In Chapters 15-17 Friedman talks about motivation. He explains how if you want to achieve at something then you have to take the initiative to do so. If you want to survive in the flat world then you have to stay abreast to what is going on. What exactly is going on? Well as we have learned in previous chapters America is outsourcing it's companies to other countries around the world. New technology is being created by other countries to help develop a more enhanced connection with each other--including America. Other countries are educating their children at a much higher level to prepare them for the flat world that is to come. Yes, as Friedman admitted in this chapter the world is not fully flat but soon it will be.
So what are we as Americans going to do about it? Should we sit back and act as if this flat world conversion has nothing to do with us as civilians but rather has more to do with CEO's and their companies and the government? No. I beg to differ. It has so much to do with us as it does with them. Look at how Dell operates. We order a computer with them and as Friedman showed us in Chapter 16 over 400 suppliers have made some sort of contribution in us receiving our PC, in putting the PC together, and gathering the parts for the PC. All of this happens outside of America except the last part;shipping the PC. WOW! How does that make you feel? I know that I feel as if I would like a big part in this type of transaction; and not the part were I the customer make the phone call to purchase a computer.
We can't just sit back and let every other country do the work for us. If they can educate their children and their workers then so can we. As Friedman showed us in Chapter 17 we see how they used technology and outsourcing against us and 9/11 was created. Just that simple. What can we learn from this event? Instead of weeping each year around this date, we need to take this as motivation in using our intelligence and putting a hand into the flat world. Learn about other countries the way they have learned about ours. Teach our children many different languages. Explore technology on a higher level besides the regular computer, cell phone, MP3 and many other things. If we can believe it then we certainly can achieve it. As I have stated before a great learner never stops learning.
3 comments:
Great job! - kj
Keep up with the push to keep our kids informed. We should be the country to lead the world in new technology. Teaching our kids that it is up to them to stay ahead of all technology. So far we are,but, I believe the flatter the world gets the behinder we will become. That is to say if we don't stay ahead now by properly teaching our kids.
I truly believe that teaching our kids will be crucial to our success as a country. One problem that I see is, who is going to teach the parents so that they can pass alon the information? Even I have learned in this class that there's a lot more out there that I don't know and much of it I don't know where to go to learn about it.
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