Global Citizenship Education for Peace and Social Justice

Critical issues we need to study further…

Edward R. Howe, PhDehowe@cc.utsunomiya.ac.jp

What issues?The Environment: Global Warming, Pollution of Air,

Water and Land, Desertification, 4Rs of RecyclingEndangered Species (and Language Extinctions

too)Sustainability: Managing the Earth’s ResourcesPeace and Human RightsAlleviating PovertyFood/Clean Water/HousingSafety and SecurityEducation for Equity and DiversityGender EquityCross-Cultural Understanding, Respect & More

Global WarmingSee Al Gore’s award-winning movie entitled,

“An Inconvenient Truth” available for rent on DVD.

Climate changehttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2078944470709189270#

Air PollutionIncreasing levels of Smog, Acid RainCO2 Emissions and other Greenhouse gases\Crisis in China and other developing nations

Water PollutionThis is perhaps one of the most serious

problems facing many populations. The death toll is significant (even in developed countries like Canada).

Land PollutionThere is far too much waste dumped!Why is there so much packaging in Japan?

DesertificationBurning of rainforests to create crops is

unsustainable management of precious resources

The 4Rs of RecyclingRecycleReduceReuseRefuse

SustainabilityHow can we best manage the earth’s limited

resources?We must switch to alternative renewable

energy resources (solar, wind etc.) rather than relying on fossil fuels.

Reduce our Carbon Footprint

Peace and Human RightsEducation is keyWe must try to better understand othersBasic human rights are mandated by the

United Nations: http://www.un.org/

PovertyEducation is keyAlleviate poverty throughout the world and

many other problems (like terrorism) will likely be dealt with too.

Food/Clean Water/Housing1 billion people (nearly 1 in 6) are suffering

from hunger and malnutrition

Safety and SecurityThis is not to be taken for granted! There are

many regions in the world where children are not safe. War is still raging in many countries.

Education for Equity and DiversityEducation For AllLiteracy, Numeracy, Global Citizenship and

more“…[E]ducation must abandon the globally

dominant model of curriculum-based and competence-biased education. Instead education must be locally adapted to the globally conditioned task of fostering embodied virtuosity in the sustained achievement of ever-greater equity and diversity.” (Hershock, 2007, p.115)

Gender EquityThis is perhaps one of the most important

areas for study. It has been a major part of comparative and international education research for the past few decades. Much more work is needed, however.

Cross-cultural UnderstandingTranscultural citizenship is rapidly replacing

multiculturalism as a new paradigm. We must think beyond national boundaries.

And More…Can you think of any other critical social

justice issues for global citizenship?Use a Google Search of the following as a

start:UNESCOAmnesty InternationalCIA World FactbookNakamura, Koji, Konan University, Japan

WWWhttp://www.oxfam.org.uk/http://www.un.org/http://europa.eu.int/http://www.unicef.org/ http://www.undp.org/ http://www.care.org/http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/

index.html

WWW (continued)

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/peacesite/indexE.html

http://www.ucas.ac.uk/http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/

top_e.html http://www.peace-nagasaki.go.jp/eng/

ftop.htmlhttp://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/

peace/content.htm

ReferencesSee my homepage to download papers:http://homepage.mac.com/ehowe4/Ted/

Personal23.htmlSee Professor Koji Nakamura’s website for

links to more information and further references:

http://www.kilc.konan-u.ac.jp/~koji/

Thank you!Edward R. Howe, PhD

ehowe@cc.utsunomiya.ac.jp