Wondering About UNESCO

Nicholas Burnett mentioned to my UNESCO seminar last night that the UNESCO science program does not include a section focusing on the science of learning and thought, nor does the education sector. Given that cognitive science and neuroscience are two of the most important emerging fields of science, and that they are fields not covered by the other decentralized agencies of the United Nations system, one would have expected them to be an important focus of the natural science program. Indeed, the overlap of the sciences of thought and learning with the social and human sciences program would itself appear to justify a natural science program in the field. This is a lack that should be rectified since the cognitive and neurosciences are likely to produce great impacts on education in the next few decades and developing nations will need help in thinking through the practical, social, economic and ethical implications of the research on and through education.

The education and culture programs seem simply to be clashing:

• The education program is pushing more and better schooling as well as efforts to promote lifelong learning, with emphasis on expanding people's ability to obtain, analyze and utilize information, as well as helping people learn things that will promote peace, sustainable development, and understanding of other cultures. I can not think of a program more tailored to promote rapid cultural change toward homoginizing culture within and among countries. On the other hand, many of the roadblocks faced in achieving education for all are deeply cultural, such as deep seated prejudices among ethnic groups, cultural prejudice against educating women, and discrimination in employment that reduces the incentives for education among those likely to suffer such discrimination.
• The culture program is increasingly focusing on efforts to promote the expression of cultural diversity, the protection of intangible cultural heritage, as well as the more well known programs to protect movable and immovable objects of cultural heritage. There seems to be no effort within the culture program to promote cultural change that would support the educational goals of the organization.

One wonders whether the people in these programs ever really talk to each other, or whether those in governance and overall management of UNESCO really think about the overall program of the organization.