The importance of being socially, culturally, globally, and environmentally responsible:

When I took the students to Quebec City last week, we had a layover in Toronto for two hours. Although Neil and myself weren't aware of how much cultural diversity was surrounding us, the students were and this is largely due to the fact that our lovely little school does not have a lot of ethnic diversity. They commented on the multitude of languages they heard within a short time period and how difficult it was to understand some of the service staff in the restaurants and stores. We've discussed the extent of immigration at leangth in social studies, but it was interesting to watch how they reacted when they became the minority.

I believe that it's important for students to be culturally aware because it teaches tolerance. The importance of knowing that just because customs, languages and traditions may be glaringly different than what they're accustomed to, doesn't mean that they're wrong or backwards. Wouldn't the world be a lovelier place if everyone was tolerant?

I believe that it's important for students to be globally aware so they can understand the world around them! It is essential that students are aware of what is going on in the world and how it directly and indirectly affects them.