Peace Education

By Roberto Miguel Rodriguez

A synthesis of peace education and its overlapping and interrelated fields and reflections about the origins of peace education; the theoretical, conceptual and pedagogical perspectives of various strands of peace education; a historic framework of peace education; education for dismantling a culture of war; education for living with justice and compassion; education for promoting human rights and responsibilities; education for building cultural respect, reconciliation and solidarity; education for living in harmony with the earth; education for inner peace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9781105174766

Book preview

Peace Education

Peace Education

By Roberto M. Rodriguez

Copyright © 2011 Lulu Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

IBSN:  978-1-105-17476-6

Table of Contents

Peace Education

Thesis of Peace Education and Its Overlapping and Interrelated Fields

The Strands of Peace Education

A Pathway to Peace

Concluding Reflections

References

Reflections on Peace Education

Origins of peace education

Theoretical, Conceptual and Pedagogical Perspectives of Various Strands of Peace Education

Towards a Holistic Framework for Peace Education

Educating for Dismantling a Culture of War

Educating for living with justice and compassion

Educating for promoting human rights and responsibilities

Educating for building cultural respect, reconciliation and solidarity

Educating for living in harmony with the earth

Educating for cultivating inner peace

Concluding Comments

References

About the Author

Thesis of Peace Education and Its Overlapping and Interrelated Fields

Our modern world is a dangerous place to live, there is widespread consensus that we are still living within a deep-rooted culture of violence (Toh, 2007, p. 1). The UN Human Development Report (2000) mentioned that in 1998 there were 36 major conflicts, and that during the 1990s about five million people died in conflicts, and there were more than ten million refugees and five million internally displaced persons (Toh, 2007, p. 3). Humanity has been able to master the most complex technologies and to produce an immense variety of products and services to satisfy human needs, but also weapons that can destroy the planet. In addition, while the gross production of the world could provide a decent standard of living to every person in the planet, the sad reality is that there is a big gap between poor and rich people and poor and rich countries. Structural violence, an essential concept in peace education, is the unequal and unjust distribution of economic power and resources responsible for the tragic situation that about half of humanity, or about three billion people, live on less than   $ 2 a day (Toh, 2007, p. 5).

Peace education is only about a decade or so old (Hicks, 1998, p. 5). After the end of World War II, UNESCO provided one focus for peace education (Burns & Aspeslagh, 1996, p. 28). The goals of peace education that were cited most frequently were intercultural awareness, global perspectives, insights into present injustice, lack of equality in the world society, ability to generate alternative visions and readiness to work for justice and more equal distribution (Burns & Aspeslagh, 1996, p. 37). UNESCO started promoting the shift from a culture of violence to a culture of peace, and this culture of peace consisted of values, attitudes, behaviors and ways of life which were grounded on non--violence and respect for the rights and freedoms of others (Adams, 1995, p. 1-2). Conflict was going to continue being part of life, but by cultivating a culture of peace those conflicts could be resolved in a peaceful manner. Conflict exists in all societies but also all societies have some elements of peaceableness (Boulding, 2000, p. 89).

The present approach to peace education is that it applies across the curriculum. Pike (2000)proposed two methods for implementing peace education across the curriculum: infusion and integration. Infusion means enriching the existing curriculum with relevant peace education knowledge, skills and attitudes; and integration refers to the application of those knowledge, skills and attitudes to real world situations (Pike,