ABSTRACT
In the emerging field of cosmopolitan studies (Delanty, 2012) scholars frequently reflect on the distinction between actual and normative cosmopolitanism—meaning the differences between cosmopolitanism as it is socially practiced in various times and places and cosmopolitanism as a normative moral and/or political ideal. Schools, however, are one of the most important places where we see a clear relationship between these two concepts of cosmopolitanism. In schools, trained educators struggle daily to inscribe and actualize in their students various visions of the good life and the well-ordered society—visions that may well have “cosmopolitan” features. Through their curricula, architectures, and pedagogical operations modern schools are a significant cultural site for the enunciation of cosmopolitan ideals. They are also a key site where these ideals can come to be embodied, where cosmopolitan stances, dispositions and habits of mind may be learned. 1
