Students Make Mindful Choices for A Global Society

In early December, partnerships from Korea and the United States came together to present mindful decisions to support UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Throughout the semester, high school students reflected on our daily choices that continue to produce negative effects around the world. After identifying two or three common choices and their impacts, students developed solutions for citizens to make conscious decisions in an effort to promote positive results. Group presenters highlighted choices to advance the progress of SDGs featuring environmental aspects and responsible consumption.

Climate change is noted to be caused directly by humans. It is human choices that affect the future of our global society. Students researched the consequences of specific choices and explained the best decision to their IVECA friends. Daily decisions that affect our environment include choice of transportation, duration of showers, consumption of food, and use of plastic products. Positive choices students proposed incorporated using a bicycle more frequently, taking short showers and being mindful of water consumption.

The current amount of product consumption by people around the world has created negative effects such as an increase in child labor, water contamination, and landfill usage. Korean students outlined three types of consumption; Impulsive, Conspicuous, and Imitation. Buying products from around the world has never been easier. With social media on the rise, consumers are quick to purchase items (Impulsive) to show a higher social status (Conspicuous) and fit in with others (Imitation). In order to combat this problem, American students suggested only buying what you need, researching products before you buy, and making the buying process inconvenient.

The goal of student presentations was met by raising awareness of how our everyday actions affect the future of our environment. An American student shared, “After all, I learned from you through IVECA, I am sure to make good environmental choices from now on. I plan on recycling more and reducing my consumption of unnecessary items for sure.” Through IVECA, students are making changes starting with themselves. It is beautiful to see future generations take accountability and make mindful choices for a global society.

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Chinese and Vietnamese teenagers inspired to improve the world through friendship and partnership

For two months this semester, high school students in China and Vietnam worked together for the first time in the IVECA virtual exchange program. As part of their projects, students researched the causes and effects of climate change in their countries to discuss possible solutions with partner peers. When they met through the Live Class this week, students enjoyed celebrating their global friendship while shedding light on local cultures as well as each other's collaborative work.

Besides learning about commonly shared environmental impacts of climate change, students from these neighboring countries had a precious opportunity to appreciate the diverse cultures they have. Chinese students introduced beautiful Hanfu, the traditional clothing of Chinese Han people, and Vietnamese students presented a dynamic dance performance filmed in their music club. Smiles on their faces and continued applause from the students showed their mutual attraction and respect for the activities. "...your performance is very attractive. The dance is very powerful, which makes me have an interest in your music," said a Chinese student while their Vietnamese peer commented, "This experience has been enjoyable, and I do hope that we will be able to meet again in the future."

Supporting the students' passionate conclusion to take action to protect the environment, principals stressed the importance of global collaboration to mitigate climate change. The Chinese principal elaborated, "We know that humans have a common destiny so that we will work together to overcome the disasters caused by climate change, and we have to take measures to protect our environment to maintain a green and peaceful life." The Vietnamese principal shared his inspiration in his closing remarks, "I'm very proud of you for your great effort, and I hope that you've learned much from the class and we can do something to improve the situation around the world."

#IVECA #LiveClass #SDGs #GlobalCitizens #21stCenturyEducation #GlobalPartners #CulturalCelebration #InterculturalCompetence

Students Take Responsibility to Close the Gap of Inequalities

Middle school students from different sectors of the world came together to assess inequalities in their countries. After their discussion with international partners from India, Nepal, Korea, and the United States, students worked to find solutions on ways to close the gap of inequalities in their countries. As it turns out, many countries shared similar issues while having unique backgrounds of these challenges. Students shared their passions for making the world a more equitable place and realized solutions are in the hands of future generations. Solutions were suggested by addressing cases related to gender inequalities, wealth inequalities, technological inequalities, and educational inequalities.

Gender inequalities are prevalent in all countries. Each school highlighted the gaps between men and women and how it impacts their community. In Nepal, students described the Dowry Custom (payment for a woman’s hand in marriage) and how it can negatively control a woman’s life. The community has seen a rise in domestic violence and decrease in independence for women. As a powerful solution, Nepali students presented educating children on the harmful effects of dowries to create change makers in our global society. Technological inequalities are growing at an alarming rate due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Many societies are seeing this digital divide grow between age groups. The rapid advancement of technology has displayed consequences by hindering older generations' ability to stay connected in our global society. Korean students stressed, “It’s becoming more and more serious that many people are discriminated against as technology develops. It is a serious social problem and we are responsible to reduce and solve this problem. We are going to constantly work hard for a better future.”

Students from the United States brought up their own experiences of wealth inequalities and emphasized the effects they can have. From personal narratives, students explained how income differences depending on geographic location, gender, and ethnicity have altered their daily lives. Although many policies are in the works to support income gaps, students insisted on the importance of education in order to close the wealth gaps.

Although education is important for all people, academic inequalities are present throughout the world. Korean students explained how wealth inequality greatly affects a child’s ability to access higher education. Furthermore, students from India visualized a direct correlation that includes those with access to quality education more often have a higher socioeconomic status. From there, citizens have more opportunities in society than others. Students passionately announced, “Reducing inequality requires transformative change. Greater efforts are needed to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, and invest more in health, education, social protection and decent jobs especially for… vulnerable communities.”

Overall, students were enlightened by sharing essential solutions for similar inequality issues from different cultural perspectives and contexts. Although students live far apart, everyone agrees that education and taking responsibility can have a substantial influence on widening or closing societal gaps. Nepali students expressed appreciation for their learning opportunity, “...Talking about our hobbies and our culture was really a good part to learn... Not only that but discussion about inequality issues in our country and the solution of it was a very important part to learn.”

#IVECA #interculturalcompetence #LiveClass #SDGs #GlobalCitizens #GlobalEducation #InterculturalExchange #IVECAFall