Social Sustainability: How Does the Higher Education System Prepare Youth to Embrace and Practice Pluralism?
摘要
Amid increasing socio-cultural, political, ethnic, and ideological conflicts, economic disparities, and individual and social differences around the globe, respect for diversity and pluralism are seen as prerequisites for peaceful co-existence of societies. To us, pluralism is a philosophy of life in which differences, variety, and diversity is valued and celebrated. In other words, pluralism is not just a mere acceptance of diversity but deeply engaging with diversity and seeking the line of differences—not to eliminate the differences but to understand, appreciate and celebrate them. However, the questions arise here are: Are we, especially the young generation, prepared to embrace pluralism for their peaceful co-existence in the diverse societies in which they live? Is our education system able to equip the youth with the understanding, skills, and values of peaceful co-existence with people of different nationalities, race, gender, religion, culture, and linguistic backgrounds? This paper answers to some of these questions through conducting research in four different countries, including UK, UAE, Australia, and Kazakhstan.