The Power and Promise of Humane Education
Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times
Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs
So, You Love Animals: An Action-Packed, Fun-Filled Book to Help Kids Help Animals
Last week I taught another humane education block at the Bay School, this time for my son’s 8th grade class. We covered animal issues, environmental issues, and human rights issues. We watched clips from The New Heroes PBS series about individuals who are working to save children in slavery and help end the cycle of poverty. The students in this class had been reading The Diary of Ann Frank so heroism and courageous acts of compassion and generosity were already on their minds.
When I asked them whether they thought they would have housed escaped slaves in 19th century America or Jews during World War II, none was willing. Too great a risk. When I asked them if they thought they would have been abolitionists in 1830 here in Maine, they said they couldn’t answer; how could they really know? One said, “What if I had an uncle in the South who owned slaves? I might be influenced by him.” I was impressed by their self-awareness and honesty.
On the second to last day we discussed poverty and watched The New Heroes profile of microfinance leader and Nobel laureate, Mohammad Yunus. When it was over I asked the students whether they felt responsible for helping to end poverty. Frankly, I was expecting a variety of responses, not a unanimous “Yes!” After all, they are not legally responsible, and they were perfectly comfortable not striving for heroics in the face of dangers. I reminded them that at the beginning of the class I had encouraged them to speak up, even if their opinion was different from their classmates. I had let them know all opinions were welcome. But they all agreed they were responsible, nonetheless.
I pressed further. “Why?”
One by one they told me:
“Because we have so many privileges, and others so few.”
“Because I care.”
“Because it’s right.”
And so on.
We don’t have to risk our lives to save others and make this world better, though those who do so are inspiring heroes for all of us. All we have to do is take responsibility for our part in making a difference as we are able. The students came up with great ideas for helping to end poverty (among other problems), and they completed their own personal MOGO plans with commitments to take steps to make MOGO choices in their lives. Thanks 8th graders.
~ Zoe
Filed under: humane education, MOGO (Most Good), responsibility Tagged: | critical thinking, humane education, positive choices, responsibility, students
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During the last wave of violence between the Israelis and Palestinians, in the summer of 2001, I went to Israel with more than 60 other American and Canadian men and women. The program we went with divided us up into small groups, and dispersed us throughout the entire country. We acted as camp counselors, teaching English to Israeli kids in summer day camp settings.
It is a program that runs every summer, but that summer, it was special. I lost count of the number of natives who thanked us for coming to help teach and entertain their children despite the bombings. I do know that I made a difference that summer. I know that I made an unpleasant situation more bearable.
I had never been there before. And people were afraid to go because the newspapers and television kept reporting bombings. But I was working for a newspaper, and I had finally figured out that the reason the newspapers print reports about bombings, is because reports about bombings sell newspapers, and the newspaper’s goal is to sell itself.
I had studied the situation between the Palestinians and Israelis, at length, from books and newspapers and speaking to people, and after all of my studying I concluded that the statistical odds of being wounded or killed in a bombing were significantly less than one would expect based on newspaper and TV reports.
If all of the newspaper and TV reports are true (which they are not) then the statistical odds of being wounded or killed by a bomb during a five week stay in Israel, were significantly less then 0.1%, so long as I stay off the three streets in Jerusalem which are repeatedly bombed.
The 3 streets where the majority of the bombings in Israel took place were all in Jerusalem and all interconnected with each other. The names of those three streets were Jaffa, King George and Ben Yehuda.
So a lot of people stayed off of those three (interconnected) streets, knowing that they would be reasonably safe so long as they stayed away from the area which was most frequently targeted by bombers. And that was easy enough, because the majority of the country was never bombed.
So we went, all sixty something of us American and Canadian women and men, to Israel, and we did what we would have done in our teenage years. We acted as camp counselors. We took the kids to amusement and water parks, pools, miniature golf. We had sack-races, arts and crafts, card games, twister, sports, cooking … In short, we ran normal camps for the children, the same as we would have done here, only instead of doing it here, we did it there, in Israel. So instead of sitting home and watching the latest reports about bombings, the kids were in camp with us, participating in reasonably wholesome games and learning English, because we were running the camps in English, speaking to the kids in English as much as we could, so that they would learn English while participating in fun wholesome activities.
The kids were too young to understand the significance of a reasonably safe American or Canadian going to Israel at that time, but the adults thanked us again and again and again and again. And when I finished that experience, and I knew that those children had spent a month playing cards, and arts and crafts and swimming and learning English and riding roller coasters, because I and over 60 others had chosen to be the bodies they needed to run those camps, I knew that I had changed the world for the better, and I knew that I would never be the same again, and I knew, also, that it was possible to change the world for the better, with something as simple as love.
On a side note — there are millions of Israelis and Palestinians who get along well with each other. Some of their kids are friends, they are friends, and occasionally they even marry each other. The newspapers focus on the bombings, because stories about bombings sell newspapers, and the newspapers goal is to sell itself. The newspapers don’t mention the millions of Israelis and Palestinians who treat each other with reasonable respect and even friendship, because stories about normal every day relationships do not sell newspapers.
In order to counteract the newspaper propaganda which sets well meaning kids against each other, programs are set up throughout Israel, in order to help Israeli and Palestinian children meet each other in person, and learn about each other in person, in normal, neutral settings.
Israelis and Palestinian children are regularly flown to Seeds of Peace, in America, where they live together for a month, in order to learn about each other by speaking to each other in person, instead of basing their opinions of each other on their respective newspaper propaganda. That program, Seeds of Peace, can be found at http://www.seedsofpeace.org/about.
Another significant place of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East if Neve Shalom, where Israeli and Palestinian children grow up together in a solid community.
Is the picture at the top with the kid holding his/her hands open public domain?
Hi, Donovan,
It’s either an iStockphoto pic that we purchased the usage rights to, or it came from http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml, which allows free use of many of its photos (some have restrictions).
Hope that’s helpful
Marsha
IHE’s Web Content & Community Manager
Marsha@HumaneEducation.org
[...] by Matt Langdon on February 15, 2008 Zoe Weil from the Institute of Humane Education wrote about the reactions of some 8th graders to heroic behaviour. They couldn’t see [...]
I am located in India & intersted to be involved,
gautam Chaudhury
Response to Gautam Chaudhury:
What do you want to do? What interests you? What do you want to get involved in?
There are lots of ways to get involved. There are lots of ways to make a positive change in the world. Some people help by teaching children how to be peaceful, moral and compassionate. We read books that teach moral values to children. We tell the children that compassion and peace are very important.
This is important. We need to tell our children that compassion and peace are very important. We need to tell our children that compassion and peace are more important than money. That is one way to get involved. I get involved by telling the children that compassion and peace are more important than money.
I get involved by recycling old cans and bottles, or picking up garbage on the street. But that is something that needs to be done in my community. What needs to be done in your community? Because your community might be a little bit different than my community. What do the people in your community need? And how can you help?
Some people help by washing their clothing with environmentally friendly detergent (in America we can buy Ecover from ecover.com or Seventh Generation from seventhgen.com to wash our clothing). We help by using our time to read to people who are sick, or old. We help by feeding people who are in hospitals, nursing homes, or homeless shelters.
There are old and sick people who are too weak to lift their forks, so we feed them. Can you help feed someone who is too weak to feed themselves?
Can you play with children who are orphans? Can you teach an orphan to read, or can you play games with orphans?
I used to play with children who were taken away from their parents because their parents were sick. I taught the children how to read, write and speak English. But that is what the children around me needed. What do the children in your community need? Do the children in your community need someone to play with them, or listen to them, or teach them math? Are their old people in your community who have trouble feeding themselves? What needs to be done in your own community?
What do you know about? What are you good at? I do what I am good at. When I was younger I was able to work with little children and old people, so I volunteered to help children and old people. I cannot work with them right now. Right now I can write, and I am good at writing, so I try to write things which will teach people how to be peaceful. But you and I might have different skills. What are you good at? Are you good at sports, or math? Maybe you can teach sports or math to children.
Are you a good speaker? Do you like to talk in public? Maybe you can talk to people about recycling and protecting their environment by making a mulch heap outside, or growing organic fruits, instead of buying fruits that are made with poisonous chemicals.
What are you good at? What needs to be done in your community?
In my community we need to teach the children that compassion is more important than money. Our children are very confused because they had confused teachers. The children think that money is more important than compassion because they are confused by the TV and the magazines. So we need to turn off the poisons TV. And we need to take away the magazines that are poisoning our children. We need to go the library with our children and show our children magazines and books that teach them how to be compassionate. Some of the magazines which help children learn how to be compassionate and kind are E Magazine, VegNews, Vegetarian Times, Yoga Journal. Some of the authors that teach our children how to be compassionate and kind are Zoe Weil, Pema Chödrön, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ingrid Newkirk, Norm Phelps, Martin Rowe, David Sears. Some of the book companies which publish books that teach people how to be peace are Shambhala.com, NewWorldLibrary.com. ParallaxPress.com, LanternBooks.com, NewSociety.com. I learn how to be peace by reading books from those companies. I learn how to be compassionate and kind by reading books from those companies. And I learn how to be compassionate and kind by copying people who know how to be compassionate and kind.
We need to teach our children how to be compassionate and kind. We need to teach our children how to be peaceful. We need to teach our children how to eat and live without harming the environment. We need to teach our children to turn off the light when they leave a room, so they don’t waste energy. And we need to teach our children how to wash their clothing with detergents that don’t pollute the environment.
We need to teach our children how to buy clothing and food which don’t pollute the environment. We need to teach our children not to buy anything that is made with plastic or Styrofoam, because they will pollute the environment if they buy things that are made with plastic or Styrofoam.
We need to teach our children how to dispose of their garbage properly. If they have an old orange or mango peel then they should put that orange or mango peel in the dirt, outside, instead of putting it in a plastic bag. If I am lucky enough to live in a place where I have soil outside my home, then I should put my biodegradable orange peels, mango peels and apple cores into the dirt, where they will decompose and become healthy fertilizer for the soil, instead of putting them into plastic garbage bags which will add pollution to the environment.
All over the world we have a problem with garbage. Not just in America. In Israel one of the first things I saw was a great big pile of garbage.
In Israel there are people who work to bring Israeli and Palestinian children together, so that the Israeli and Palestinian children can learn to be peaceful together. Some Israeli and Palestinian children are afraid of each other because their newspapers and teachers tell them bad things about each other. But when the Israeli and Palestinian children get to play with each other and talk to each other in person, instead of basing their opinions about each other on newspaper propaganda, then the children learn to understand each other and live together harmoniously. This is something which can be done in Ireland, or India.
When children are very little they can learn to live peacefully together, because all they want is to play with each other.
When I was a little girl I went to a school where everyone was the same race and religion, and my teachers told me to be afraid of people who did not look like me. They told me to be afraid of people who were of different religions or races. But when I was nine years old I switched schools. And I started going to a school where there were children of many different races, colors and religions. And after a few days I was not afraid of children who looked different from me, because I saw them in person, and I spoke to them in person, and that is very important. Before the children learn to hate each other because they are brainwashed by well meaning but ignorant teachers, journalists, and politicians, we need to get the children together, on the playground, or in the park, and let them play with each other in person. Then they will not hate each other. They only hate each other because they are brainwashed by well meaning but ignorant and confused journalists, teachers and politicians. But they learn to live together harmoniously when we let them speak to each other and play normal games with each other when they are very little, before they are brainwashed against each other by newspapers and well meaning but confused and ignorant teachers.
But this is one of the most important things. If I want to help change the world then I have to change myself first. When I am peaceful, then I can create peace. I turn myself into peace by reading books by people who know how to be peace, talking to people who know how to be peace, copying people who know how to be peace, and learning peace inducing techniques like yoga, tai chi and qigong. It is very important that we learn how to be peace and we need to teach our children how to be peace too.
No one ever taught me how to be peace. When I was 20 years old I took a yoga class by accident. And the yoga teacher taught me how to be peace. I learn how to be peace by reading books or listening to audios by people like Thich Nhat Hanh, John Marks Templeton, Zoe Weil, Pema Chödrön, Eckhart Tolle, Jack Kornfield, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and then I make peace in the world. I make peace in the world by turning myself into peace, and I turn myself into peace by copying peaceful people, and practicing a peace inducing technique like yoga, tai chi or qigong, or repeating a peace inducing mantra to myself over and over again.
I learn how to be peace by copying peaceful people. This is important. There are two basic kinds of peacemakers. There are fake peacemakers and there are real peacemakers. There are people who pretend to know how to make peace, and then there are people who really do know how to be peace. Copy someone who really does know how to be peace. If you copy someone who really does know how to be peace, then you will become peaceful, and that is how you create peace in the world.
[...] I taught the 8th graders at the Bay School several weeks ago (described in the previous blog posts Responsibility and Responsibility, Part II: Ordinary Heroism), I received some letters from them. Here are [...]
fruits are fun- south park…
How do you come up with so much material to blog with?…
[...] about the PBS series, The New Heroes, and about social entrepreneurship in previous posts (such as here and here), and I want to share with you another website and book that profiles social entrepreneurs [...]