Peace Education

Philosophy Part ll – Assignment 3
Peace Education Evonne Liu

Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war. --------------------Maria Montessori

What is Peace Education? There are some good definitions as following:
1) Peace education is an attempt to respond to problems of conflict and violence on scales ranging from the global and national to the local and personal. It is about exploring ways of creating more just and sustainable futures.---R.D. Laing (1978)
2) Peace education is holistic. It embraces the physical, emotional, intellectual, and social growth of children within a framework deeply rooted in traditional human values. It is based on philosophy that teaches love, compassion, trust, fairness, co-operation and reverence for the human family and all life on our beautiful planet.---Fran Schmidt and Alice Friedman (1988)
The basic concept of peace education is that it is a remedial measure to protect children from falling into the ways of violence in society. It aims at the total development of the child. It tries to inculcate higher human and social values in the mind of the child. In essence it attempts to develop a set of behavior skills necessary for peaceful living and peace-building from which the whole of humanity will benefit.

Usually we assume that the more knowledge people have, the better they are. However history has evidenced that sometimes those “knowledge people” may bring onto the world terrible disasters. Under the present predicament there is a growing realization in the world of education today that children should be educated in the art of peaceful living. As a result, more and more peace concepts, attitudes, values and behavior skills are being integrated into the school curriculums in many countries. In tracing the recent development of peace education, we found out that Dr. Maria Montessori had already sensed its need and tried to tell the world her vision of peace education in the 1930s.

With the witness of the horrors of the First and Second World Wars, Dr. Maria Montessori and a few other educators saw the need for developing the humanistic side of education. In one of her public speeches, Montessori said:
Those who want war prepare young people for war; but those who want peace have neglected young children and adolescents so that they are un-able to organize them for peace. ‘
To her, a child was a promise of mankind; the child’s natural innocence has to be preserved from being sidetracked or spoilt by society. Peace is the guiding principle of man and nature. She looked at education as a tool for building World Peace. She thought education should involve the spiritual development of man and the enhancement of his value as an individual as he prepares the young people to understand the time in which they live. Peace education is more effective and meaningful when it is adopted according to the social and cultural context and the needs of a country. It should be enriched by its cultural and spiritual values together with universal human values while being globally relevant.
Committed to a nonpolitical platform, and a focus on the innate and positive forces of the human mind and spirit, Dr. Montessori rejected the view of peace as the condition achieved by avoiding war and with nonviolent resolution of political conflict. "Inherent in the very meaning of the work peace is the positive notion of constructive social reform," she wrote, adding that "society at present does not adequately prepare man for civic life," and that "establishing a lasting peace is the work of education." Far in advance of today's catchphrase "globalization," she noted that scientific advances had so linked world cultures that our universal social connections were made clear, and she set forth strategies for a "universal, collective effort to build the foundation for peace."
Dr. Montessori's peace initiatives have been continued by organizations such as the Montessori Peace Task Force, the Montessori Peace Institute and the American Montessori Society Peace Committee. These national and international groups promote peace education within the Montessori curriculum, connections between schools, and global peace initiatives. The theme of 2008 American Montessori Society annual conference is Educating for Peace & Social Justice. The concept of Peace Education has never been ignored.
Peace education is implicit in the Montessori curriculum and its manipulative materials. Peace has cultivated in the Montessori classrooms by combining the actual experience of peace and intellectual academic activities.
1) Peace experiences include: free choice-self respect, respect for others, cooperation, a non-competitive environment, conflict resolution, respect for the environment, identification with others, and self-control. Young children contribute to the peaceful classroom by respect for oneself, for other members of the community, for the living things in the classroom and for the environment; showing consideration to others, carrying things carefully, returning them to their place so others may use them, keeping materials orderly; respecting others' work spaces; controlling movement and sound, moving gracefully and carefully, using polite and respectful language and interrupting politely; and participating in the group circle, both as listener and speaker. These tools for expressing emotions respectfully and resolving conflict peacefully are also introduced within the classroom.
2) The academic activities in primary classes that the curriculum includes are: The Global view, Introduction to the world, Land and water forms, Continents, World maps, Plants of the world, Animals of the world, Peoples of the world, Fundamental needs of humans, Global comparisons, etc.. Young children place themselves in the natural and human world through the presentation of geographical materials, and cultural and scientific studies. These studies engender understanding and respect of different places, species, needs and beliefs, and are approached through art, music, history, second language, and science. It permits the student to study the history and science of the natural world, the beliefs and traditions of diverse world cultures, and to learn about and finally place herself within society as an active, contributing individual. All of these endeavors are guided by the school's all-encompassing guidelines: respect of self, respect of others; respect of the environment; and responsibility for one's actions and words.

Except the whole year round basis curriculum I’ve listed above, I would also like to emphasize on the following activities in my Peace Education curriculum.
* Preparation for teacher--In order for Peace Education to be run effectively, teacher
shall begin a process of inner awareness and transformation to purify her heart and render it burning with charity toward the child. The teacher becomes a model of peace, respect, humility, and unconditional love and acceptance for all children.

* Preparation for the environment--The classroom is carefully prepared to meet the unfolding needs of the children, to attract them aesthetically and to reflect a feeling of love, respect and peace. Once a child is involved in an activity, the child passes through deeper phases of concentration and eventually has the potential of reaching the supreme state of inner peace.

* Setting the time for Movement— This will help children become more aware of their body movements.

* Creating a classroom charter for daily duties-- The classroom community is served by daily tasks (cleaning, caring for plants and animals). This helps children become aware of their responsibilities and get use to help things around them.

* Peace corner and peace table-- Create a peace table to have peace and teach peace. A peace table may be an actual child-sized table, a couple of chairs in a corner of a room or a defined space where children can go to resolve a dispute with each other. The space might hold a decoration of a peace symbol, such as an olive branch, a dove, flowers or a similar meaningful object. Children in a quarrel can choose to go to the peace table, or classmates may suggest the children to resolve their issues at the peace table. After a few experiences of success with working through their problems, children probably won't need to be prompted to use the peace table. The peace table procedure follows. The child who feels wronged places one hand on the table, the other hand on her heart to indicate that the words being spoken are from the heart. The child looks at the other child, speaks that child's name, explains how she feels about what has occurred and what solution she would like to see happen. The other child has a turn, placing one hand on the table and the other hand on his heart. The dialogue continues, without outside interference, until an agreement is reached. If the children cannot resolve their disagreement, they may invite a mediator for example, a teacher or an older classmate. If the situation involves the entire classroom, the participants may ask for a meeting of the whole class where everyone listens to both sides of the disagreement and then is asked to speak in turn from the heart. When agreement is reached, the bell is rung to signal to the family or class that an accord has been reached. With the peace table, children learn that their point of view is important, that they will be listened to and that they will be treated with respect and fairness. In their negotiations at the peace table, children learn that arguments need to be settled with truth and good faith in order to ensure a harmonious home and a cooperative climate in their classroom. Peace is an individual choice. Using the words of a hymn, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”

* Story telling—Effective storytelling has the power to awaken a deep desire for social justice by inspiring us to discover and fulfill our cosmic task. Children always like stories. Even very young children can be pursuaded to understand complex and sensitive subjects if they are presented in a thoughtfully prepared story.

* Clothing or Toy Drive—Donate the unused clothes to local charities to show we care about our community and other people.

*Recycling Paper— Everyone has a responsibility to keep the Earth green. We can protect and save our earth by reusing paper.

*Bird feeding—To show we respect food and care about others, one thing we can save our left over bread or crumbs, past them on a pine corn to then hang outside to feed birds.

Peace Education consists of providing opportunities and experiences for children to help then understand and access their spiritual essence, the source of peace within themselves. Schools can directly benefit by adopting peace education, as it helps the emotional development in children.


References:
E.M. Standing. Maria Montessori – Her Life and Work. New York, Mentor,1957
Maria Montessori. Peace and Education