How global awareness and world history lessons can help develop culturally aware teens?

In recent times we have seen that there is a trend which has swept the cultural and technological world, particularly through social media- “fake news”. A lot of people have probably heard of this term a million times. Fake news travels like wildfires, fake news travels 6 times faster than real news and so on. The teens of today – the Youtubers, the Instagrammers and the Twitter generation get most of their news from social media in the form of memes. According to a report published by ‘The New York Times’, Internet memes use images to celebrate, mock or satirize current events and popular culture, and they have become a defining part of how teenagers communicate in the digital world. The memes are generally harmless but they risk spreading both fake news and racist sentiments which might hurt certain sections of the society. But still, the teens of now are much more developed and technologically advanced than the teens of yesteryears. They are exposed to millions of opinions about hundreds of issues throughout the world and this deluge of facts, information, misinformation, opinions, representations and all the conflicting messages out there have a tendency to confuse even educated and experienced individuals, let alone immature teens. The Internet and these social media sites contain a lot of misinformation regarding cultural issues and if teens are not properly informed, they might spread this information unknowingly. This rampant barrage of fake news can only be controlled if today’s youth are educated and have a broad idea about global awareness and world history. To know and sympathize with one’s culture and traditions, one has to have an understanding of the upheavals and the tumultuous procedure through which a culture evolves into its present form- the form which the person practices now. The journey of such an evolution can only be understood if one knows the historical events and facts which are connected to this culture or tradition. Only then will that person be culturally aware. One also has to understand that cultural appreciation has to be cultivated, but cultural awareness can only be there if a person is appropriately educated regarding the cultural issues. For example, a person might not understand the significance of an object for example, a sans-culotte, a form of trousers in vogue nowadays, without knowing its historical background. This very same outfit was worn by the Jacobins in France in the late 18th century, during the time of the French Revolution. Now, knowing this fact, the object gains much more cultural importance and people are aware of how this clothing has come into being. Therefore, they understand that this costume is a part of a culture, a detail which was not known to them previously. In the journey of becoming culturally aware as an individual, global awareness also comes into play. Intermingling of different cultures, meeting people with different perspectives, being exposed to different ideas about society and the world as a whole contribute to the cultural enrichment of a person. Cultural exchange programs in schools, colleges etc allow teens to experience the world from a different angle, through the eyes of a different person living in a faraway place. Learning trips, for example, to places of historical significance, would allow the teens to know their roots and the different stories that are connected to their traditions. Being confined in a narrow space throughout one’s life will never create a broad mindset and an open outlook to life. Reading books in different languages, listening to music from different corners of the world, interacting with a vast array of people on social media- teens have all these opportunities in the present times. World history lessons accompanied with global awareness programs for teenagers will help to create culturally aware individuals who are conscious of the different issues concerning societies and communities throughout the world. They will also become more well-rounded responsive adults and will learn to appreciate the finer nuances of cultural appropriation and appreciation.