Learning in seismic time: Japanese and Chilean education in the Anthropocene

Scientific consensus agrees that over recent decades and generations, Earth has entered a new geological epoch, termed the Anthropocene. Whereas previous new epochs are postulated to have followed comet strikes and solar realignment, it is demonstrable that it is now human activity that most affects climate change, the release and transformation of chemicals, and general endangerment to life forms. At the same time, human societies throughout history can be seen to have adjusted to effects beyond their control. This is particularly clear in countries marked by frequent seismic activity, with Japan and Chile being prime examples. Particularly, changes in educational policy over the last hundred years appear to correlate to responses to major seismic catastrophes in these countries, with this article proposing to supplement understandings of educational policy evolution with consideration of the legacies of such cataclysms and the revised priorities they elicit.