My Turn
What's in a Soccer Ball?

Teaching students how they connect with the rest of the world.

By Bill Bigelow

When I was in high school, I took a world geography course. It was like a memory Olympics: Who could locate Poland's major cities? Who recalled Argentina's top three exports?

We learned facts, but acquired no insight. We didn't talk about the war raging in Vietnam, tensions in the Middle East, or the decolonization struggles in Africa.

Similar choices confront teachers today. Are we content to present students with Important Facts or do we engage students in examining their connections to burning issues: global warming, the AIDS epidemic, child labor, religious fundamentalism, growing inequality?

Bob Peterson, a fifth-grade teacher in Milwaukee, and I edited Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World for educators who want students to explore their relationships with people and issues around the world--and to consider how to make the world a better place.

Critical global literacy should de-mystify aspects of the global economy. I begin one activity described in the book by appointing a class leader--let's call him Mark. As other students look on, I lend Mark $5--"But don't worry, you'll never have to pay it back." I give Mark a pass to wander the halls and spend his money (well, my money) on candy or pop or anything his heart desires.

Mark leaves, and I turn to the class: "All right people, time to pay me back. I lent you guys $5 and that's a lot of money."

Protests are all I get: "You didn't lend us $5. Mark got the money, and he's spending it right now"; "I'm not paying you $5, get it from Mark"; and sometimes ruder remarks.

I point out that like it or not, Mark is their class leader and the money he borrowed was on behalf of the entire class, so the entire class is responsible for paying this debt.

My aim is to introduce students to the Third World debt crisis, in which wealthy elites, often military dictators, borrowed enormous sums from Western banks, and--with the banks' encouragement--saddled their people with debts that could never be repaid.

We follow the "Gimme back my money" exercise by exploring the ecological dimension of the debt crisis, as poor countries auction off their resources to make payments. We examine the "structural adjustment policies" demanded by the International Monetary Fund when poor countries try to renegotiate their debts. Structural adjustment is a chiropractic-sounding name for draconian cuts in health, education, and wages, and privatization of government services like water systems that have left many of the world's poor worse off than ever.

A critical global literacy should also encourage students to consider how their consumption of commodities connects them to people around the world. I put a soccer ball in the center of the room and ask students to describe it in writing. "It's just a soccer ball," someone says. "What's to write about?"

I tell them: "No need for an essay. Simply describe the ball."

Most students' descriptions are ho-hum, lifeless. They are all about appearance: "The ball is a sphere which has white hexagons and black pentagons..." began one student. They miss the "Made in Pakistan."

We read aloud Bertolt Brecht's poem, "Questions From a Worker Who Reads":

Who built the seven gates of Thebes?

The books are filled with names of kings.

Was it kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?...

I ask students to keep the poem in mind and to rewrite their soccer ball descriptions. Versions one and two couldn't be more different. One student imagined herself as a soccer ball worker: "I sew together these shapes of leather. I stab my finger with my needle. I feel a small pain, but nothing much, because my fingers are so callused....I sew and sew all day long to have these balls shipped to another place where they represent fun. Here, they represent the hard work of everyday life."

This is a central piece of a critical global literacy, albeit merely a point of departure: Students look behind the masks presented by consumer goods and wonder about the lives of those who make them.

Our students begin their day putting on shirts and blouses made in Honduras and shoes made in China. They drive to school in vehicles powered by oil from Colombia and Saudi Arabia. They snack on fruit from Mexico.

Woven into this fabric of interconnectedness are ethical choices that teachers need to help students consider. We need to prompt them to ask hard questions about who benefits and who suffers from globalization, and to wonder about their responsibilities. Today, a critical global literacy is a basic skill.

__________
Bill Bigelow teaches at Franklin High School in Portland, Oregon. He is an editor of the national education journal Rethinking Schools. For more on Rethinking Globalization, e-mail bbpdx@aol.com or see www.rethinkingschools.org.

Editor's Note

Every so often a member will request another copy of NEA Today to replace a damaged issue.

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