What is Global Citizenship and Why is it Important?
Can you think back to high school when you had the opportunity to go on that language exchange program but instead you spent that week riding your bike around your neighborhood trails and playing video games. Maybe for lack of resources or maybe lack of interest, either way when those kids came back they seemed to have learned more than just a language. They learned a new way of living, acting, being.
So why were those cultural experiences so important? And how might that have been the beginning of shaping global citizens?
The lessons you learn from traveling abroad, immersing yourself in other cultures, trying to communicate and become accepted by a new group of people is nothing short of life changing. One learns a new set of skills, a new ability to adapt to unknown situations and question one’s own reality.
Table of Contents:
What Are the Values of Global Citizenship?
Why Is It Important to Be a Global Citizen?
How do you become a global citizen, where do you stand.
This is the beginning of a cultural awareness that shapes global citizens . The aim of global citizenship is nothing short of “nurturing respect for all, building a sense of belonging to a common humanity and helping learners become responsible and active global citizens.” UN
In the essay “Global Citizenship: What Are We Talking About and Why Does It Matter?” Madeleine F. Green, Ph.D. writes, “National citizenship is an accident of birth; global citizenship is different. It is a voluntary association.”
To be a global citizen means to have:
cultural empathy
a passion for engaging with people from different backgrounds
to be adaptable to different experiences and environments
And an appreciation for diversity.
When you are a global citizen, you possess a dedication to addressing the world's collective concerns, such as climate change and biases like racism.
When we begin to understand and acknowledge our place within the world around us - including our privileges, our experiences and how our actions can affect global events in both small and notable ways, we are gradually transforming ourselves into becoming global citizens.
Global Citizenship gives us an opportunity to explore different experiences, ideologies, and cultures while still recognizing the uniqueness of our own culture.
What Are the Values of Global Citizenship?
According to UNESCO, it “aims to instill in learners the values, attitudes and behaviours that support responsible global citizenship: creativity, innovation, and commitment to peace, human rights and sustainable development.”
Let’s focus on human rights for a moment. As a global citizen who is aware of the human rights abuses across the globe and in one’s own backyard, one could easily connect the dots to movements like anti-racism education and awareness as an area global citizens would excel at. So the question begs, are global citizens by default anti-racist?
Being anti-racist simply means you understand that racism is real, not just in America and in Canada, but in any one of the numerous multicultural countries in the World. It may look and feel different, but it rears its ugly head at the best of times when opportunities are ripe, and the worst of times like war time hysteria.
So what does being a global citizen have to do with being anti-racist? Once you know this truth, and begin to find ways to reduce the negative effects of racism through consistent work to demolish racist structures, one could say you’re anti-racist.
Being a Global Citizen can be powerful, because a globally-minded individual who takes political, social, environmental and economic actions is going to impact communities on a world wide scale.
For example, while the United States holds the title of the democratic nation of the world, it is founded on white supremacy . The inferred implication of that is systemic racism; presented like a thread sewn into every facet of America’s society. Think health care, education, housing, and wealth distribution. The Black, Indigenous, Asian and coloured communities face microaggressions and more overt forms of racism throughout their lives.
It’s a painful fact, and the reason you would find marches and protests against actions that — sometimes — look like they were obviously targeted at undermining the humanity of non-white heritage.
Anti-black racism is one of the many biases someone who thinks and acts like a global citizen would be aware of and working to resolve, because the ideas presented by global citizenship are meant to be empowering and equitable for all. Thinking and viewing the world beyond the confines of your — sometimes — limited experiences has proven for many to be a fruitful idea.
While learning about other cultures is an excellent recipe for becoming a true global citizen , there’s more. Absorbing new experiences, language, traditions, and culture of people in other parts of the world, is what helps you get there.
So, the big question becomes how can you gain the opportunities that provide you access to that learning, that lifestyle?
During conversations like this, “travel” is a word that comes up a lot — and rightly so.
Think about this. How else can you meet new people of varying cultural experiences, and get a rich initiation into their way of life without actually living it?
However, some would argue differently and tell you that technology provides a way to become a global citizen through online meet-up opportunities.
That argument holds only a little worth. Because through close inspection it’s simple to see how behind-the-screen experiences do not give you a true picture of how people live, how and what they eat, how they celebrate events, and how your thought process and conclusions are different even in common, similar situations, among other things.
To put it simply, if you want to get a new perspective, you have to experience something from a different vantage point. Take yourself out of your normal environment in order to perceive the world differently.
Are you ready to make such a commitment to yourself? You must be able to make continual attempts to comprehend diverse elements and opinions that might impact our lives on a global scale. Global citizenship is a way of life, a thought process from a global perspective, but also a tool to gain more freedom. Many use global citizenship to minimize the restraints one country has on them and gain one's liberties and financial autonomy by moving around more.
And others believe it is the fullest way of living - open to embrace what the world has to offer, and willing to sacrifice in order to protect it.
Let’s talk about it in our next Tough Convos. Sign up here or set up a call and we can develop a custom experience for your team.
- Global Citizenship
- Cultural Awareness
- Anti-Black Racism
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Importance of Being a Global Citizen Essay
Introduction, the distinction between globalism and globalization, being a global citizen in the world of advanced technologies, disagreement between theorists about the definition of global citizenship, choosing and explaining two of the six outcomes of global citizenship, describing at least two personal examples, identifying and explaining two specific general education courses.
The relevance of being a global citizen is that through international encounters, people develop a considerable awareness of the problems faced by various parts of the world. In this case, being such a person encourages young individuals to focus more deeply on the effects of their activities and decisions on other areas of the world. Although becoming such a citizen is critical in contemporary society, there is a need to differentiate between globalism and globalization.
Globalization refers to the spread of jobs, information, products, and technology across nations in the world. On the other hand, globalism refers to an ideology regarding the belief that goods, knowledge, and people should cross international borders without restrictions (Reysen & Katzarska-Miller, 2013). Globalization means civilization, where people migrate to any part of the world despite the risks involved. Globalism is an ideology committed to favoring globalization and placing the interests of the world above the interests of individual countries.
Global citizenship is a crucial step that people should take because it has its advantages. In the world of advanced technology, being a global citizen is helpful because it assists in succeeding in meeting individual, professional, and academic goals and objectives. Modern technology helps people to keep in touch or communicate with business partners, family, and friends through text messages and emails (Ahmad, 2013). Through globalization, people can share information from any part of the world. In contemporary society, advanced technology has become the key to communication, enabling people to meet their professional, academic, and individual goals.
Various theorists disagree about the definition of global citizenship because they have divergent meanings. For this reason, some define the concept in their own words, while others believe that it is a concept that has to be taught to people (Reysen & Katzarska-Miller, 2013). In addition, other individuals believe that global citizenship needs people to be isolated from their customs and cultures. Some theorists feel that when a person becomes a global citizen, they will not be considered fully part of one country. Therefore, such people will have challenges living within the social spheres of such an area. After reading the article by Katzarska-Miller and Reysen, I defined global citizenship as becoming exposed and interconnected to international cultures that give people opportunities to develop their identities.
The two of the six outcomes that I choose include social justice and valuing diversity, and they are the most relevant in becoming a global citizen concerning others. When a person embraces such citizenship, one understands that silencing people is not the solution in the community and that they have to be allowed to serve (Arditi, 2004). Therefore, social justice ensures that oppressing others is not the solution and that giving individuals a chance is the best thing. Social justice ensures that human beings do not miss out on growth and development opportunities because of a lack of diversity. Valuing diversity helps one to become such an individual as it assists a person in recognizing the fact that the world has different people. Therefore, global citizenship can relate to individuals from other parts of the globe. Such an interaction could be on academic or business grounds as the world becomes increasingly interconnected.
In my life, I have had to relate with individuals from all corners of the world. Therefore, I view myself as a global citizen because I value and embrace diversity in all my undertakings. For example, my school embraces diversity and inclusion, where students are admitted from different parts of the world. In this case, my school environment has become one of the most significant contributors to my value for diversity over the years (De Soto, 2015). In school, I interact with other students from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada, and other parts of America other than the United States. I have understood the challenges of interacting with foreigners, such as differentiated business cultures and language barriers. In school and my immediate environment, I have come to appreciate treating other people as the law requires. Therefore, I have come to respect everyone and do not like seeing people being oppressed.
The two general education courses that contributed the most to being a global citizen include Introduction to Literature and Introduction to social responsibility and Ethics. The concept of global citizenship has shaped my identity, and being such a citizen has made me a better person in the community (Arditi, 2004). The literature course has strengthened my ability to learn other people’s cultures, customs, and traditions, which has enabled me to appreciate diversity more. Social responsibility and ethics as a course have helped me to strengthen my ability to determine what is right before taking any action.
In conclusion, global citizenship is a concept that has relevance in contemporary society. In addition, being a citizen enables one to comprehend other relevant concepts, such as globalization and globalism. Being a student allows one to appreciate diversity and inclusivity, pertinent elements of globalization or being a global citizen. For example, studying some courses such as ethics and literature helps one understand and appreciate others.
Ahmad, A. (2013). A global ethics for a globalized world (Links to an external site.). Policy Perspectives, 10(1), 63-77. Web.
Arditi, B. (2004). From globalism to globalization: The Politics of Resistance . New Political Science , 26 (1), 5–22. Web.
De Soto, H. (2015) . Globalization at the Crossroads. [Video]. You Tube. Web.
Reysen, S., & Katzarska-Miller, I. (2013). A model of global citizenship: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of Psychology , 48 (5), 858–870.
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IvyPanda. (2023, August 19). Importance of Being a Global Citizen. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-being-a-global-citizen/
"Importance of Being a Global Citizen." IvyPanda , 19 Aug. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-being-a-global-citizen/.
IvyPanda . (2023) 'Importance of Being a Global Citizen'. 19 August.
IvyPanda . 2023. "Importance of Being a Global Citizen." August 19, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-being-a-global-citizen/.
1. IvyPanda . "Importance of Being a Global Citizen." August 19, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-being-a-global-citizen/.
Bibliography
IvyPanda . "Importance of Being a Global Citizen." August 19, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-being-a-global-citizen/.
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