ERIC Number: ED448105
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2000-Aug
Pages: 55
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-88-85401-67-8
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Two Faces of Education in Ethnic Conflict: Towards a Peacebuilding Education for Children.
Bush, Kenneth D., Ed.; Saltarelli, Diana, Ed.
This report challenges the widely held assumption that education is inevitably a force for good. While the provision of good quality education can be a stabilizing factor, the report shows how educational systems can be manipulated to drive a wedge between people. The report begins by describing the nature of today's armed conflicts, with virtually every conflict of recent years fought within, rather than between, nations. It examines the growing importance of "ethnicity" in conflicts, as clearly seen in recent tragedies such as Rwanda, Kosovo, and Chechnya. The second section of the report describes the two different faces of education: the negative face shows itself in the uneven distribution of education to create or preserve privilege, the use of education as a weapon of cultural repression, and the production or doctoring of textbooks to promote intolerance; the positive face goes beyond the provision of education for peace programs, reflecting the cumulative benefits of the provision of good quality education. While the report recognizes the value of peace education, it stresses that it is only one of many educational measures needed in the midst of ethnic hatred. It suggests that peace education cannot succeed without measures to tackle the destructive educational practices that fuel hostility, and should be seen as one part of a wider peacebuilding education approach. The report examines possible steps toward the creation of a peacebuilding education, outlining guiding principles and goals, including the demilitarization of the mind, the introduction of alternatives to suspicion, hatred and violence, and the value of memory. (Contains 138 references.) (BT)
Descriptors: Conflict, Educational Practices, Educational Research, Elementary Secondary Education, Ethnic Groups, Ethnicity, Peace, Social Problems, Textbook Content
UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Piazza SS. Annunziata, 12, 50122 Florence, Italy; e-mail (publication orders): florence.orders@unicef.org; Web site: http://www.unicef-icdc.org.
Publication Type: Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: United Nations Children's Fund, Florence (Italy). Innocenti Research Centre.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A