Chapter+15+TWIF

The World is Flat Chapters 1, 7, and 15 Summaries

As we all begin to read this book, we realize immediately that our world in flattening in terms of technology and globalization. Thomas Friedman states, "It is now possible for more people than ever to collaborate and compete in real time with more other people on more different kinds of work from more different corners of the planet and on a more equal footing that any previous time in the history of the world."

As I read this I begin to think what an amazing and wonderful era to live in. However, I continued to read through the chapters especially chapter 15, I see that there is more than meets the eye as our world continues to get flatter and flatter, faster and more efficient as new innovations are imagined and created. Being in the career of education and previously reading Pink's book A Whole New Mind, I was curious how we as educators incorporate this movement into the classroom to better serve our students to enter the flat world.

Friedman gave many suggestions but one that resonated with me is how we educate our children being more important than how much we educate them. He states, that what is essential in educating our students "is the ability to “learn how to learn". As I gather more information, I completely agree with this concept and agree that "it is not what you know but how you know because what you learn today will be outdated in the future."

As mentioned above Mr. Friedman has spoken in detail about how our world has changed and the contributors that have affected this change also known as flattening. Throughout the chapters I have read, I too was curious about the disadvantages, downfalls, or opposing viewpoints regarding this drastic and rapid change.

In chapter 15, Friedman addresses such thoughts by discussing in detail how the flattening could go wrong as he titled this chapter “The Unflat World.” As he begins to discuss the four contributing factors to this movement, he explains a situation where technology is dependent on the user. He states, “whatever the innovation, people will find a way to use it and abuse it.” He goes on to say that (technological) capabilities create intentions but we cannot control what an individual’s intention is. Friedman uses the example of cellphones whose invention was used for mobile communication. Some have had other intentions and utilized the cellphone's additional functions against their primary function. For example, using the camera on the cellphone to take discrete photos of individuals without their knowledge. He goes on to state that "technologies do not make you smart, modern, wise, moral, fair or decent. It just makes you able to communicate, compete, and collaborate farther and faster. As technology improves, more people will find more ways to use it. We can hope that they are using it to create, collaborate, and grow their living standards."

How we went or are going wrong are categorized into four topics which include: too sick, too frustrated, too disempowered and too many toyotas.

The 1st topic discusses "too sick" as the 50% of the world who are below poverty line and do no access to such technologies or even hope for that matter. Friedman shares that, "no matter how much flatter we get, 50% of the world will still never be flat. We are missing out on all that can be contributed, learned, created, and collaborated." Sections of Africa, India, and China represent part of this 50%. Another perspective regarding that we are "too sick" is that we can easily transmit diseases too quickly across countries more rapidly than ever. The second topic, "too dis-empowered", relates to the people who have not completely embraced technology and the affect it has on our world. They see and experience this new flat world but are not able to access it as quickly or easily as others.

Next, he describes difficulty in becoming flat because many are "too frustrated." This is due to putting different societies and cultures in much greater direct contact with one another which becomes threatening and frustrating for many. People would need to change their culture in order to embrace such a flat world and as extremists this is not something that is foreseeable in the near future. The last topic, "too many toyotas", is something we are currently experiencing through every commercial, billboard, magazine advertisement, and retail display which is the "Go Green" phenomenon. Friedman talks about this chapter as a detriment to our flattening as natural resources are constraining us. He states, "the flattening of the world is making low-impact people into high impact people faster."

There is a lot to think about as our world becomes flatter and flatter however no matter what we consider, the movement has already been set in motion and will continue to move forward and faster. We, as individuals and a society, need to take everything Friedman into consideration as we educate, prepare and equip our students for the future. Again, it is more important that we prepare them on how to handle these potential issues than the issues themselves. As I finish writing this blog, new technology that none of us are aware of is being invented, created and tested which results in a whole another 700 page book of what is and is not flattening us.