War, Peace, and Education
It's been a trying, scary week in terms of world events. I know some of you are navigating overwhelming uncertainty and fear for family in Ukraine, or are of Russian descent feeling ostracized, or generally are finding yourselves reminded of some past trauma you’ve experienced in your lives. If there is any way I can help, please let me know.
Today I wanted to share some thoughts on how I have been thinking about these events from the vantage point of an educator.
Whenever acts of violence are brought into the cultural foreground—war, riots, school shootings, police aggression—we invariably see on display both the best and the worst of humanity: courage and valor, sympathy and goodwill, a deep desire to know, to understand the history and facts of the matter. But also misinformation, politicking, scapegoating, mob behavior, and amplification of existing insensitivities.
And in this context of both the troubling events themselves, and the complicated cultural reactions, we as parents and educators always naturally find ourselves soul-searching.
Most immediately: should we be talking to our children about this at home or in school, and if so, how?
More long-term: are we adequately preparing our children to cope with and even flourish in what we know at times can be a terrifying world?
Even wider, at the root of our work: how does our approach to human development interface, if at all, with wider societal issues and patterns? What is the role of education in all this, looking backwards and forwards?
These are heavy topics, one warranting at least a book-length treatment. No such book exists yet, unfortunately, and I don’t have any profound clarity to offer. But here are three shorter pieces that I found helpful to read this past week, and which I hope may be of value to you:
On the question of when and how to talk to children about scary world events, here is an excellent, operationalized approach from Emily Oster. It applies both to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and to many other situations, including more personal and familial hardships.
On Montessori’s idea of education for peace, see this essay we published recently on Montessorium. Montessori saw education as *the* solution to war, authoritarianism, and other social ills. Matt Bateman explores both the true idea that education is a fundamental driver of global peace and prosperity, and Montessori’s more sweeping claim that education is a panacea.
Finally, as you think about your own role as an educator, and how to relate your own deeply held personal convictions with your responsibilities to your students, this essay articulates how we think about the topic at Higher Ground.
In times like these, we have to remember that our work, like any great human endeavor, is a work in progress. We don’t always have total clarity to offer, but what we do have is love for the children we serve, for all children world round, and for the boundless potential of adults who have the opportunity and freedom to actualize their human potential. Thank you for your humanity.
