An optimistic education: Rebalancing the curriculum to more accurately convey human progress

Our students are growing up in unsettling times. Climate change, plastic pollution, political polarisation, isolationism, social atomisation and anxiety are just some contemporary challenges. However, there is a compelling case to make for a rebalancing of the curriculum towards a more positive outlook, and I offer some suggestions for how this rebalancing might be achieved. Justifications – a summary of recent global progress I do not belittle these valid and significant concerns. In fact, I believe that a more optimistic approach to education will provide a way in which we can make great strides to combat these scourges. However, it is incumbent on us as educators of citizens of tomorrow to view these worries in the context of a world where there have been undeniable strides in a wide variety of social and economic respects, and in many environmental areas too. On balance, while the pace is varied and the distribution uneven, life is improving for most of humankind. For exa