# data[].attributes.body
This video is more applicable to teachers, but I think students could also watch it as an explanation for the benefits - both personal and universal - of a global education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Global Competence and its Significance to the American Education System

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Asia Society's VP of Education, Tony Jackson describes what the American education system needs to leapfrog from its current status today, to one of innovation and effectiveness, especially as it prepares children for a global future. To learn more about Asia Society Education click here: http://www.asiasociety.org/education-learning

# data[].attributes.body
Four girls' discussion their (in/not-so-in)significance in this great big world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brave New Voices 2009 - Denver [Semi Finals]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brave New Voices 2009 Semi Finals. Denver was probably my favorite team!!! Their writing is just honest and they are great people! So much heart!! I love this team!!

# data[].attributes.body
I stumbled across this article in the Huffington Post, and I think it really clearly outlines some of the goals and necessities of making all teachers global educators.

# data[].attributes.headline
Teaching for Multicultural Literacy, GlobalCitizenship, and Social Justice

# data[].attributes.subject
Teaching for Multicultural Literacy, GlobalCitizenship, and Social Justice

# data[].attributes.body
Again, I'm putting this resource in teaching because I think selections could be unpacked and analyzed by students. Banks' article covers what multicultural literacy is and why it is the necessary basis of a successful nation-state and nation.

# data[].attributes.headline
What does it mean to be a global citizen of the world?

# data[].attributes.subject
What does it mean to be a global citizen of the world?

# data[].attributes.body
I am putting this Ted Talk under teaching resources because I actually think it could be very useful for showing to kids! Especially my naysayers; Evans touches on how global citizenship is simply thinking two steps ahead -- if we ignore the problems of others', that doesn't mean they won't affect us.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hugh Evans: What does it mean to be a citizen of the world?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hugh Evans started a movement that mobilizes "global citizens," people who self-identify first and foremost not as members of a state, nation or tribe but as members of the human race. In this uplifting and personal talk, learn more about how this new understanding of our place in the world is galvanizing people to take action in the fights against extreme poverty, climate change, gender inequality and more.

# data[].attributes.body
This article is useful for much the same reasons as the resource above. It connects the racism in our own country's history to the present day rise of populism. The article's publication date (Nov. 2016) also speaks for itself.

# data[].attributes.body
This is an overview of what a PLC, well-executed, can accomplish.

# data[].attributes.body
I ended up on this site while researching definitions of poverty globally. I'm surprised it doesn't show up on the Taking Action Doc, in fact. It has a lot of great ideas for teens making a difference.

# data[].attributes.body
A great way to get kids thinking about their advantages (and potential disadvantages) in comparison to other countries. Helps them realize we are not just 'Murica: Greatest Country in the World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint. Because freedom is inherently valuable and plays a role in human progress, it is worth measuring carefully. The Human Freedom Index is a resource that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena, as well as the ways in which the various dimensions of freedom interact with one another.

The report is co-published by the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Liberales Institut at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.

ByIan Vásquez and Tanja Porčnik

Full Report PDF
Country Profiles PDF
Download the data XLSX
Figures, Tables and Appendices XLSX

The index published here presents a broad measure of human freedom, understood as the absence of coercive constraint. It uses 79 distinct indicators of personal and economic freedom in the following areas:

The Human Freedom Index (HFI) is the most comprehensive freedom index so far created for a globally meaningful set of countries. The HFI covers 159 countries for 2014, the most recent year for which sufficient data are available. The index ranks countries beginning in 2008, the earliest year for which a robust enough index could be produced.

On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 represents more freedom, the non-weighted average rating for 159 countries in 2014 was 6.93. The level of global freedom stayed about the same compared to 2008, but almost all countries experienced changes in their ratings, with about half of those increasing their ratings and half decreasing.

The top 10 jurisdictions in order were Hong Kong, Switzerland, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, Australia (6), Canada (6), the United Kingdom (6), Finland (9), and the Netherlands (10). The United States is ranked in 23rd place. Other countries rank as follows: Germany (13), Chile (29), France (31), Japan (32), Singapore (40), South Africa (74), Brazil (82), India (87), Russia (115), Nigeria (140), China (141), Saudi Arabia (144), Zimbabwe (148), Venezuela (154), and Iran (157).

Out of 17 regions, the highest levels of freedom are in Western Europe, Northern Europe, and North America (Canada and the United States). The lowest levels are in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Women's freedoms, as measured by seven relevant indicators in the index, are strongest or least repressed in Europe and North America and least protected in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Countries in the top quartile of freedom enjoy a significantly higher per capita income ($37,147) than those in other quartiles; the per capita income in the least-free quartile is $8,700. The HFI finds a strong correlation between human freedom and democracy. Hong Kong is an outlier in this regard.

The findings in the HFI suggest that freedom plays an important role in human well-being, and they offer opportunities for further research into the complex ways in which freedom influences, and can be influenced by, political regimes, economic development, and the whole range of indicators of human well-being.

ByIan Vásquez and Tanja Porčnik

Download PDF
Download the data XLSX
Purchase

Updated HFI data (Posted February 4, 2016) XLSX

The index published here presents a broad measure of human freedom, understood as the absence of coercive constraint. It uses 76 distinct indicators of personal and economic freedom in the following areas:

The Human Freedom Index (HFI) is the most comprehensive freedom index so far created for a globally meaningful set of countries. The HFI covers 152 countries for 2012, the most recent year for which sufficient data is available. The index ranks countries beginning in 2008, the earliest year for which a robust enough index could be produced. This preliminary report was updated (using data for 2013) and will be subsequently presented and updated on a yearly basis.

On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 represents more freedom, the nonweighted average rating for 152 countries in 2012 was 6.96. The level of global freedom stayed about the same compared to 2008, but almost all countries experienced changes in their ratings, with about half of those increasing their ratings and half decreasing.

The top 10 jurisdictions in order were Hong Kong, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. The United States is ranked in 20th place. Other countries rank as follows: Germany (12), Chile (18), Japan (28), France (33), Singapore (43), South Africa (70), India (75), Brazil (82), Russia (111), China (132), Nigeria (139), Saudi Arabia (141), Venezuela (144), Zimbabwe (149), and Iran (152).

Out of 17 regions, the highest levels of freedom are in Northern Europe, North America (Canada and the United States), and Western Europe. The lowest levels are in the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia. Women's freedoms, as measured by five relevant indicators in the index, are most protected in Europe and North America and least protected in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa.

Countries in the top quartile of freedom enjoy a significantly higher per capita income ($30,006) than those in other quartiles; the per capita income in the least-free quartile is $2,615. The HFI finds a strong correlation between human freedom and democracy. Hong Kong is an outlier in this regard.

The findings in the HFI suggest that freedom plays an important role in human well-being, and they offer opportunities for further research into the complex ways in which freedom influences, and can be influenced by, political regimes, economic development, and the whole range of indicators of human well-being.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint.

# data[].attributes.body
Same author as book above; the first 12 minutes of Dr. Reimers' presentation is a powerful reminder of why this work is so important

# data[].attributes.body
This fantastic book resource has excellent guides for creating world-change empowerment lessons at any level.

# data[].attributes.headline
United Nations: Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform

# data[].attributes.subject
United Nations: Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform

# data[].attributes.body
Not sure how I didn't add this earlier, but this resource contains a small description of each of the UN's 17 goals of sustainability. Clicking on any goal will link you to a more in-depth explanation as well as examples of what these goals would mean in terms of law and government action.

# data[].attributes.body
From Sara K, a TGC alumn.

# data[].attributes.headline
Basic Ways to Integrate Media Literacy and Critical Thinking into Any Curriculum

# data[].attributes.subject
Basic Ways to Integrate Media Literacy and Critical Thinking into Any Curriculum

# data[].attributes.body
This handout gives simple ideas for moving down the SAMR model toward redefinition.

# data[].attributes.body
Leana Heitin explains that digital literacy is complicated and includes the ability to mine the internet for reliable sources that are conducive to the project at hand, as well as contribute to that canon of knowledge online in a way that communicates clearly the contribution.

# data[].attributes.headline
The World is as Big or as Small as You Make It

# data[].attributes.subject
The World is as Big or as Small as You Make It

# data[].attributes.body
"Retooling what they already have" -- using technology to connect. This video talks about connecting to folks in other countries and sharing that knowledge with others. I think one of the most interesting aspects is actually the way that the cultures blend together in production.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The World Is As Big Or As Small As You Make It

# data[].attributes.body
This is the last OxFam guide I want to keep. It will be particularly useful when trying to expand global teaching philosophies into classes beyond my own. It too I downloaded in Google Drive in case of difficulty accessing.

# data[].attributes.headline
Teaching Controversial Issues Guide (OxFam)

# data[].attributes.subject
Teaching Controversial Issues Guide (OxFam)

# data[].attributes.body
This resource from OxFam as well seems particularly useful in my time of dealing with naysayers. Downloaded in case I have continued trouble accessing the site.

# data[].attributes.body
Had trouble opening OxFam's website so I downloaded this through an independent search and it's now in my Google Drive. The document itself however is brimming with not just case studies but also strategies for explaining the global education and its purposes to those who might be reticent.

# data[].attributes.headline
Global Ethic Vs. National Interest (Gordon Brown)

# data[].attributes.subject
Global Ethic Vs. National Interest (Gordon Brown)

# data[].attributes.body
In this insightful talk, Brown discusses how helping other nations and working with them on grander issues like climate change is, in fact, in a country's best interest. We have a responsibility to protect ourselves until the world is perfect, but that shouldn't stop us from working toward a perfect world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gordon Brown: Global ethic vs. national interest

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Can the interests of an individual nation be reconciled with humanity's greater good? Can a patriotic, nationally elected politician really give people in other countries equal consideration? Following his TEDTalk calling for a global ethic, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown fields questions from TED Curator Chris Anderson.

# data[].attributes.body
I think these trends, in addition to having some fascinating statistics to go with them, could serve well to help with student buy-in for thinking on a global level.

# data[].attributes.body
I'm linking the whole doc here, but I'm loving delving in to the resources individually!

# data[].attributes.body
These two from the Asia Society speak to two truths: 1) That students (and the U.S.) will be left behind without global competence skills, and 2) We have to work together if we are going to make those skills a reality in education.

# data[].attributes.body
By Kwame Anthony Appiah, who also did the Ted Talk about being multilocal, this article addresses similar topics.

# data[].attributes.headline
A Look Inside the Classroom of the Future

# data[].attributes.subject
A Look Inside the Classroom of the Future

# data[].attributes.body
I love the idea of the "case study" that this article touts (it's what I try to do in my own classroom) and its emphasis on quality over quantity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

# data[].attributes.body
This resource is really speaking to me right now, especially the point made below. Most likely, it is because it is what I'm struggling with in my own classroom -- the difference between sympathy and empathy.

# data[].attributes.body
Here are Asia Society's main elements of global competence in a slightly more readable (and truncated) format on this website.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Global competence is a crucial upgrade if our education system is to prepare the next generation for the knowledge economy. But what does it entail?

# data[].attributes.body
I love this blogger's use of dialectics: Global education should be at once mundane and transcendent. Great rules of conduct suggested in implementation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At the World Education Forum recently held in Incheon, South Korea, global citizenship education was identified as part of a quality education for all students. William Gaudelli, associate professor and chair of the Department of Arts and Humanities at Teachers College, Columbia University and co-founder of the By guest blogger William Gaudelli Global Competence Certificate Program, outlines the reasons why it is critical to raise global citizens.
We are at a moment in time where we face the paradoxical capacity to destroy much of what the modern era has achieved. The challenges are myriad: climate warming and environmental degradation, regional insecurity and severe intolerance, grave injustices, and a growing North/South gap are just the beginning of what quickly becomes an overwhelming litany of world problems. My aim is not to overwhelm. Rather I want to suggest ways that educators can think about these problems differently- about what it means to educate for global citizenship.

The 22nd Century
A child born in your community today will still be here into the 22 nd century, alive and well in the year 2115. As difficult as it is to imagine, we would be wise to begin to think of the quality of that child's life over the duration of the next century. Will she know peace or war? Will she experience the joys of living in diverse communities with others or the anxiety of living in isolated fear of others? Will she know the aesthetic and material blessings the biosphere provides or experience only environmental deterioration? Thinking about the world temporally, we are reminded of the lovely Kenyan adage: "This land was not given to you by your parents, it is on loan to you from your children."

My first suggestion for global citizenship education is that we begin to think of ourselves, our earth, and each other, in a temporal way, in light of time. This is perhaps the most difficult aspect of learning to think globally since people are notoriously bad-all of us-at understanding time. I'm reminded of this when I look in the mirror some days and expect to see that 25-year-old version of myself looking back. When he's not there I use this humbling moment to recall how incapable we are of grasping the slippage of time even when we are aware of this incapacity.

Speaking of humility, I want to suggest that this too is a crucial element of global citizenship education. This may seem odd given that we usually feel proud when we know more things or feel satisfaction at possessing knowledge about the world. In fact, global citizenship education is less about knowing more about all that we do know-about each other and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. That is not to suggest we should revel in our ignorance but rather recognize our limits and be open to all that can be learned from myriad points of experience beyond those limits. In the Jewish tradition, a yarlmuke or kippah is, among other things, a tangible reminder of the limits of people's knowledge and heart before God. It seems that this simple reminder is one that could benefit all of us as we encourage and invite people to comprehend, or know, the world and to act in solidarity within it.

Everyday and Transformative
Lastly, global citizenship education ought to be simultaneously everyday and transformative, at once mundane and transcendent. What does that mean? How does one ponder the meaning of the universe and one's miniscule place within it while eating a sandwich? I want to suggest that both activities-pondering and eating-are fundamentally wound within what it means to be a global citizen. Thinking big about ourselves and our lives is perhaps the same insight that inspired Diogenes to utter his famous phrase, "I am a citizen of the world" over two millennia ago. And our daily eating habits are so intimately woven into the fabric of a networked world in a beleaguered biosphere that one is literally eating from around the world at every meal. As Martin Luther King reminds us, "All life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly...before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you've depended on more than half of the world."

How to Start
How might educators engage young people in global citizenship education? I have a few starting points to suggest:

Develop curriculum to illustrate how interdependent the world is by having students look at international trade and where everyday items come from and how they will be disposed of;

Create opportunities for educators and students to learn about how other people live, those living 5, 500, and 5000 kilometers away, through exchange programs and online dialogs about common interests and shared problems;

Build gardens and grow food while studying how food, water, and power is sourced, generated and supplied to their school and community.

A version of this text was presented to the United Nations Academic Impact meeting in Seoul, May 2015. Follow Heather and Asia Society on Twitter. Photo credit: iStockPhoto.
Whatever path you choose, the work is complicated and demanding, and yet so necessary-to live in a way that recognizes the immediacy and interdependence of every interaction, while accepting how our connectedness winds us into events much larger than ourselves.

In each of my examples, I highlight simple, everyday tasks-wearing a hat, glancing in a mirror, or eating a sandwich-that symbolize much more profound matters. This is an enormous task but it is what we must do-to educate the child born today in your community, in a manner that imagines a world that is not yet-one of peace, respect, justice, and sustainability-in a way that perceives time with a sense of urgency, hears others with openness and humility and moves to inhabit our daily practices with a profound sense of life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At the World Education Forum recently held in Incheon, South Korea, global citizenship education was identified as part of a quality education for all students. William Gaudelli, associate professor and chair of the Department of Arts and Humanities at Teachers College, Columbia University and co-founder of the By guest blogger William Gaudelli Global Competence Certificate Program, outlines the reasons why it is critical to raise global citizens.

# data[].attributes.headline
Global Competence Guidebook (Asia Society)

# data[].attributes.subject
Global Competence Guidebook (Asia Society)

# data[].attributes.body
This comprehensive resource is great both in terms of curricular ideas and teacher self-assessment. It also appears to be a quintessential read based on our classroom assignments ; )

# data[].attributes.body
This woman eloquently says everything I wish I could explain to those who don't care about funding public education because they "don't have kids"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dan Rather's interview with Linda Darling-Hammond on Finland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In just 30 years, Finland transformed its school system from one that was mediocre and inequitable, to one that consistently produces some of the world's best students, while virtually eliminating an achievement gap. And they do it without standardized testing. This interview with Linda-Darling Hammond, Charles E.