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 weekend, I listened to Mike Daisey’s riveting monologue on the radio show This American Life about his trip to Shenzhen, China, to visit the factories where his electronics — specifically his Apple products — are made. I urge readers of this blog to listen to this episode, which includes not only Mike Daisey’s account, but the fact-checking efforts of the reporters at This American Life.This was a profound example of humane education: providing information, fostering our curiosity and demanding our critical thinking, eliciting our reverence, respect, and sense of responsibility, and leaving us with a serious question: whether we’re willing to work to change systems so that our electronics are produced humanely and justly. Please listen.
For a humane world,
Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
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Filed under: consumerism, critical thinking, human rights, humane education Tagged: | Apple products, China, consumerism, critical thinking, electronics, factories, human rights, humane education, iPhones, sweatshops, systemic change, This American Life
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It’s not the most balanced of views – but no-one can deny that Foxconn aren’t the greatest of employers on the planet.
Maybe we can let produce our electronic gadgets more humanly so that less Foxconn slaves jump out of the window but we cannot let them be produced without severe ecological impact.
We have outsourced manufacturing and the by manufacturing processes generated pollution to China, where cancer is now the leading cause of death.
If I would be cynical, I would call to bring manufacturing home (seems possible if unions and workers rights are further undermined and wages further decline), so that Americans can contribute their fair share to the cancer statistics.
If I would be delusional, quixotic, unrealistic, I would suggest, that we stop buying gadgets.