Kansas In The World

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The Kansas Committee for International Education in the Schools (KCIES) is a statewide group of policymakers, educators, representatives of the business community, and other interested individuals first organized in 2003. The KCIES promotes the infusion of international topics into the K-12 curriculum, raises public awareness of the need for international education, and provides resources for teachers, students, parents and communities. Housed in the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Kansas, the KCIES has received generous grant funding from the Asia Society, the Longview Foundation, the American Forum for Global Education, and the Kansas Asia Community Connection.

What is international education?

Definitions of international education can be as broad as the globe itself. But at the most basic level it means “putting the world into world-class education,” as one group puts it.

In our fast-paced world, learning about Asia, South America, Africa, the Middle East and their people, cultures, history and politics can’t wait until college. It is an education that must start when schooling begins, so that Kansans will look farther than Missouri or New York when they look afar, so that they’ll see how events in foreign countries affect life on the Plains.

So it’s not enough to know that Cuba is the Caribbean if you don’t know that for four decades Kansas could not sell wheat there because the nation is communist and had a chilling role in the Cold War. And that if Kansas wheat has more markets, then farmers prosper, pay taxes and keep our communities vital.

International education isn’t something that can be learned just by studying a foreign language, though that’s a good start. Instead, it’s something to be taught in English, history, social studies, math, science, music and business classes.

If students read books from other countries, if they learn about Japanese drumming, if they learn business customs, they’ll start to see the similarities between people instead of only differences. They’ll start to see how Kansans share values and opportunities with not just Germans or the Irish but with Chinese, Russians and Africans. And they’ll see themselves as part of the world as well as part of Kansas and the United States.

By committing to teaching our kids more about the world — and by giving teachers the tools to do it — we don’t have to burden our schools or give short shrift to the “basics.” Instead, we redefine what the “basics” are. Because our high-tech, ever-connected world is redefining them for us, and we must do so as well to have a vital role in it.

Committee for International Education in the Schools

Leah Barnhard Interim President Kansas Council for Economic Education	Mary Devin Associate Professor of Educational Leadership Kansas State University
Stacey L. Chance Director, School and Classroom Program People to People International	Phyllis Farrar World Language and ESOL Consultant Kansas State Department of Education
Peg Dunlap Director, Instructional Advocacy Kansas National Education Association	Dr. John Heim Superintendent Emporia USD 253
Jan Heinen, Ed. D. Olathe District Schools Director Middle Level Education	Nancy Hope University of Kansas Associate Director CIKU and KCTA Center for East Asian Studies
Dr. John Heinrichs Assistant Professor of Geography Fort Hays State University	Mary Pyle Managing Director, World Trade Center Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
Tom Krebs Board Development Specialist Kansas Association of School Boards	Fred Rodriguez Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 66045
Kim Rasmussen Curriculum Coordinator Auburn Washburn USD 437	William M. Tsutsui University of Kansas Professor of History Executive Director CIKU and Director KCTA Center for East Asian Studies
Lynn Vasquez Kansas State Department of Education Education Program Consultant, Social Studies	Carol Woolbright Greenbush IDL Network Director SE Kansas Education Service Center
John J. Watson Director, Trade Development Division Department of Commerce & Housing