Latin America's rapid change in recent years prompted The American Forum to take a closer look at this important and dynamic region. A conference was organized that asked the question: What should educators teach students about Latin America? The conference was hosted by the New York University Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Columbia University/NYU National Resource Center on Latin American Studies.
Although many answers were suggested, most agreed that to understand today's Latin America, we must first have a firm understanding of Latin America's past. Here we have tried to summarize how Latin America should be viewed in today's global world, and to highlight some strategies for teaching these ideas.
This text originally appeared in Issues in Global Education (NY: The American Forum for Global Education, Issue #145, 1998).