EDUCATION FOR THE GOOD SOCIETY - Support

and less secure, and its use, whether in the formof fuels or plastics, poses a very real danger tothe natural environment. It is the responsibilityof education to equip citizens with a degreeawareness of the physical realities of the worldin which we live, and with critical faculties andindependent thinking skills.The blame for our continuing to degrade theenvironment with chemical pollution, deforestation,extraction and so on has been said to lie atthe door of the over-specialisation of education.This view sidesteps both the role of economicsystems and matters of human psychology inthe despoliation of the Earth. It could be arguedthat educational curricula are fundamentallyshaped by the needs of the political economy,or that patterns of production simply meet thedemand of the majority of humans for comfortand status. But whether or not there is animplicit political agenda inherent in prevalentapproaches to education, the pigeon-holing oflearning into discreet subjects the world over,at all levels from primary to tertiary education,means that the way that things connect andinteract in the real world is largely neglected.Hence, for example, mainstream economistsdo not take into account in their calculations ofannual agricultural profits the long-term damagedone to soil or water quality or to biodiversity bythe massive use of agro-chemicals. Indeed, sucheffects may be hard to quantify in conventionalterms; but ultimately we ignore them at ourperil. This is not to say, however, that specialistsare not important. The complexity of naturaland human systems and effects demands a veryhigh level of expertise to penetrate and understandthem, and well-honed skills of enquiry,analysis and interpretation. We need to continueto train individuals in specialised areas, butdelving deep into subjects without also lookingaround at what is going on elsewhere producesdangerous tunnel vision.An important aspect of education for sustainability,then, is the contextualisation of knowledge,the consideration of the bigger picture. Theexercise of joined-up thinking – a practice atwhich politicians are often found to fail – shouldbecome an aim of the educational process.Education for sustainability needs both to beecological in itself and to include the specificstudy of ecology.Educating the whole personThe idea of the ‘educated’ person as a wellroundedindividual with an appreciation ofhuman history and culture and a grounding inscience, who is equipped to take an active andresponsible role in the world, is but a distant,dream-like memory. Contemporary educationaldiscourse, at least at policy level, if not ownedby teachers themselves, is all about testing,‘driving up standards’ and increasing employability,about academic attainment and vocationallearning. It serves the agenda of economicgrowth, ‘wealth creation’ and the maximising ofindividual incomes. Yet it is this economic enginethat is propelling environmental devastation.Education for sustainability, then, must involvethe education of the human heart, mind andspirit, not merely the training of the potentialemployee, earner and spender. In order to sustainhuman life, and at a level of existence that makeslife a pleasure, we need to learn to consume agreat deal less of material goods and energy, andto focus a great deal more on the non-materialriches that life well lived has to offer.In fostering these different objectives, educationwould wield enormous power to challenge thevalue system that puts profit for its own sake first,regards the human spirit as an optional extra, andin the end effectively threatens environmentalviability. There is currently an emphasis insecondary and tertiary education on ‘transferrableskills’, clearly useful skills like delegatingresponsibility, presenting material, organisingevents, and using particular computer software.However, if we are going to take sustainabilityseriously we need to learn and to teach other skillstoo – not just horticulture and all kinds of practicalmaking and mending skills but personal skillssuch as imagination and creativity, reflectiveness,self-restraint, co-operation and problem-solving.Music-making, appreciation of literature andother enriching activities that require virtually nomaterial consumption are other thoroughly usefulskills for living both sustainably and enjoyably.Experiential learningThe best and most enduring kind of learningis that which engages the learner affectively asEducation for the good society | 31