Global Societal Problem Argument and Solution Argumentative

The Need for a Return to Character Education as a Universal Standard
When the topic of lack of education is brought up it is generally assumed that access to education is the problem. However, lack of education can also refer to the problem of lack of effective education or lack of consistency in education. In many places around the world, education is promoted by the state—for example, Qatar has developed Education City—but a deeply-ingrained culture still exists that resists overtures to education (Bahry & Marr, 2005). The problem that exists in terms of education on a global scale is that education means different things to different people in different cultures and there is no universal standard or sameness in terms of goals that educators around the world pursue at the one and the same time. This creates an overall effect of lack of education around the world, with education gaps between communities. For instance, in some affluent white communities in America, students are more educated than learners in poor black communities in the same nation. One issue is inequality, but understanding that the lack of education around the world results from a lack of universal standardization is primarily the issue. Calling for more access to education is insufficient. What is needed is a clear, universal approach that can appeal to all and that can serve as the foundation for universal education. The topic is important because today’s globalized world may splinter into fragments and into nationalistic wars if global citizenship is not achieved. Ethical implications of this topic are that it can provide the ethical framework needed for uniting the world. To promote global citizenship, character education has to be provided as the foundation for learning and it must be provided uniformly—otherwise there will be stark differences in the type and level of education that people receive from different states all over the world.
Problem
Lack of education is a problem for the development of global citizens. Because education standards and access to education are not uniform around the world, there is little chance of a truly global citizenship developing. Moreover, there are cultural barriers that prevent education in one part of the world, such as the Middle East, from being comparable to what it is in other parts of the world. Without equal access to education and universal standards and curriculum, the global citizenry will be disjointed and unequal and therefore not really global. One of the challenges to global citizenry is a lack of education; however, there are other obstacles as well, such as the rise of nationalism in countries like China, Russia, the US and states in the Middle East. There are also cultural obstacles which cause education standards to be different from place to place. To bring uniformity to classrooms around the world, a standard should be agreed upon but there also needs to be a standard of character formation, since this is the basis of all future development.
Why is the lack of moral education at the foundation of the problem of lack of education? The emphasis on subjectivity in the modern era has led to the rise of Ethical Egoism, in which every person sees himself as the arbiter of what is good and bad. There is no focus on external realities, objective truth, ideals or universals. Instead, the ends justify the means and the only ends that matter in an Ethical Egoism framework are the ends that matter most to the individual self. The modern era is consumed with Self. It does not want to hear about conforming the Self or the character to an objective standard because it means submitting the Self to a higher rule of law. The Self wants to establish its own rule of law—but in doing so, it creates an environment in which Self is pitted against Self, in which individual is set against individual. There is no allowance for collectivity or for global citizenry even being possible. As Hill (2015) points out, people have to adopt a more cosmopolitan sense of their place in the world so that they can see that they are part of a larger global community in which diversity of culture exists. Finding a foundation of education that all can agree upon is the way to promote global citizenry and close the education gap. Implementing a system of virtue ethics in education is the way to do this (Gong, 2010).
The problem of lack of education is rooted in the lack of character education, which stems from the modern world moving away from traditional philosophy and embracing subjective frameworks. Traditional philosophy united the world in the past. All cultures, from Islam to Judaism to Christian to Asian could share in the ethics promoted by Aristotle, which were fostered in realism (Kristjansson, 2014). Today, nationalism is on the rise, and subjectivity is promoted in place of objectivity in philosophy. Aristotelianism, which united the ancient world in the past, is ignored and in its place, subjective modern theories that create division and foster resentment are taught in its stead.
A third problem to address here is the issue of critical thinking. There will always be a lack of education so long as schools fail to teach critical thinking. As Freire (2000) points out, memorizing information is not learning and much of modern education focuses on memorization and rote learning. Schools do not teach critical thinking because they do not actually want people learning to think for themselves. They want to produce robots who accept whatever they are told and do not make any trouble for the ruling classes (Freire, 2000).
Solution
Character education is the best approach to improving education across the board. It shows that if the character is education first all else will fall into place (Lickona, 1993). This eliminates the problem of seeking an academic standard that can cross cultures. If character development is the standard, academic goals will be organically sought. Lickona’s (1993) argument essentially served to open the door for more recent analysis from researchers like Kristjansson (2014), who have highlighted specifically how Aristotle can help give that character education that is so important for people to have today. In the US, Common Core standards are insufficient to promote character education, even though the Common Core program asserts that character education is vital as an educational base. If so, then why is there no focus on writing poetry but only on writing expositions? Poetry writing can aid in the development of the way learners think and communicate themselves by giving them experience with abstract ideas and obliging them to put those abstract ideas into concrete terms. To treat all of life like it is a science manual or engineering manual is to rob life of its aesthetic charm. So it is important to consider all of these different angles—ethics, aesthetics, axiology, ontology, and so on. Informing and developing the character is essential.
Another aspect of the solution is to look at what it means to be a global citizen. Papastephanou (2005) addresses the issue of lack of education around the globe by looking at the differences between globalization, globalism and cosmopolitanism. Papastephanou (2005) argues that globalization can lead to conflict because of cultural and national differences and that instead of pushing for a globalist solution to education what is needed is a cosmopolitan solution—one that is respectful and appreciative of differences. This point of view is helpful because it advances the discussion beyond the foundational stages and suggests that educators everywhere should be more focused on developing a cosmopolitan outlook, as this is what would benefit a global citizen most in today’s world. The evidence used by Papastephanou (2005) differs from the arguments and evidence put forward by Lickona (1993) and Kristjansson (2014) on character and moral education in that it is not looking at foundation educational needs but rather at the next step, which is recognizing that one is part of a whole and that the whole has to be understood in light of the parts for it to be cohesive and free from conflict.
Finally, virtue is what must be established in the global community; it is what must be fostered in every state and nation, and it must be valued in the same manner (Gong, 2010). The point is that solving the problem of lack of education has to be holistic: it is not a one-step-and-done issue. It requires taking multiple steps so as to create the foundation for universal learning and for maintaining a culture of respect and universal solidarity, which can be achieved through emphasis on global citizenship. What should be avoided at all costs is the tendency in modern education to insist upon Ethical Egoism, since this is the most subjective and undermining of all ethical frameworks: it insists upon subjective analysis alone and allows everyone to establish his own definition of virtue based on what allows him to achieve his own ends. It is entirely anti-social and self-centered. Selfishness is a flaw that can be corrected through education of the virtue of humility.
Evaluation of the Evidence
There is no indication of bias or invalidity in any of the evidence used herein. The sources are all peer-reviewed or else from an educational institute focused on learning. Possible bias could occur if there were assumptions made by the authors of the sources, but each author was good about presenting the framework used for analysis, identifying where he was coming from and discussing potential limitations. Strengths of my sources are that they are situated in the real world and are not just looking at subjective or hypothetical situations.
For example, the Hunt Institute (2011) shows that the philosophy of education that most closely aligns with the purposes of Common Core standards is realism, which uses the scientific method to obtain information, to test hypothesis, and to draw conclusions. One of the weaknesses of the sources, however, was the lack of statistical data. Some people like to see data and empirical evidence to support claims because they do not know how to process deductive reasoning. My sources did not provide any information for this type of reader, which is a limitation and a place where future research could focus.
Ethical Outcomes of Solution
If the right philosophy of education is not adopted it would mean that Ethical Egoism continues and creates more division around the world, undermining the goal of global citizenship. But there has to be agreement on the value of virtue among societies. Unless virtue ethics is applied globally and a return to Aristotelianism is adopted, the success will not come. For instance, Common Core has called for moral or character education, and this is where the issue of philosophy becomes more complicated. Character education focuses on axiology, i.e., the nature of values, and because modern philosophy is highly subjective there is fear among some that teachers may teach values that parents do not share. There is no consistency across the board in terms of culture or value system.
The positive outcome of the solution proposed here is that it provides a point of intersection between idealism and realism that can be seen in the teachings of Plato and Aristotle, who are the fathers of the two philosophical approaches respectively. Plato’s take on values was idealistic in that he saw everyone as living in a cave of ignorance and he wanted them to leave the cave and climb upwards towards the light of truth and virtue, i.e., towards the Transcendentals. Aristotle was more focused on right living and saw happiness as coming from the cultivation of one’s character by conforming it to actions that would produce happiness, which he called virtues. Both philosophers are essentially talking about the same things, and if nations can see it as such, they can help increase education all over. Systems of ethics can range from deontology to virtue ethics to utilitarianism to Ethical Egoism. So unless there is agreement in a community about the nature of values and what values are most important there is going to be a problem here. Nonetheless, character education is important and has been a basis of education for as long as education has existed.
Conclusion
Lack of education is a problem preventing global citizenship. At root of the problem is the lack of character education and a universal ethical framework for standardizing education. The point is that virtue is something that needs to be understood properly and students need to learn why it is important to form their characters in a way that is aligned with Virtue, as an ideal, while practicable in real life as a realistic habit that one can make part of one’s character. This is an important conversation to have because the world is more divided than ever today and needs to be united at the most fundamental level, which is education.
References
Bahry, L., & Marr, P. (2005). Qatari women: a new generation of leaders?. Middle East Policy, 12(2), 104.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. NY: Continuum.
Gong, Q. (2010). Virtue ethics and modern society—A response to the thesis of the modern predicament of virtue ethics. Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 5(2), 255-265.
Hill, L. (2015). Classical stoicism and the birth of a global ethics: Cosmopolitan duties in a world of local loyalties. Social Alternatives, 34(1), 14.
Hunt Institute. (2011). The English Language Arts Standards: Key Changes and their Evidence. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDzTOyxRGLI
Kristjánsson, K. (2014). There is Something About Aristotle: The Pros and Cons of A ristotelianism in Contemporary Moral Education. Journal of philosophy of education, 48(1), 48-68.
Lickona, T. (1993). The return of character education. Educational leadership, 51(3), 6-11.
Papastephanou, M. (2005). Globalisation, globalism and cosmopolitanism as an educational ideal. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 37(4), 533-551.