Focusing on the Future We Want to See: Toward the Tao of Great Learning in Higher Education for a Unified and Compassionate World
| Title: | Focusing on the Future We Want to See: Toward the Tao of Great Learning in Higher Education for a Unified and Compassionate World |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Jing Lin; Maha Shoaib; Pascal P. Andebo; Qimmah Najeeullah; Denise L. Mchugh; Virginia Gomes |
| Source: | Comparative Education Review. 2025 69(4):703-727. |
| Availability: | University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 877-705-1878; Tel: 773-753-3347; Fax: 877-705-1879; Fax: 773-753-0811; e-mail: subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: http://www.press.uchicago.edu |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 25 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive |
| Education Level: | Higher Education; Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Higher Education; Role of Education; Confucianism; Sustainable Development; Values Education; Transformative Learning; Altruism; Cooperation; Lifelong Learning; Peace |
| DOI: | 10.1086/738277 |
| ISSN: | 0010-4086; 1545-701X |
| Abstract: | We face existential challenges--climate change, species extinction, pollution, social division, moral breakdowns, and wars--driven by anthropocentrism, greed, and inequity. Although the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development outlines lofty ambitions, the world risks drifting further from them. Higher education, as the institution of "higher learning," must play a central role in preparing new generations to shape a just and sustainable future. We reimagine higher education through the Tao of Great Learning, a Confucian vision emphasizing character, wisdom, and virtue as pathways from self-transformation to social transformation, toward A World for All. This approach centers on cultivating compassion, humility, kindness, cooperation, wisdom, and service as essential abilities and "technologies" for sustaining life. Such learning disrupts purely rational, analytical modes by reviving contemplative wisdom, enabling us to recognize ourselves as Earth and cosmic citizens. Higher education can thus lead toward peace, love, and coexistence among all beings. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1496358 |
| Database: | ERIC |