Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat brings up some interesting points in the chapter 'Tubas and Test Tubes'. The overall theme of this book is that the world is changing, and everyone, especially Americans, need to be ready for it. In 'Tubas and Test Tubes', Friedman trys to make it a bit more clear how we should educate in this new world. "It is not how much we educate, but rather more important how we educate.
We will need certain skillsets that will become very useful in the new flat world. New technology will call for people to become more tech savy, and the ability to communicate will mean breaking language barriers. Technology is always changing, before you know it your iphones, laptops, ipods, computers, androids etc. will all be out of date. Soon, the latest and greatest handheld technology will be as useful as a brick and you'll be behind. To solve this problem, you will need to stay up to date on all the new technologies of the flat world. This is a difficult task, for you see, humans are creating technology at a rate never before seen in our history. Not only that, but the technology that we are creating at such a fast pace, is the most advanced our world has ever seen. We need to teach how to master the new technology that will become such a big part of our lives, living in the flat world.
To effectively transmit and recieve information from one place to another around the world you, will need to be able to understand the information you are getting, and the information you send needs to be understood on the other end as well. Unfortunately, the seven-billion people (and counting) people on this planet do not speak the same language. There is no magic global code that is understood all around the world, so it is for this reason that languages will become very important in the new world.
