There is a general societal goal of education: to create sustainable communities. Sustainability generally means the ability to fulfill present environmental, societal, and economic needs without sacrificing the well-being of future generations. Education can uniquely enable groups to achieve sustainability, in part by education individuals about efforts towards sustainability, but also by instructing individuals to themselves act in favor of a sustainable world.
For an authoritative position on how to advocate for education for sustainable development (ESD), see the Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit by Dr. Rosalyn McKeown.
Overall, I undoubtedly believe ESD to be the key to solving many of the world's problems that are currently caused by unsustainable practices, including but not limited to hunger, violence, discrimination, exploitation, and resource depletion.
Every aspect of ESD comes together when we can envision and ideally create communities of people who can sustain themselves. This is defined by their actions, but also by their attitudes; when a person recognizes his or her investment in a given community, he or she will act to benefit it out of intrinsic incentive. Sustainability is comprised of just this: eager citizens that engage in what will benefit the whole. This attitude comes from education, and can (in a sustainable way) promote education further. Teaching individuals to care for their communities begins with teaching children, and our ability to effectively teach children conversely starts in the communities that realize their stake in future generations.
However, I'd like to discuss the inherent sustainability of education itself.
A quality education will not only teach material - material that includes environmental awareness, societal involvement, economic responsibility - but will impart upon students a life-long love for learning. In this regard, education can inspire continuing education, within a life but also between generations. I have an anecdote to demonstrate this: a young boy reads aloud to me a picture book. He turns the page and gasps a little when he realizes how many words accompany the following illustration. I offer to take a turn reading, but he refuses - instead, he tells me that he'll read the page, as long as I'm willing to help him with words he doesn't know. I learned that day that something about his education had encouraged him to push himself to learn even more, beyond the requirements, because he could see, despite his age, the benefits that learning would have for him. Of course, my own learning in this situation has inspired me to further act to spread his successes to other corners of the world. If harnessed, the power that caused this boy voluntarily to challenge himself intellectually could single-handedly change the world, and I hope to find that power and enable its use.
For an authoritative position on how to advocate for education for sustainable development (ESD), see the Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit by Dr. Rosalyn McKeown.
Overall, I undoubtedly believe ESD to be the key to solving many of the world's problems that are currently caused by unsustainable practices, including but not limited to hunger, violence, discrimination, exploitation, and resource depletion.
Every aspect of ESD comes together when we can envision and ideally create communities of people who can sustain themselves. This is defined by their actions, but also by their attitudes; when a person recognizes his or her investment in a given community, he or she will act to benefit it out of intrinsic incentive. Sustainability is comprised of just this: eager citizens that engage in what will benefit the whole. This attitude comes from education, and can (in a sustainable way) promote education further. Teaching individuals to care for their communities begins with teaching children, and our ability to effectively teach children conversely starts in the communities that realize their stake in future generations.
However, I'd like to discuss the inherent sustainability of education itself.
A quality education will not only teach material - material that includes environmental awareness, societal involvement, economic responsibility - but will impart upon students a life-long love for learning. In this regard, education can inspire continuing education, within a life but also between generations. I have an anecdote to demonstrate this: a young boy reads aloud to me a picture book. He turns the page and gasps a little when he realizes how many words accompany the following illustration. I offer to take a turn reading, but he refuses - instead, he tells me that he'll read the page, as long as I'm willing to help him with words he doesn't know. I learned that day that something about his education had encouraged him to push himself to learn even more, beyond the requirements, because he could see, despite his age, the benefits that learning would have for him. Of course, my own learning in this situation has inspired me to further act to spread his successes to other corners of the world. If harnessed, the power that caused this boy voluntarily to challenge himself intellectually could single-handedly change the world, and I hope to find that power and enable its use.
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