Peace Studies

Students celebrate after a week of Service Learning through house building!

"We often think of peace as the absence of war, that if powerful countries would reduce their weapon arsenals, we could have peace. But if we look deeply into the weapons, we see our own minds- our own prejudices, fears and ignorance. Even if we transport all the bombs to the moon, the roots of war and the roots of bombs are still there, in our hearts and minds, and sooner or later we will make new bombs. To work for peace is to uproot war from ourselves and from the hearts of men and women. To prepare for war, to give millions of men and women the opportunity to practice killing day and night in their hearts, is to plant millions of seeds of violence, anger, frustration, and fear that will be passed on for generations to come." -Thich Nhat Hanh

Why Peace Studies?

Today’s youth are coming to age in a world with violent conflicts of unmatched magnitude.  The scope of these crises range from the intra-personal reflected by the high rates of depression and anxiety to the macro levels of continued development of weapons of mass destruction, armed conflicts between states and ethnic groups, the spread of racism, gender inequality, community violence, the huge and widening gap between the rich and the poor throughout the globalized economy, massive violations of human rights and the degradation of the environment. No longer is anyone on the planet exempt from the consequences of these global problems.

In an analysis of these calamities and the extent to which they permeate the daily lives of so many, it is not presumptuous to say that we are living in a culture of violence. 

While it could hardly be argued that education for peace is critical in these times, Peace Education has been minimized because of the public perception that it is a “soft” discipline. In the United States, public education is widely thought to be an objective transference of knowledge that encourages successful citizenship. This purpose is often found to be synonymous with "adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy" (U.S. Board of Education, 2010). The perception of many peace educators is that the curriculum that most American children are receiving is laden with the promotion of values such as competition, militarism, ethnocentrism, and unchecked capitalism.

Proponents of Peace Education believe that the discipline encourages critical thinking for in-depth examinations of not only the problems facing the individuals, communities, and the world today--but also the roots of these conflicts. Equally important is the balance of discussing the crises with discussing and acting upon viable solutions. Without the emphasis on action, learners are left feeling depressed and disempowered.

Over arching goals of this course include:

  1. To explore the multiple layers and meanings of peace, conflict, violence, nonviolence.
  2. To be able to think deeply, write smartly and dialogue effectively about issues of violence and peace.
  3. To strengthen public speaking skills.
  4. To examine forms of power and oppression.
  5. To explore historical and contemporary nonviolent social movements.
  6. To learn from the examples of peacebuilding heroes: international and local
  7. To identify and practice tools for conflict transformation.
  8. To strengthen college level reading skills while exploring peace and conflict related writing from philosophers, activists, and academics.
  9. To examine personal perspectives through essays and spoken word poetry.
  10. To actively participate in a college level seminar style class (including speaking often, drawing from the class, full body listening, using respectful dialogue, speaking to each other and not just the teacher, etc.)

Our week of Service Learning will give students the opportunity to explore the space where activism and volunteerism meet, while examining various forms of structural violence. Service projects of the past have included gleaning for an urban farm that donates it's produce to food banks and building houses with Habitat For Humanity.

The ongoing semester project for Peace Studies is the Peace Documentary which is a ten minute film created, filmed, and produced by the students. Visit our YouTube page to view some inspiring and creative Peace Docs from past students: http://www.youtube.com/user/WoolmanSemester

The ultimate intention of the Peace Studies class is to empower our youth to embody the wisdom and capacities for supporting a Culture of Peace. The Campaign Statement of the Global Campaign for Peace Education states that:

“A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems, have the skills to resolve conflict constructively; know and live by international standards of human rights, gender and racial equality; appreciate cultural diversity; and respect the integrity of the Earth. Such learning cannot be achieved without intentional, sustained and systematic education for peace.”

 Authors that will be read for this course include: Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Walter Wink, Peter Ackerman, Betty Reardon, Arundhati Roy, and more!