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SGI News: Global activities for peace, education and culture

Ethical Visions of Education

[©Seikyo Shimbun]

The Teachers College Press of Columbia University recently published Ethical Visions of Education: Philosophies in Practice, edited by Professor David Hansen of Columbia University Teachers College and developed by the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century (BRC). The book features the ideas of some of the 20th century's most dynamic and courageous educational philosophers, including John Dewey, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Maria Montessori, Rabindranath Tagore and Rudolf Steiner.

In a lecture held at BRC in February, Dr. Hansen explored the key philosophical differences between some of the best known figures in the book. Dr. Hansen clarified the concept of what he calls "cosmopolitan education," and proposed an approach to education that not only validates and accepts difference but, in a profound way, is shaped and energized by it.

In the book's foreword, BRC founder Daisaku Ikeda underscores the importance of pursuing happiness for oneself and others in contrast to merely being concerned with one's own well-being. He stresses that humanistic education, which focuses on unlocking the unlimited potential of the individual, will play a key role in this paradigm shift.

Several universities have already requested to use , Ethical Visions as a textbook in their curricula. President Larry Hickman of the Dewey Society said the book is morally empowering and confronts the standardization, commercialization and politicization that increasingly threaten schools today.

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