Educationalization As An Ongoing Modernization Process

摘要

In several Western societies we witness today an increasing tendency to "edu-cationalize" social problems. As an institution, the school is, among other things, held accountable for solving social inequalities (related to class, race, and gender); for reducing traffic deaths, obesity, teenage sex, and environmental destruction; and for enhancing public health, economic productivity, citizenship, and even performances in sport contests such as the Olympic Games. Pushing these kind of "social" responsibilities on schools is a process that has been under way for a long time and coincides with the role of education in the formation of the modern nation-state. This phenomenon has been studied more in Europe than in North America and has been labeled Paedagogisierung - a German "umbrella" word that does not translate easily into English. In this symposium we have chosen to use "educationalization" as the general concept to identify the overall orientation or trend toward thinking about education as the focal point for addressing or solving larger human problems.