A
library for the price of a book."a growing confidence of ruling elites and constituencies in both East and West that force will not be used by any party to promote its interests." 1In 1945 there was another wave of revulsion against war, and the United Nations was implemented as a result. Although the purposes and objectives are still apropos, operational problems including financing have tended to make the United Nations considerably less than 100% effective. 2
Today there is concrete evidence that among the great powers (United States, Soviet Union, China) a new détente has evolved largely in recognition of the fact that, for the parties concerned, world peace can best accomplish national goals.
Robert M. Hutchins in his introduction to a scholarly paper on peace states:
"The question is, how can we make peace, not peace through the medium of war, not peace through dreadful mechanisms of terror, but peace pure, simple and durable." 3There appears to be agreement among national leaders from many walks of life. Hutchins' statement is certainly consistent with the UN Charter, with the American Bar Association, political scientists, world religious leaders, peace researchers, military leaders in many countries and heads of state.
Since there is so much agreement with the principles of world peace and so little effective application, the problem must then lie in the techniques and procedures for implementation of those principles.
Seymour Lipset writing on "Some Social Requisites of Democracy" concluded that "a country's chances of having a freely elected government improve as levels of literacy and subsequent industrialization increase." 4
Many peace researchers have concluded that the way to world peace is through education. Neal Ruzic puts it more strongly when he proposes "to wage peace..."
If freely-elected governments are the route to peace, and if education is the route to intelligent elections, then the whole solution may be seen as one of world-wide mass education. 5Yoshikazu Sakamoto writing on the World Order Models project concurs with the notion that we are dealing with a problem of education. Mr. Sakamoto is involved in the actual writing of an educational program. His plan is to feed into college and high school curricula the documents of the World Order project in the hope that "feedback loops will work between researchers, educators and students." 6
The hypothesis of this paper will be that the problem in achieving world peace is fundamentally one of education. The education required first of all must be ultimately to eliminate illiteracy. A recent UNESCO report shows 250 million children of school age (5-14) who have access to no school. Secondly, education must seek to free the minds of men so as to provide an environment of understanding and cooperation in the solution of the deep-seated problems which propel mankind into war.
The preamble to UNESCO states "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." 7
There have been numerous attempts to achieve peace through education. There have been church-sponsored programs, private research grants for peace education, and even a United Nations proposal for the establishment of an International University. 8 None of these attempts has been treated broadly enough to suggest a viable plan to eliminate illiteracy and free the minds of man. The idea of an International University to stimulate creative thinking and research among scholars is too idealistic to provide a workable model.
The Peace Corps, as presently constituted, is not an acceptable vehicle even though its objectives are admirable and there are some instances of success. The Peace Corps seems to have been most successful where the United States has been accepted as the parent image. However, the strong nationalistic feelings which exist or are emerging would indicate the desirability of a reduced US image. Hanna Newcombe has discussed the regional concept of the UN Security Commissions and I should extend this concept to my peace model. 9
The United Nations organization, despite all its shortcomings, has a record of twenty-five or more years of varying degrees of success. It has accomplished a great deal toward getting varied nationalities together to consider common problems, and it has established a format for the settlement of local and regional disputes.
I propose utilizing the United Nations through its UNESCO and deployment on a regional basis to attack the problem of education. There are a number of compatible regional economic organizations, e.g., ECE for Europe, ECA for Africa, ECLA for Latin America, and ECAFE for Asia and the Far East. The proposed peace model should be approached on a similar regional basis. In fact, much of the organizational structure of these regional entities could be assumed by the UNESCO for the purposes of this model. Such regionalization would mean that individuals with similar geographical and ethnic backgrounds would be working to solve indigenous educational problems.
The UNESCO already has a program for increasing literacy within nations and Farrior, among others, has shown that literacy can be increased. However, I propose an increased emphasis and commitment on the part of participating nations. Ten year plans should be developed which will utilize the technology of mass communication. tHe availability and relatively low cost of items such as cassette tape recorders should be utilized. Inexpensive television receivers can be utilized more readily as electric power is made available to rural areas. Battery packs and generators can be employed in the interim. Transistorized radios can also be utilized in great quantities. Relatively inexpensive film-loop technology can be given wide application. The products of offset printing and photocopy reproduction can make available the visual materials necessary for literacy education without considerable expense of books per se. Self-teaching educational materials are readily available. What is needed is a nucleus of regionally oriented teachers to get materials into the hands of users. Programs such as Sesame Street and the Electric Factory, widely used in the US, could be adapted for regional use with appropriate language and cultural orientation.
The content of literacy education for peace should be organized so as to utilize the idealism inherent in seeking to satisfy human needs throughout the world. Just as Johan Galtun says that the essence of peace research "...is the liberation of the individual from all that impedes his self-realization," 10 so much peace education be concerned with the fundamentals of human behavior and learning social values through which man can adopt as much cooperative behavior as possible.
To satisfy the nationalistic impetus which exists in every country, some of the content in literacy education should be national history, geography, and culture. More specifically, local needs should be identified for additional content, e.g., hygiene, pollution, agriculture, live stock, economics.
Basic to literacy education would be learning the local language and dialect. It is a fundamental of human behavior that there must be pride in what is being done if it is to have social value and subsequently create the motivation to continue to improve. Recent history has emphasized this desire and need for national pride. Strong national pride can provide the thrust necessary to drive men to overcome poverty, misery and destitution and thereby eliminate the inevitability of war.
Most of the efforts at creating world peace have been directed toward the "external trappings" as Fernando calls them. 12 Much time and energy has been devoted to treaties, agreements, and institutions. As necessary as these are, they cannot create a climate of world peace in and of themselves. What is needed is an inner urge, genuine desire and enlightened outlook. These constitute human attitudes, and human attitudes must be learned. What we need is an educational plan and program which will create the desired world climate for peace.
Following the model for literacy education, a simple structure or curriculum can be developed through UNESCO and promulgated through the REgional Education Commissions. The basic disciplines involved should provide for in-depth long-term study of aggression. Such study should include the biological nature of aggression. This would include the study of aggression within a species and between species in the animal world. At the same time, the study should explore the possibilities of controlling aggression. The causes of war then come under study, e.g., economics, territorial, religious and sexual. There would then follow a continuing study of the societies that have existed and o exist without war. War should be studied as an institution, changing its character throughout history. The emphasis should be placed upon the institution as avoidable, not inevitable.
This part of the peace curriculum would involve the disciplines of biology, anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, psychiatry, and international relations. There is nothing new about these concepts or the disciplines. the peace curriculum then is a matter of organization and emphasis to accomplish the peace objective.
The basic literature for such a program of studies is already available. The biology of genetics and race needs to be directed toward the arbitrariness of racial classifications and what criteria have been applied in the past. Emphasis needs to be placed in this curriculum upon the similarities among human groups rather than the differences. From this, other related concepts can be developed, namely, antagonisms between ethnic groups are not inevitable, the lack of demonstrated relationship between race and intelligence and personality, all nations are genetic mixtures, and the irrationality of prejudices. The importance of education, experience, history, and culture need to e identified and understood as the universal tendency to see and judge external events from nationalistic or ethnocentric bias.
The approach to education for peace is being seen by many as the crux of the problem today. Charles West in his report to the World Council of Churches in 1971 observes that:
"Education for peace means not only a radical new understanding of the dynamic nature of peace, but a radical reform of existing educational practices, understanding of the dynamic nature of peace, but a radical reform of existing educational practices. The teaching-learning process is not a one-way, but reciprocal process. 13The techniques West refers to include the training of community field-workers, action-education groups which carry on a dialogue about social problems while participating in actual life situations, youth travel groups and the use of peace simulation exercises.
To continue with the scope of the proposed peace education curriculum model, basic concepts within fundamental disciplines have been defined on a limited basis. Fernando has noted that much of what is taught within presently accepted curricula can be utilized in peace education. 14 As has been alluded ot earlier, this program should be one of changed emphasis rather than new content. There must, however, be an understanding of the educational level as well as the geographical locality of the education taking place.
The peace curriculum in English-speaking nations is suggested here as a guide. The application in non-English-speaking countries would have to be adapted as determined by the Regional Communions based upon local needs. The usual curriculum format includes: literature, mathematics, general science, geography, history, social studies, art, music drama and religion.
The scope of peace education would be as follows:
From this point a sequence needs to be developed which will show when in the educational continuum certain concepts should be introduced, repeated or expanded upon.
As part of this paper, I have included a Scope and Sequence Chart with modifications on Allyn & Bacon's Concepts and Inquiry. 18 The first chart applies to Literacy Education. This is followed by the model for peace education utilizing the concepts to be developed through the social sciences. For purposes of this proposal, the social sciences include the following disciplines: geography; philosophy, religion, and psychology; economics; sociology and anthropology; political science; and history. This model does not include art, music, mathematics, literature, or science.
The scope and sequence suggested here continue through the so-called "normal" years for public education. This format is not intended to be inflexible. On the contrary, the format should be flexible so as to be employed as seen fit by the Regional Commissions or Area Teachers.
Before continuing with the sequence, it should be noted that most of what has been done in peace education has been done at the collegiate and graduate levels. This is certainly an important part of peace education since this is where the philosophizing takes place. Michael Washburn in an article on peace education makes the observation in November 1971 that "peace education is alive but unsure of itself." 15 It is unsure of itself because there is no specific data available to show that there is a planned program. No surveys have been made to determine the extent of peace education programs at the college level. Washburn estimates that 150 institutions have courses related to peace. However, the prevalent attitude at these institutions seems to be one of resistance from existing academic disciplines. There is no widely accepted definition of the scope, content and purposes of peace education.
What is needed are goals at this level. For example, 1) students should be prepared for peace research courses, 2) individuals should be prepared for the government policy-making process, 3) collegiate programs should give some senses of world problems to all undergraduates, 4) college level study should stimulate mass involvement in the development and application of new political systems which would be viable in the world scene. Washburn concludes that "changing the world must be the core purpose of all peace education." 16
College level peace programs need a scope and sequence at the UNESCO level which can be promulgated in connection wit the post graduate United Nations University. College courses in peace should provide a forum for full discussion and analysis of the conditions for world peace. An interdisciplinary approach would seem to be best at this level. Such collegiate peace programs should include: 1) student exchange, 2) work experience exchange, 3) foreign visitation, 4) service to people in another country, 5) language study, 6) living in other lands as natives as opposed to tourists, and 7) peace projects.
Further study is also needed in the specific organization of the proposed Regional "Commissions. More needs to be done wit the development of the teaching staff which will be critical to the program. Scope and sequence need to be developed for the remaining disciplines and further development of the higher education model needs to take place.
Philosophy-Religion-Psychology:
Level 1 -- Inculcation of sound values as basis of behavior. Freedom,
loyalty, the person. Conventional and non-native rules and values. Right
and wrong. Child in family and school. Leadership, courage, generosity.
Rational and irrational thinking. Role of religion. Analysis of some emotions.
Insights into behavior and motivation.
Level 2 -- More on freedom, justice, progress, service, loyalty, equality,
work. Values of aborigines and our own. Similarities and differences in
human nature, racial vs. cultural differences. Logical analysis. Importance
of religious beliefs in any society. The person in community relations
including race.
Level 3 -- Historic development of our country's values: their relation
to behavior. Normative quality of great values. Man's mixed nature: good
and evil. Complexity of the logic of social affairs. Religions and cultural
diversity of our country if it exists. Individual's problems and adjustments
to our society.
Level 4 -- Value systems, e.g., Indonesia, India, America. Is there
a value system common to all men? Human nature and power: abuse or control
of power. Analysis of socioeconomic problems such as population. Types
of religious beliefs other than our own. Self-criticism and knowledge of
men in other societies.
Level 5 -- Values as controlling ideas of differing cultures. Natural
law vs. convention: tensions between naturalism and our faith. Man as a
social, cultural, political being. Logical analysis: weighing evidence
and understanding paradoxical relations. REligion as man's ultimate convictions:
polytheism, monotheism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Judaism, naturalism, Christianity
and its divisions, Islam.
Level 6 -- Western and non-Western values in interplay. Continued study
of norms and cultural relativism. Man's nature revealed in modern history:
changing or constant. Historical interpretation: rise of scientific thought;
scientific history and economics; modern ideologies. Religion in modern
times: Reformation, Greek Orthodox, Puritanism, the Enlightenment, and
Japanese religions.
Higher Levels -- The nature and importance of values will continue
to be studied in terms of what is needed to create lasting peace in the
world. Techniques of critical thinking will be emphasized with particular
emphasis upon understanding oneself and others. Specific psychological
experiments will be utilized to illustrate principles.
Economics:
Higher Levels -- More complex study will be done with concepts of supply
and demand, division of labor and specialization. Practical labor involvement
with local and regional economic problems will be undertaken, e.g., manufacturing
simple goods and merchandising them. Exchange and trade will continue to
be studied and extended to external markets with emphasis on world balances
in trade. More complex activities in money, credit, banking in relation
to agriculture and manufacturing will be developed. Student activities
dealing with real situations will be emphasized through on-the-job experience.
Sociology-Anthropology:
Level 1 -- The family in our country. Families in other lands, e.g.,
Japan, Mexico, England, Pacific Islands, China, Ganda. How we learn to
join our society in varied cultures. Societies of the Tahitians, SE American
Indians, the Mongols, and the Ganda. How families and children differ from
one culture to another.
Level 2 -- Family: Australian Aboriginal, American, Eskimos. Education:
among the above. Australian Aborigines and Eskimos as primitives. Patterns
of culture in America, Central Australia, and Alaska. Tensions in our society
under pressure for change. Changing size of communities.
Level 3 -- The family in our country. the role of education in our
country. How patterns in our culture were formed. Group sections, classes
in our country. examples of friction among people in our country. Changes
in our population.
Level 4 -- Family other lands compared to ours. Examples of education
in primitive and other societies. Primitive hunting and gathering societies.
Cultural patterns, e.g., Indonesia classes, slaves, castes. Our own racial
problems. Population and relation to economic growth.
Level 5 -- Family in other lands. Education and acculturation in those
societies. Earliest men: barbarians and civilized societies. How cultural
differences arose in selected societies. Class structure in various historical
societies. Friction and harmony in Greece, Rome, and Middle East.
Level 6 -- Family in other lands. Modern education mingling East and
West. Ganda and Hawaii under Western impact. Non-Western cultures and spread
of western ideas. Social groups in modern Europe, Asia. Social aspect of
modern revolutions.
Higher Levels -- Further study of family units will be developed, cultural
differentiation, classes and groups in society to be studied using cultures
differing from those previously studied. Emphasis will be upon understanding
factors making for social harmony and disharmony. Experiments and student
involvement in social interactions will be emphasized.
Political Science:
Level 1 -- Authority in school, home and community. Rules: good and
bad. Our own national government. Good rules are obeyed voluntarily. A
free citizen is law-abiding. Loyalty, freedom and responsibility. Elections.
Local government provides public services.
Level 2 -- Human communities need some government; some primitive societies
have very little. Every community has laws, customs, traditions. Laws of
our community. Obedience to law in a free society. Loyalty, freedom, dignity
of every person, racial integration. How our official are elected.
Level 3 -- The need for government. Rule of law; standards for judging
laws. Degrees of political obligation, active, passive and revolutionary.
Patriotism; conflicts of loyalty, freedom; representation. Loyalists vs.
Patriots and slaves vs. free. Tyranny, monarchy, republic, parliamentary
government. Revolution and foreign intervention. Totalitarianism and democracy.
Level 4 -- Governments in modern nations. Property and law and defense.
Power and threat of arbitrary government; why checks are needed. degrees
of political obligation. Nationalism, allegiance, freedom, totalitarianism.
Relations between great powers and underdeveloped nations. Our government
Level 5 -- Government in ancient, classical and medieval times. Laws,
3500 BC - 1500 AD. Constitutional government in Rome and medieval Europe;
theory of limited government. Relation between patriotism and self-government.
Controlling ideas, religion and politics. Factions in Athens, Rome and
medieval cities. Empires, republics, democracies, monarchies, mix governments.
Conflicts between states and empires, influence of war on history. Ideas
and politics. Background of our government.
Level 6 -- Nation-states and modern political theory. Law: Natural
law and convention. Rise of authoritarian monarchies in Europe; survival
of constitutionalism is England. Political obedience and disobedience.
Nationalism, freedom, liberalism. Factions, parties, rebellions, revolutions
in modern world. Absolutism, constitutionalism. Balance of power, imperialism,
power politics, diplomacy, treaties, types of war.
Higher Levels -- Values in local, national and international politics
will be studied. Local and national government will be studied in detail
with emphasis upon student involvement through government models, e.g.,
model United Nations. Contemporary local, national and international issues
will be the basis for continued study and discussion.
History:
Level 1 -- Simple biographies of our national heroes, or continental
heroes. Simple stories of explorers or discoverers.
Level 2 -- Idea of variable rates of change in communities. Biographies.
Contrast our country with another.
Level 3 -- Simple chronology of our history. Our history as a guide
to ideas and values. Begin sophisticated awareness of complexity of motives
and causes.
Level 4 -- Man's major technological advances; rapid changes in modern
world. Events in our history. Emotional attitudes in time of these events.
Agricultural techniques, surplus, rise of civilization. Nationalism in
our country -- meaning.
Level 5 -- Nature of time; major periods and events -- 3500 BC - 1500
AD. Conditioning factors of the world's great cultures. Reconstruction
of many past societies; Sumer, China, Greece, Islam. Major theme: the ebb
and flow of civilization. Artifacts, documents and their analysis. Speculations
as to the causes of change in history.
Level 6 -- Modern chronology: accelerating change. Lessons of modern
history for our time. Cultivation of insights into recent past of our country
and other nations. Dominance of Western civilization since c. 1600. Use
of historical evidence. National interpretations; ideological, materialistic,
power-political interpretations.
Hgher Levels -- Historical study of major populations and later developing
nations will be studied. In depth study of our own history will be undertaken.
Historical evidence and its evaluation and interpretations of history will
follow broad reading of national histories.
The
Life and Times of Richard Warren Seltzer, Sr., born June 5, 1923
Lessons for Would-Be
Principals -- Case Studies from High School Administration (The doctoral
dissertation "Human Relations in Secondary School Administration: Case
Episodes") by Richard Warren Seltzer, Sr.
The Golden Years: Memories
in Times of Love and War
Articles about distance
education by Richard Seltzer, Jr.
A
library for the price of a book.
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