This chapter argues that education contributes to ethnic violence, in contrast to popular beliefs and the literature suggesting that it promotes peace and tolerance rather than hatred and violence. The chapter first considers a variety of grounds to debunk universal claims that education promotes peaceful social relations before discussing the educational backgrounds of intolerant, hateful, and violent people by focusing on two notorious hate groups of all time: the Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). It also shows that terrorists have relatively high levels of education and cites mounting evidence that education commonly contributes to violence against Others. Again using the Nazis and their doctors as examples, the chapter shows that education might strengthen ethnic consciousness, intensify emotional prejudice, create ethnic obligations, and provide mobilizational resources.
