Our Postmodern Reality

My Educational Leadership class at Victoria University. Semester one is over now- 2 A's for my first grad semester!

One of the last classes I took at Otterbein for my undergrad degree was called "Inventing the self and the future in a postmodern society." To be honest, I don't remember why I chose it. I didn't really know what postmodern meant when I stepped into the classroom. One of our assignments was to read Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat."

So now my 1st semester of grad school is pretty much done! One exam left on research methods. Awesome semester but I kinda wish I had more hw - you don't have to tell me I'm weird. So to celebrate the semester my classmates and I are going to dinner this Saturday. Check out the guest list and where we're all from:
Shuyen (we call her Sue) ... Malaysia
Lacey & Justin ... America
Mohamed ... Maldives
Maria ... Honduras
Aishath ... Taiwan
Loreto & Julio ... Chile
Ngoc ... Vietnam

Wow. So Thomas Friedman wasn't lying. Besides the book that we read in that class at Otterbein, I remember the lecture about postmodernity and choice and the effect of having so many choices. I had never thought about our experience of going to the grocery store in Ohio and having to chose from 3248230938239 different kinds of shampoo or cereal. But we do have to make a choice. How do you choose?

The discussion about choice came back to me with some Kiwi friends who are preparing to move to NYC for a year. My friend asked me to tell her about her options for banks and which ones she should check out. Keep in mind she works at one of the 6-10 bank options in NZ. Woah. Well let's see, my Dad opened an account for me when I was a baby and I belong to that bank. And there are probably 10 banks in Northwest Ohio but I have no idea which ones are in NY. So I'll ask my sister, she lives in NY and knows more than me. Lib's response, "I don't know, we chose the one closest to us. Tell them to choose that one."

This is when I realized that postmodernity is having a big effect on me. And as I try to make sense of these experiences and life in Ohio and now NZ, I'm real thankful for that class at Otterbein. I see parts of the postmodern experience of Ohio and of NZ; and they're different. So that term "postmodern" that I didn't know in 2003 is one I'm learning a lot about in 2010. And I'm trying to see reality, not just my reality.

Somehow, I'd say my parents + Eastwood schools + Otterbein College have prepared me well to experience this postmodern world so far; but I want to know how to do this for others and how to improve it. What do you think? Do you think your education prepared you for what professionals in America have deemed as 21 century skills?:
Core subjects & 21st century themes; English, world languages, arts, math, science, global awareness, economic literacy, health literacy, etc
Learning & Innovation Skills; creativity, critical thinking, communication etc
Information, Media & Technology Skills; media literacy, etc
Life and Career Skills: flexibility, initiative, accountability

Helping to prepare the next generation so they can make good choices in a postmodern world is making me realize learning isn't over; it's just begun. So even though each choice I'm confronted with I see the American in me who chooses convenience, I'm learning to step back and think about a bigger reality who doesn't always choose convenience. How do I choose wisely? NZ does that to you.