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This article is part review and part thought-provoker in relation to education and Friedman's Flat world. The article primarily reviews the flattening forces, in very little detail, but throws a twist in at the end as it talks specifically about the education system. It is suggested that classrooms become "flat" as well so that everyone is given the same chance to be involved.

The website Globalization101 is a vast resource covering many topics regarding the globalization phenomenon. The article High-Stakes Testing in particular looks at different educational systems, and how US admissions are undergoing reform, while being compared to other educational system styles. The major link between this article and the first chapter of the World is Flat is the focus on skills, not job titles or location. The new standardized admissions tests will focus on skill development opposed to grades which may level the playing field for people to find internationally connected jobs. 

The growth of hyperspecialization and new markets such as TopCoder, through which individuals can 'sell' their specialized talents, allow individuals to compete in an increasing "flat" world. Outsourcing if often thought of only in terms of wealthy developed world companies seeking cheaper labour from developing countries, however this article highlights that some outsourcing is done to increase the quality of work, not simply to decrease cost. In an increasing connected world, individuals can 'outsource' the parts of their job that they do not excel in, to other individuals who are specialized in it.

The starting premise about Columbus in The World Is Flat bothered me a lot. There were many people who knew the world was round before him. Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras, Eratosthenes and Aristotle calculated and reasoned that the world was not flat - either round or at least a dome. Also, to anyone looking for a ship, the top of a mast appears first over a horizon, like something coming over a hill. It would make sense for people to assume that the world was round. In terms of who 'proved' the earth was round and that you could go all the way around and get back to the same point, Magellan's crew was the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1522, definitively 'proving' what many already believed. I've seen repeatedly that Columbus' actual argument was that the world was smaller than people thought, so he thought he could find a sea route from Europe across the Pacific to India. Instead, he ran into what later became the Americas. Hopefully, Friedman will address these issues and will see his viewpoint changed by his experiences in parallel with the Columbus story.

"The World is Flat" chapter 6 reveals that less young people are interested in science compared to the 'race to land on the moon' era which is really interesting, This website offers statistics on the most occupied college majors and business is overwhelmingly #1. People seem to want to make as much money as they can and the university I went to (Laurier) was very business dominated - so much they are building their own business building across the street!

This article is an interview with the author. It gives a bit more background about the book and the author. As well, it provides more detail about the author's viewpoint, which is useful for understanding the text. Annotated link: https://diigo.com/071dt2

In "The Virgin Guadalupe" of The World is Flat 3.0, Freidman talks about how in Ireland public college education is basically free. This allows them to develop a more educated workforce which has been beneficial for them economically. This article from Oct 2014 explains how Germany has moved in the same direction.

Salman Sakir's article is relevant to the issues raised in Friedman's book The World is Flat in which Friedman in a sense laments over the impact of globalization upon the developed countries, the USA for him, because the developing countries like Brazil and Asian countries like China and India have a massive work labour influence upon the West. Sakir focuses on both the positive and negative aspects of globalization, one of the five forces in Gratton's The Shift and a form of global economy as discussed by Stanford in his Economics for Everyone. Because of low wage and easy availability of experts/labour in the developing countries, foreign investments have been attracted by those Asian and developing countries where the jobs have been created for the locals. On the other hand, the citizens of the developed counters of the West and the North America have consumed the products from the developing countries in a reasonably lower price. Poverty ratio has been decreased in the developing countries which have also been integrated by the phenomenon of globalization. These are positive impacts. But in the developed countries, manufacturing industries have been moved out. so unemployment rate is ever increasing, Sakir highlights these aspects of globalization in this article.

Richard Paul's article is about the increasing need, in this intertwined, globalized world for us to foster critical thinking in our children. As we have already learned from both 'The World is Flat' and 'The Shift', in this flattened world, simply obtaining basic skills or knowing the answers to certain questions will not be enough. Paul argues that our current K-12 school system is not breeding creative students, and is not giving students a chance in the ever-changing work landscape. He maintains that in order to keep up with globalization, we need to be fostering in our children the ability to problem solve creatively, to anticipate patterns and meanings, to think abstractly, to ask 'why', and to be able to communicate, collaborate, and negotiate with others.

Theodre Lewis shows his relevant concern with the impacts of technology on work and jobs which Gratton and Fiedman have elaborated in their books The Shift and The World is Flat respectively. Lewis's imperative voice is that the vocational institutions have to incorporate the technological trends to the traditional concepts of education system in order to make students adaptable to current job market. He pinpoints that those whose who are engaged in career designing or teaching now require to focus "on changing skill needs, changing work, changing jobs, and the role that technology plays in such change, there is need for an ongoing related discourse." This information is relevant to the course contents we dealt with.

This article works as one of the best examples to understand the new trends, the global chaining which has extensively been elaborated by Friendman in his book The World is Flat. When the Starbucks face a cost problem in its operational system, the company applied certain improvement steps and made drastic changes: a plan for organization, simplifying the complex, "one world, one logistics system," and earning the company's confidence.

The arguments, perspectives and content in this article are very much supportive to understand what Friedman elaborates in his book The World is Flat. Because of new technoogies, the developing countries and Asian countries like China and India are emerging as dominant world economies. "By relocating some parts of international supply chains, globalization has been affecting the price of goods, job patterns, and wages almost everywhere."

After reading these chapter in "The World is Flat," in particular chapter seven, I was thinking about l education and what has been beneficial to my learning now and in the past. it reminded me of this video about the benefits of music. Music is and always will be very important to me, and I thought this video would be worth sharing.

In Chapter Seven, Freidman talks about Georgia Tech's investment in musical activities for their science students. This video gives an overview of the neurological research behind why playing music benefits the brain.

This journal article refutes Friedman's view by looking at how globalization creates a more uneven world and capitalism tends to develop unevenly geographically. It is an interesting refute to Friedman's perspective.

I found this article as a useful resource to understand the importance of "collaboration" in the new market or business trend known as the global supply chain, which Freindman braodly explains in his book The World is Flat. The industries in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) sector have "identified collaboration with partners as their highest strategic priority." This article outlines six actions that manufacturers and retailer partners can take to ensure a successful supply chain.