Globalization and Educational Rights: An Intercivilizational Analysis

by Spring, Joel

• ISBN13: 9780805838824
• ISBN10: 0805838821
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Lawrence Erlbau

Summary

This is the first book to explore the meaning of equality and freedom of education in a global context and their relationship to the universal right to education. It also proposes evaluating school systems according to their achievement of equality and freedom. Education in the 21st century is widely viewed as a necessary condition for the promotion of human welfare, and thus identified as a basic human right. Educational rights are included in many national constitutions written since the global spread of human rights ideas after World War II. But as a global idea, the meaning of educational rights varies between civilizations. In this book, which builds on the concept of the universal right to education set forth in Spring's The Universal Right to Education: Justification, Definition, and Guidelines, his intercivilizational analysis of educational rights focuses on four of the world's major civilizations: Confucian, Islamic, Western, and Hindu. Spring begins by considering educational rights as part of the global flow of ideas and the global culture of schooling. He also considers the tension this generates within different civilizational traditions. Next, he proceeds to: *examine the meaning of educational rights in the Confucian tradition, in the recent history of China, and in the Chinese Constitution; *look at educational rights in the context of Islamic civilization and as presented in the constitutions of Islamic countries, including an analysis of the sharp contrast between the religious orientation of Islamic educational rights and those of China and the West; *explore the problems created by the Western natural rights tradition and the eventual acceptance of educational rights as represented in European constitutions, with a focus on the development and prominence given in the West to the relationship between schooling and equality of opportunity; and, *investigate the effect of global culture on India and the blend of Western and Hindu ideas in the Indian constitution, highlighting the obstacles to fulfillment of educational rights created by centuries of discrimination against women and lower castes. In his conclusion, Spring presents an educational rights statement based on his intercivilizational analysis and his examination of national constitutions. This statement is intended to serve as a model for the inclusion of educational rights in national constitutions.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Global Education and an Intercivilizational Analysis	1	(19)
Illustrating the Growing Uniformity of Global Education: ``Not One Less''	2	(1)
An Intercivilizational Approach to Defining Equality and Freedom of Education: Confucian, Islamic, Western, and Hindu	3	(2)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights as an Intercivilizational Document	5	(2)
Human Rights in the Global Flow and the Global Culture	7	(3)
The Intercivilizational Character of Global Education	10	(4)
Human Rights Statements on Equality, Freedom, and the Right to Education	14	(5)
Conclusion	19	(1)
China: Confucius, Mao Zedong, and Socialist Modernization	20	(37)
The Confucian Tradition	23	(1)
Equality in Confucian Education	24	(3)
The Litigious Versus the Self-regulated Society	27	(1)
Confucian Educational Ideal	28	(2)
Freedom of Speech, Scholars, and the Good Society	30	(2)
Inequality and the Oppression of Women	32	(2)
Chinese Nationalism: ``Western Function, Chinese Essence''	34	(2)
Chinese Constitutionalism: Equality of Pleasure and Pain	36	(3)
Mao Zedong: Thinking Equality and Freely Expressing Truth	39	(7)
Socialist Modernization and Human Rights	46	(2)
Equality, Freedom, and Socialist Modernization	48	(4)
Gender Equality and Inequality	52	(1)
Conclusion: The Contribution of Confucius, Mencius, Mao Zedong Thought, and Socialist Modernization to Ideas of Equality and Freedom in the Global Flow	53	(4)
Equality and Freedom in Islamic Education	57	(32)
Qur'anic Arabic: The Language of Islam	58	(1)
Islam and the West	59	(2)
Islamic History and the West	61	(4)
Education, Pan Islam, Arab Nationalism, and the Islamic State	65	(3)
Equality and Freedom in Iran's Constitution	68	(3)
Islam and Women's Rights	71	(3)
Equality of Educational Opportunity in Iran	74	(1)
Equality and Freedom in Islamic Constitutions	74	(4)
The Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights and the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam	78	(2)
The Reality of Educational Opportunity in Islamic Nations	80	(4)
Conclusion	84	(5)
Natural Rights and Education in the West	89	(26)
Western Concepts of Equality and Freedom	90	(2)
Equality and Freedom in the Western Enlightenment	92	(6)
Equality and Freedom in the United States	98	(1)
Equality, Scientific Racism, and Educational Discrimination	99	(3)
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the Bill of Rights	102	(1)
Equality of Opportunity	103	(2)
Equality Before the Law	105	(2)
Equality of Educational Opportunity as a Human Right in the West	107	(4)
Freedom and the Right to Education	111	(1)
Freedom of Choice and The European Union's Right to Education	111	(3)
Conclusion	114	(1)
India: Education, Human Rights, and the Global Flow	115	(37)
Anglicized Leadership and the Struggle for Freedom and Equality	116	(3)
Inequality Based on Caste and Gender	119	(3)
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar: An Untouchable in Search of Equality	122	(6)
Ghandhi and Theosophy in the Global Flow	128	(3)
Gandhi: Education in the Global Flow	131	(4)
Gandhi: Equality and the Reform of Hinduism	135	(5)
Nehru	140	(5)
Constitutional Provisions for Education	145	(2)
The Pursuit of Equality in Indian Education	147	(2)
The Case of the Missing Women	149	(1)
Conclusion: The Lessons of India	149	(3)
A Constitutional Provision for Educational Rights	152	(11)
Conclusion	161	(2)
Notes	163	(14)
Index	177