Title: Cosmopolitan education at Ross School
Description: With an internationally interdependent economy, unprecedented levels of migration, and a continuous stream of information circulating the planet, students are growing up in a globalized world. In this era of globalization, many educators are calling for education that nurtures cosmopolitan skills, which help students understand global issues, care for people in all cultures, and contribute to building an ethical and well-functioning global society. However, much more research is needed on how cosmopolitan skills develop. This thesis contributes to this emerging knowledge base by exploring cosmopolitan education at Ross School, an independent school in New York designed to nurture a global worldview. Specifically, this thesis addresses the following research question: What is the nature of Ross School students and alumni's cosmopolitan skills, and how do these skills develop? To explore this question, 47 participants at Ross School were interviewed about cosmopolitan concepts; the sample included 4th grade students, 8th grade students, 11th grade students, and recent alumni. These data were then analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods to create preliminary learning pathways, which characterize cosmopolitan skills and map out how they develop. Results suggest that Ross School students and alumni show a cosmopolitan ethic of care comprised of three interdependent overarching cosmopolitan skills: recognition of a shared humanity, intercultural understanding, and a humanitarian orientation. These overarching skills are made up of many component cosmopolitan skills, such as global sensitivity, understanding of culture, recognition of humanness, cross-cultural understanding, recognition of one's own cultural bias, global understanding, understanding of a globally interdependent history, and identification as a member of the global society1.

Each overarching skill develops through a series of steps of increasing complexity whereby skills are combined and differentiated at each level to form more sophisticated understandings at the following level. More research is needed to confirm and complete the learning pathways presented in this thesis, but the results of this study can guide further research in this area. Understanding how cosmopolitan skills develop can help educational policymakers and practitioners create developmentally appropriate learning objectives, curriculum, and assessments.
Subjects: Multicultural education, International education, Case studies
Places: United States