Global Studies Academy new name of FBISD program

By Elsa Maxey

Fort Bend ISD’s Global Languages Academy is no more. That’s not to say it does not exist, but rather, the name of the program has been changed to Global Studies Academy and it will be a little bit different.

The rationale behind the change stems from a review of other academy models nationwide, and a recommendation made in May. It came from a Clements High School committee made up of academy advisory board, student government, and booster club members.
Too narrow, that’s what the format and instructional focus of the Global Languages Academy was determined to be. So instead, this upcoming school year starting in the fall, not only will there be a name change, but the focus of the renamed program will be on global topics, world language studies, and the study of political, economic and cultural structures of the world. The end result? FBISD is aiming at a goal of having what are called global citizens.

School Board President Susan Hohnbaum said the 2011-12 school year will see the implementation of “a new track for incoming freshmen that focuses on global topics and issues in addition to world language study.” Based on the approval action last week for the name change, school board trustees unanimously agreed that the former name did not adequately describe the objectives and purposes of the academy.
Global citizens, what or who are they? Within the educational system, academic sources indicate that the global citizen concept is starting to supersede what was once called multicultural education, peace education, human rights education and even international education. Global citizenship has been associated with helping humanity, that level of moral goodwill impacting foreign policy decisions. Where do we sign up?

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Posted by brandon on Jul 28 2011. Filed under Fort Bend ISD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.