From Local Classrooms to Global Futures: Rethinking Education for a Connected World

Kaya Henderson and Benjamin Lewis, co-members of the Rising Generations Strategy Group at the Aspen Institute, co-authored this piece as part of the Center for Rising Generations’ Global Connections Month, a campaign focused on spotlighting how young people are stepping into leadership in an interconnected world while driving systems change.

Young people are already navigating a connected, complex, and global world, but the systems designed to prepare them haven’t kept pace. To truly prepare the next generation of leaders, education must evolve to reflect the reality young people are already living in.

We’ve built education systems that are good at hitting metrics like graduation rates, test scores, and course completion. And yet, too many young people are being asked to navigate a world they’re not being fully prepared for. One that is more connected, more complex, and more global than ever before.

“We shouldn’t just be asking whether students are graduating; we should be asking whether they’re ready.”

That disconnect isn’t about effort. It’s about design.

We’ve designed systems to measure progress, but not always to develop the kind of leadership young people actually need. Because if we’re honest, we shouldn’t just be asking whether students are graduating but whether they’re ready.

At the Center for Rising Generations (CRG), we talk a lot about leadership, not as a position or bequeathed title, but as a set of skills and mindsets. Leadership means young people are able to solve problems for themselves, contribute to their communities, and navigate challenges that extend beyond borders.

That’s the bar. And if that’s the bar, we have to ask an even harder question:

Are our education systems designed to graduate the next generation of leaders for their cities and for the world?

Right now, too often, the answer is no.

Let’s admit it, young people are already living globally. They are building relationships across borders, learning from communities they’ve never physically been in, and organizing, creating, and sharing ideas in real time. They’re not waiting for schools to teach them how to be global citizens because they’re figuring it out on their own.

And that should tell us something. It tells us that young people are leading faster than the system.

“The challenge isn’t a lack of effort. It’s that our systems weren’t designed for the world young people are stepping into.”

We’ve both seen what happens when young people are given the chance to step beyond what’s familiar.

For one of us, that started early, traveling to Spain in high school and later to Venezuela while studying at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Those experiences didn’t just expand a worldview; they reshaped how leadership, connection, and global responsibility were understood.

And later, in leading a large urban school system, we had the opportunity to act on that belief.

We launched a fully funded, districtwide study abroad program in D.C. Public Schools, designed to ensure that global experiences weren’t reserved for a small group of students, but accessible to all. Students traveled across continents, with passports, flights, and housing covered, because the goal wasn’t exposure for some. It was opportunity for everyone – at scale.

What we saw in return was powerful. Students came back more confident, more curious, and more connected… to the world and to their own sense of possibility. They began to see themselves not just as students in a system, but as participants in something bigger.

This is where the conversation often gets constrained. 

We tend to assume that systems can only make incremental change. That the best we can do is adjust around the edges. And to be fair, many systems are in fact built that way. But even within those constraints, we’ve seen that relatively small interventions can have outsized impact.

A single experience, like studying abroad or connecting across cultures, can fundamentally shift how a young person sees themselves, their community, and their place in the world. 

And if something that “small” can be life-changing, it raises a bigger question around what it would look like if systems chose to build from that insight, rather than treat it as an exception. 

What if global experiences weren’t rare, but expected? What if access wasn’t limited, but designed into the system itself?

Because the real limitation isn’t always capacity. Sometimes, it’s imagination. 

So what is the role of schools, systems, and institutions in that reality?

It’s not to control it. It’s not to limit it. It’s to support it. To facilitate it. To expand access to it.

That means:

• creating opportunities for young people to connect across borders
• ensuring access to language learning, not as an elective, but as a tool
• leveraging technology to translate, connect, and collaborate
• expanding access to study abroad, both in-person and virtual
• building pathways for young people to share ideas and solutions across communities and countries

Because global competence isn’t something that happens after school. It has to be built into the experience of learning itself.

Which brings us back to the question of whether we’re willing to design education in a way that reflects the world young people are already stepping into.

From a workforce and policy perspective, we see the same reality playing out in that success increasingly depends on the ability to collaborate across cultures, navigate complexity, and operate in diverse, interconnected environments. And for young people, that gap is not theoretical. It’s lived.

In its most basic form, global citizenship requires us to recognize the global nature of today’s biggest challenges, and to work across borders to address them. Environmental, political, and economic issues in one part of the world ripple outward, shaping lives far beyond their origin.

Young people understand this intuitively. Many are already embracing a globally oriented mindset, knowing they will face these challenges longer than anyone else. But our education systems haven’t kept pace.

In the pursuit of improving test scores and graduation rates, we’ve often neglected the skills needed for global collaboration, like language, cultural fluency, and the ability to engage across difference.

“Young people understand the global nature of today’s challenges. Our education systems need to catch up.”

Global citizenship is sometimes dismissed as a buzzword. But in reality, it’s a necessity.

And there are clear, practical ways to build it.

One is through global interaction, especially virtual exchange programs. These programs connect students with peers around the world, creating opportunities to engage across cultures in real time, in spaces where young people already are. Initiatives like the Aspen Institute’s Stevens Initiative demonstrate what’s possible when technology is used intentionally to expand access and perspective.

Beyond that, schools can make smaller but meaningful shifts:

• incorporating global perspectives into curriculum and media
• exposing students to diverse lived experiences
• creating opportunities to engage with ideas beyond their immediate context

And critically, we need to rethink how we approach language learning.

Rather than treating it as optional, we should expand access, particularly to less commonly taught languages. Language is one of the most powerful tools we have for building connection and understanding across cultures, and early exposure matters.

Ultimately, systems need to recognize what young people are already doing and meet them there. Because right now, too many are navigating global challenges without the tools they need to do it well.

If we take this seriously, then global learning can’t be something reserved for a small group of students. It has to be accessible, integrated, and expected. Not as enrichment, but as preparation.

Because the future young people are stepping into demands more than academic knowledge.

It demands adaptability, cultural fluency, and the ability to collaborate across differences. Those are skills that have to be practiced, not just taught.

We often talk about preparing young people for the future. But too often, we’re preparing them for a version of the world that no longer exists.

Young people are already showing us what’s possible when they have access, connection, and agency.

“If we want young people to lead in a global future, we have to build systems that reflect that reality.”

That’s part of why we’ve both joined the Rising Generations Strategy Group (RGSG) at the Aspen Institute, working alongside leaders across sectors and young people themselves to rethink how America’s education systems prepare the next generation for a global future. This includes exploring how innovation and technology can expand access, deepen connection, and better equip young people to engage across borders and contribute to solutions that extend beyond their own communities. 

Because preparing young people for a global future is not a distant goal. It’s a design challenge in front of us right now. And the choices systems make today will shape not just what young people know, but how they lead, connect, and contribute in a world that is already deeply interconnected.