Peace education as an umbrella concept for our best educational aspirations

I envision peace education as an umbrella, encompassing education’s best efforts to empower youth to change the world for the better:  critical and creative thinking education, civics education, character and moral education, multicultural and antibias education, gender-equity education, conflict resolution and antiviolence education, social justice and global education, service learning, environmental education, and 21st century education to name major strands of teaching for the greater good.

In my website, www.teachforpeace.org I provide rationales for teaching peace along with an annotated list of peace education resources.  Organized in the think, care, act framework, visitors can find useful links to promote critical and creative thinking, compassionate care for local and global communities, and social action for the greater good.   As I update and revamp the site, I will list new links that are helpful to peace, character, global, and multicultural educators.  Here is an example:

                             
Human Rights Resource Center (University of Minnesota) http://hrusa.org/ 
This deeply linked site provides resources and rationales for teaching about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and human rights in general.  Useful questions, lessons, and downloadable files are available to connect literature, current events, history, and other curricula to the consideration of human rights.  Browse around to find resources for ages K-adult!

·         This is my Home http://www.hrusa.org/thisismyhome/project/about.shtml
Examples of resources available as pdfs are K-2 (Caring School Climate) or 6-8 (Justice or Injustice).  Lesson plans, rationales, and handouts are provided.  Social action steps are outlined, including sample letters and action plans.  Invaluable!

Some teachers may be unfamiliar with peace education, while others worry about having “something else” to teach. Cheryl Duckworth wrote about this issue in her June 20, 2011 blog: http://teachforpeace.blogspot.com/2011/06/you-might-already-be-teaching-peace-if.html