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
For my blog post today, I’m sharing a recent blog post I wrote for Care2.com, an online community for people passionate about creating a better world. Here’s an excerpt:
Vanquishing the enemy means looking below the surface evil to the ways in which rage, hatred, sociopathy and brainwashing occur, and attempting to find root causes and root solutions.
While it may feel satisfying, and deeply so for those who lost loved ones on September 11, Osama bin Laden’s death represents no solution to hatred and bigotry; minds easily influenced; actions determined more by situations and systems than by careful thought, reflection and analysis. These are the real and powerful roots of evil.
There is a way to confront our biggest enemy, and it lies with children….That way is through schooling that teaches critical and creative thinking and problem-solving and that fosters reverence, respect and a sense of responsibility.
It is, in fact, the only way to cultivate healthy roots so that each of us has the capacity to resist the effects of a destructive environment — whether that environment is political, cultural, economic or ecological — and then transform that environment into systems that are more just, sustainable and humane.
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“
Image courtesy of L. Marie via Creative Commons.
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Filed under: humane education, MOGO (Most Good), responsibility, social psychology, systemic change, third side thinking, values | Tagged: discrimination, education, enemies, evil, hatred, humane education, influence, obedience to authority, osama bin laden, politics, responsibility, social psychology, systems, violence | Comments Off
I finished the bestseller, The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, this weekend and I recommend it wholeheartedly. A novel set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, The Help tells the stories of black maids working for white families in the tempestuous shifts from segregation and Jim Crow to civil rights. It is riveting, heartbreaking, uplifting, redeeming, beautifully crafted, moving, elucidating and deeply satisfying as a novel. Read this book!
I woke up to very upsetting news. By a 53% to 47% margin, Maine voters repealed Maine’s new law, passed this year, that allows gays and lesbians to marry. I am so sad and embarrassed by my state. Many will be analyzing these results, pointing to the massive funding that the anti-marriage equality proponents poured into the campaign, discussing the misleading ads, assessing Maine’s demographics. But I want to look at this through the MOGO lens.
I’ve often wondered what racism looks like if you’re blind. In societies in which the color of our skin is still a powerful force in the way we are perceived and treated — our privileges and opportunities as well as our obstacles and challenges — what would happen if we could not perceive color? Would we still find ways to create “us and thems ”? Would some other factor emerge that we would use to separate ourselves? Sadly, I think the answer is yes, as we can witness in cultures in which skin, hair, and eye color are consistently the same, while religion, ethnicity or class takes the place of color in our hierarchy of acceptance or rejection, inclusion or trepidation.
IHE offers online courses for educators, activists, parents & concerned citizens seeking the tools, knowledge & motivation to align their actions with their deepest values & to become more effective leaders and changemakers. Sign up now for an upcoming session. 
