Educational researchers and teacher educators are often concerned with immediate and practical questions. How can health teachers help youth avoid substance abuse? Should a high school biology teacher show Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," or is that film too political for a science classroom? What sports should be included in a physical education curriculum, and how much time should be devoted to each? While such questions usually arise in the context of local decision-making, they are nonetheless "global." The types of connections that transcend national boundaries have given the author's own field of curriculum studies a global bent, and some of the questions that the field is grappling with will guide this essay. In particular, what implications does globalization have for American schooling? What knowledge, skills, and dispositions will best serve youth in responding to globalization? What opportunities does globalization present, and what pitfalls? The author discusses these questions in the context of three related topics: (1) global competition; (2) global citizenship; and (3) global sustainability. He has chosen these topics based on their relevance to education.