“It is practically impossible to teach without passing on some of the values that the teacher ascribes to. To even try to do so would be to suck the soul out of teaching. The simple act of teaching is about communicating certain values about commitment, preparation, discipline, timeliness, completeness, caring, attention curiosity, communication and many others. Value free teaching is not even possible.

…The real question here is that of governance – is it the responsibility of the institution to have clear, well designed value paradigms that inform the day to day operations of the school?…”

At Prajnya’s Education for Peace Initiative, we do believe that values should be taught in school (and at home) and that these should be the values that promote a culture of peace: acceptance, sensitivity, cooperation, for instance. What do you think?

‘Peace is the only battle worth waging.’

This saying by Albert Camus is true indeed! Peace cannot be fought for; it can be created, developed and secured in the hearts of the world’s millions! It is, of course, an antethesis of war, a term which mainly describes destruction, hatred and cruelty towards all.

The word peace has many synonyms like friendship, love, armistice, union, unity, pacifism … but none of these is able to capture the integrity and emotion of the word ‘peace’ – the bond, the feeling which  seeps deep inside one’s heart and makes it a holy place.

Peace makes its way to develop a sense of tolerance in international relations, strengthening the truce of belief and understanding between them. The word ‘peace’ gained importance in the early 20th century when great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King made it the cornerstone  of their strategy to obtain freedom from slavery and imperialism. Mahatma Gandhi won freedom from British Rule for India on the principles of non-violence and Satyagraha. Martin Luther King fought for justice and equality for Afro-Americans and is one of the greatest heroic leaders in the history of modern American liberalism.

Today the concept of  ’World Peace’ has gained recognition worldwide as part of the efforts by the human race to secure safety and understanding between warring nations.

The initiative for World Peace is  now in the hands of the United Nations which is striving constantly, through both conventional and unconventional methods, to establish peace in this world threatened by terrorism, in order to make this world a better place. The dove with an olive branch in its beak, the symbol of peace that was popularized by world famous artist Pablo Picasso in 1949 has been widely used in the post-World War II peace movement.

However, to really bring about world peace, each of us needs to take this mission to heart and come together to make this world a better and safer place!

• Swarna Rajagopalan, Peace Refractions
• Anupama Srinivasan, Teaching peace: Civil society peace education programmes in South Asia
• Priyadarshini Rajagopalan, Beginning with children

“A World Without Boundaries”

by

Natasha Singh

Today is World Peace Day and we join hands with Words and More (Kids) to spread the word for a harmonious future for our children.

Write stories, poems or articles about peace and get selected for the Writing for Peace Collection!

Entries accepted from September 21, 2011 at wordsnmore@gmail.com
(See the Words and More (Kids) page on this project.)

What is World Peace Day?

The International Day of Peace, also known as the World Peace Day, occurs annually on September 21.

The UN invites all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities during the Day, and to otherwise commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on issues related to peace. The first year this holiday was celebrated was 1981.

To inaugurate the day, the “Peace Bell” is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City, United States). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents. It was given as a gift by the United Nations Association of Japan, and is referred to as “a reminder of the human cost of war.” The inscription on its side reads: “Long live absolute world peace.”

Prajnya through its Education Peace Initiative tries to create an inclusive space where the habit of peace is nurtured and cultivated through learning, play, introspective engagement and interaction. Children are born with an innate sense of acceptance, inclusion and cooperation. It is important to realize that it is possible to resolve conflicts amicably and it is possible to create a peaceful and cooperative environment.

We at Prajnya are pleased to partner with Words and More (Kids) to launch  the ‘Writing for Peace’ Program. We invite stories, poems and articles from children all over the world on the theme of “Peace”. Each month, one entry will be selected and showcased on both the Words and More site and on the Prajnya Education for Peace blog.

So get writing! Send your pieces to wordsnmore@gmail.com to enter this worldwide initiative to spread peace and harmony in the world.

Be it in the form of support they gave one another, like the 8 year old who not only willingly taught a younger student how to tie her laces but also ensured that when she was ready, she was acknowledged for her effort in front of the whole class and declared ’master of tying shoelaces’

Or in the thought provoking debate on human needs, which was sparked by the lesson including defence as a fundamental human need. With groups divided in opinion and fence sitters the debate progressed and as I heard the arguments and counter arguments , regardless of which side was speaking , I heard ideas of fair play, need for appropriate reactions, thought before action, and in all cases an attempt at finding alternatitives to reactions and retaliations. I wished, at that moment, that the Heads of State could understand this innate need for peace.

Or when it surfaced as the genuine care giving instinct for even a tiny seed about to sprout, as I watched  a group of students set out experiments to determine what plants needed to grow. As per the experiment card they agreed to deprive each seed of any one element needed as in water, air, soil, light. Then came the voice that said” we need to set up one that doesn’t get love. Everyone needs love to grow” So it was decided, included as a category, experimented on and concluded that it was indeed a critical ingredient for the seed’s growth and that by ignoring it for a whole week  we had essentially ‘killed ‘ its potential.

I could go on and on about the many lessons my students have taught me, and someday I may, but for now, on this day, I just want to thank each and every student I have had the privilege of being with, for allowing me to observe and learn from their uncluttered, unbiased, accepting mind, that”Peace” is a way of being.

Happy Teachers’ day!

Priyadarshini Rajagopalan is an independent educational consultant and  the Director of the Education for Peace initiative at Prajnya, Chennai. She also blogs at http://priteach.wordpress.com

Last year, our middle school students went to Washington, DC on a “Close Up” tour with other middle school children from public and private schools (not Montessori.) They spent five days in discussion groups, with issues relating to our government…a difficult topic for a lot of the children from other schools who had come unprepared. I watched as our students took those children “under their wing” and helped them to understand and contribute to the discussion group. They did it without judgement and with a considerable amount of patience. By the third day, they were sought out by the other children and adults to lead the groups.

We Montessorians should be very proud of our education for peace. It reaches out to all children now and to the adults they will become.

Recently, I was asked about my views on competition among students. And here is what I said

I think Competition if approached in a constructive manner could lead to healthy results.If it is not  just a comparison but an exercise in creating awareness, it works as an inspiration and motivates children. What I mean is, if a child is shown the traits  of another  and the benefits one has because of that, then it could work wonders. For example, a child who does not have healthy eating habits  is not just compared with someone who follows  healthy food habits but shown how it has a positive effect, then he/she might be encouraged to do so as well. Or a child who is wondering about what path to take in life, if shown the stories of struggles and successes of other people,  might be inspired to choose something that is of interest. Sports is another big example which promotes competition but at the same time has tremendous potential to promote teamship, excellence and an eye for detail. It prepares for both successes and failures.

In saying this, I wont choose a competition of marks but a competition of study habits. I wont choose a competition of grades but a competition of strategy. I wont choose a competition of success and rewards but a competition of ideas. So it’s constructive and productive. You could then say that it is subjective . And it is.

How we use it in schools is a big question. The answer is not so simple. I dont think we promote competition with this objective. We do have competitive exams, inter school competitions of art/sports/cultural events but the understanding of the above objective needs to be promoted so that competition prepares the child for both success and failure, so that competition  prepares one not to just ‘win’ but  to strive for ‘self excellence’.

Happy Teachers Day

Montessori Education, when done as Dr. Montessori intended, is essentially education for peace. Many people use the Montessori materials to make traditional education more interesting and successful. For example it is always easier for a child to understand math when it is taught with the number rods, the thousand cubes and so on. This is good. But when these materials are used in a traditional setting, it is not education for peace.

There is no need for a special curriculum or materials labeled “peace materials.” When a child is taught, by imitating the adults, to put a piece of work back on the shelf, clean and complete for the next child, this is education for peace, as it is thoughtfulness for others. When there is only one of a kind of materials in the classroom and a child knows that when the next child is finished he will be able to work with it, this teaches patience, which is education for peace. When the adults in the room move slowly and carefully with grace and consideration and speak in a respectful voice to each other and to the children, this is active modeling of a peaceful way to be.

When a child is taught that he must not interrupt another child who is concentrating, this teaches respect for the right to concentrate [ no matter how long] and it enables the working child to concentrate as well. And this uninterrupted concentration is the vital element in Montessori because it is after a long period of concentration, where a child may repeat an activity over and over and over out of a need that comes from deep within, that he is filled with love for others and the environment. What could be a more important instance of peace education!

So let us look, not at the materials, but on the way the adults model peace and serenity, and  the way that education is carried out in the classroom, for the nurturing of a peaceful way to think and be.