Education and Society

This course examines the relationships of education and society with the use of interdisciplinary approaches, since education as a discipline spans the life course and happens in many contexts within society along with its social and political dynamics. This course offers students both theoretical overview and empirical observation on how education shapes societal development and social progress by addressing various essential issues e.g. how education creates good citizens and fosters good society, how education applies in diverse cultures of a society, how education promotes social mobility and alleviates poverty, the creation of middle-class groups, economic development and individual’s income, private and social benefits of education, how education promotes political
democracy, and others.

The course sessions will also address some specific questions, among others: How should educational institutions be developed in order to play a role in making progress, improving welfare, social cohesion, social justice, and gender equality? Why do certain educational institutions with certain orientation grow and become mainstream in a society, whereas others decline or even be marginalized? The course also observes education and society by taking comparative studies in the contexts of Asian, African, and several Western countries. Given the increasing importance of the Muslim community in recent times, the course also examines a number of case studies of education in Muslim societies or in Muslim-majority countries. As the global communities have a great deal of attention for decades to education focusing on developing countries, this course will also address the role of the international agencies e.g. UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, the World Bank in promoting quality education for a country’s development. The main focus of this part is on the important role of international development partners in promoting quality education for the betterment of a nation. The course will be enriched with cross-subject analyses through the lenses of anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, and history.