Citizenship, Identity, and Education: Examining the Public Purposes of Schools in an Age of Globalization

One of the purposes of educational institutions is to develop citizenship. In the 21st century, citizenship includes global citizenship. Addressing the challenges of globalization will require making citizenship education and the development of global values an explicit objective of efforts to improve quality throughout the world, critically examining theories and evidence about the effectiveness of various approaches to developing citizenship and global citizenship and supporting activities aligned with this public purpose. In this article, the author does not argue for an exclusive effort to focus schools on civic education, but rather for a balanced effort to elevate educational quality making it more relevant to address global challenges and opportunities, of which civic education and global education are components, much neglected at present. The author also does not suggest making civic education the only purpose of the curriculum or making it a priority to the expense of science, math, arts or physical and health education, but he thinks that helping students develop a sense of purpose, situated within broader civic and global purposes, would also facilitate high level engagement with science, mathematical and artistic pursuits.