The current situation has managed to focus our attention on domestic economics and financial markets. There have even been occasional references to developments outside the U.S., although many of the people I talk to, including students don't seem to understand the connection between U.S. and financial markets. It's almost as if the idea of interdependence, particularly interdependence in a global economy, was foreign (excuse the pun).
There are a couple of resources that you can use with your students to help them understand the global import as well as the global impact of current events.
The first resource is from last Friday's (10/10/08) edition of The Washington Post. The article is about the impact the U.S. financial crisis is having on some of India's poor. Many American corporations and not-for-profits have been active in India. Grants to organization like Habitat for Humanity have helped provide better homes for many people around the world who previously lived in poor conditions.
The second resource is from today's (10/13/o8) of The Wall Street Journal. This piece is short, but the interactive feature has the most potential. It allows students to roll their cursor over a world map and learn about the impact of the financial crisis on various countries.
If you're trying to integrate economics into geography or geography into economics or to connect current events to either or both of these areas, the articles are worth your time.
Please feel free to share how you're using the information in your class, and how your students react to it.
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I read the article from the Washington Post.
It's interesting to see how involved the the big corporations on Wall Street are in global humanitarian projects, like the Habitat for Humanity in India, because most people think that these corporations are only about making money for themselves. And also that they are thinking about how and where the funds for these projects are going to come from, in the midst of this crisis. Most people think of only the government sending funds to these NGOs and now its being said that that is where the spending cuts are going to be made and not a dime will be cut from Iraq.
How do you think the presidential candidates would address this issue?
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