Education for Global Citizenship

Abstract

Introduction:  There is plenty of enthusiasm for the idea of global citizenship. There is in fact ample support for education to promote global citizenship, judging by large sections of school supply catalogs, their programs, films and books proudly and handsomely displayed. Columbia Teachers College has a program, as does Montclair State University, and our doctoral program at Iberoamericana includes a course entitled Education for Global Citizenship. All the more reason why the words of detractors seem so stark and peevish - especially those of many conservative political opponents who shower disdain on globalisms of any sort, for example, on the 1995 World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen. There are, of course, reasoned opponents of global citizenship, or rather, those who question its feasibility, and a brief review of philosophical and educational critiques will help expose crucial problems in sustaining global education.