Photo courtesy Wikimedia: La Consolacion College Manila.

It is with great interest that I read Donal O'Shea's (and Maneesha Lal) article “Educating Students for a Global Future.”

In August 2003, I wrote an article entitled Globalizing the Filipino for Global Business for La Consolacion College Manila’s (a religious educational institution) research publication (LCCM Research Journal, Vol. XV, No.2, Sept-Dec. 2003). In that article, I asserted the importance of the national question (national interest and nationhood) as the foundation guiding the future of business in a globalized world. It is indeed with much sadness that a majority of our academic institutions all over the world seem to have relegated cultural courses to the backseat in favor of science and technology in compliance with the dictates of the international labor market.

The authors correctly pointed out that raising “multinational sensibility” among students in preparation for their globalized future is a very important undertaking. As a Filipino academician, it is with much caution that I often remind my colleagues and students to deepen or substantiate multicultural initiatives beyond the material aspects of the cultural iceberg. Teaching courses like Contemporary World Issues and Cultural Anthropology can help students look beyond their immediate national environ and reflect on how people in other parts of the world continue to struggle not only for their basic needs but also on their global cultural fellowship for life advancement in behavioral and intellectual realms.

Virgilio C. Ventura lives in Calamba City in The philippines.

Photo courtesy Wikimedia: La Consolacion College Manila.