Preparing the next generation to join the conference table ... fulfilling the United Nations promise.

• Author: Adams, J. Michael
• Position: Conference news

the United Nations Charter represents the most ambitious attempt in human history to unite across borders, secure peace, promote social progress, and forge solutions to the most critical problems facing humanity. As US President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "The United Nations represents man's best organized hope to substitute the conference table for the battlefield." (1)

As noble as its goals are, though, and as determined as the peoples of the United Nations may be, the Organization remains a mere conference table. It is only as strong as the people who come together at this global conference table. The United Nations can achieve nothing unless people who work across borders have an understanding of the history of different nations, an appreciation for diverse perspectives, and an awareness of the interconnected nature of humanity and today's most important global challenges.

H.G. Wells once wrote, "Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." (2) The enemies are ignorance and intolerance. The path to avoiding catastrophe, the path to achieving the aspirations--the promise--of the United Nations, lies in education. And to match the universal goals and global alliances represented by the United Nations, we need to offer students around the world a global education.

Those who want to join hands across the table, those of us who aspire to be world citizens, must have a new skill set beyond mere diplomacy. We must have an understanding of the past, but always with a view toward the future. We must understand the complexities, challenges, and risks associated with decision-making in the twenty-first century.

The United Nations was formed from the ashes of two world wars, and its greatest success has been preventing a third global conflict. Today, the importance of the United Nations has grown even more significant as the world becomes more interdependent. With increasing globalization, finances flow freely across continents, as do goods, services, and ideas. Unfortunately, though, major problems like terrorism, pandemic diseases, and environmental calamities also cross borders at will. No nation can protect its citizens against ideas or problems that do not stop for passport control.

In some ways, globalization has outpaced our ability to comprehend what's happening. Thomas Friedman wrote, "Global integration has raced ahead of education. Thanks to globalization, we all definitely know 'of one another more...