Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:35:19.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Education and Democratic Citizenship: Capabilities and Quality Education

from Part Two - Philosophical and Normative Foundations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2023

By
Martha C. Nussbaum
Edited by
Julian Culp ,
Johannes Drerup  and
Douglas Yacek
Julian Culp
Affiliation:
The American University of Paris, France
Johannes Drerup
Affiliation:
Universität Dortmund
Douglas Yacek
Affiliation:
Universität Dortmund
Get access

Summary

Public education is crucial to the health of democracy. Recent educational initiatives in many countries, however, focus narrowly on science and technology, neglecting the arts and humanities. They also focus on internalization of information, rather than on the formation of the student’s critical and imaginative capacities. This chapter argues that such a narrow focus is dangerous for democracy’s future. Drawing on the ideas of Rabindranath Tagore, the chapter proposes a three‐part model for the development of young people’s capabilities through education, focusing on critical thinking, world citizenship, and imaginative understanding.

Keywords

educationcitizenshipdemocracyTagorecapabilities
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Democratic Education , pp. 250 - 260
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ellison, R. (1992). Invisible man. New York: Random House (originally published 1952, introduction added 1981).Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. (1997). Cultivating humanity: A classical defense of reform in liberal education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. (2004). Women’s education: A global challenge. Signs, 29, 325–55.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. (2005). Education and democratic citizenship: Beyond the textbook controversy. Islam and the Modern Age, 35, 69–89. (A slightly different version published as “Freedom from dead habit”. The Little Magazine, 6, 18–32).Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. (2007). The clash within: Democracy, religious violence, and India’s future. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratichi Trust (2002). The Pratichi education report 1. New Delhi: TLM Books.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1999). Joy in all work (Translation of Ananda Sarbakaje). Kolkata: Bookfront Publication Forum.Google Scholar
Tagore, R. (1917). My school. In Personality: Lectures delivered in America. London: Macmillan, pp. 111–50.Google Scholar
Tagore, R. (1961). A Tagore reader. Ed. by Chakravarty, A., Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Tagore, R. (1994). A parrot’s training. In Bhatia, V., ed., Rabindranath Tagore: Pioneer in education. New Delhi: Sahitya Chayan.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×