I have found that this creates a perfect environment for the seeds of future positive action to germinate and flourish. Awareness of Interdependency Adequate preparation for students to exercise choices includes recognizing their place in the world. Japanese university students often express surprise and dismay upon learning about the disaster that rampant consumerism and expansionist economic policy has wrought upon the world. Helping students translate this dismay into empowerment is challenging yet satisfying. Those students taught to think critically learn how to listen better, read more carefully, pay closer attention, and react more knowledgeably to media, government, and commercial propaganda.
Students seek alternative sources of facts and ideas.
They question their role, their country's role, and the role of business interests in the destruction of the world. They challenge their teacher, themselves, and others to provide solutions to world problems. Students need habits of mind that make it more likely that they will be able to resist . . . propaganda and manipulation . . . . By guiding students to seek out all sides to global issues, teachers can further develop critical thinking skills. Although it is my decision to teach global issues, I must try to do so responsibly.