1. What would be the ethical issues for making a curriculum international in a nation where developing international understanding was associated with supporting western culture?
1.1. I think it is important to take certain key aspects from the international curriculum
1.2. Walker and Dimmock stated “it is conceivable that prescription of such skills/methodologies may create tensions with certain traditional cultural attributes which lend themselves to high power–distance relationships; fatalism as opposed to proactivism; collectivism as opposed to individualism and uncertainty avoidance.” The authors continue to write that within certain high-power distance relationship cultures like Japan, China, and some African cultures that “cultural revolution notwithstanding remains culturally unacceptable” and that this can lead to difficulties to distinguish appropriate critical analysis at school.
1.3. Another thing is that certain aspects of a program might not be culturally accepted in certain countries. The focus on rote learning in education and that it offers another example of pedagogical cultural disconnect. “In the West, rote learning is disparaged for providing no more than surface learning. In contrast evidence collected from Hong Kong students shows that rote learning is a necessary part of memorization, which in turn is linked to deeper understanding” (Watkins and Biggs. 1996).
2. Summarize your understanding of the ethical issues that may arise or have arisen in your classroom, school, community, country, etc., as a result of the implementation of an internationally based curriculum.
2.1. I am at an American school that uses an American curriculum mixed with an international one and Austrian one. It mixes values from the common core and other american standards with the IB. It is heavily influenced by the IB. I think that this is a good way to do it as they include all paths that students can take.
2.2. The only thing that is different with the Austrian curriculum or "Matura" that it is called, is that it does not include all of the Austrian system. There are several ways students can go through the education system in Austria, and this one is the most basic one. They are also considering to remove the Matura program as students do the full IB program or IB classes together with the Matura.
2.3. The only problem I have with my school is that it is so heavily influenced by the IB diploma program that it might not suite all students needs.
3. How could these issues be overcome?
3.1. I believe it is important to take certain elements of a curriculum or several an integrate them into a school together with the nations curriculum would be a good idea.
3.2. Compare different programs and look at the pros and cons of each and see what element would fit better in the school.
4. Should these issues be overcome?
4.1. In order for a school to be "international" they need to face the issues at hand with appropriate responses. Like at my school they integrate ideas from different curricula from the U.S. and combine it with IB values.
4.2. In order to keep certain languages and cultural identity in Africa or other countries they should keep and be proud of those cultural backgrounds.
4.3. International schools can help prepare students for the future where they may need to work with people from different cultural backgrounds.
5. What would be the ethical issues in a nation where developing international understanding is considered a positive, but where there are many different cultural groups represented within the community with competing ideas on who is ‘right’ in the international community?
5.1. Include all culture groups
5.2. Make sure to respect all different cultural backgrounds
5.3. Have meetings to help discuss the main issue at hand and hear out everyone
