What may we hope for? Education in times of climate change

Abstract

In “The Crisis in Education,” published in 1954, Hannah Arendt suggests that adults who refuse to take responsibility for the world should not be allowed to educate children or to have children of their own. Her text describes the “general crisis,” which, according to Arendt, “has overtaken the modern world everywhere and in almost every sphere of life,” including education (Arendt, 2006, p. 170). Written for another time and with different problems in mind, her words were not meant to describe our present situation. Indeed, in light of the evolving ecological crises where the very conditions for life on earth are in peril (Masson-Delmotte et al., 2018; Steffen et al., 2015), Arendt’s use of the term crisis seems quite overblown. Nevertheless, her warning can help us to explore some of the important dilemmas that face educators of today, in a time where a range of unfolding, interlocking crises (ecological, social, and political) are on the horizon.