The Importance of Humane Education in 2 Minutes

Posted on October 31, 2011 by zoeweil
I was recently asked by a potential funder to give my best 2-minute statement for why someone should support the work of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE).

I really need 10 minutes, and even then I’m not doing justice to the complexity of global issues that humane education helps to solve; the many ways in which IHE prepares people to be humane educators, provides humane education, and promotes the field itself; or the profound impact humane education has on people of all ages who learn about the grave challenges of our time and become solutionaries for a better world. I have hundreds of testimonials from people of all ages who’ve said that IHE has changed their lives for the better and enabled them to become changemakers. But if you need to raise money to do good work, you have to be able to tell busy people why they should support you, and you have to be able to do it succinctly, often in just two minutes.

I feel like my best effort at explaining the power and promise of humane education came in my TEDx talk, The World Becomes What You Teach, and judging by the response it has gotten, others agree; but when I only have 2 minutes, it’s too long.

So here’s my pared-down, 2-minute pitch for supporting humane education and our work at IHE:

Why is humane education important?

1.    The world needs it: We face grave and escalating challenges. Our planet is warming, our population is growing, our resources are dwindling, and half of all species are threatened with extinction by century’s end. Given these and other global problems, humane education is paramount so that we graduate a generation with the knowledge, tools, and motivation to address growing threats and to create just, healthy, and restorative systems.

2.    Schools need it: Schools that incorporate humane education into their mission and curricula prepare students to solve problems rather than perpetuate them. Humane education enables schools to graduate solutionaries who are able to use the foundational tools of literacy, numeracy, and critical and creative thinking as engaged citizens and problem-solvers.

3.    Students need it: Students deserve an education that is relevant and meaningful to their lives and future. As one 11th grader said after I gave a humane education presentation at her school: “We should have been learning this since Kindergarten!“

Why is the Institute for Humane Education important?

1.    IHE offers the only comprehensive humane education graduate programs in North America. The more people that IHE trains who can bring humane education into every educational setting, the more solutionaries there will be to solve our pressing challenges.

2.    IHE develops and offers award-winning free online resources to people across the globe who use them in classrooms, board rooms, and living rooms, bringing humane education to the world.

3.    IHE changes lives through online courses, workshops, books, and presentations. As David Berman, who took my first week-long humane education course in 1987 when he was 13 years old, said recently: “That course changed my life!” He in turn has changed many other lives.

Humane education is a profoundly effective way to create a better world. I hope you will consider donating to our 15th anniversary “Creating the Future” campaign to help this work spread. Also, I encourage you to experience humane education for yourself by participating in one of our online courses. Or perhaps you’re ready to be a fully-trained humane educator and want to get your master’s degree through our online accredited program. And no matter where you are or what you are doing in the world, please avail yourself of our free activities and bring humane education to your community.

For a humane world,

Zoe

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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A Tribute Video for the Institute for Humane Education

Posted on July 22, 2011 by zoeweil

At the Institute for Humane Education we’ve just celebrated our 15th anniversary. On July 2, we held a big bash, during which we showed a short (9 minute) tribute video compiled from two hours of videos sent to us by friends, graduates, and supporters. For my blog post today, I wanted to share it:

Enjoy!

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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Basking

Posted on July 8, 2011 by zoeweil

It’s been quite a week at the Institute for Humane Education. We held our annual Summer Institute, Educating for a Better World, with a full house, and in the next several blog posts I’ll be sharing some of the fantastic humane education activities the students presented. The Summer Institute was followed immediately by our first reunion for graduates of our master’s degree and certificate program, which was followed that same night by our 15th anniversary celebration. I’ll be sharing the video tribute from that event here, too.

On July 4, I took the day off and hiked a favorite mountain with my husband. I brought my small but high-powered magnifying glass and took my time noticing the tiny berry-like fruiting bodies of moss, the green, purple and orange stripes (seriously!) of a deer fly’s eye that my husband caught as he was about to be bitten, a dozen kinds of lichen (swelled with moisture on a humid day) all on a single rock, and much more. I watched low clouds I could almost touch zoom and whirlpool as I lay down at the peak and stared upward as the sun burned them off and turned the day bright, and I reveled in the pleasure I take in seeing our dogs so happy.

Stay tuned.

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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You’re Invited to IHE’s Crystal Ball on July 2

Posted on June 17, 2011 by zoeweil

On July 2, the Institute for Humane Education (IHE) will be hosting a celebratory Crystal Ball in honor of our 15th anniversary (you can purchase tickets here). Fifteen years ago, we had a vision of a school through which people could learn about and then teach about the most important issues of our time. We imagined a center in a beautiful setting where people could gather to become humane educators themselves and to experience humane education classes and workshops to more deeply align their life choices with their own values. We also knew that we wanted our reach to extend far beyond our rural neighborhood in coastal Maine, so we created online courses and programs, launching the first Humane Education Certificate Program and the first Master of Education program in humane education in the United States. We also brought our acclaimed workshops to communities across the U.S. and Canada.

Fifteen years later, we have launched a new affiliation with Valparaiso University and added four additional graduate degrees to our humane education training programs. We’ve developed new and exciting online courses that people can take no matter where they live. Our reach has expanded dramatically, and we have students from around the globe. And as we envision the next 15 years we can see humane education growing tremendously to reach people of all ages in all settings. And together all these students of humane education will have the tools and knowledge and motivation to solve the pressing challenges we face.

On July 2, we’ll be celebrating where we’ve been and envisioning the future we’re trying to create: a more humane, peaceful, just, and healthy future for all people, all species, and the environment. Toward that end, students in schools across the country have been creating their own “crystal balls,” decorating them with images and words that depict the future they hope for. Many of these artistic renderings of their greatest hopes will be on display on July 2, where we’ll gather from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at our beautiful facility in Surry, Maine, to enjoy the music of concert and ragtime pianist Masanobu Ikemiya, partake of yummy desserts, hear stories from IHE alumni and leaders in humane education, participate in a silent auction, experience a taste of humane education, celebrate, learn, and have a great time. We hope you can come, and if you are unable to attend, we hope you’ll support our work, because our celebration is also a fundraiser to advance humane education.

Please share this invitation widely (you can download a copy here to share). We hope to celebrate with many of you who are also working to create a humane and restorative 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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Humane Education & Star Trek: Envisioning a Better World for All: My Interview on Conversations with Maine

Posted on April 15, 2011 by zoeweil

I’m delighted to share my interview with Frank Ferrel, host of Conversations With Maine, which recently aired on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. We talked about humane education, the MOGO Principle, my family, Star Trek, the work that I do on behalf of the Institute for Humane Education, and the challenges and joys of making choices that do the most good and least harm for all:

If you enjoy this interview and think it’s valuable, please share it with others so that they can learn more about humane education and the power in the choices that we all have to create a better world. I welcome your comments, as well.

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm and Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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Institute for Humane Education Launches New Graduate Programs for Those Who Want to Create a Better World

Posted on March 22, 2011 by zoeweil

I’m thrilled to share the news that the Institute for Humane Education (IHE) is launching new graduate programs in humane education through an affiliation with Valparaiso University. Beginning in September, IHE will offer an M.Ed. and M.A. in Humane Education, along with concentrations in Humane Education in Valparaiso’s M.Ed. in Instructional Leadership and M.A. in Liberal Studies programs. Additionally, we’ll be offering a Graduate Certificate in Humane Education.

All the programs are distance-learning (with the M.Ed. and M.A. including a 5-day residency at our beautiful facility in coastal Maine), allowing people from across the globe to participate. Each includes the core courses that comprise the content of humane education: Introduction to Humane Education; Environmental Ethics; Animal Protection; Human Rights; Culture and Change.

Humane education provides people of all ages and in a range of settings the knowledge, tools, and motivation to become conscientious and engaged citizens and changemakers for a better world. Our new programs will enable educators and change agents to bring pressing global challenges to people in ways that foster critical and creative thinking to solve problems in ways that work for all.

Find out more.

If you’d like to help us get the word out about our new programs, please download and share our press release.

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm, Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times, and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDx talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“

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My TED Talk: The World Becomes What You Teach

Posted on January 21, 2011 by zoeweil

I’m delighted to share my TEDxDirigo talk, The World Becomes What You Teach:

If you enjoy it and think it’s valuable, please share it with others so that together we can educate a generation of solutionaries. I welcome your comments as well.

Zoe Weil, President of the Institute for Humane Education

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Dive Into Darkness to Uncover the Light

Posted on December 15, 2010 by zoeweil

I love December. Amidst the festivities, the sparkling lights and candles to brighten the darkest month, the singing and celebrating, the craft fairs and concerts, the spirit of generosity (albeit too commercialized, but that’s another blog post), the gatherings with friends and family, there is also another opportunity I relish: the opportunity to dive into myself and reflect upon the year that has passed and the new one before me.

At the Institute for Humane Education, January is when we offer our online course, A Better World, A Meaningful Life, based on my book Most Good, Least Harm. We offer this course in January because it’s a perfect way to begin a new year, providing, as it does, the opportunity to reflect upon one’s deepest values, build community with others who want to align their choices and lives more deeply with what is most important to them, and start the year by putting intentions into action. It takes New Year’s resolutions and grounds them in practice.

In the dark of winter, such a course is a wonderful opportunity to introspect, to inquire about what is most important to us and make our goals real in order to live with greater integrity and purpose. We know many people who not only decide to take this course themselves, but give it as a holiday gift to a friend or family member, creating the chance to share themselves, their values, their vision and their dreams with someone they love.

Here’s to the joyful, meaningful lives we can create for ourselves and the humane and healthy world we can build together. Happy holidays!

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life

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A Must-Read List for Humane Educators & Citizen Activists

Posted on December 13, 2010 by zoeweil

In a previous blog post I wrote about the prescribed reading and assignments for our M.Ed. and certificate program students at the Institute for Humane Education. For those of you wondering what might be considered core books for a humane educator (or someone interested in understanding the interconnected issues of human rights, animal protection, environmental preservation, culture and changemaking, and education), here’s a sample reading list of solutions-focused books. Maybe you’ll put some of these on your holiday wish list:

Healing Through the Dark Emotions by Miriam Greenspan – A book that makes it possible to get through all the others and to stay engaged and healthy through some tough reading.

Ending Slavery by Kevin Bales – A book to introduce the reader to escalating worldwide slavery and what to do about it.

Creating a World Without Poverty by Mohammad Yunus – A book of solutions, written by a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson – Education as a solution to poverty and oppression.

Creating a World that Works for All by Sharif Abdullah – The name says it all.

Capitalism 3.0 by Peter Barnes – A case for capitalism that is both economically sound and environmentally and culturally sustainable and positive.

Field Notes on the Compassionate Life by Marc Ian Barasch – What does goodness look like in the world?

Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart – An approach to solving environmental challenges through technology, invention, and innovation that does no harm.

Eaarth by Bill McKibben – A look at global warming with ideas for response.

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond – What has and hasn’t worked to protect the environments and societies where different cultures have chosen varying approaches.

Earth in Mind by David Orr – Educating for an ecologically literate generation.

Animal Liberation by Peter Singer – The book that launched the animal rights movement.

The Food Revolution by John Robbins – A detailed and accessible look at how our food choices affect our health, the environment and animals.

The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer – Written primarily for college professors, this book invites all of us to consider the teacher within and to teach for a better world.

Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life – At the risk of self-promotion, my own book connects all these subjects and offers an approach to living and changemaking for a better world and a meaningful life

Read on!

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education

P.S. Want to get a taste of our humane education training programs & gain skills and support for inspiring your students to become leaders & change agents for a healthy, peaceful, sustainable world? Sign up for the next session of our 30-day online course, Teaching for a Positive Future (February 7-March 14, 2011). Special rates for groups of teachers.

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What Does It Mean to Be Well-Educated?, Part 2

Posted on December 10, 2010 by zoeweil

M.Ed. and HECP students at our summer 1-week residency.

In my last post, I wrote a response to an excellent post at Cooperative Catalyst titled, “What does it mean to be well-educated?”. As the creator of the first M.Ed. program in the U.S. focused on humane education, I’ve had to think about this question a lot, but in a very specific way. I’ve had to ask myself, “What does it mean to be a well-educated humane educator?”

Having completed two master’s degrees myself, I knew the typical liberal arts master’s degree format: take courses of interest from a variety of professors; write the (usually) two long (20+ pages) papers; do this for two years and receive a degree. One of my master’s degrees is in English Literature, and my husband can’t quite believe how many classics I’ve never read yet still received an M.A. I’ve never read Dickens, Melville, or Hawthorne, for example. Hard to believe. But I did read lots of Shakespeare (I took a whole course just on Hamlet), the Bloomsbury authors of England, lots of utopian and dystopian novels, and the Romantic poets. Still, there are huge gaps in my education because I took the courses that interested me. There was no body of knowledge I had to possess to be granted my degree.

When I was creating our M.Ed. program, I realized there was a body of knowledge I wanted each student to have. For our students to be well-educated humane educators, there were certain books and films and ideas with which I felt they needed to grapple. I read hundreds of books to narrow down our reading list to those I felt were key components to their education, and each year when I revised the curricula, I read another hundred. And so every student who enrolls in our program reads core books (with many others recommended) and completes many specific (short) assignments designed to help them to become the best humane educators they can be. Students can request a different book (if they’ve already read it or feel it isn’t of greatest value to them personally) or propose a different assignment (for the same reason), and these requests are usually granted. But there is a body of knowledge I want them to have and carefully crafted questions/assignments I want them to address and explore.

At times this seems so prescriptive, so different from the graduate programs I participated in. But to be well-educated and well-rounded as a humane educator, I have felt that there are key texts that will provide them with the right mix of knowledge, approach, and understanding for educating others to be solutionaries who understand the interconnected issues of human rights, animal protection, environmental preservation, and explorations of culture and change. I have taken a similar approach as any trade school – whether medical school or law school – an approach that says: in order to be successful at this profession, you need this particular set of knowledge and skills.

What does it mean to be well-educated? It depends upon what you are being educated for.

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of The Power and Promise of Humane Education

P.S. In Fall 2011, IHE will resume its M.Ed. in Humane Education program — the only program of its kind in the U.S. — with a new affiliate. To receive more information about the program and an application when this program is launched, please contact Amy Morley at Amy@HumaneEducation.org.

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