Normative universalism as vision in Brazilian International Schools

Abstract

This paper discusses Habermas's vision of normative universalism as it is being developed through the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum at the American School of Sao Paulo (Graded School), Brazil. We conclude that: (1) Graded School is providing, through its IB curriculum, a basis for the achievement of an ideal speech situation, the necessary stage towards building a vision around normative universalism; (2) that regionalism and internationalism are core components of normative universalism; (3) that the influence of the market creates difficulties for the school's universalization project, the greatest of all difficulties being the elitist character of the school; and (4) that normative universalism can only be the core component in a school vision if the curriculum is a common construction to which all its participants contribute.