Frankly, the book The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman was by far not the most interesting book that I have ever read. However, it may have been one of the most truly educational and relevant things that I have ever read for school. When I first read the title, The World is Flat, I couldn’t imagine what this meant. I now understand that the author isn’t ignorant of simple scientific principle like I originally thought, but using a metaphor to talk about the way that new opportunities for global collaboration are being opened to everyone.
I actually found this book enlightening and depressing at the same time. Friedman was saying that my generation will not have the ease of finding jobs that our fathers and grandfathers did, because of increased competition from India, China, and other developing countries. New jobs are being created, but we must work harder to get an education and continue to learn ways to be not simply “vanilla,” as Friedman puts it, but a cherry on the top of the sundae. We must be something that is special and valued, not something that can be outsourced to other countries, and create niches for ourselves. When Friedman made the example of the private school where international parents complain there isn’t enough homework, and white middle class American parents complain that there is too much, I thought of ‘Iolani. Would the standards at our school really stand up at an international level? Are we, as students, really prepared to be competing on an international level?
Even many of the students at our school are not actually American citizens. Instead, they come here (with or without their parents) to get a better education and, their parents hope, a better life. I’ve clearly seen the cultural differences that Friedman mentions between first generation immigrant families and the more relaxed third or fourth generation American families. The new immigrants seem to be more involved in their children’s lives, and more likely to encourage them to get straight A’s and aspire to become doctors or lawyers.
This book has definitely changed the way I think, even if I had to slog through it by forcing myself to read it page by page. When I visited Costco with my family, I thought about how all the different products go through a national supply chain to be shipped here. When I went to Walmart, I resisted the urge to inspect the pallets of unopened boxes for those RFID tags that Friedman mentioned, and wondered as I went through the checkout if right at that moment the producers of fish food and flour were rushing new shipments to the warehouses to replace the ones I was taking with me. I wondered if the benefits that Costco workers gain are better than the financial benefits that Walmart as a company enjoys. Even in the McDonald’s drive-through, I began to see signs of outsourcing. Often, the person you speak to when you order at the drive-through isn’t in the McDonalds at all. Instead it is someone on the mainland who takes your order, then sends it electronically to the window where you can pick it up minutes later.
This book is long, with so many examples and references that I felt that the author must be repeating himself. I can’t really see anyone reading this for fun, though, and I’m not sure how much the content will really help readers. It is educational, and shows you how the world is widening and becoming more equal in most places, but even the author doesn’t know the secret to success or even survival in this new world of Globalization 3.0. His best advice is to simply continue to learn and change as the world changes around you. He doesn’t think that globalization should or can be stopped, but that we must adapt to it and continue to succeed as a country. I just hope I have enough ambition and eagerness to learn that I can survive in this new, flat world.
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