Module 3 discussion topics

EDUCATION -- UNIVERSAL TRUTHS vs. RELATIVISTIC CONTENT

One of the philosophical choices in modern education is whether the content of educational curricula should present universal objective truths or relativistic concepts that reflect the society and time in which they are taught. On one hand, it might be understandable for formal education to incorporate the values and beliefs of society, simply because education encompasses much more than substantive academic information. It also contributes greatly to the socialization process and helps students learn how to communicate with others in social context.

On the other hand, there are also potentially serious drawbacks to that philosophical approach to education. It is more conducive to perpetuating indefensible social values than to objective criticism and the history of the 20th century has already demonstrated how great the potential is for the worst imaginable atrocities when formal education is fused with ideological philosophy instead of promoting intellectual freedom. A consideration of the respective arguments strongly suggests that formal education should focus on universal objective truths and practical skills without presuming the responsibility for also socializing young minds what to believe.

The entire first half of 20th century Europe demonstrates the potential dangers of combining formal academic education with nationalism, militarism, and political ideology. Fierce nationalism and blind loyalty to "King and Country" factored heavily into the climate that generated the First World War (Rooney, 2006; Russell, 1961). Two more decades of even more intense fusion of nationalism, militarism, and an extremely warped political ideology in Germany were responsible for the worst and largest scale atrocity of modern times. Much of the second half of the 20th century was also heavily influenced by the indoctrination of millions of people with Communist ideology in the former Soviet Union that precipitated a lengthy and very costly Cold War that almost turned into a catastrophic hot war several times (Goldfield, Abbot, Argersinger, et al., 2005).