Rationale: Global perspective
College is a time when opportunities to study abroad or to strike up an acquaintance with a student from another country can substantially broaden one's understanding of other cultures. Unfortunately, the heavy course demands of an undergraduate education program (including a semester devoted to student teaching) may make this more problematic for the prospective teacher than for fellow students taking other courses of study. If a jam-packed professional preparation program makes it difficult for teachers to have the opportunity to share discussions and activities with people from distant countries, contemplate global issues in coursework or fit in a learning experience abroad, many aspects of the instruction they offer their students will be subtly impoverished. Since teachers may be the most important source of a global perspective for the students they teach, this has classroom implications.
