When we consider current global issues in our classrooms, a question arises regarding our students' ability to feel and understand the pain and suffering of others around the globe. How can middle or upper-class students feel the pain of hunger, or the hopelessness of poverty? How can they relate to totally disempowered human beings around the world? The ability to personally feel the impact of these powerful situations, unknown to them "in the flesh," is critical to a thorough understanding of the global reality. So, how can we help our students develop empathy for their fellow humans? Let's start at the very beginning.
Psychologists tell us that when we as infants first develop our awareness of others as beings not directly linked to us and not part of "our group," we respond with concern, rejection or fear. (Aunt Sally can attest to this, as little Jimmy begins to cry when she first visits the family and picks him up.) This is an understandable evolutionary reaction to a possible threat to our well-being. To the infant, others are present only to meet his/her needs or as possible threats. An infant has no sense of empathy for the welfare of others.
As we gain confidence in ourselves and in our environment, we lower our guard and become less insular; we are more accepting of new faces. We begin to develop our social self and learn to interact productively with others. We begin to accept the existence of others in our world.
Although we remain self-centered as children, we normally begin to develop a rudimentary -- but very real -- concern for fairness and justice. We automatically reject obvious perceived injustices perpetrated against our siblings and our social group. As we reach what Jean Piaget called the "Concrete Operational Stage" of cognitive development, we reject specific examples of perceived wrongdoing against those close to us.
A little later, we reach Piaget's "Formal Operational Stage" and we are able to internalize abstract concepts that we can apply to specific situations; concepts such as "justice," "fairness," and "empathy." We now have the tools to develop empathy toward those who are personally unknown to us.
The specific attributes of human nature have been a matter of considerable philosophical and psychological debate over the years. I am going to be on the side of those who believe that in a normal, non-threatening environment, all humans begin to develop "basic human empathy." I am going to define "basic human empathy" as "the intellectual and emotional ability to feel the joy or pain of others who are not personally close to us."
Not everyone develops basic human empathy. In very threatening environments, some children/adolescents cannot get beyond the evolutionary dictates of self-preservation-at-any-cost and do not develop a sense of empathy; this is not normal human development. Fortunately, most humans do develop empathy as we develop cognitively and morally/ethically.
In those cases when our environment and our conditioning conspire to thwart normal development, the result is an adolescent or adult with an under-developed capacity for empathy. Several questions arise: What specific factors can interfere with the development of the human capacity for empathy? Can we as teachers help our students develop their normal potential to become empathetic human beings and care for both the pain and the well-being of those unknown to them? If so, how can we do it?
In our next post we will explore some possibilities....
September 28, 2009
September 20, 2009
OUR STUDENTS SHOULD NOT BE MERE HUMANTS
Behold the wonder of an anthill. Thousands, tens of thousands of ants, each pursuing its single-minded duty with the utmost efficiency and commitment: collecting food, creating additions to their habitat, defending their queen and their way of life, reproducing in earnest. Interfere with their activity, and you do it at your own peril; the entire colony will go into defensive mode and attempt to contain the intrusion with total concentration. The colony will continue to grow, build, reproduce and add to their habitat. Ants have no way to alter their genetic demands. They have no free will.
We can marvel at this example of inflexible, pre-programmed activity. It becomes an object of interest, as human observers occasionally intrude through a glass wall and observe the never-ending pursuit of ants to be ants. Yet, (as far as we now,) no ant stops to question its pre-programmed genetic dictate. No ant questions its role, its work, or its goal. No ant challenges its genetic destiny.
Free will does not play a role in an ant's world. They live and die pushed and pulled by their genetic directives. Of course. They are, after all, ants. We would not expect them to do otherwise -- to rebel against their genes or challenge their conditioning.
Behold now the humant habitat. Tens of thousands -- or hundreds of millions -- of humants, hurrying about in pursuit of their socially ordained duty, building additions to their habitats, acquiring and consuming food, defending their way of life and their "queen," reproducing in earnest. Behold their magnificent buildings, their advanced vehicles, their designer clothing, their work and their play. How many of them live in a higher plain than ants? How many of them question the directives of their social order? How many look inward for answers, rather than blindly submit to their cultural conditioning? How many challenge the norms, the expectations, the goals that their societies inject? How many humans are, in fact, humants?
Whatever the number of humans that you would include in the "humant" category (and I would include a very high proportion,) it seems beyond doubt that these humans have lost -- at least temporarily -- the defining characteristic of "humanness": free will. Through social conditioning, they have lost the ability to think for themselves, to question, to reflect, to challenge. They have become humants.
Humants accept the status quo unquestioningly. They have drowned their ability to envision options under the sea of "what is," not allowing themselves to envision "what could be." Humants are guided by obedience to the social dictates. They obey well. They don't allow themselves the human luxuries of questioning, challenging, or envisioning alternatives. When visionary humans depict a different option for humanity, humants fight against it automatically, as an attack on the anthill. This anthill, they feel, is the only anthill. All other options must be rejected.
Throughout history, there have always been more humants than humans. Humants have rejected change and progress to the best of their ability. Yet, that minority of brave humans who have allowed themselves the power to think, to question, to challenge and envision better options have managed to move us forward in spite of humant resistance. They are responsible for all human progress. They have taken us from the cave and the dark ages to the present. They now envision our future potential as a species evolving toward a brighter future and a more just world. They will help create a better human society in a better world.
We must empower our students to not be mere humants. We must help them realize the human potential to attain justice and peace; for the enlightenment of humanity; for the greater good of the species. Knowing that they will find the opposition of humants along the way, we must empower them to engage in battle and prevail. Given the critical issues that we now face, the future of humanity rests on their success.
We can marvel at this example of inflexible, pre-programmed activity. It becomes an object of interest, as human observers occasionally intrude through a glass wall and observe the never-ending pursuit of ants to be ants. Yet, (as far as we now,) no ant stops to question its pre-programmed genetic dictate. No ant questions its role, its work, or its goal. No ant challenges its genetic destiny.
Free will does not play a role in an ant's world. They live and die pushed and pulled by their genetic directives. Of course. They are, after all, ants. We would not expect them to do otherwise -- to rebel against their genes or challenge their conditioning.
Behold now the humant habitat. Tens of thousands -- or hundreds of millions -- of humants, hurrying about in pursuit of their socially ordained duty, building additions to their habitats, acquiring and consuming food, defending their way of life and their "queen," reproducing in earnest. Behold their magnificent buildings, their advanced vehicles, their designer clothing, their work and their play. How many of them live in a higher plain than ants? How many of them question the directives of their social order? How many look inward for answers, rather than blindly submit to their cultural conditioning? How many challenge the norms, the expectations, the goals that their societies inject? How many humans are, in fact, humants?
Whatever the number of humans that you would include in the "humant" category (and I would include a very high proportion,) it seems beyond doubt that these humans have lost -- at least temporarily -- the defining characteristic of "humanness": free will. Through social conditioning, they have lost the ability to think for themselves, to question, to reflect, to challenge. They have become humants.
Humants accept the status quo unquestioningly. They have drowned their ability to envision options under the sea of "what is," not allowing themselves to envision "what could be." Humants are guided by obedience to the social dictates. They obey well. They don't allow themselves the human luxuries of questioning, challenging, or envisioning alternatives. When visionary humans depict a different option for humanity, humants fight against it automatically, as an attack on the anthill. This anthill, they feel, is the only anthill. All other options must be rejected.
Throughout history, there have always been more humants than humans. Humants have rejected change and progress to the best of their ability. Yet, that minority of brave humans who have allowed themselves the power to think, to question, to challenge and envision better options have managed to move us forward in spite of humant resistance. They are responsible for all human progress. They have taken us from the cave and the dark ages to the present. They now envision our future potential as a species evolving toward a brighter future and a more just world. They will help create a better human society in a better world.
We must empower our students to not be mere humants. We must help them realize the human potential to attain justice and peace; for the enlightenment of humanity; for the greater good of the species. Knowing that they will find the opposition of humants along the way, we must empower them to engage in battle and prevail. Given the critical issues that we now face, the future of humanity rests on their success.
September 13, 2009
"WHAT A BEAUTIFUL LIFE YOU LIVE"
A person very close to my heart recently surprised me by saying, "What a beautiful life you live..." upon hearing about my teaching and my commitment to global education.
I found it surprising to be the focus of this simple, almost magical bit of praise. I had, of course, thought about the intrinsic value of teaching and the personal rewards of my involvement in global education many times during my 30+ years of global teaching -- but I had never thought or heard words that touchingly simple: "What a beautiful life you live." Taken aback by the simple power of those words, I was forced to focus on them and ponder their implications.
We teachers who wake-up daily before the end of our dreams, who "punch-in-and-out" the bureaucratic clock on the way to and from educating others, who are typically immersed in paper and paperless work, parental contacts, lesson plans, test preparation, homework correction and classroom discipline, may be easily distracted from our real jobs: we are global educators. we intend to create a better world through the agency of our students.
We welcome young, eager, sometimes immature students -- ordinarily the products of our cultures' narrow-minded conditioning -- and take steps to help them develop their global vision, their human sensitivity, their intrinsic humanism. We attempt to nurture their potential and enrich their very being. We hope that they will become the masters and mistresses of their chosen professional futures and use their expertise and commitment to create a better world for all humanity.
Is there a better way to spend our years on this living planet? Is there a more noble or more powerful undertaking? Is there a more worthwhile and rewarding professional pursuit?
Let us at least occasionally look beyond the daily tasks and toils of daily schooling. Let us at least occasionally ignore the incongruity of society's limited material rewards. And during those moments, let us instead revel in the intrinsic value of our own efforts -- imperfect as they may be at times -- and look anew, freshly and hopefully at what we really do: we educate global citizens; we empower the princes and princesses of tomorrow; we endeavor to create a better world.
How many professions can claim that as their over-arching goal? How many industries contribute in the same measure? None that I know of. None. Not one.
So, fellow global educators, rest assured that beyond the daily tasks and toils, beyond the bureaucratic trivia and the occasionally overwhelming demands, your work has value that others cannot claim. Your work perdures beyond your life and grave. Your work is noble, beautiful and long lasting. And when someone at some future time approaches you and says, "What a beautiful life you live," you will perhaps be a little less surprised than I was.
I found it surprising to be the focus of this simple, almost magical bit of praise. I had, of course, thought about the intrinsic value of teaching and the personal rewards of my involvement in global education many times during my 30+ years of global teaching -- but I had never thought or heard words that touchingly simple: "What a beautiful life you live." Taken aback by the simple power of those words, I was forced to focus on them and ponder their implications.
We teachers who wake-up daily before the end of our dreams, who "punch-in-and-out" the bureaucratic clock on the way to and from educating others, who are typically immersed in paper and paperless work, parental contacts, lesson plans, test preparation, homework correction and classroom discipline, may be easily distracted from our real jobs: we are global educators. we intend to create a better world through the agency of our students.
We welcome young, eager, sometimes immature students -- ordinarily the products of our cultures' narrow-minded conditioning -- and take steps to help them develop their global vision, their human sensitivity, their intrinsic humanism. We attempt to nurture their potential and enrich their very being. We hope that they will become the masters and mistresses of their chosen professional futures and use their expertise and commitment to create a better world for all humanity.
Is there a better way to spend our years on this living planet? Is there a more noble or more powerful undertaking? Is there a more worthwhile and rewarding professional pursuit?
Let us at least occasionally look beyond the daily tasks and toils of daily schooling. Let us at least occasionally ignore the incongruity of society's limited material rewards. And during those moments, let us instead revel in the intrinsic value of our own efforts -- imperfect as they may be at times -- and look anew, freshly and hopefully at what we really do: we educate global citizens; we empower the princes and princesses of tomorrow; we endeavor to create a better world.
How many professions can claim that as their over-arching goal? How many industries contribute in the same measure? None that I know of. None. Not one.
So, fellow global educators, rest assured that beyond the daily tasks and toils, beyond the bureaucratic trivia and the occasionally overwhelming demands, your work has value that others cannot claim. Your work perdures beyond your life and grave. Your work is noble, beautiful and long lasting. And when someone at some future time approaches you and says, "What a beautiful life you live," you will perhaps be a little less surprised than I was.
September 7, 2009
A BRITISH APPROACH TO GLOBAL EDUCATION
Let us today take a look at global education in secondary schools from the perspective of British global educators.
In the U.K., the secondary curriculum includes the cross-cultural component, "Global Dimension and Sustainable Development." This dimension is organized around eight key concepts which apply to all the subjects in the secondary curriculum.
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP: The awareness that in today's world we are not only citizens of a nation, but also citizens of the world. This self-perception is at the core of today's global reality.
INTERDEPENDENCE: The awareness that human actions on one side of the planet impact other humans around the world. Whether we talk about food production, climate change or nuclear proliferation, we are all inter-connected and interdependent to a degree never before seen in the history of the planet. Unilateral, self-centered actions by short-sighted nation-states are not likely to advance the human prospects on the planet.
SOCIAL JUSTICE: As humans develop morally and ethically, we recognize that principles of social justice (such as those embraced by most major religious denominations) should define human behavior around the world. This is a key link between global education and religious beliefs. Too often, the members of religious denominations appear to ignore their own religious leaders' calls for justice and peace. Global educators should, within the scope of the curriculum, clearly identify such links and build on their implications.
HUMAN RIGHTS: The quest for human rights for all is a never-ending struggle. We now have in our possession the key document to advance such universal rights: the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document has been endorsed by practically all the nations of the world. While we can bemoan the wholesale lack of compliance around the planet, global educators should use it as a core document signifying our present best judgment of the rights of each and all humans; it is an indispensable document, and one of the hallmark achievements of humankind.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION: While destructive armed conflict was never a good thing in human history, the nature of present conflict -- exacerbated by the explosion of warfare technology -- makes it imperative that we develop alternative, effective means to resolve conflict. Reliance on international agreements and a supra-national legal apparatus with global reach and effective enforcement powers should in time replace the "cow boy" mentality of individual nation states. Much progress has already been made on the visualization and the conceptual framework that would support such legal structures, but progress lags in the implementation of the obvious necessary steps, largely due to the hesitation of the powerful countries of the planet.
DIVERSITY: Humans have an unending capacity for prejudice. Possibly stemming from our evolutionary past, we tend to distrust, demean and fear others who are not exactly like us. This attitude might have helped some human groups survive and procreate in our evolutionary past, but is today a key barrier to understanding and cooperation. The sciences, particularly biology and psychology, should take a leading role in explaining the "oneness" of humankind. Our oneness as human beings is overwhelmingly superior to the very minor attributes that by nature or nurture make us different. A global educator must combat the human tendency to feel superior to others and build on the foundations of science to ensure that our students embrace diversity and eschew prejudice and discrimination of all types.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Could there be any doubt about our descendant's amazement of our present passive acceptance of hunger, poverty, malnutrition, sickness, lack of education, and so many other socio-economic ills? Won't their reactions be similar to our own amazement at the evils that our ancestors accepted as normal? The statistics of under-development are so horrifying that we calmly face a daily silent holocaust. "Silent," because we do not want to think or talk about it -- but that should be the tell-tale indicator that our present situation is not acceptable under any ethical or moral code known to humankind. The complex problem of under-development must be understood and squarely faced by our students.
VALUES AND PERCEPTIONS: "We see what is behind our eyes," says an ancient Chinese proverb; we perceive what our mind tells us to perceive. The real world outside of our own minds must battle our expectations, preconceptions, schemas and conditioning before it can be accepted by our minds. The reality outside our minds must battle the desired reality within our minds before it can gain admission to our cognitive awareness. This is a battle often lost. Psychological foundations of perception, conditioning, cognition and critical thinking will help our students to understand the real world.
Our value systems create "macro-schemas" through which all perceived reality is "sifted." That which is not acceptable to our value system is rejected. Awareness of this peculiar human cognitive process should help our students come to terms with reality and human rationality (or lack thereof.)
Global educators should consider starting their courses with these considerations before moving on to other complex issues.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go to http://www.globaldimension.org.uk/ for much more of this valuable contribution from British global educators, including specific ways that you can introduce a global dimension into any subject that you teach. We would also like to invite educators from around the world to share other national perspectives and schemas of global education.
In the U.K., the secondary curriculum includes the cross-cultural component, "Global Dimension and Sustainable Development." This dimension is organized around eight key concepts which apply to all the subjects in the secondary curriculum.
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP: The awareness that in today's world we are not only citizens of a nation, but also citizens of the world. This self-perception is at the core of today's global reality.
INTERDEPENDENCE: The awareness that human actions on one side of the planet impact other humans around the world. Whether we talk about food production, climate change or nuclear proliferation, we are all inter-connected and interdependent to a degree never before seen in the history of the planet. Unilateral, self-centered actions by short-sighted nation-states are not likely to advance the human prospects on the planet.
SOCIAL JUSTICE: As humans develop morally and ethically, we recognize that principles of social justice (such as those embraced by most major religious denominations) should define human behavior around the world. This is a key link between global education and religious beliefs. Too often, the members of religious denominations appear to ignore their own religious leaders' calls for justice and peace. Global educators should, within the scope of the curriculum, clearly identify such links and build on their implications.
HUMAN RIGHTS: The quest for human rights for all is a never-ending struggle. We now have in our possession the key document to advance such universal rights: the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document has been endorsed by practically all the nations of the world. While we can bemoan the wholesale lack of compliance around the planet, global educators should use it as a core document signifying our present best judgment of the rights of each and all humans; it is an indispensable document, and one of the hallmark achievements of humankind.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION: While destructive armed conflict was never a good thing in human history, the nature of present conflict -- exacerbated by the explosion of warfare technology -- makes it imperative that we develop alternative, effective means to resolve conflict. Reliance on international agreements and a supra-national legal apparatus with global reach and effective enforcement powers should in time replace the "cow boy" mentality of individual nation states. Much progress has already been made on the visualization and the conceptual framework that would support such legal structures, but progress lags in the implementation of the obvious necessary steps, largely due to the hesitation of the powerful countries of the planet.
DIVERSITY: Humans have an unending capacity for prejudice. Possibly stemming from our evolutionary past, we tend to distrust, demean and fear others who are not exactly like us. This attitude might have helped some human groups survive and procreate in our evolutionary past, but is today a key barrier to understanding and cooperation. The sciences, particularly biology and psychology, should take a leading role in explaining the "oneness" of humankind. Our oneness as human beings is overwhelmingly superior to the very minor attributes that by nature or nurture make us different. A global educator must combat the human tendency to feel superior to others and build on the foundations of science to ensure that our students embrace diversity and eschew prejudice and discrimination of all types.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Could there be any doubt about our descendant's amazement of our present passive acceptance of hunger, poverty, malnutrition, sickness, lack of education, and so many other socio-economic ills? Won't their reactions be similar to our own amazement at the evils that our ancestors accepted as normal? The statistics of under-development are so horrifying that we calmly face a daily silent holocaust. "Silent," because we do not want to think or talk about it -- but that should be the tell-tale indicator that our present situation is not acceptable under any ethical or moral code known to humankind. The complex problem of under-development must be understood and squarely faced by our students.
VALUES AND PERCEPTIONS: "We see what is behind our eyes," says an ancient Chinese proverb; we perceive what our mind tells us to perceive. The real world outside of our own minds must battle our expectations, preconceptions, schemas and conditioning before it can be accepted by our minds. The reality outside our minds must battle the desired reality within our minds before it can gain admission to our cognitive awareness. This is a battle often lost. Psychological foundations of perception, conditioning, cognition and critical thinking will help our students to understand the real world.
Our value systems create "macro-schemas" through which all perceived reality is "sifted." That which is not acceptable to our value system is rejected. Awareness of this peculiar human cognitive process should help our students come to terms with reality and human rationality (or lack thereof.)
Global educators should consider starting their courses with these considerations before moving on to other complex issues.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go to http://www.globaldimension.org.uk/ for much more of this valuable contribution from British global educators, including specific ways that you can introduce a global dimension into any subject that you teach. We would also like to invite educators from around the world to share other national perspectives and schemas of global education.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
