How to become a Global Citizen

We live in an ever-changing and more connected world than ever before. With advancements in technology, a willingness to expand trade and just generally become more cultured there is a push for this. It has become more important that we become more global citizens and just not have a national identity but reflecting on our position in the world and how we affect it. The challenge is how to create a generation of global citizens while reducing stress and fear of the world around them. This is important because we are faced every day with the growth of xenophobia through a lack of education of other cultures and backgrounds. A study done at Orchid Girls Secondary School has shown the successes and the challenges faced while creating more cosmopolitan students. In Singapore, there are large populations of immigrants and an inviting community to this. This is something that shows the same at this girl’s school. The school is looked as a miniature version of the country with how it feels about foreigners and what methods are adopted to connect with them. English is used as a basic language for everyone. Students talk amongst themselves and use methods to bridge gaps in communication like not using culture-specific talk and asking questions about what someone has said. The school also does foreign exchange programs where its students can study in other countries. The participants in this study are foreign students. The main issue is that most schools' efforts to create global thinkers are instead creating a generation of privileged people who feel pity for and better than others from other countries. This can be a problem because it gives the mindset that their culture is better than others then they might want to implement top-down solutions to help foreigners. "Top-down" refers to creating solutions to problems without addressing the needs and wants of the people that are being assisted. This approach assimilates these people and makes them not respect their own culture anymore.