ERIC Number: EJ1144533
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 10
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0034-4087
EISSN: N/A
Cosmopolitanism "as" Education: A Philosophy for Educators in Our Time
Hansen, David T.
Religious Education, v112 n3 p207-216 2017
There could hardly be a more auspicious, if not urgent, time for renewing our commitment to the deep values in education. With reference to the United States, consider the ongoing pressure on educators to treat their work, and to regard themselves, as mere appendages of the economic system. Consider also the fractured, polarized state of public discourse across the country. We can witness on both a global and local scale two responses to these circumstances: traditionalism and tradition. These two longstanding responses to change also seem to be undergoing transformation in ways that are not always easy to track. Traditionalists in the arts, in religions, in various social practices, and elsewhere, historically have sought to repel pressure, to resist change, and to build a bubble or cocoon around themselves. This is where the concept "cosmopolitanism" comes into play. The author takes the concept "cosmopolitan" to denote not a citizen of the world but, first and last, an inhabitant of the world. The author states that cosmopolitanism points to a dynamic fusion of reflective openness to the new with reflective loyalty to the known. In this article, the author provides a response to the question of what cosmopolitanism "looks like" in the affairs of human life by using research literature as the basis for his response and by sharing the details of his recently completed field-based project in some public schools in New York City. The endeavor was guided by questions about what it means to be and to become a person in this fast-changing world of ours, using cosmopolitanism as a lens. Much of what he witnessed in the eight public schools that he visited mirrors the idea of a cosmopolitan canopy.
Descriptors: Cultural Pluralism, Multicultural Education, Educational Philosophy, Field Studies, Public Schools, Urban Schools, Definitions, World Views, Student Diversity
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New York (New York)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A