Developing International Understanding with inquisitiveness
Authored by: Claudia Muresan and Victor Andries from Transylvania College, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Summary
We believe that our school develops mindful and inquisitive leaders, prepared to embark on a global journey, who seek to discover, respect and embrace cultural diversity, as they continue the pursuit of their own international understanding.
Inquisitiveness is one of the key ten competences that our school aims to develop in each student and the goal of our research was to ensemble an in-depth understanding of the most effective processes that generate and stimulate inquisitive minds. We put side by side stories collected through a series of semi-structured interviews, that narrate our colleagues’ school experiences and the role that they played in changing their paradigms and shifting their perspectives. In addition, we conducted an online survey that measured the level of inquisitiveness the students in our school have, which we cross-referenced with their biggest achievements related to international understanding.
Introduction
From our personal experience, as high school students, the school provides valuable opportunities for developing inquisitiveness, both inside the formal curriculum, during lessons of Social Sciences, English, Modern Foreign Languages as well as outside the format of the lessons, by encouraging students to participate in extracurricular activities such as conferences, international summits, projects and exchanges. By taking part in English and Sociology lessons and actively debating on recent global issues, we developed a mindset that allowed us to think critically and develop an ambition towards challenging conventional stereotypes, as well as taking initiative, by breaking through our own cultural barriers.
Our genuine interest for understanding international events was enhanced by the extracurricular activities offered by the school and we felt motivated to take part in conferences such as the Round Square Conferences and Model United Nations. They were eye-opening experiences and we learnt, through direct interaction, how the economic and social context impacts individual decisions. They also provided us with first hand experiences of other cultures, exposing the impact that global events have on different communities than our own. They were undoubtedly, pivotal experiences which stirred up our curiosity, motivated us to join even more international projects, as we fully understood the benefits of direct exposure to multicultural environments.
Analysis
One of the first trends identified by our research is that the students in our school come equipped with an inquisitive mindset and with a willingness to discover, learn and experience different cultures. Over 80% of the high school students, from year 11 to year 13, stated that they have a significant interest in learning about the traditions of other cultures and over 90% enjoy the exposure to a large variety of international cultural experiences such as music, food and theatre. Considering that over 86% affirmed a genuine interest in learning more foreign languages we can conclude that they are highly likely to develop an authentic understanding of other cultures. 78% of the students questioned stated that they would not be quick to judge new or different elements of other cultures than their own, which is a key indicator of low levels of ethnocentric attitudes. Our colleagues demonstrate a high inclination towards open and authentic appreciation of multiculturalism, a prerequisite of great relevance in our cultural eclectic and sometimes polarised society.
After analysing the data collected through in-depth interviews, specific subjects such as English, French, History, Sociology and Economics were recognised as having a pivotal effect on the mindset of the students, in regard to understanding international issues, politics and making personal lifestyles choices: “I started thinking more critically and more constructively when taking decisions and I reflect more on the causes and the consequences of my personal decisions.”
The statistical data gathered also shows a consistent interest towards researching global topics and international news, generally using social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Normally, these online platforms are the prevalent source of information for adolescents and undoubtedly our research confirms this, but, nevertheless it also confirms a genuine desire to stay informed and make sense of the rapid changes of global events. To support the reliability of this statement, 70% of the participants affirmed that they convey and discuss personal opinions on international news with peers and over 68% of them go even further by raising awareness on these international issues in their wider community: “It has become one of my favourite conversation topics – international news – and I attempt to bring these up on as many occasions as I can.”
From the qualitative data that we collected, we concluded that there is a direct, immediate outcome of the exposure to cultural diversity in lessons, of having constructive discussions centred around international topics, such as the decision to take practical initiatives and change daily habits: “I try to implement habits that would benefit my community, such as recycling, which I know is relevant to climate change and I plan to join peaceful protests in the future, to raise awareness.” Statistical evidence supports this claim, with over 79% of the sample stating that they are informed about the causes and consequences of global issues such as global warming and climate change.
The survey also revealed a good level of written or digital exchanges between our students and peers from other countries, with 40% of them maintaining regular connections with friends from other cultures. We speculate that these connections were established during international conferences, as 35% of the students have had consistent experiences as participants in Round Square Conferences or other international events, which proved to be truly revealing: “During an International Summit I had an outlook on difficulties experienced in African countries, for example the lack of access to water and poverty but when I visited them, that was not the case at all. People are not aware that African countries are doing better than we think and that they don’t have as many opportunities as us to get their voices heard. This direct exposure gets us to understand what’s going in the world.” 36% of the high school students of our school stated that they had no previous exposure to these types of multicultural events, but once they did, not only did they enjoy them but they become inspired to organise them themselves: “I participated in a Round Square exchange in Australia for 2 months, and a MUN Conference in Bucharest (…) at the moment I am organising an International Summit with the help of other students from our school and I am running a program which incorporates a 10-year educational program as part of this International Summit.”
Conclusion
Inquisitiveness was defined by Round Square as “the pursuit of international understanding by seeking to discover and embrace similarities and differences between cultures and nationalities, in ways that promote mutual, meaningful and lasting understanding, tolerance and respect.” From our findings, we confirm the belief that our school develops inquisitive leaders, enhancing students’ predisposition to become more inquisitive, by raising awareness about international issues, engaging in class debates on global topics, promoting respect and appreciation of diversity and offering first-hand cross-cultural experiences. Our school provides a range of opportunities that foster inquisitiveness and we gathered relevant data to support this claim. The students that decide to chase them are deeply touched and transformed, as they develop lifelong valuable skills, such as critical thinking and appreciation of cultural diversity, thus being motivated to take actions in order to solve global issues. But most of all, they learn to see and appreciate the world through the eyes of their peers, that dwell in other socially constructed spaces, they learn to think and feel outside the restrictive boxes of their own cultures and are more equipped to become mindful leaders in a world filled with uncertainties and unrest.