I could not help but think about all the ideas swimming around my head from the reading of The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman when I came across an article this weekend.
The MLK Memorial: Made in China?bit.ly/pLPz7U
This article discusses how some people are not happy with the sculptor being Chinese and the material for the project coming from China. It is an interesting article. I am not here to debate the merits of either side of the discussion, but I just wanted to point out that this is just one more example of the world being flat. The world is the competition.
Each day I try to convey to my students that their world is different from ours when we were growing up. They are not competing for a future job with others in Bettendorf or even Iowa. They are competing with millions of people from all over the world. They don't always grasp this concept. Some think that things will be just perfect, but hopefully I can get through to some about how important it is to challenge themselves, work on their creativity and problem solving skills and to begin to think about their future.
Times have changed. They have changed quickly. They will only change faster and faster. In the perspective of time it was not that long ago that MLK Jr. was alive and working towards equality. It was not that long ago that this nation would not have approved of a memorial for MLK Jr. And now we have a memorial being crafted by a Chinese man. As Dylan has sung many times, The Times They Are a-Changin'
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