“Despite different cultures, middle-class youth all over the world seem to live their lives as if in a parallel universe. They get up in the morning, put on their Levi’s and Nikes, grab their caps, backpacks, and Sony personal CD players, and head for school.” (p. 119).
Despite the fact that the items they are grabbing are quite dated, these are our kids. From Germany to Malaysia, every single student I’ve worked with in the last 5 years has an iPod, they all love McDonalds, they watch the same TV shows, wear the same clothes, idolize the same stars. No matter what country you live in, whether they are locals or international students, they are today’s global youth.
I am finding No Logo an excellent companion to The World is Flat. Sure, we need to prepare our students for an increasingly globalized, flatter world, but they’re clearly already living it. I think they might understand even more than we do that they’re all part of the same “global village.” I guess all we’re doing is catching up…
Image from:
http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/NoLogo/images/film_box
It must be kismet! As I was ironing my cotton sheets (yes, I iron the sheets), I was thinking, “I would like to set as my goal a book month. What would be a good read to kick start my project?” Being a teacher, and being a teacher at an independent school in the US with a fairly wealthy student body clientele that is heavily into brands, the book, No Logo would be a relevant read. Thank you! Now I know how to use my Borders gift card.:)
Excellent! I think you will really enjoy the book – lots of great examples and very clear language. Unfortunately it’s a bit dated (published in 2002), but it’s very easy to see how the same concepts apply today. I think you may also like my next post :)