Coming Home

“If it isn’t global, it isn’t education.”

Dr. George B. Forsythe, President of Westminster College, highlights the importance of a global perspective in education during his interview with the Huffington Post. A global education, he argues, challenges personal views and promotes professional growth. It is a prerequisite for participation in the global community.

My experience abroad has taught me just how important a global education is. From our Western perspective, our lifestyle and our culture are undeniably the best—as if Western society has reached some zenith of development, unsurpassed by the global south or the east. I imagined that Ecuador, as a developing country, would show the obvious signs of copying western culture, of striving to reach the “development” that is the United States. What I experienced, however, was very different from my expectations.

In San Clemente, a small rural community in the Andes Mountains, I spent six weeks with a host family, learning about their culture and working in the local elementary school. Development has a completely different meaning in this community, and it is most definitely not a Western one. Development and education to this community is about learning the skills to advance their own culture, not copy another culture. As we worked on their farm, preparing the soil for the coming planting season, my host mother taught me about the importance of crop rotation, about her recent efforts to teach the community about organic farming, and her own determination to learn about how to make the best compost fertilizer. These were examples of their own development goals.

During the final week, I travelled into the city to buy my family a little gift to show my appreciation for their hospitality and friendship. I asked myself, What do they need? What don’t they have that I can buy them? That question wasn’t hard to answer: a television, a computer, a dishwasher, a radio, cellphones. But the hard question was, What do they want? I could buy my family any of those items, but I realized that they would be useless for them. The fact that someone may not want a computer or a cellphone was unfathomable to me before I came to this community. Now, however, it makes perfect sense. The latest technologies are not how this community plans to “develop.” That’s not what they need. Innovation can take many forms—from designing the most advanced computer to designing a seed-sharing program where community members can share with each other medicinal herbs and vegetable seeds.

This concept of different views on development is what I consider the most important part of my “global education” during my study abroad experience. I am interested in pursuing a career in international education and development. Knowing the importance of truly understanding the culture and needs of the people I work with will be my greatest strength. Western “development” is not a one-size-fits-all approach. No matter how well developed the theory or plan is, it needs to be localized. Members of the community need a say in how international or foreign “help” is implemented because they truly know what’s best for them.

I can walk away from this semester with a more critical perspective of what I think I know and what I learn in my classes. Viewpoints vary remarkably between cultures and nations, and one viewpoint isn’t better or more advanced than the other—they are merely different. To help others, whether it is in another community in the United States or abroad, I need to learn from them first. I need to question what I think I already know about what they need, and instead, I need to listen.