If this virus outbreak doesn’t get schools to start teaching about the interconnectivity of the world, I don’t know what will. As countries move toward increasing their border security and become more insular, a crisis like Covid-19 shocks us all back to the reality that the world, in fact, is so interconnected that a virus in one country across the world will have a significant impact on everywhere else in the world. Global awareness helps us unpack how this works.

I have been an advocate for teaching about the world since I started teaching, and my curiosity for the world began when I was very young. But my perspective shifted when I learned the difference between global and international.

Here’s what I mean. International is defined by borders and by difference. When we teach about different cultures and different places, we are teaching through an international lens. When we look at how all of these seemingly different countries and cultures are interconnected and rely on each other, that’s global. It’s a big difference particularly when you begin to look at Covid-19 through these different lenses.

Global awareness is the skill that can help make sense of how the world works both internationally and globally. It’s a long one, but bear with me. Let’s take a look at five areas.

Travel

I took a flight from Kuala Lumpur on January 28 to Tokyo, had a three hour layover and took another flight to Seattle. Prior to KL, I had been in two other places in Malaysia, Singapore, and my home base in Beijing all between January 14- January 29. During this time, Covid-19 had spread to all of these places. When I arrived in Seattle I was not asked where I had been in Asia. Because I was coming from Tokyo (not China) and I can bet because of how I look (that’s another huge issue), no one asked any questions. I even went through a global entry interview- nothing. My point here is that there was a lack of awareness about how travel works and an assumption about where I was coming from. I had been to many places where there had been outbreaks, and I imagine that most of the people on my plane had been as well. But because there wasn’t a specific directive for Japan, no one bothered. Here I am about to get on another plane from Washington State tomorrow (most recent outbreak location), and I can’t help but feel a little deja vu.

Government

This idea of following orders brings me to the government. When you have an understanding of how a government works in a particular place, you begin to understand why things are developing the way they are. When you understand the connection between governments, you are able to read between the lines and apply critical thinking to connect the dots.

China- The governmental response has been in line with how the country is run. Decisions are made at the very top and are designed to control and suppress. The media is designed to limit the amount of information disseminated. This caused response delays because any decision had to be made at the top, and saving face in front of the world was the top priority.

USA- This response is still to be determined, but we can make some predictions based on what we know about how the US government operates (at least lately). Politics and financial interests are the top priorities and sensationalist media is used to push agendas and incite fear in the population. Time will tell if citizens accept this.

Which would you prefer? I have spent the past six weeks combing through statistics and news reports from various countries. Do you know what I realized? Not one of them gives you the whole story. I had to keep reading, keep thinking, keep filtering the articles through my global awareness lenses. We need to teach our students how to do these things too.

Basic Healthcare

Having lived in three of the regions where the outbreak is happening, I have some insight into how healthcare works and how systems impact decision-making. As we learned from government, culture impacts decision making. And this is overwhelmingly true when it comes to healthcare.

China- As we have seen, China did not have adequate facilities to handle a large-scale outbreak. Because they can mobilize quickly, they were able to build hospitals on the fly. They were also able to quarantine 65+ million people. You don’t have a choice, and you stay home. They were also able to put measures in place that only allowed one person per household to leave the house a day to get food. Would that happen in a democratic country?

USA- This is probably the most concerning case for me. The health care system is in shambles with high deductibles and co-pays. It’s impossible in many places to get an appointment when you are actually sick, and people go to work when they are sick. For most people, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. It’s that simple. And with a huge part of the population living paycheck to paycheck, you can see how this could get out of hand quickly. Again, financial priorities reign.

Europe- When I lived in the Netherlands I had unlimited sick days, yep, unlimited. I was also encouraged to stay home if I was sick or if I needed a mental health day. I could also call my doctor, whose office was a block away from where I lived, and see him on the same day. This cultural practice works in Europe’s favor right now, but there are still a lot of potential issues that all countries could potentially run into. This article breaks it down point by point.

Economics

Markets have been unstable, and currency is taking a nosedive. Much of the world’s manufacturing is in China, and with many other companies relying on offshore manufacturing, the global supply-chains are in disarray. Even if the virus gets under control tomorrow, it will take weeks for logistics around the world to get back to normal. Let’s face it, we live in a global economy that is affected by global events. This surely isn’t the last crisis that will occur. There are 17 SDGs that have served as a warning if we don’t get our collective act together, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble financial and otherwise. But don’t take my word for it, here’s what Harvard Business Review had to say about it. How will this affect you?

Climate

The BBC reported on February 29 that China’s quarantine was having a huge impact on the amount of nitrogen dioxide or NO2 in the atmosphere, and NASA had the satellite images to prove it. Just another piece of information to chew on as you begin to take in the far- reaching effects of this epidemic.

How will having an awareness of these five areas impact how this virus progresses in each area of the world?

So what does this mean for education?

This is an education blog after all. My point in all of this is to emphasize that we cannot approach the world with a nationalistic or even international mindset anymore. We have to help our students understand the complexity that exists within, between, and fluidly through borders. By understanding and applying knowledge of culture, economy, science, and government on many levels not only helps you understand more about the world, it helps you read between the lines and make informed decisions that impact your life and the lives of those you care about.

What’s on your mind with Covid-19?