The Dual Mandate of Education in the Era of Economic Globalization: Cultivating Skills and Mitigating Harms

Economic globalization has reshaped the global landscape, accelerating the cross-border movement of capital, goods, and labor. This interconnectedness has driven substantial economic growth, but it has also widened income inequality, intensified environmental degradation, and contributed to cultural homogenization. This paper examines the dual role that education plays in navigating these tensions. It first considers how contemporary educational frameworks build the technical, cognitive, and cross-cultural competencies people need to participate in a globally integrated economy. It then turns to the role of education in cultivating civic and ethical commitments — often grouped under the heading of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) — that can offset globalization's harms. Drawing on both the economic and humanistic dimensions of schooling, the paper argues that broad, equitable access to quality education remains the single most important lever for spreading globalization's benefits while containing its costs.