What is the relationship between CS and being a global citizen?

“I think that global citizenship, as a framework, is a really, really good place to start for addressing something that’s really common and very, very understandable, which is that feeling of helplessness… you recognize that there’s injustice in the world but you feel helpless in the face of it. And something like child sponsorship presents itself as really approachable. I think that global citizenship education could go a long way to giving people the tools and a framework to better think through how they can have an impact. So, what I mean by global citizenship, it really builds on the political philosophy of cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity is a single community and our moral obligations lie to everyone in the world, and not just to those within our borders, or our political community, however defined. Global citizenship is kind of a more recent manifestation of that, that aims to… I think the concept of a global citizen is somebody who understands the existence and the operation and the structures of injustice in the world, that understands their own connection to those injustices, so that they’re not just something out there happening on the other side of the world, but they understand the relation, the global connections and relationships that they are a part of as consumers, as voters, as privileged decision makers in the world, if we’re talking about the Global North. But then importantly, is willing to take action, once they recognize how that injustice works, and what their role in it is. And at this point, students often balk at the idea of global citizenship and say, ‘Well, I’m not here to become an activist,’ but it doesn’t mean throwing yourself into sort of a life of advocacy, it means having an appreciation for the global impact of your actions, somewhere near the forefront of your mind, so that when you’re deciding how to spend your money, what materials to use in renovating your home, who to support in a local election or a national election, where to donate— that you’re able to see it within this global framework, and what the potential impact, positive or negative, of your decisions and your actions could be. So that’s not very helpful, in that it doesn’t present a different attractive program that you can look to instead of child sponsorship. But I’ve seen in students that go through the program for four years, that it’s really effective to help sort of formulate a mindset where you almost have this kind of this piece that attaches itself to your constant mental process of decision making, where you’re connecting yourself and your actions to their global consequences. And so that leads you towards voting decisions, volunteering decisions, charity donation decisions, participation in advocacy decisions, career decisions—where you start to want to position yourself in a way that, really, that your actions are doing the least harm, and sort of as a starting point. And if that sounds overwhelming, talking to students, I don’t think it is; I think it’s actually, it’s a weight off, it’s helpful to sort of help cut through the noise of the barrage of injustice that we see and start to fit it into an understandable framework. And then, of course, you have the possibility of dedicating your life in many ways to overcoming injustice and to working towards solidarity. But it also, I think, gives a framework that helps people to alleviate that guilt in a way that’s more productive than giving to the visible face of child sponsorship.”

“From an academic standpoint, I think anyone who studies “development studies” or even sociology, immediately understands that things are connected. Like, you know, the actions of one individual in a society are, in greater or lesser ways, fundamentally related to the actions of other people. I mean, this is a core concept of sociology, a core concept of political economics, right? And I think increasingly easier for people to see. Nowadays we talk about voting with your dollar, so people understand that it’s not just the goods that I buy with my money. I’m supporting some thing, whether it’s one company over another company, and so now consumers are a little more careful, I would argue, a little more careful in their purchasing habits because […] they fundamentally understand the connection between supporting Amazon and challenges in their society. So, all you have to do is take that to a global level—the things that we do, as individuals, or as a collectivity of individuals through our government in Canada, affect other countries, and if we assume that’s the case now, how hard is it to assume that was the case in the past? […] The legacy of past is still with us today… the legacy of colonialism is till with us today… I mean, we’re all connected at this global level. But part of the problem is that there are other mainstream discourses— and here I’m going to tie back into liberalism and capitalism— that see us as fundamentally disconnected or only connected through marketplaces, and through kind of a rational government that we elect, right? This liberal democracy, right. And so, we’re encouraged by these kinds of discourses to see things as not connected through social and cultural pathways, but only through economic pathways or political pathways. And those are not only pervasive, but sometimes appealing. Because look at the complexity when you start to think about the legacy, it’s very overwhelming for people, right. I mean, we know this is a problem with compassion fatigue, and people being overwhelmed by the problem of poverty. It’s much easier to take these narratives around, you know, well, ‘someone’s poverty is not related to someone else’s wealth’. I mean, it’s a core tenant of capitalism, that I can make money, and it doesn’t affect you… We’re encouraged to try and not see things systemically.”

“So, our modules are extremely widely used, which is good to know. My approach since starting with SCIC two years ago, is working with pre-service teachers. So those teachers who have not yet done their internship and who have not been in a classroom, yeah have not had any formal classroom teaching yet… I think they have such a great impact because they haven’t started their teaching career yet. And so, they haven’t quite developed their pedagogical philosophy yet, and I can kind of tap into that and help them understand that global citizenship education isn’t just social studies, or, you know, the one-off lesson on residential schools or something, you know. This is something that we weave into every subject, including subjects like science and math. And it’s an everyday conversation that you can weave into your classes. So that’s kind of how I approach it… I want them to know that it’s not a one and done lesson. And I find for some teachers who have been teaching for quite some time, it’s a little different because they do see global citizenship education as a one and done lesson, like a check of the box.”

… yes, I mean, absolutely. I’m hoping that global citizenship becomes the new child sponsorship. We teach our young people that… I think the most important thing is to teach them that they have a voice, and that their voice is valuable, and it’s easy to use your voice, and that actually makes change. Because I think that many young people believe that their voice doesn’t matter. And then in that situation, yes, child sponsorship is easier. And it’s easy to bring that $5 bill to school to contribute to something like that. But I think if we really focus on our student voices, and connecting those voices to global issues, what’s happening in the world, and even, you know, what’s happening in our community, what’s going on in our own community, that we can talk about.”