Building Global Education with a Local Perspective

An Introduction to Glocal Higher Education

Kenneth A. Loparo, Emmanuel Jean Francois

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781137391742
• eBook ISBN:
  9781137386779
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Comparative Education

"Glocal" education melds the economic advantages of globalizing higher education with the benefits of incorporating local perspectives. This book explores glocal education's rationale; social, cultural, and economic foundations; key concepts; and implementation.

CHAPTER 1

EDUCATION AND SOCIETY

The relationship of antecedence between the concepts “education” and “society” is one that can be a challenge for social scientists. Anthropologists, sociologists, or other social scientists may be on conflicting sides of the argument. Some may argue there is no society without education. Therefore, education comes first, and is more important than society. Others may argue that a society must exist before there can be education. Furthermore, education is a reflection of a society, or is influenced by society. Therefore, the society comes first and is more important. Regardless of the side of the argument supported by one group of scholars or another, there is an evident consensus that education and society are interconnected. This chapter will not argue over the philosophical viewpoints about whether education comes before society or whether society comes first. Instead, the chapter emphasizes on the nature of the interconnectedness between education and society. This chapter focuses on the development of educational systems through various sociological theories, the political, social, and economic conditions that shape the mission, structures, curriculum, and instructional practices of educational institutions at the national and global levels. The chapter examines the relationships between education and society through various theories and concepts related to social mobility and stratification, social reproduction, social change, education and development, as well as differences in educational outcomes based on gender, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

Society

Education occurs within the complexity of the structures of a society. This factual statement justifies the need to elaborate on the relationship between education and society. Before further consideration, let me underline that a society is composed of a group of people living in a defined geographical territory, governed by a same political authority, and participating in a common culture (Shepard, 2010). The term culture encompasses languages, physical objects of a society, the arts, norms, values, habits, and all patterns of behaviors that are transmitted from one generation to another through a lifelong learning process called socialization (Heider, 2004). The agents of socialization are mainly the family structures, mass communication, governmental institutions, and the education systems.

Society is an anthropological, sociological, and political construct. As a sociological construct, a society is characterized by the nature of the social interactions among actors in the social action. The interactions in a social system foster change and modernity, which inspire sociologists to differentiate traditional, modern, and postmodern societies (Shepard, 2010). As an anthropological construct, a society involves the mode of subsistence and power structures that characterize and define the functions and interactions in a given geographical territory. In other words, anthropologists view a society in terms of the degree of cohesion and power structures, and categorize societies as hunter gathering, traditional, industrial, and postindustrial (Heider, 2004). As a political construct, a society is defined by the degree of governance to manage conflicts and maintain order that can enable healthy social interactions and economic prosperity. Political scientists view societies as anarchic, in transition, or democratic (Kendall, 2002).

Society as Territory

When people refer to a society, they mean not only the individuals, but also the physical place where such individuals spend their daily lives, reproduce, and die. A society is an “alma mater.” This is a specific piece of territory with set borders and a form of organization, including governmental structures and functions. In that context, a society is also a country. As a country, a system of order is necessary. This system is referred to as a government. A government may include various executive, judicial, and legislative structures, and governs on behalf of the people who are members or residents or citizens of a country. This form of governmental organization constitutes what is called a State. Some may refer to a country and its governmental organization as a nation-state (Nau, 2007).

Society as Culture

When a group of people live in a territory for a long period of time, they adopt or develop a way of living that is specific, form habits, adopt, share, and practice beliefs, as well as values that they connect with an intangible way. They also build shelters, find ways to entertain themselves, and interact through various forms of communication. All these elements put together correspond to what anthropologists and sociologists call culture. A society is a culture. A society is defined or identified by its culture (Heider, 2004).

Society as Community

Individuals in a society have individual goals. However, they also share common goals that are inherent to their membership or citizenship or residency in a society. People living in a society mostly care about the welfare of their territory, the form of authorities that govern them, and the continuity of their culture not only in the present, but also for the future. These common goals create a material and an immaterial community. The material community is represented by the regular transactions that they have with one another and the support they receive because of their belonging in that society. The immaterial community is based on the common purpose that bounds them together and makes them partly relying on the power and protection of the society as a collectivity, a community, which should stand for the interests of everyone.

Local Society

Societies exist in every part of the world. In other words, the world is a collection of different societies that recognize the rights of each other, even when they try to infringe them. Every society is a single entity in comparison to the collections of societies in the world. In that context, a society is a local entity (being a local territory) or a national entity (being a nation-state). The local society exists as a sovereign nation or nation-state (Nau, 2007).

Global Society

The collection of world societies and the interactions and interdependence that exist among them form the global society. In other words, the global society is defined in terms of the interdependence among world nations through the phenomenon called globalization. The world is referred to as a global village, a global society, or a global community (Rajaee, 2000).

Education

Defining the term education seems easy and difficult at the same time. It is easy when considering that education includes everything that an individual learns from birth to death. It is difficult, because the word education does refer not simply to a concept, but also to a product (Cost of education), an institution (school, college, or university), or a system (national education). The word education comes from the Latin “educo, as, are = lead out of, to bring forward. . . . ” Education is about transfer of knowledge (Shepard, 2005). “Education is the social institution responsible for the systematic transmission of knowledge, skills, and cultural values within a formally organized structured.” (Kendall, 2002, p. 210).

According to Spring (1991), public schooling aims to “educating citizens, selecting future political leaders, creating a political consensus, maintaining political power, and socializing individuals for political systems” (p. 6). Spring (1991) argued that education has also a social purpose, which involves “social control, improving social conditions, and reducing social tensions caused by economic inequalities” (p. 12). Simply put, education is a process, system, and institution through which knowledge is transmitted from one generation to the next.

Education as System

What is a system? A system is a set of structures, functions, and principles that operates through an orderly process, in order to provide results that are predictable and more efficient. A system involves structures or parts or branches or sections. The best example is the human organism. The human organism has circulatory (blood circulation), integumentary (skin), skeletal (bones), reproductive (reproduction), digestive (food processing), endocannabinoid (neuro/immune), urinary (excretion), respiratory (breathing), endocrine (body communication), lymphatic (tissue, vessels), muscular (muscles), and nervous (brain) systems. These systems are structures of the human organism. As you can notice, these structures do not serve the same purpose. They have functions. They provide specific services to the human organism as a whole. The functions of these structures are interrelated, interconnected, and in most cases interdependent. Given the interconnection, interrelation, and interdependence, there are some principles that must apply accurately in order for the structures to be effective in providing the anticipated result, which is to keep the human organism operational, alive, and productive. If the principles are not applied properly, the system can be severely affected and eventually die. The question is what makes education a system? The answer seems obvious in the light of the definition and illustration that I just provided. Education is at the heart of what makes a society a social system. At the same time, education is a system in itself. Education serves a purpose, a vital purpose in a society (socialization, adaptation, integration). Education involves structures and substructures that work interdependently to serve such purpose. Education includes stakeholders (policy makers, leaders, administrators, teachers, parents, and community) who collaborate to serve its beneficiaries (learners) and help them fulfill their social purpose.

National Education

The education of any society or nation is referred to as the national education. It operates as a system with structures, functions, and principles. National education system represents the overall orientation, structure, process, and practices of education defined by the government of a country. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, education is part of the culture of a society. Therefore, it involves and affects every member in a society. Consequently, the governmental structures have a fiduciary responsibility to work with the citizens of their country to set the overall orientation of education for a given society. The overall orientation or aim of education for a society is then managed by various governmental and nongovernmental structures. In their respective functions, various structures apply commonly accepted principles to translate the aims of a national education into policies, and implement such policies through programs and curricula.

Subnational Education System

Given the complexity of education, a national education system includes substructures for policy implementation within the territorial divisions of a country. In a country like the United States, the territorial divisions encompass the state and the district. The United States is not necessary the best example of national education system, because the states operate as a micronations. However, the aims of education are still decided at the federal levels. The states develop education policies that concur toward the achievement of the national aims. The main implementation of education policies occurs at the school district level. It is important to underline that school districts concern only compulsory education. Other government and nongovernment structures are in charge of policy implementation at the postsecondary education level. In France, the provinces constitute the subnational education system. Subnational education systems or the subsystems of an education within a given country are based on the territorial divisions (states, provinces, regions, departments, and districts).

Furthermore, a local or national education system includes subsystems such as:

• Preschool, which prepares children who are not old enough to attend their first year of formal schooling (kindergarten);

• Primary or elementary school, which consists of the first five to seven years of formal education, depending on the country or the district or type of school inside a country; some school districts or some types of schools have options that allow elementary school students to skip grades based on certain academic and performance criteria;

• Secondary or high school, which includes six to seven years of formal education after primary or elementary school, depending on the country, and prepares students for vocational schools, colleges, and universities;

• Postsecondary school or tertiary education or higher education, which prepares students who completed secondary or high school through higher learning that enables the learner (student) to receive certificates, diplomas, or degrees (associate, bachelor, master, doctorate, and postdoctorate), and prepares workforce and intellectual elite of a country.

Education as a Process

Education is a process that involves learning new information, skills, and attitudes. Learning includes the formal and informal curricula that are managed by preceptors, mentors, instructors, or peers. Education is formal (schools, colleges, and universities), nonformal (institutions for continuing education), or informal (from the various institutions that provide education, e.g., family, religion, media, and peer/community). The education process includes various substructures based on maturation or levels of education (early childhood, elementary or primary, secondary or high school, and postsecondary or higher education). Individual maturity evolves with physical, psychological, and cognitive development. Education is a commodity, which involves supply and demand (costs, services), and is provided by institutions that can be public, nonprofit, for profit, or private.

Purpose of Education

Education serves various social, economic, and political purposes, as indicated in Figure 1.1.

Social purpose: Education aims to instill social, religious, and cultural values that can help individuals integrate their society and communities. Through education, children learn how to become responsible contributors, citizens, and residents of their society. Education enables the transfer of the culture of a society from one generation to another through socialization. It helps ensure that individuals are raised, trained, and utilized appropriately as member of a society. It contributes to cement what is permissible, acceptable, and what is prohibited to members of a society. It enables to manage tensions and conflicts within the borders of a nation-state...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• 1  Education and Society
• 2  International Education
• 3  Globalization and Higher Education
• 4  Global Higher Education and Local Context
• 5  Glocalization
• 6  Glocal Symbiosis
• 7  Glocal Higher Education
• 8  Glocal Validation
• 9  Glocal Partnership
• 10  Glocally Informed Pedagogy
• 11  Glocal Competence in Context
• 12  Glocal Inquiry
• 13  Glocal Higher Education and Strategic Planning
• 14  Managing Glocal Higher Education Programs
• 15  Glocal Leadership
• References
• Index