Transcript EDUCATION FOR GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AND CITIZENSHIP

EDUCATION FOR GLOBAL
LEADERSHIP AND
CITIZENSHIP
JOSEPH STIGLITZ
BOSTON
MARCH 2, 2006
THE NEW GLOBAL WORLD
• Globalization: the closer integration of the
countries and peoples of the world
– The result of lowering of communication,
transportation costs
– And the elimination of man-made barriers
• Closer integration means more
interdependence, more interdependence
means more need to act cooperatively, as
a global community
THE MANY DIMENSIONS TO
GLOBALIZATION
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Not just economic globalization
Globalization of ideas
Globalization of civil society
Global political institutions
But economic globalization has outpaced
political globalization
– Impairing our ability to act cooperatively to
solve global problems—like global
environment
BUT IT’S MORE THAN JUST A
MATTER OF POLITICAL
INSTITUTIONS
• Mindsets—
– We do not think globally
– We do not feel globally
– We do not know enough about what is going
on elsewhere, how they and feel about the
issues confronting the world
– Enormous consequences
• For how we are perceived
• For the success of our efforts at global leadership
FAILED OPPORTUNITY
• The end of the Cold War provided an opportunity
to reshape globalization
• Could have reshaped it to reflect more our ideals
and principles
• But the end of Cold War also meant that,
unfettered by competition, we could use our
power to enhance our economic position—or
more accurately, those of our multinational
corporations—creating a more unfair
globalization
• We chose the second course
– Poorest countries of the world actually worse off as a
result of the last round of trade negotiations
– Tariffs of advanced industrial countries four times
higher against developing countries than against
other industrial countries
– Denying access to life saving medicines for the
poorest people of the world
• At Doha, in 2001, we promised a Development
Round
– In Hong Kong, in 2005, we effectively reneged on that
promise
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION
• America may be the only superpower in
the world
• But it cannot exert effective leadership if
its leaders have not been trained to
understand the world in which we live
• And if there is not within its citizenry the
right mindset
• There has to be a change in education at
every level
CHANGES AT THE UNIVERSITY
LEVEL
• Columbia has gone from being a university in
New York City, to a regional university, to a
national university
• It now sees itself as becoming a global university
– More than just teaching about Non-western
civilization
– Seeing the world through the eyes of those in other
parts of the world, in the developed and developing
world
– And addressing the major global problems facing the
world
– Changes in both what we teach and how we teach,
and in our research
• Changed perspective reflected in the creation of
a Committee on Global Thought
– Cross cultural, multi-disciplinary
• As well as close links with universities around
the world
• Similar trends are going on at other major
institutions
• But universities have to build on what goes on at
the elementary and secondary level
– Importance of the topics you are discussing
SOME BIG CHANGES
• More than just enormous increases in
trade
• And the movements of capital and labor
across boundaries
• The integration of China and India (and
the other countries of Asia) is a change of
historic proportions
– Fastest growth ever recorded
– Most rapid reduction in poverty
THESE CHANGES WILL AFFECT
EVERYONE
• Change the competitive position of the
United States and EU
• MODERN ECONOMY BASED ON
TECHNOLOGY
• BUT NUMBER OF GRADUATES IN
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING NOW
DWARFED BY THOSE IN ASIA
SOME STATISTICS
– Of 2.8 1st university degrees in science and
engineering
• 1.2 million in Asia
• 830,000 in Europe
• 400,000 in U.S.
– In engineering, Asia produces 8 times U.S.
– since 1993, the number of American citizens in
graduate science programs has fallen from 55,000
to under 42,000 while the global supply of Ph.D. in
science has increased by 25%--mostly in Asia
– Just under half of all doctorate degrees in
engineering and computer science in the United
States are earned by foreign students
• Serious visa problems since 9/11
PROBLEMS START EARLIER
• PROBLEMS START EARLIER IN
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
SCHOOLS
– EVIDENCED BY PERFORMANCE IN
STANDARDIZED TESTS IN SCIENCE AND
MATH. For example, at 8th grade
• 44% of Singapore performed at highest level
• 38% of Taiwan
• 7% U.S.
• EXPENDITURES ON RESEARCH
DECLINING
– As percent of GDP, 37% decline in federal
funding since 1970
– Reflected in part in patents
• Since 1980, Japan’s share world wide increased
from 12% to 21%, mostly at expense of U.S.
(which has decline 8 percentage points)
• SUCCESS OF CHINA IN
MANUFACTURING NOT JUST A
MATTER OF UNSKILLED LABOR
– Combining skilled and unskilled
– Even in textiles and automobile assembly
– ISSUES MAY BE OF EVEN MORE
CONCERN IN IT, TELECOM, AND RELATED
SECTORS
EMERGING STRAINS
• COMPETITION LIKELY TO RESULT IN
LOWERING WAGES OF UNSKILLED
WORKERS
• AND EVEN OF OTHERS
• ENORMOUS STRAINS ON SOCIETY
• BUT NEITHER U.S. NOR EUROPE ARE IN
GOOD POSITION TO RESPOND
– IN U.S. HUGE FISCAL DEFICITS
– IN EUROPE, GROWTH AND STABILITY PACT, ECB
FOCUSING ON INFLATION, PROBLEM OF
EARLIER DECADES
ECONOMIC TYPOGRAPHY HAS
CHANGED
• The world is not flat
– Disparities between the haves and have nots have
increased
– Power of entrenched monopolies, like Micro-soft, is
probably greater than ever before
– Importance of research gives enormous advantage to
those who have the resources and skills to undertake
it
• But the nature of competition is enormously
changed
– Cannot simply rest on laurels
Preparing for Global Leadership
and Citizenship
• There are three ways we can respond to
challenges posed by globalization
– Retreat behind protectionism
– Use our current power to try to create rules of
the game that are more favorable to us—a
more “ unfair” globalization for the poor
– Understand the changes, preparing ourselves
for the new world
Preparing for Global Leadership
and Citizenship
• Recognizing that there will be increases in
inequality, we need to have more
progressive taxation, better safety nets
– Scandinavian model
• Fast growth, higher living standards (measured by
HDI)
• Our economy may have high growth of GDP, but
for average American, things are getting worse
– Falling median income
– Falling real wages
– Working longer
Preparing for Global Leadership
and Citizenship
• But at the center of any successful response will
be our schools
– Science and technology
– Meaning of the enlightenment and the scientific
method
– Understanding the meaning of democracy
• Including democracy at the global level
• Democracy is more than periodic elections
• Importance of basic rights that we traditionally held as so
important
• Importance of the right to know—the dangers of secrecy
Preparing for Global Leadership
and Citizenship
• Understanding notions of ethics—concepts of
social justice
• Understanding our world, seeing the world from
multiple perspectives—through the eyes of
others—knowing about our international
institutions, our imperfect system of global
governance without global government,
understanding the economic and political forces
that are shaping our world
America’s educational institutions
• Are among our most important assets
• Have shown their ability to respond to
challenges in the past
• Globalization and America’s role in this
new globalization is among the biggest
challenges we have faced
• I am confident that they will respond to this