Watching this video makes me happy, especially after watching the documentary "Waiting for Superman" which really painted a pretty abysmal and depressing picture of the current public school system in America. Though I don't see the Kahn Academy as an end all be all solution, it is a giant leap in the right direction. It will be interesting to see how this approach of customized learning for individual students will change the present educational models. In many ways, Kahn Academy is addressing the major issue of poor quality teachers by helping fill in the gaps by coming alongside students as a their own personal teaching assistant. I especially appreciate the global vision of peer-to-peer tutoring (where students can help tutor students on the other side of the world) which leverages globalization in a positive way.
When it comes to globalization, there are many pros and cons which people much more educated in the matter can explain far more articulate than me. But, from my perspective I feel the cons out weigh the pros. Now, hear me on this, I'm not saying that there aren't some good things happening through globalization, but there are some downsides: the greatest being monoculturalism. I see a lot of value and beauty in the diversity of peoples and cultures, I mean creation is about diversity which globalization seeks to homogenize. In order to preserve the unique beauty that the many cultures of the world hold, a higher value needs to be placed on celebrating cultural diversity by embracing a more multicultural perspective, rather than sinking into the monoculture that globalization (and postmodernism) seeks to create. The reason that this is so important is because at the end of the day, there is no stopping the globalization machine. So, embrace and celebrate the cultural diversity that surrounds you today!
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