A comparative analysis of two approaches to education in two academic literatures in two languages is the basis for discussion of how education systems should respond to contemporary transitions in the world in an Anthropocene age. The first approach is based on francophone literature and argues for an 'individual pedagogical education' in contrast to the 'social normative education' which dominates mainstream education in France. The second anglophone approach focuses on how education can -- and in experimentation has already -- prepare learners for social action as denizens of their community even before they are formally citizens, with voting and similar rights. The combination of the two approaches suggests that current global transitions demand responses which involve substantial transformations in learners and that education systems must accept this responsibility.