GLOBALIZATION AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION

AND CULTUREMOHD ABBAS ABDUL RAZAK

WORLD JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION, 1 (1): 59-69,2011

Presented by: ARVIN M. MONTIVEROSMAT-SS

GLOBALIZATION• Who will be the real gainers and losers of

globalization?• Devised by the West and directed towards the

developing and underdeveloped countries• Ramifies into many areas of the human lives –

economics, politics, culture, sociology, etc.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MUSLIMS• 750 – 1258• Muslims were the forefront in

conquering knowledge through scientific research, exploration and expeditions• Islamic scholars borrowed ideas to

further expand and come up with some new, original and innovative ideas.• Western scholars, similarly, borrowed

ideas from Muslim scholars.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MUSLIMS• Accomplishments diminished or

came to a standstill during the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258• European colonization in the

18th and 19th centuries• Held them back from advancing

further in the field of science and technology

Hulagu Khan

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MUSLIMS• Colonization made Muslim

countries very much dependent on the West.• Educational and

technological gaps are huge and noticeable• Some Muslim countries are

impoverished and left behind in many sectors of nation building.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MUSLIMS• Dependence maintains

the West’s control over their former colonies.• Colonization the modern

era is no longer physical but more of controlling the hearts and minds of the people (neo-colonialism).• “re-colonization” in a

subtle form

WHAT IS GLOBALIZATION?• First appeared in the Webster’s

English Dictionary in 1961• First coined by Roland Robertson• He believes that globalization is a

pre-modern phenomenon which started in the 15th century.• Western powers brought along their

culture, custom, and language, system of administration, law, and order to Asia.

WHAT IS GLOBALIZATION?• Jan Aart Scholte

Internationalization LiberalizationUniversalizationWesternization or

modernization (Americanization)

Deterritorialization

THE CHANGING AIMS OF EDUCATION• Education started as a

private enterprise. • Concerned in producing

man with knowledge and skills for his well-being and salvation

• Western medieval time and early Islamic era

THE CHANGING AIMS OF EDUCATION

• Public schools – established by the government to have a good grip to its citizens, to have a common ideology, and a common patriotic feeling• Means of transmitting knowledge, skills

expertise, values, civilization, language, culture, customs and religion from one generation to the other

THE CHANGING AIMS OF EDUCATION• These ideas of education are

now being overshadowed or overridden by globalization.

• Education as passport for achieving good life and material gains

• Less concerned for the community and the well-being of the nation state

• People become individualized and egocentric.

IMPACT ON EDUCATION• Explosion of knowledge and

information helped the globalization of education.

• Computers, internet and other technology-mediated learning

• Personalized the way people learn and cuts off much of their interaction with the community/society

ENGLISH AS A DOMINANT LANGUAGE• Brought about by the

establishment of foreign universities and the use of software made in Western countries, internet and other technology

• English marginalized many local languages in Asia and Africa.

• Local culture slowly disappears.

HOW SHOULD MUSLIMS RESPOND TO GLOBALIZATION• Be active in mastering the new

technology and use it for a good purpose.• Cutting down on their

dependency on the West in terms of technology.• Oil rich Muslim countries to re-

channel their investments from America and Europe to some of the developing and poor Muslim countries.

HOW SHOULD MUSLIMS RESPOND TO GLOBALIZATION• Be smart in using the

internet for getting knowledge and information, and in the promulgation of Islam.

• Exert themselves diligently in conducting research.

CONCLUSION• Education should not be separated from its ideals

that aim to produce good individuals as well as good citizens.

• Third world countries should not totally reject everything that comes from the West.

• The people in the East should have an open mind to examine all that come from the West and should pick and choose whatever is relevant to their needs and discard all that are dangerous or harmful to their community and nation.