Cosmopolitan Education in Local Settings: Toward a New Civics Education for the 21st Century

Abstract

This article reviews the rival trends and competing discourses within the cosmopolitan tradition to formulate a comprehensive educational approach, called ‘rooted cosmopolitanism’, that is timely, conceptually operational, culturally sensitive, and applicable in local educational settings. After reviewing the existing conceptions of cosmopolitanism, I define cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitan education. Then I present various critiques of the cosmopolitan discourse, focusing on the need for rootedness. To bridge the tension between lofty cosmopolitan values and the concrete demands and aims of local educational systems, I conclude by claiming that cosmopolitan education can be sustained through a prism of local culture, religion, heritage and language.

Habituasi Untuk Menguatkan Karakter Nasionalisme Peserta Didik Wilayah Perbatasan Pada Abad 21

“…Peran pendidikan di abad ke-21 lebih berfungsi sebagai pengungkit dalam memfasilitasi transformasi organisasi yang terbukti menjadi salah satu intervensi paling kuat dalam mempercepat langkah dan kedalaman perubahan (Conger & Xin, 2000). Di samping itu, kebutuhan peserta didik untuk mengetahui lebih banyak tentang budaya, agama dan realitas kehidupan orang lain, juga diperlukan di abad ini untuk mengidentifikasi dan memperkuat nilai-ni-lai yang mungkin mereka lihat di masa lalu sebagai ancaman dengan nilai-nilai yang dikuatkan sebagai bagian dari kesetiaan terhadap bangsa (Vinokur, 2018). Selain itu, stabilitas keluarga yang lebih besar juga akan mempengaruhi pendidikan anak yang lebih baik.…”

Habituasi untuk Menguatkan Karakter Nasionalisme Peserta Didik Wilayah Perbatasan pada Abad 21

“…Stabilitas keluarga yang lebih besar juga akan mempengaruhi pendidikan anak yang lebih baik. Hal tersebut terlihat saat keluarga mengelaborasi kegiatan pengasuhan anak dan tanggung jawab ganda sebagai bentuk kepedulian terhadap pendidikan anak (Dyson, 2010;Sassler, 2018;Conger & Xin, 2000;Vinokur, 2018).…”

Education and cosmopolitanism: Liberating our non-cosmopolitan minds through mindfulness

“…Contemporary practical and/or theoretical pedagogical approaches to education in cosmopolitanism seek to create the open-mindedness that overcomes our non-cosmopolitan tendencies. Some of them express a clear acknowledgement of the tension of our local socialization in the face of the universality of cosmopolitan ideals (Hawkins, 2014; Moon, 2017; Vinokur, 2018). Yet, I argue that they target the mind after the fact.…”

“…There are diverse and conflicting ways in which the concept of cosmopolitanism has been described in the literature (Appiah, 2006; Benhabib, 2004; Hansen, 2010, 2014; Todd, 2008; Vinokur, 2018). My account will mostly focus on cosmopolitanism as a socio-emotional disposition that one may potentially cultivate toward the world through certain pedagogies.…”

“…This accords with contemporary perspectives on educational policy that call for epistemological pluralism that “captures the underlying recognition that there is no one single truth, way of being, knowing, researching, or teaching, learning or capturing these nuances in policy” (Tesar and Arndt, 2017: 666). Indeed, some contemporary conceptualizations and initiatives reflect this pluralistic orientation by maintaining cosmopolitan values yet initiating into them based on a curricular-pedagogical approach that works “from the ground of” or is “rooted in” the diverse epistemologies of societies-cultures across the globe (Hansen, 2010; Vinokur, 2018). As this paper develops, these approaches are certainly worthy and necessary, yet they will still leave us wanting.…”