A few years ago, I interviewed Dr. Sabine O'Hara, Vice President of the Institute of International Education and Executive Director, Council for International Exchange of Scholars. We discussed the merit of international and global research in general and then more specifically spoke about the programs she administers, which provide opportunities for researchers, educators and other professionals to have fully-funded international experiences. Dr. O'Hara gives tips for applicants and a great overview of current IIE and CIES initiatives.
You can listen to the interview here.
My own experience studying overseas, as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines, was an amazing experience. I taught at Capitol University in Cagayan de Oro on the island of Mindanao. I also did a research project where I interviewed some 100 principals, and I've continued to collect data from the region as I work on writing it up. In any event, the experience rocked my world--it made me wake up to issues related to globalization--such as how the US benefits tremendously at the expense of people around the world. It also made me understand "social justice" as something very different from the way I had thought and written about it to that point. I saw such incredible poverty, schools with nothing (literally, in a few cases not even a building), but committed teachers and administrators working hard for the students. And by "working hard" I mean tremendous sacrifices, the likes of which I had never before considered.
In sum, it was a tremendous learning experience, and though I was lucky enough to travel quite a bit when I was young, it meant something different altogether for me to see this all through the researcher's eyes I developed to that point.
The bottom line?
The earth isn't flat, and it isn't round--it's every conceivable shape, and there are contours you and I have never imagined. For those who study schools like me, the opportunity to learn from brilliant and committed educators is worth attending a thousand mainstream conferences or publishing in any peer-reviewed journals. For educators, seeing what you will see in schools--how different cultures, teachers, administrators, students, parents and social institutions support (and ignore) education is an eye-opening experience.
You're never too old and never too young to open those eyes by traveling and seeing how your perspective hold up in a new reality.
“Our schools are a vignette of how man, in the development of civilization and its core institutions, has managed to ignore or disregard some of the most compelling aspects of his own nature. But how long can we go on this way?” Edward T. Hall
I'm fully planning on doing a fulbright sometime in this lifetime, if I can get my project accepted. Everyone I know who has ever done it says it is life-changing.....thanks for reminding me not to let this fall off my radar!
ReplyDeleteI saw such incredible poverty, schools with nothing 642-813 examcollection (literally, in a few cases not even a building), but committed teachers and administrators working hard for the students. And by "working hard" I mean tremendous sacrifices, the likes pass4sure 642-813 of which I had never before considered.
ReplyDeleteUS benefits tremendously at the expense of people around the world. It also made me understand "social holi messages justice" as something very different from the way I had thought and written about it to that point. I saw such incredible poverty, schools with nothing (literally, in a few cases not even a building), but committed teachers and administrators working hard for the students. And by "working hard" Holi quotes I mean tremendous sacrifices, the likes of which I had never before considered.
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