runninghead,evenpagesfernandoreimers.docVIP

RUNNING HEAD, EVEN PAGES: Fernando Reimers RUNNING HEAD, UNEVEN PAGES: The public purposes of schools in an age of globalization RUNNING HEAD, FOOTER: Prospects, vol.?XXXVI, no. 3, September 2006 Original language: English Fernando Reimers (United States) is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he directs the International Education Policy Program and the Office of Global Education. His research focuses on the impact of education policy on the quality and relevance of education. E-mail: Fernando_Reimers@ CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION,GLOBALIZATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION Citizenship, Identity and Education Examining the Public Purposes of Schools in an age of Globalization Fernando Reimers Educational institutions exist to achieve public purposes. One of those purposes is to develop citizenship. In the twenty-first century citizenship includes global citizenship. In an era of Globalization effective citizenship includes the knowledge, ability and disposition to engage peacefully and constructively across cultural differences for purposes of addressing personal and collective needs and of achieving sustainable human-environmental interactions, this requires internalizing Global Values. A universal commitment to global values, including to universal human rights and tolerance will be essential to prevent the civilizational conflict predicted by Samuel Huntington: It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.