This document traces the history of and need for global education. The paper examines a crucial connection between global education and critical thinking. Students cannot acquire a global perspective without developing critical thinking skills. Similarly, they cannot be considered critical thinkers without a global perspective. With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the challenge has become for teachers to abandon their bipolar assumptions and get students ready for a multipolar world. A new world view is needed. The global education movement can serve as a model for an educational system that will prepare students for life in a much different world than the one of their parents. Global education developed out of 2 emerging global realities: (1) all humans are part of a complex web of world institutions, whether as consumers, workers, or investors; and (2) humanity is increasingly threatened by problems that cannot be solved at the national level. The perspective and method of critical thinking offers important help, first and foremost, because the process systematically encourages a student to be extremely careful about his or her world view and background beliefs. Critical thinking forces values to the surface of consciousness and makes students think about the way they are thinking. Not teaching the mere tolerance of other cultures, but teaching a far more humble and modest view of the country's place in the world, and encouraging the notion of authentic and equal partnership in a global community is urged. (DK)