Abstract
In the knowledge society, there is a conflict between “education for profit” and “education for humanity.” Education for profit is needed for students’ economic survival and success in the knowledge economy. Education for humanity is needed for their existential lives worthy of human beings. This paper deals with the question of whether it is possible to educate for humanity in the knowledge society. First, I suggested a complemented concept of “education for profit in the broad sense,” transforming the knowledge society for a better one. Second, I discussed Biesta’s criticism of “cultivation of humanity,” defending using this term as a general and honorific sense. Finally, I explained how an expanded concept of education for profit in the broad sense is compatible with the cultivation of humanity. Education for profit in the broad sense, considering the disadvantaged in the social and political sense, is to teach virtues such as caring, compassion, justice, etc. Teaching various values in addition to economic value also contributes to the cultivation of humanity by enriching human life. Teaching various learning skills for continuous learning, “social capital” as well as intellectual knowledge, global citizenship, communal relationship, is to cultivate one’s self-learning capacity. I concluded the paper by reconsidering directions of liberal education in the knowledge society.
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Notes
Peters (1966) distinguishes the growth model of education from the molding model of education. The growth model in Peters’ distinction represents the child-centered education, which metaphorically emphasizes children’s growing like plants. Peters’ growth model is more like the Nussbaum’s developmental paradigm. Thus, we should not confuse the ambiguous meaning of ‘growth.’
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Hong, E. Liberal education reconsidered: cultivating humanity in the knowledge society. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 15, 5–12 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-013-9291-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-013-9291-8