together is what makes collaboration and it is how the world became flat. I was glad to hear that he felt the roles of schools and teachers were still very important and that the United States should be focusing on the insurance that every American who wants an education should somehow be able to obtain it.

I think many of the ideas he expressed have great relevance for schools and education. Back to his first chapter "while you were sleeping"...that is really a wake up call for schools and our educational system. Individuals (our students) can and are learning globally through the click of a button. Look at how Firefox began...two students who never physically met collaborated and wow, that name is in the upper left corner of my screen and thanks to them, I am talking to many people I have never met. This is a great example to share with students. Anything is possible and can happen if you keep an open mind and allow for thinking outside the box.

I was surprised that he identified the Berlin Wall as the starting point of the world turning flat. The UPS example also surprised me. I will never look at the guys in the brown shorts the same way again!

Yes, other teachers in my building could benefit by hearing comments such as "we must all adjust to this new horizontal world". We cannot just do our jobs in the same manner as previously done. It just won't work in this collaborative, flat world. I agree with his last line...America needs to export hope, not fear. For me, this translates to....I must at least try some of these new technologies and not let my fears get the best of me. Hopefully my students will benefit from my experimentation and be interactive with their world.