Compulsory Education is an oxymoron (back-to-school rant)
Effective education is rarely done TO people. It’s done with them. I had my first professional teaching gig forty years ago this summer. Since then, I’ve taught at institutions like NYU and Tufts, at community colleges, from the stage, one on one and most of all, on the vanguard of digital media. As our […]
Getting Smart: Educating for Global Competencies
Educating for Global Competence: 6 Reasons, 7 Competencies, 8 Strategies, 9 Innovations Everything is global–trade and economics, media and information. Young people are more likely than ever to interact with people from different cultures while at home and on the road. As we become more connected, more interdependent, how do we prepare young people for […]
Students Opt For Gap Year Before College
The Joy Cardin Show interviews Global Citizen Year CEO Abby Falik and Senegal Fellow Sarah Candee (’18). Some recent high school grads are skipping college move-in day and hopping planes to faraway lands. Our guest is a Wisconsin woman who’s spending the next year in Africa instead of a dorm. Plus a gap year […]
How to maximize a gap year — and where to go if you want to travel
A growing trend among high school graduates is to take a year off between graduating and heading off to college. According to the American Gap Association, a gap year is typically taken to “deepen practical, professional and personal awareness.” Some people use this time to relax, others to figure out what career they would like to […]
To Be Great, America Needs “Citizen Ambassadors”
By Abby Falik It may seem paradoxical, but the most patriotic thing Americans can do right now is travel abroad. “With shocking speed, [President Trump] has wreaked havoc: hobbling our core alliances, jettisoning American values and abdicating United States leadership of the world.” So wrote Susan Rice, the second former U.S. National Security Advisor to speak out […]
6 Reasons Why Taking a Gap Year Can Be Life-Changing
With contributions to global culture that include amazing street style, perfect croissants, and IKEA Scandi gems, Europeans have a lot of things pretty figured out. Another uber-smart idea that’s classically European? Traveling during a gap year. The concept is becoming more popular with Americans, who are adapting the tradition of spending a year traveling after high school or college into a mid-career break in their […]
The Gift of the “No”
Last week I received a spectacular rejection. The type of “no” that in the early years of building Global Citizen Year would have sent me into existential shock, knocked me off my game for weeks, and ground our progress to a screeching halt. I’d been invited to answer the question, “What would you do if money […]
Beauty of A Bad Idea
Global Citizen Year founder and CEO, Abby Falik, was featured on the latest episode of Masters of Scale, now the #1 business podcast in the world! The week’s episode, Beauty of A Bad Idea, features Tristan Walker (CEO of Walker & Company) with cameos from Kathryn Minshew (Daily Muse) , Kara Goldin (Hint Water), David Hornik (August Capital), Josh […]
Freshman Year for the Bold
Written by George Anders Nicholas Montano has been operating farm machinery in Senegal, turning dried corn into couscous. Noa Bridson has been helping Ecuadorian villagers promote their alpaca refuge as a new tourist destination. Amari Leigh has been selling lettuce and beets at a farmers’ market in southern Brazil. All three of these […]
Young Americans: This is your chance to make history
By Abby Falik College can wait. In fact, it should. Dear High School Seniors, As you approach your next steps after high school, consider this: college can wait. In fact, it should. Let’s be real. At age 18, should you already know what ideas ignite your soul? Which burning questions will drive […]