Abstract:
The purpose of this work is to examine the rhetoric and reality of western
education in light of cosmopolitan philosophy, and offer a prescription for a
cosmopolitan education. Cultural democracy is viewed as the pursuant result of
practicing the cosmopolitan ethic, and the value of practicing cosmopolitanism is
delineated. Cosmopolitanism is described as a discourse allowing for participation in a
globalizing world, and the process of discourse acquisition is analyzed with specific
attention paid to the theories of sociologist J. Paul Gee. Prominent educational
philosophy of the 20th and 21st century is explored to determine the relationship
between cosmopolitan and education rhetorics, and relies on educational researchers
Sleeter and Grant to illustrate whether the reality lives up to the rhetoric. In the end,
arts-integrated education is offered as a multi-cultural, interdisciplinary practice that
fosters the acquisition of cosmopolitan discourse.