The
Asia Society, a member of our My Wonderful World Coalition, just released a new
policy statement on international education, along with recommendations for the
incoming Obama administration.

In
their recent newsletter announcing the release, Asia Society framed the issue this way:

“Even
as the United States tackles
the immediate economic crisis, our long-term economic competitiveness and
ability to deal with global challenges is being undermined because America is not sufficiently preparing its next generation for the interconnected world of the 21st Century.”

The statement’s authors then offered up the following suggestions:

“The United States must benchmark its educational system against international standards and
practices; redesign high schools to prepare graduates who are college-ready and
globally competent; invest in teacher training in international subject matter;
expand national capacity for learning world languages, particularly Chinese and
Arabic; and expand international teacher and student exchange programs.”

Read the full report and recommendations.
Listen
to the Asia Society podcast on this topic.

Tell Us: What do you think of
the report? Is anything missing? What challenges might the new administration face
in implementing the prescriptions outlined?