Helping middle- and high school teachers make sense of the complicated role Europe plays in today's global society is the focus of a free seminar that begins Tuesday at Duquesne University.
"The most immediate thing is to understand that our relationships with European nations (are) fundamentally different than it was during the Cold War," said Schuyler Foerster, president of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, the seminar's sponsor. "The nature of the issues are now global, not Cold War, East and West kinds of issues."
Day One of the 12th annual Summer Institute for Teachers will center on the history of European politics and how they have changed in the past two centuries. Day Two will focus on the role Europe plays in global issues such as economics and trade. The third day will explore how the European Union has evolved since its formation as a sharing of steel and coal between France and Germany after World War II.
"The nature of the relationships (in Europe) have changed and the nature of the issues have changed," Foerster said. "It's important that teachers particularly understand that there is a long history in this movement. The European Union is an experiment, imperfect and incomplete, but an experiment for economic purposes and a form of conflict resolution."
Moon Area School District spokeswoman Amanda Hartle said she expects the seminar to help middle-school social studies teacher Danielle Hadden discuss world affairs with her students as the G-20 summit approaches in late September in Pittsburgh.
"The world is a much smaller place than in years past, and programs like these allow teachers to view the interconnectedness of our global community while learning ways to present those ideals to their students," Hartle said. "At Moon Area, we strive to prepare our students for a career that could take them anywhere around the globe."
Foerster said students and their teachers need to understand what's going on globally and how it relates to them.
"If parts of the world blow up in global chaos, that affects us in ways it never did before," Foerster said. "If we don't understand the natures of what has happened before, what others have as their narrative, we're not going to understand another country's political interests."
While the United States remains the world's pre-eminent power, new ones are emerging, Foerster said. The seminar will give teachers the tools they need to prepare students for a global society that is constantly changing, said Steve Bullick, social studies supervisor for the Mt. Lebanon School District.
"It is critical that we prepare our students for their world in the 21st century," Bullick said. "In order to do so, educators must commit to be learned in the events and the current global and cultural issues."
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