However, any initiative that advocates a particular point of view will run into difficulties being integrated on a broad scale in our public schools. Among these is the responsibility to pay attention to public issues, identify and articulate one s own thinking on the issues, and then step forward to defend that position in the company of others. Any initiative that wishes to broaden constituency on international issues would be well served to include as an integral part of its program non-advocacy educational initiatives that promote civic participation. We are leaving a very long era of learning about cultures from a distance and entering an age of students learning by interacting with those cultures. Students will develop a sense of efficacy and civic responsibility by identifying specific ways that they can make some contribution to a global issue or challenge.
School systems have the obligation to foster effective civic action.
Despite the complexity of global issues and challenges, students can contribute to resolving or ameliorating their effects.