Success?

I finished reading “The World is Flat”  by Thomas Friedman about two months ago.  Wow.  It really makes you think about our place in the educational system.  I have a whole bunch of quotes noted on the back cover that I can use later.

The most striking quote I picked up on in the book was on page 11.  It was one sentence.

Where do I as an individual fit into the global competition and opportunities of the day, and how can I, on my own, collaborate with others globally?

The rest of the book can be thought of as justifying that one small challenge.  Why should an individual care about the global marketplace.  I mean, really.  The book talks forever about Walmart, and business?  Should a teacher even care what happens to Walmart and GM and other business?

My answer is an emphatic YES.  We have to care. Those trends will shape the learners we have today and the learners we will have.  Those trends are going to shape the future of all of us.  After all, the future is what I care about.  It is where I am going to spend the rest of my life. (paraphrasing Charles F. Ketterling)

I have mulled over the quote by Friedman almost daily over the last two months.  I had already set up my blog before I read TWiF, but I had not posted to it.  I really didn’t know why I wanted to set up a blog and post things to the interwebs.  Friedman gave me a reason to follow through and post the things I am doing.

Thanks Friedman.