Educating the Heart: We Must Create Schools of Conscience

Since I’ve been writing a lot about what education is for (such as here and here), here’s another perspective, published in May in Educational Leadership.
Author Charles Haynes argues that education’s highest aim should be to “create moral and civic habits of the heart,” and his essay is compelling. Here are some excerpts:
“At a time when [...]

Telling the Ecological and Economic Truth

In an interview in this month’s issue of Ode Magazine, Lester Brown, founder of the WorldWatch Institute refers to Oystein Dahle, a former vice-president of Exxon in Norway, to whom he attributes this quote:
“Socialism collapsed because it did not allow the market to tell the economic truth and capitalism may collapse because it does not [...]

Education Must Be the Key to Creating a Better World

Recently, I’ve been writing essays and speaking about this question: What is education for?. I’ve just read an essay, published almost two years ago, by British educator Susan Bassnett. It seems Britain, like the U.S., faces the same current challenges in schooling, and at least some are questioning the direction and approach of reform.
Bassnett writes:
“Education [...]

Humane Education Fits, Whatever the Subject

I write and speak often about how humane education can infuse all core subjects in school. Most of the time I talk about social studies, math and science. In this article about efforts at a Costa Rican university to bring humane issues into the foreign language program (in this case, English), we see a wonderful [...]

Teaching Our Children Common Sense Should Be…Common Sense

After running up our local mountain, my husband suggested we stop at our co-op to get some cereal. Since I didn’t know when we’d be back in town, I decided to stock up on other things as well, including two bottles of wine. The cashier was eighteen and legally can’t ring up wine so she [...]

UC Irvine Starts New Minor in Community Changemaking

The University of California at Irvine has launched a new undergraduate minor in Civics and Community Engagement. Students will participate in changemaking within their community for environmental sustainability, global citizenship, service to others and more. Students will be able to combine volunteer work with academic study and receive credit for making a difference. Read more [...]

Rob Shetterly’s Excellent Graduation Speech

Robert Shetterly, Americans Who Tell the Truth portrait series artist, delivered a brilliant commencement address at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 14.
Here are some excerpts:
“We want our children well educated not for success as it is usually defined in terms of jobs and money but because the success of our communities [...]

Adam Baldwin Has It Wrong: Teaching for Global Citizenship Is Essential to Good Education

Actor Adam Baldwin recently wrote a scathing criticism of education for global citizenship and sustainability.
It’s worth analyzing Baldwin’s arguments because recently the concepts that humane education covers and its general approach have come under fire, even if the authors of the critiques are not specifically using the term humane education. Baldwin calls the preparation [...]

The Story of Stuff Helps Us Envision New & Better Systems

The New York Times recently had an article about the growing use of the video The Story of Stuff in schools, and the controversy that sometimes surrounds it. The short, animated film provides an introduction to the impact of our stuff on the environment, and it’s a great way to introduce the effects of consumer [...]

Creating Change/Changing Minds

Here’s another quote from Joshua Ramo’s The Age of the Unthinkable:
“There is nothing more horrible than to walk that faulty line between new and old, seeing what the future holds, screaming about it in your art or your writing, and finding only mute incomprehension or dismissal in your audience.”
When I read this line, I put [...]