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The megatrend globalization is closely related to other megatrends, such as the megatrend networking and the megatrend English.
It wasn't that many generations ago that a trip to a town 30 km away was a major excursion. Today, there is nothing unusual about flying to a business meeting in Warsaw this morning and spending dinner at home at the dinner table with your family - taking less travel time than the ride to the neighbouring town in those bygone days.
Just a generation ago, the majority of international communications took place by way of mail, with a running time of 4 - 14 days one way. Today, the majority of international communications takes place electronically with a running time of a few seconds.
Technologies of the new millennium such as VoIP or video conference enable us to contact any person anywhere in the world virtually free-of-charge. International boundaries are becoming less and less important. Social models of the past, such as a work place subject to employer-sponsored social insurance will increasingly lose relevance. The welfare of the individual will no longer be the responsibility of a patriarchal employer of the state, but responsibility will be transferred back to the individual.
The repatriation of responsibility for oneself and international competition will result in nations with a strong emphasis on education to move ahead while nations with a weak focus on education will fall behind. Highly educated people will have the best chances in the international competition of the knowledge society. If Germany is to remain competitive, the deficits of the German educational system must be seriously addressed. Asian countries with a strong education tradition such as Singapore, Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan etc. will rise in significance within the world economic system, while countries with rudimentary educational systems such as large parts of Africa will continue to be the trouble spots in the world economy unless fundamental structural changes are made.
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