The Two Faces of Education in Ethnic Conflict

The Two Faces of Education in Ethnic Conflict challenges a widely-held assumption—that education is inevitably a force for good. While the provision of good quality education can be a stabilizing factor, Kenneth Bush and Diana Saltarelli show how educational systems can be manipulated to drive a wedge between people, rather than draw them closer together.

• The report begins by describing the nature of today's armed conflicts, with virtually every conflict of recent years fought within, rather than between, nations. It examines the growing importance of "ethnicity" in conflicts, as clearly seen in recent tragedies such as Rwanda, Kosovo, and Chechnya.
• Section two describes the two very different faces of education. The negative face shows itself in the uneven distribution of education to create or preserve privilege, the use of education as a weapon of cultural repression, and the production or doctoring of textbooks to promote intolerance. The positive face goes beyond the provision of education for peace programmes, reflecting the cumulative benefits of the provision of good quality education. These include the conflict-dampening impact of educational opportunity, the promotion of linguistic tolerance, the nurturing of ethnic tolerance, and the "disarming" of history.
• The study examines possible steps toward the creation of a peace building education, outlining guiding principles and goals, including the demilitarization of the mind, the introduction of alternatives to suspicion, hatred and violence, and the value of memory.