Global Wonderland: The Power of Diversity in International Schools
International schools truly live up to their names by being global wonderlands. In addition, to being popular with the multiple diverse ethnicities of Malaysia, many expatriates seeking a world-class education for their children send them to international schools. Even the faculty is international as international schools attract the best and brightest experienced educators from all over the world.
There are students and faculty hailing from Korea, England, America, China, New Zealand, Japan, Pakistan, Australia and so much more. Thus, you can find people from a multitude of different races, religions, cultures and nationalities in international schools. This a great advantage for international students as diversity has many notable positive effects such as:
- Enhancing Creativity
Diversity is the mother of creativity. This is because diversity exposes individuals to an array of different unique perspectives and world views. Research shows that multicultural experiences enhance creativity by improving idea flexibility and awareness of the underlying connections between ideas. Integrative complexity, combining different perspectives in novel ways drives innovation.
Some of the most creative individuals in history such as Hemmingway and Piccaso produced their best work after immersing themselves in a variety of different cultures and countries. Thus,the diversity of international schools along with their exceptional art programmes greatly boost student inventiveness.
- Effective Communication Skills
The diversity of international schools give students key insight into other cultures, religions and lifestyle. With this frequent exposure, international school students become more accepting and empathetic individuals, reducing negative behaviors of racism and prejudice.
They learn to be culturally sensitive and are are able to adapt their social behaviors to individuals with vastly different backgrounds from their own. Students are able to adapt to a multitude of varying environments. Hence, diversity helps improve the interpersonal, social and communication skills of international school students.
- Fluency in Multiple Languages
Being bilingual or multilingual is highly advantageous especially in the modern globalized world. Other than the social and practical opportunities it opens up to you, being well-versed in more than one language can even have positive cognitive effects such as a higher attention span.
Many international schools offer courses in languages such as French, Spanish and Japanese. In many instances, the students gain an amazing opportunity to learn from expert educators who originate or have extensive experience living in countries where the language is primarily spoken. For example, international school students can learn English from UK-born teachers or Mandarin from Chinese nationals.
Moreover, the diverse student environment gives international school students the perfect opportunity to practice their language skills. They can converse naturally with students who are fluent in other languages and become eloquent multilingual speakers and writers. For example, St. Joseph’s Institution International School Malaysia’s student Nicol Yong won the Belt and Road Youth English Speaking Competition and the China Daily ‘21st Century Cup’ International English Speaking Competition in Hangzhou, China.
- Establishing Global Connections
In this modern and increasingly globalized world, who you know can be as important as what you know. Possessing a strong social network is crucial to success, but possessing a international network is even better.
International schools are the perfect place to foster lifelong friendships with classmates. Some of these friendships may even turn into invaluable career opportunities later in life. They can trade information and perspectives as well collaborate together to produce exceptional results. In fact, Findings from Stanford University show that collaboration between diverse teams increased group productivity.
If you want to know more, check out our international schools page. Don’t wait now, ensure your child gets an early advantage today.
