Discussions

It’s “a matter of wills”: cultural will, social will, organizational will, and political will. Dr. Ron Edmonds said, “We can, whenever and wherever we choose, teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than is necessary to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”  To address Dr. Edmonds’ question takes collective willpower, How do we feel about not having addressed the needs of every child? How can attention to transnational spaces ensure children interact globally, thereby building a collaborative world? How do we establish the cultural, social, organizational, and political will to serve every child, ensuring their global responsiveness? Thomas Friedman maintains that the world is flat. In a flat world, how do we establish cohesive collaborative structures? Conference attendees will hear the Clover Park School District (Lakewood, WA, USA) story, an intentional design to transform student experiences. The premise: Do you understand the population of students with whom you are working and are you committed to ensuring their progress (cultural will)? Do you believe that every child brings assets to school and our responsibility is to address instructional delivery from that belief system (social will)? Are you willing to redesign the organizational structure to ensure closing of the achievement gap (organizational will)? And, are you willing to commit to policy at the governance level and have the courage to stand in the face of racism and criticism.  The Matter of Wills framework highlights the will it takes to educate every child is a global education idea whose time has come.  Achieving transnational space in education is a matter of collective will.