1. INTERNATIONAL MINDEDNESS
OPENING DOORS…
CREATING UNDERSTANDING

2. OPENING REFLECTION
I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.
Mohandas Ghandi

3. IBO MISSION STATEMENT
The IBO aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the IBO works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

4. IBO MISSION STATEMENT
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

5. IM: A four-pronged approach
1: Understanding the concept of IM
2: The world beyond school:
> Understanding other cultures
> Awareness of global issues
3: Focusing on IM within the school
4: Performance approach to curriculum development and pedagogy

6. THOUGHT EXPERIMENT (1)
Imagine for a moment that you have been abducted by aliens and that you are now on board their craft. They are friendly intelligent and inquisitive. They ask you this question: “What qualities distinguish citizens of your country and your culture from other peoples and other cultures on planet earth?” What would be your response?

7. THOUGHT EXPERIMENT (2)
Imagine you are visiting a country outside of North America and Europe (say Botswana). A local resident of the city you are visiting welcomes you to his home and engages you in a friendly and lively conversation. What questions would you ask him in order to form a better idea of his people and his culture?

8. THINKING ABOUT IM
International mindedness is about understanding how, and why, other people on the planet live, think, feel and act as they do. It is about getting on the inside of their shared systems of beliefs and values with a view to understanding their history and the culture they have created enabling human life to flourish and prosper.

9. INTERNATIONAL MINDEDNESS…
… is an intellectual perspective characterized by the belief that truth and value does not flourish in one’s own culture exclusively
…is an ethical commitment to seek what is “good” and “true” in all cultural views and practices
…is a habit of open-mindedness celebrating diversity and difference

10. APPROACHES TO IM (1) INTERNATIONALISM
Primarily a concept drawn from economics/political science. The focus is on creating transnational organizations (UN, ICJ)fostering the creation of links and relationships which would make global commerce and cooperation more efficient and more beneficial to all parties involved.

11. APPROACHES TO IM (2) COSMOPOLITANISM
This idea, first enunciated by Diogenes of Sinope (c 412 BCE) posits the notion that all human beings belong to the same global moral community (and not the local clan) thus opening the door to a universal moral code. The 20th century idea of “crimes against humanity” is rooted in this notion.

12. STEPS TOWARD IM
International mindedness is more than flags, food, fashion, folk dancing and music
It involves more than reading newspapers from other countries
It is not just comparing customs and practices that may be different from those “we” practice
International mindedness is not about “tolerance” or about “getting to know the competition”

13. QUESTIONS
How can we come to recognize and understand “truth” and “value” in cultural beliefs and practices which are foreign to our own?
What does “understanding” in this context mean? Does it mean “acceptance”?
How are “conflicts” in beliefs and practices to be approached? Can they be resolved?
How do we handle incompatible beliefs and practices?
Who decides the answers to these questions?

14. HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND CULTURE?
Culture encompasses the language, religious and ethical beliefs, legal and political structures, social constructs, customs and practices of a people
The above influence an individual’s, thinking, feeling, responses, actions and imaginings to situations
Culture shapes individual and group identity thus creating both loyalty and, potentially, xenophobia

15. CATEGORIES OF COMPARISON (1)
Language and meaning
Forms of art
Spheres of knowledge/education
Religion and spirituality
Uses of technology
Family structures and relationships
Political/economic organization
Customs and practices

16. CATEGORIES OF COMPARISON (2)
Power, authority and law
Relationships between individuals and groups, the young and the elderly, rich and poor, majority and minority, citizen and foreigner, strong and weak, church and state, “normal” and “deviant”
Gender roles, attitudes to sex, marriage and family
Ethical, political and economic values; religious beliefs
Distribution of education, health care, wealth
Attitudes toward the disabled, the unborn, the elderly, the environment, criminals, the poor, the police and military, the “other”

17. FOSTERING INTERNATIONAL MINDEDNESS
Fostering international mindedness requires a “whole school” approach cutting across curriculum areas and school organization
International mindedness is not something which can be relegated to a specific course or a specific activity occurring during the course of the academic year
IM must be part of the culture of the school informing all of its activities and forms of interaction

18. CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY
What themes and ideas would highlight cultural similarities and differences?
How can the grounds for these similarities and differences best be explored?
What activities will lead students to understand them and to locate what is good and valuable about them?
How do these shed light on the roots of our own beliefs and practices?
How can we tell if we have succeeded?

19. EXAMPLES OF PRACTICE (1)
Screen foreign films and identify differences in cultural outlook and explore the basis for these differences
Invite guest speakers to address specific questions or issues
Take students to a temple, church, mosque and have someone speak about religion and the culture it informs

20. EXAMPLES OF PRACTICE (2)
Ask foreign students to speak about what they find most difficult in adapting to their host culture and why this is so
Ask resident students to speak about what they find most difficult to accept about people from other cultures and why this is so
Ask all students to share their insights into what these differences mean and how they might be addressed

21. EXAMPLES OF PRACTICE (3)
Have students create short films, TV programs, blogs, podcasts, wikis etc. focusing on international issues as extensions of class work
Publish a regular column in the student newspaper/faculty bulletins devoted to exploring cultural themes
Use art as a means of exploring IM
Create theatre highlighting issues in IM

22. EXAMPLES OF PRACTICE (4)
As part of CAS, have your students engage in humanitarian work in another country
Establish a prize (award) to be presented annually at graduation to the student who writes an essay, or produces a short film, on an IM theme
Sponsor an IM awareness week (month) involving the whole school community

23. TEACHING IM
International mindedness is a “natural” fit in some subject areas – e.g., history, languages A1 and B, visual arts etc
In incorporating IM themes one aim should be to foster the development of understanding of the ideas explored
Have students follow-up such work with reflection pieces

24. TEACHING IM - SCIENCE
Identify a specific area of interest and then compare and contrast how 3 different societies approach it, i.e., science education, control of scientific research, science and religion, the social status of science
Identify a specific issue and then compare and contrast how 3 different societies approach it, i.e., global warming, birth control, reproductive technologies, AIDS research, GMOs

25. TEACHING IM - ETHICS
Identify several ethical issues and then explore how, if at all, these are viewed in other societies, e.g., same-sex marriage, abortion/euthanasia, academic honesty, distribution of wealth, child labor, the sex trade
Explore the reasoning behind ethical judgments and the source and support for the ethical principles and values used

26. TEACHING IM – SOCIAL SCIENCE
Explore how different societies approach class, deviance, work, entertainment, adolescence, education, marriage, kinship and family, economic organization, criminal justice, substance-abuse etc
Consider whether or not some social problems are unique to the societies in which they occur

27. TEACHING IM – TOK
Different WOKs lead to cross-cultural exploration, e.g., emotion, reason, faith
Different AOKs lead to comparison and contrast reflections., e.g., What role do the arts play in different cultures? Do all cultures recognize individual rights? How is history used in different cultures?
How is truth understood in different cultures?
Is autonomy of thought valued in all societies?

28. CHALLENGES/ISSUES TEACHING IM
To what degree does fostering international mindedness erode cultural identity and social solidarity?
Does international mindedness require that we accept all divergent beliefs and practices?
What common values must we adopt if we are to become a society whose citizens are drawn from every corner of the world?

29. CASE STUDY – EXCISION (1)
Excision (FGM)…refers to "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons. The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.

30. CASE STUDY – EXCISION (2)
An estimated 140 million women worldwide have undergone an excision procedure
In Africa, about three million girls are at risk for FGM annually
It is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15
FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women

31. GLOBAL AWARENESS
A orientation seeking to foster awareness and understanding of the global economy, the new geo-political realities and the global issues facing today’s students so that they may better compete in the global marketplace and contribute to making the world a better place for all.

32. GLOBAL ISSUES Population growth Economic development Global warming
Species extinction
Ethno-diversity
Terrorism
Disease
Sex trade
Human Rights

33. OBSTACLES TO INTERNATIONAL MINDEDNESS
The school culture: Superintendent, principals, teachers, coaches etc
The attitude of other students and parents
The prevailing attitude of the community at large
Messages received from national authorities, the media, community leaders
The influence of friends, personal experiences
The student’s developmental position

34. OUTCOMES
What do we hope to achieve in our schools by focusing attention on international mindedness?
How is fostering IM linked with the IB Learner Profile?
What are the criteria of success?
What “action” will follow the exploration of IM?

35. WHY INTERNATIONAL MINDEDNESS?
We live in a global village
We fear what we do not recognize and understand…
When our fear is great we either flee, or we seek to destroy the cause of our fear…
Harmony among peoples, and cooperative interdependence, requires understanding…
International mindedness seeks to foster the development of that understanding.

36. CONCLUDING THOUGHT
Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking; where it is absent, discussion is apt to become worse than useless. Tolstoy
War does not decide who is right, only who is left. anon

37. QUO VADIS?