Vivian Stewart
"A Classroom as Wide as the World" - By Daniel Smith
Vivian Stewart: A leader in global education
Vivian Stewart, the senior adviser, education and former vice president at Asia Society, earned the Harold W. McGraw, Jr., Prize in Education in 2007. Dispite Vivian's upbringing in a working class neighborhood in England where very few people had been to college or had any international connections, she had the passion to travel and learn about the world from a very early age. At this point in her life, she has had great impact on early childhood education, childhood development, adolescent development, urban school reform, and multicultural communities through her work with the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She has had profound impact on a movement which promotes a global level of education. Her approach helps to make children aware of many cultures and look at learn from a global perspective.
Vivien Stewart, 2007 McGraw Prize in Education Winner
Achieving Global Competence
"Our goal is to ensure that the next generation of American high school students are prepared for this global age."
- Vivian Stewart
- Vivian Stewart
The Asia Society
Stewart is The Asia Society's Senior Adviser and Vice President for education. The Asia Society is a leading education organization which promotes understanding and promotes partnerships among the people and organizations of Asia and the US.
Cross-Cultural Education
Stewart promotes cross cultural education through use of the internet. "The arts are incredibly multi-cultural and cross-cultural these days." Stewart states. "Your school may not be near a museum or a concert hall but increasingly these things are all available on the web...You can think about introducing a global dimension into any subject where you have the interest of the teacher."
Technology Opens the Door: Using technology to help students develop global competence.
Vivian Stewart's philosophy promotes the use of technology in order to produce a global classroom. With tactful use of the internet, students can transcend the walls of a classroom in order to learn from people all around the world. Students are able to interact with students from other countries. Students are able to interact with surgeons as they perform open heart surgery. Stewart's approach to technology in the classroom works to develop student's knowledge, skills, and values of global culture.
Below you can hear a recent interview with Vivian Stewart which took place on National Public Radio.
A Need for Foreign Language in US Schools.
Stewart states that "Learning another language is fundamental. In the United State we are particularly bad at that." She continues, "Less than half of our high school students have taken any foreign language whats so ever and seventy percent of the students who do take it, take one year of introductory Spanish."
A Classroom as Wide as the World Vivien Stewart
Vivian Stewart's Role in Education
Vivian Stewart has a very clear global perspective. She sees how the world works and sees what America needs to do in order to be successful in it. Her view is that if we teach our children to be intelligent, competitive, and aware global citizens, than America will be a stronger nation. Her achievements as an educator and as Vice President of The Asia Society have done just that. She is at the forefront of instructional technology in American schools and advocates for their use in order to educate a generation of globally competent citizens.