Education must be cleansed of rampant impurities like racism, discrimination, bias, cronyism, inequality and abuse . what do you think?

Agreed with the above calling.  Reason being education is a "change agent" to transform younger / future generations to a better person.  Including above negative elements in education can produce negative person that make the world less peaceful & safe.  Moreover, if a group of people / country incorporating the above negative elements in their education system, others will follow suit as a form of retaliation which can destroy our mankind education system.

However, in terms of certain subjects like history which is part of the educational system, some countries might not see eye to eye on certain historical events - for these we need to apply the best of our wisdom to strike win-win.

It seems like everyone is talking about the power of big data and how it is helping companies, governments, and organizations make better and more efficient decisions. But rarely do they mention that big data can actually perpetuate and exacerbate existing systems of racism, discrimination, and inequality.

Big data is supposed to make life better. Companies like Netflix use it to recommend movies you might like to watch based on what you’ve previously streamed. There are also broader public applications, such as predicting (and thus more quickly responding to) outbreaks of disease based on online search patterns of symptoms.

The problem with big data is that its application and use is not impartial or unbiased. Harvard professor Latanya Sweeney, who also directs the university’s Data Privacy Lab, conducted a cross-country study of 120,000 Internet search ads and found repeated incidence of racial bias. Specifically, her study looked at Google adword buys made by companies that provide criminal background checks. At the time, the results of the study showed that when a search was performed on a name that was “racially associated” with the black community, the results were much more likely to be accompanied by an ad suggesting that the person had a criminal record—regardless of whether or not they did (see video below). This is just one of many research studies showing similar bias.

If an employer searched the name of a prospective hire, only to be confronted with ads suggesting that the person had a prior arrest, you can imagine how that could affect the applicant’s career prospects.

 Thanks Markovic, Han and Ali , for your illuminating thoughts on the this very significant issue.

I agree with the colleagues who posted the first two responses to the discussion thread. But, the implementation of such an education prerequisites, in general,  the appropriate persons. Are there? Unfortunately, I have serious doubts.

Regards 

Thanks Aristidis,

Plato states the following points in changing individuals , in case  the effective pragmatic thinkers simply do not exist or are outnumbered by superficial biased people:

1. think more

2. avoid Doxa or prejudices

3. know yourself

4. treat philosophy as a therapy

5. decode the message of beauty

6.REFORM  SOCIETY 

these steps could be conducive to more fair and profound educational systems through which societies can get better at producing more enlightened fulfilled and happier individuals. 

 I agree with you totally. Such education qualities will insert students_teacher and students _students hatred .This kind of system can lead to anything except successful education. But to be more honest, I think it is just individual behaviors from some teachers so we can't generalize

know yourself........................... good point

Concuerdo con mis colegas. La educacion es algo que no se puede discriminar. Afortunadamente, en mi país, Cuba, no sucede como en otros. Desde pequeños, tenemos derecho a todos los niveles de la educación de forma gratuita, sin esepciones de ningun tipo. Niños blancos, negros, ricos, pobres, todos tienen el derecho de estudiar y la obligacion por parte de la familia a integrarse al estudio hasta alcanzar la edad universitaria.

Pienso que la unica distinción que se le debe hacer en la educacion es en los niveles cognitivos del estudiante, me refiero a la hora de impartir la docencia. la asimilacion del contenido  para un estudiante muy inteligente no es la misma que de un estudiante no tan inteligente. esa es mi opinión.

Dear Dr. Mavadat,

you hit the nail on the head.

Inequality, nepotism, abuse, cronyism, narcissism,  profiteering, and injustice are sometimes and in certain educational settings systematically brutally exercised by individuals who claim their are the epitomes of enlightenment , knowledge and ethics. They have grabbed power, have clung  to it like octopuses and anybody who is not of their same mentality or is add odds with their profits is excluded and  denigrated.  All melts down to Power, cash and ...

Hello Krushna , you are absolutely right , fairness and profundity are the essential elements of a productive education. 

Hello Dibakar,

You perspective is admirable , ethical and enlightening , Glory to you.

Hope we can see it practiced and materialized.  

Dear Ali:

I agree with your statement, and I would like to address another sort of "rampant impurity" that could be added to your list.

Quantitative ranking --of institutions, groups within institutions, individual faculty members, and students-- contributes to the unhealthy growth a systemic culture that tends to foment academic simulation, a generalized attitude of cynicism toward the work we do, and impunity in many cases of ethical breaches. This is particularly evident in the proliferation of diverse forms of plagiarism, although there may be other, less blatant, forms of simulation, such as publishing for the sake of publishing, without making a substantial contribution. The fundamental purposes of education can fade into the background when undue emphasis is placed on these contemporary 'numbers games.'

Warm regards,

David

Dear All,

Yes, I am agree with Đoko and all which think as Đoko. But, I think it is not enough. For good education system should be good teachers-- professors, that are not only well educated, but that love their profession, well equipped classrooms, ...

All best, Mirjana

I think commercialization of education has become "business as usual," or "the way things are" at present. The following excerpt coveys a vivid description of how it is done.

"Commercialization of education can and will happen at two different levels: administrative and instructional. The administrative level would require running the institute like an enterprise, focusing on budgetary cost-effect, seeking resources, product evaluation and corresponding adjustment, new hiring policy, and new relationship between teachers and students. Instructional level commercialization would treat the whole process of teaching and learning as cost-effect driven, focusing on learning/teaching as a necessary step for producing a product, re-adjusting the purposes of learning and teaching, depersonalization in the whole process of learning/teaching, and utility oriented curricular objectives."

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/college/coll-china-education-005.html

Time is inelastic. I would spend it identifying the personal, social, and productive value of diversity vs. homogeneity in human affairs while respecting sociocultural continuity at the same time. Zero-sum solutions are easy to design, win-win are essential but difficult. What are the needs that lead dominant members to create barriers that prevent others from becoming contributing members of the community? That is the easy part.