Importance of Becoming a Global Citizen Essay

Being a global citizen enables one to see himself or herself as being part of the emerging world community hence his or her actions helps a lot in defining the community's practices and values. Previously, human beings have always formed community-based on shared identity which they forged in response to a variety of human needs, political religious, social activities. While the group identities become stable, those who share them organize into communities, build governance structures to support their beliefs and articulate their shared values appropriately. Hence, it is of great importance for one to study the benefits of becoming a global citizen in the community

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The concept of a global citizen has shaped my identity more so in the community by enabling me to understand further the political beliefs, ethnicities, and my allegiances to my country. The identity to be loyal to my country will allow me to participate in activities of nation building. Through ethnicities, identify me on the aspects of the nationality, racial, religious as well as the cultural origin. Also, by understanding the political beliefs, I get to know how the country of my birth is governed. These traditional identities have shaped me and will continue to give more meaning to my life.

Being a global citizen has enabled me to become a better person in the community by understanding other people's cultural practices. Various people have different cultural practices hence through understanding other peoples culture will enable me to live well with others. Also, being a global citizen enable me to understand other peoples background experiences. Various people in a community always do have different background experience hence by taking Care of this will allow living with others in a harmonious way possible (Rhoads, R. A., & Szelenyi, K. 2011). Moreover being a global citizen has made me a better person by understanding that people always have different perspectives on life. People who are based in the same community differ in the way on how each view life. By understanding, this aspect of life assist understanding everyone opinion and taking note carefully not by opposing other peoples opinion on the outlook of life

The term globalism seeks to describe that the world is characterized by networks of connections that span multi-continental distances and all the interconnections of the modern world whereas globalization refers to the increase or decline in the degree of globalism by focusing on the forces, the dynamism as well as the speed of these changes. Globalism is the underlying primary network while the term globalization refers to the progressive shrinking of the distance on a large scale.

Being a global citizen in the world of advanced technology has been of great value in achieving success in meeting my academic and professional goals. Globalization has dramatically helped me in identifying that I am a member of the emerging world community hence my actions contribute positively to the building the community's values and practices. Through global citizenship, my professional goal of being an advocate is possible to achieve. Therefore issues such as the human rights, gender equality, and religious pluralism, the rule of law, environmental protection, poverty alleviation and sustainable worldwide economic growth will be advocated for effectively (Campbell, P. J., MacKinnon, A. S., & Stevens, C. 2010). Also, due to the advancement of the modern technology, global citizenship will profoundly help me in meeting personal interests such as being creative enough, solving the problems that face various people, think critically as well as communicating ideas effectively to the people around the community or an organization. Moreover, through my academic prowess, I'll be capable of working well with others. Finally, It will help me both academically and professionally by equipping vital skills of humanity in my activities hence global citizen in the world of advanced technology is paramount.

There has been a disagreement between the theorists about the definition of global citizenship yet they all seem to apply interchangeable verbiage. The confusion on global citizenship is aggravated as theorist draw from various disciplines and perspectives (i.e., theological, political, development, and educational) to explain the construct. One theorist may understand that certain traits emphasize global citizenship whereas others feel there are no specific traits related to this concept. Hence my definition of global citizenship would entail people who usually think and act globally as well as considering cultural diverseness and the role significant role it plays in the global citizenry.

Out of the six outcomes of the global citizenship, the following are the most important in becoming a global citizen; social justice and valuing diversity. Valuing diversity is the interest in and appreciation for the different culture of the world around us. All of the different ethnicities, races, and religion around us make up diversity though it is all in how we embrace the differences and learn appropriately from them that we consider the diverseness. Secondly, social justice is the attitude of concerning the human rights and equitable as well as the fair treatment of all humans. Social justice and diversity make me think of how respect, tolerance, and understanding came into play (Reimers, F. et al.2016). Always what happens to a human being should be as valuable as what happens to another. Every race, religion, and ethnicity has their own set of beliefs, moral, and values hence that should not prevent any of them from being considered as a human being. Moreover, we do not need to be the same to be treated the same.

The general education courses do help influence students to become a global citizen. The following are the two general courses for the general education; word religion and introduction to ethics. They had help and influenced my development in becoming a global citizen. These two courses have so far assisted me to value diversity and enhance intergroup empathy which is two of the six outcomes of global citizenship. On introduction to ethics I have learned about rights, values and wrong behaviors whereas, in world religion, I gained the understanding of the beliefs across the world

Conclusion

In summary, I have discussed how being a global citizen in a world of advanced technology can be essential to the success of my personal, academic, and professional goal. Also, I have discussed the differences by the theorist on the definition of the global citizen. I have discussed two out of six outcomes of the global citizenship. Lastly, I have discussed the general education course for the global citizenship.

References

Campbell, P. J., MacKinnon, A. S., & Stevens, C. (2010). An introduction to global studies. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell.

Reimers, F., Chopra, V., Chung, C. K., Higdon, J., & O'Donnell, E. B. (2016). Empowering global citizens: A world course.

Rhoads, R. A., & Szelenyi, K. (2011). Global citizenship and the university: Advancing social life and relations in an interdependent world. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.