Nov. 16: Indiana Higher Education in a Flat World

A discussion by John Clark, Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research

When: Wednesday 16 November, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Where: North United Methodist Church, N. Meridian St. at 38th St.

Few books have been as widely discussed as Thomas Friedman’s book, The World is Flat. (He even has a chapter called “India versus Indiana: Who is Exploiting Whom?”) This discussion will explore some of the implications of Friedman’s fearful celebration of the dizzying growth of globalization in the past few years. In a world in which borders and boundaries are being diminished by technology, politics, and economics, the graduates of Indiana colleges and universities find themselves competing against the best and brightest and most ambitious from India, China, from around the world. How can we hope to survive such a fierce and unbounded competition? Or if our colleges try to prepare graduates for ferocious global competition, might we lose sight of higher education’s role in developing well-rounded citizens? I think we can prosper by seeing opportunities to collaborate rather than only compete, but it will require some very difficult changes for colleges, for students, and for Indiana society.

Since this is the final session of the Mid-North Shepherd's Center's "Domestic decisions 2005" series, I will try to tie together the themes and controversies of the previous six weeks.

Questions? Contact 317-924-0959 or mnscenter@aol.com