Overcoming what divides us: Global Civic Friendship and ‘Full Development of the Human Personality’

Abstract

This paper defends the ideals of education for human flourishing and global friendship announced in Article 26, § 2 of the 1948 Uni- versal Declaration of Human Rights. It ar- gues that character education is an essential component of education for human flourish- ing and global friendship, and that character education must do more than teach general principles and cultivate virtues of character. It must also confront the mistrust, resent- ments, and myths that divide societies by facilitating the formation of school commu- nities and friendships that bridge the chasms of ‘us’ and ‘them’ group identities. The paper outlines the role of just school communities in character education, the importance of civic friendship, the psychological research on in- tergroup contact, and the fostering of global civic friendship. It concludes that character education adequate to today’s challenges can only succeed through a whole-school approach that is need supportive, just, and promotes friendly intergroup contact in the interest of global civic friendship.