Daniel Makoena
Essay: “Global Village”
Definition
In my point of view ‘global’ means worldwide, whereas ‘village’ means a place where people live together. It is a world where different countries live and work together. It is a world of political linkages which enweb men and woman across the whole globe in formal and informal relationships. It is a world of economic interdependence. It is a world of growing cultural commonness. Countries in the world experience many problems such as inequality and poverty, diseases, war and economic problems and across the globe there are many organizations such as the OECD that operate all over the world.
The global village is divided into four pillars which are governance, education, technology ,and business. In my essay I will discuss two of these pillars; education and technology in education, and to begin with governance.
Governance
Government is one of the important pillars in the global village because without any government no country can function effectively. Today government faces a lot of challenges such as poverty and unemployment. The question is whether government and international organisations are prepared to deal with these issues. Globalisation is an issue that my raise concerns for some people who believe, the world will have one leader. Something, which I think, is not going to happen. Globalisation means bringing countries together to discuss and solve their problems. Some of the issues facing us today especially in South Africa, is Aids, unemployment and poverty. When a person walks in the streets of the townships in Johannesburg signs of poverty are very clear. I am very surprised to see a family of 8 – 10 living in a two-roomed house. Everyday when I travel too school by bus I always ask myself how these people survive under these conditions. There are many more other examples of poverty in South Africa, such as beggars on the street corners begging for money.
Aids is the number one killer in South Africa today. Diseases such as Aids are affecting the whole global village not only decreasing populations but also affecting the world economy in some way.
Inequality is a major issue in the global village today. After the 1994 elections in South Africa, people thought the issue of inequality was over, but I believe inequality still exists in South Africa and in the global village. I also believe that men and woman are equal in all ways and there is nothing, which is set for men only or woman only.
The only way for government and international organisations such as the OCED to solve global problems is to work together with its citizens. Teaching people about these issues could help government to solve theses issues. If people are taught about HIV/Aids and sex the spread of these diseases could be decreased. Intermittent treatment with aids drugs may be a viable option for reducing therapy time for people with HIV/Aids by as much as 30 to 50%.
While SIT (Structural intermittent therapy) certainly holds promises for infected individuals in developed countries, this doesn’t hold true for 98% of people with aids in countries where a glass of clean water is often a luxury.
National governments also must renew the concept of their own identity and functions in the face of the challenges posed by the global marketplace or global village. The increasingly free movement of ideas, capital and labour will oblige government to participate more and more in making global rules.
Education
As the saying goes education is the key to success. Education is one of the most important issues in our global society today.
By means of education peace, freedom and social justice may be obtained. Education plays a role in personal and social development as it may reduce poverty, exclusion (prejudice), ignorance, oppression and war.
One of the main sources of poverty and unemployment in the global village particularly South Africa is the lack of education. A lot of people in South Africa are under-educated because they dropped out of school. Some only attended school up to grade 5. Under the ‘old’ government black people used to have what was known as ‘BANTU’ education which was set to a certain level said to be suitable for a black person in South Africa.
The education system has changed over the years in South Africa. There are both positive and negative sides to education in South Africa. Some of the negative sides are that government schools (so called black schools) are filled to capacity and there are not enough textbooks for every pupil. In rural areas you will find that a teacher is sitting with approximately 60 children in the class and the teacher can’t attend to the need of every child. I think government should pay teachers more. Every year billions of rands are spent to improve our levels of education, but I don’t see any difference. Under all these conditions we still manage to do our utmost best as pupils and try to pass with flying colours.
I believe that sometimes government expects too much from the teacher than the pupil. Teachers feel isolated not just because teaching is an individual activity, but also because of the expectations aroused by education and criticisms which are often unjustly directed at them. Above all teachers want their dignity to be respected. There is a need for full co-operation between society and teachers and between the public authorities and teachers.
We as the people of the global village must learn to live together, learn to know each other, learn to do things together and thus learn to unite. I think education in the global village still has to go through some changes. I think third world countries must change their education to first world education. There are however, many problems to over come. People need to become world or global citizens without losing their roots or culture while continuing to play a part in the life of their nation and their local community.
I believe that global organisations such as UNESCO are based upon the hope for a world that is a better place to live in, where people have learnt to respect the rights of women and men and where people use knowledge to bring about equality.
Technology
Technology has taken the world by storm. People can now communicate over the Internet even if they are thousands of kilometres away from each other. Technology such as computers can perform numerous tasks these days I believe we must not let technology take over our world too much because people will end up with fewer jobs as the possibility exists that most jobs will be done by computers. The mere fact that the internet has the potential to provide information on anything, anywhere and at anytime does not necessarily mean that this information will be available to everybody. Socio-economic status plays a major role in determining who will be able to afford computers with Internet access.
In South Africa only a few people can afford computers with Internet access due to financial problems. I hope in years to come every household in South Africa and in the world will have access to the Internet.
Conclusion
The global village poses particular challenges to countries across the world. As we move into the next millennium, governments should ensure that public policy should be in the interest of global welfare- protecting the environment and trying to create some sense of equality by getting rid of poverty. In the 21st century we do not wish to be living in a world divided by ideology as during the cold war, nor a world divided by wealth and poverty as we see today
