Education Roles Essay -- Education Educate Papers

Education Roles Emerging from an extended period of ideological hostility between stubbornly-defined cold war blocs, we enter an era of strident nationalism and ethnic conflict. We observe conflicts of ethnic differences and historic disagreements, now fueled by the frustration of failed economic systems and faltering political regimes. Feelings of unity often arise out of a sense of shared experiences and common goals. In Canada, however, and in many other countries, people have been driven apart by geographic, racial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural and legal circumstances. As the widespread trend toward state division and republic formation continues, we must come to ask ourselves what can hold diverse people together. Primary and secondary school education-and specifically, the content and the form of national histories that are taught in classrooms around the world-provides a unique venue for the study of the development of nationalism. It may be the primary forum in which people construct, think about and interpret stories about themselves and their past, present and future. Through the Canadian experience, nationalism can be seen outside a context of war and deprivation. Yet as Michael Ignatieff-British resident and son of a Russian-born Canadian diplomat-writes of Canada, "Here we have one of the five richest nations on earth, a country so uniquely blessed with space and opportunity that the world's poor are beating at the door to get in, and it is tearing itself apart." Especially in the aftermath of an emotionally intense and statistically close referendum on Quà ©bec sovereignty in October 1995, Canada too must examine the possibilities for national unity. As I have thought about these possibilities, I have ... ...mmunity-active approaches to education, I am trying to understand the teacher's role and the role of education in general in individual development. Through current and further academic studies, I am attempting to understand the role of education in the social, economic, cultural and political development of the nation-state. The opportunity to study abroad for a year under a Rotary Scholarship would allow me to gain a greater understanding of the possible outcomes of various experiements in education attempted in another country as govenments, teachers, students and other citizens respond to social, economic and political conditions. The process and the aftermath of this experience would challenge me to explore the possibilities for creating and forwarding honest national histories-both abroad and in Canada-within which each individual's voice might be articulated.