Rapprochement of Cultures and
Creative Education
Rene Wadlow
President, Association of World Citizens
The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the
Decade 2013-2022 as the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures
building on the efforts in the UNESCO General Conference which had called for
“the development of a universal global consciousness” based on dialogue and
cooperation in a climate of trust and mutual understanding and for a “new
humanism for the twenty-first century.” The Rapprochement of Cultures is a
positive aspect of the process of globalization.
Globalization is an empirical process of
world integration driven by a variety of economic, cultural, political, and
ideological forces as seen in such areas as market expansion, a global
production pattern as well as cultural homogenisation. In the fields of economics, politics,
technology, environment and health, we see greater collaboration and
interdependence. Now, international conferences,
common trade agreements and multinational projects are striving to find
solutions to long-standing difficulties and to promote development in areas
where the problems have become too great to be resolved by a single State. We are learning, out of necessity, that
competition has its limits. To give one
example, many of the issues in trade negotiations which go on in Geneva where I
am an NGO Representative to the United Nations are about labour standards,
environmental policies and human rights (such as products fabricated by child
labour). These are all deeply domestic
matters which have now become part of international affairs.
Has education been changing as quickly as the world economy? How are we preparing students to meet the
demands of the world society? What role
are schools playing in the formation of active world citizens able to make real
contributions to the creation of a more peaceful society? Are we building the
foundations of a New Humanism?
Education is uniquely placed to help deal with the major
problems facing the world society: violent conflict, poverty, the destruction
of the natural environment, and other fundamental issues touching human beings
everywhere. Education provides
information, skills and helps to shape values and attitudes.
It is true that education is not limited to the formal school
system. There are many agents of
education: family, media, peers, and associations of all sorts. Nevertheless, schools play a central role,
and people expect schools to be leaders in the educational process. Unfortunately, there are times when schools
are left alone as the only conscious instrument of education. Therefore, teachers need to analyse how other
agents of society contribute to the educational process or, more negatively,
may hinder the educational process or promote destructive attitudes and values.
Education has two related aims. One is to help the student
to function in society, be it the local, the national, and the world
society. The other aim is to help in the
fullest development of the individual’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and
spiritual capacities.
There are three related ways to help prepare students for a
fast-changing world in which people, ideas, goods and services increasingly cross
State frontiers. These ways are related to:
1)
skills,
2)
content,
3)
values and attitudes.
There is a need to teach those skills needed to be able to
function effectively in the world: skills of goal setting, analysis, problem
solving, research, communication, and conflict-resolution skills. We need to place more emphasis on
communication skills in our schools with an emphasis on personal expression
through language and the arts. Children
need opportunities to acquire skills in writing, speech, drama, music, painting
and other arts in order to find their own voices and expressions.
The second area of importance concerns the content of
education with an emphasis on modern history and geography, ecology, economics,
civics, and the history of science and technology. There is also a need to
organize a curriculum through the use of broad themes such as interdependence,
change, complexity, culture and conflict.
The third area concerns values and attitudes needed for
living in a global society: self-confidence in one’s own capacity, concern and
interest in others, an openness to the cultural contributions of other
societies. There needs to be a
willingness to live with complexity, to refuse easy answers or to shift blame
to others. In practice, a good teacher
makes a personalized combination of all these elements.
One must be realistic in evaluating the difficulties of
restructuring educational systems to make them future oriented and open to the
world. We all know the heavy structures
of educational systems and the pressures to conform to the status quo. We must not underestimate the narrow
nationalistic pressures on the teaching of social issues or the political
influences on content and methods.
In order to understand the limits and the possibilities of
change, teachers must be prepared to carry out research on the local
community. They must be able to analyse
their specific communities. It is always
dangerous to make wide generalizations on the role of the family, the media, of
religion as if it were always the same in all parts of the country or the same
in all social classes and milieu.
Thus, teachers should be able, with some sociological
training, to carry out studies on the formation of attitudes, values and skills
of their students by looking at the respective role of the family, the content
of the media, and student participation in associations. Such studies can be carried out in a
cooperative way among several teachers so as to be able to go to greater
depth. Teachers could look for
information to help answer such questions as “Are any groups excluded from
participating in the community?” “How
can possible marginalisation be counteracted?”
“How can one study environmental and ecological issues locally?” “What is the significance of different role
models such as peers, parents, and educators?”
“In what ways can non-formal and informal learning environments be
furthered?”
There are more and more teachers who realise the direction
of current world trends. Migration puts
other cultures on one’s door step. Thus, the importance of creative efforts for
the Decade of the Rapprochement of Cultures. We all need to be encouraged by
the advances being made. We can help one
another so that we may develop the culture of peace and active world
citizenship together.
