A PEACE CURRICULUM FOR OUR SCHOOLS
A “STEM” academic curriculum has served America well in building capacity to explore the reaches of space. A “PEACE” curriculum would be timely for equipping us to live better together here on earth.
Like many Americans, on February 18, 2021 I cheered when I saw the first images of the NASA space probe “Perseverance” making its flawless soft landing on the surface of Mars some 35 million miles distant. The Mars landing achieved an extremely challenging technological goal for NASA after struggling through years of lean budgets, vacillating political support, and a range of scientific trials testing innumerable ‘what if’ scenarios of the largely unknown reaches of space. The aptly named Perseverance mission firmly establishes the US as the world’s leader in space exploration.
The foundations for the Mars mission were laid some decades earlier. It began when many of the mission control center staff and technicians as well as those who designed and built the Perseverance module, participated in STEM training - a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics curriculum - that helped prepare them for their NASA careers. It was the National Science Foundation which fostered a government, private sector and academia partnership that introduced a STEM curriculum into primary and secondary schools as well as into college and advanced degree programs. The successful Perseverance mission is one of the tangible outcomes of that partnership.
The Mars landing was preceded in 2021 by another historic event in America, the January 6 storming of the US Capitol building by an angry and unruly mob. I watched in disbelief the media images of rioters forced their way into the building’s halls, chambers and offices as they attempted to do damage to a system of government that, I suspect, few well understood how it functions or how it serves and benefits them.
Unlike NASA scientists and engineers cheering their technological achievements, the US Capitol mob was protesting what many were led to believe was a stolen election in a democracy that was failing them. This time I did not cheer. Instead, I hung my head in dismay.
I sensed that January 6 Capitol riots were in part the violent manifestation of a festering frustration of many in our country at trying to cope with uncontrollable forces of a rapidly changing economy and society. The 2020/22 COVID pandemic widened the gap between the well-off and well-educated and the poor and poorly trained. I suppose it should be no surprise that these growing income and wealth disparities are now putting our democratic institutions under stress and provoking violent demonstrations like that of January 6.
To reduce our political divisions and rebuild trust in our democratic system of government, there are many places to start, and many suggestions have been made. Tax the wealthy and put that money into programs to address the education, health, and housing needs of the vulnerable and marginalized, say some. Deregulate markets to allow firms to innovate, invest and create employment for those displaced by production from abroad and technological advances at home, say others.
Both those views highlight potential ways to address income and wealth disparity and are worthy of attention. But by themselves, I believe, they are insufficient. Needed also is better equipping of future generations to work constructively together to achieve a prosperity in which all can more fully participate and benefit.
That’s where my “PEACE” curriculum for our schools comes in. Like the STEM curriculum, PEACE is an acronym for five areas of learning which, recent political turmoil reveals, need greater emphasis in our nation’s schools and colleges. The letters stand for Political Science, Economics, Athletics & The Arts, Civics and Ethics. Here’s my case for why each of these academic areas should be given more attention in America’s educational systems:
POLITICAL SCIENCE. Events of January 6, 2021 reveal that too many Americans understand too little about how a representational democracy works and how it can work for them. Political science courses need to teach about how our democracy: defends human rights (particularly the right to peacefully petition government over grievances); allows our voices to be heard through elected lawmakers; applies checks and balances across the three branches of our national government to protect against political abuse; and protects state and local government autonomy in a federalist system of shared political power. No high school senior should graduate without a demonstrated understanding of the basic principles and institutions of an effectively functioning democracy.
ECONOMICS. The process of determining how to budget scarce resources to meet multiple objectives and preferences is a challenge for even the most experienced and well-educated. The places to start are in our primary and secondary schools. A grasp of basic economics helps students distinguish between needs and wants and then how to budget within realistic expectations and timelines for meeting those needs and moderating those wants. It means teaching good money management skills so that students learn to be regular savers and savvy spenders. Instilling money management disciple early reduces the likelihood later of unmanageable indebtedness that too often results in voters taking out their frustrations on the political party in power, or in storming our nation’s capitol building.
ATHLETICS AND THE ARTS. Yes, sports, particularly organized sports. Aside from helping establish healthy regimens of physical and mental exercise to sustain a sound body and mind, participation in athletics produces other valuable dividends. Competitive sports teach that playing by the rules and practicing to become a better player improves the chances of winning in whatever one chooses to excel. Also, that every player, regardless of their position on the team can be critical to a winning outcome. Participation in athletic programs highlights the importance of showing up on time for practice with teammates, a self-discipline that in itself will emerge as a critical job requirement once out of school.
Of course, there are those students for whom sports is not an attraction or may not be physically possible. Participation in the arts, particularly the performing arts, provides similar opportunities to learn the importance of responsible engagement and sustained support for other members of the band, orchestra, choir or theatrical production. Again, the lessons and goals are the same as in athletics. Showing up on time, being a supportive participant, practicing to improve and playing by the rules are all ingredients to a successful performance … in life as well as in athletics and the arts.
CIVICS. Many of the principles and rules that apply in athletic and artistic performance are echoed in the rules by which society works best. Most importantly a PEACE curriculum emphasizes citizen responsibilities that accompany civil rights: the responsibility to be an informed voter before going to the polls, then actually going to the polls; the responsibility of the media to report impartially rather than be the proponent of any political party, group of people, or political demagogue; and the responsibility of citizens to hold political and media leaders accountable when they fall short in their performance. I’m heartened when the media report how more and more student activists are demonstrating these civic responsibilities in advocating for greater social justice and better environmental stewardship. A PEACE curriculum would reinforce these and other responsible student initiatives.
ETHICS. The focus of civics is on how we interact responsibly with those around us. Ethics focuses on how we consciously practice the values instilled within us. I believe we can live better lives in community with others when we strive to live better and feel better about ourselves by being our own moral enforcers. For many youth, whose parents have instilled values early in their lives, ethical behavior may occur with little thought or premeditation. Others may need more help addressing the internal demons which they are struggling constantly to control. School classroom settings are one of the places where a leveling of moral behavior can help those most in need of it, as much by listening to their instructors as by observing the constructive conduct of their peers.
This PEACE curriculum, I contend, need not place new demands on instructors nor require additional days of classroom study or homework. It does not involve taking away classroom hours from other study subjects. Rather, it weaves PEACE principles into all academic programs. This should make budget-conscious school administrators and over-worked classroom teachers happy.
So how can a PEACE curriculum be advanced and applied in a way that generates the same excitement that comes from placing a piece of electronic equipment on a distant planet? Where should leadership reside for fostering and adopting a PEACE curriculum?
I advocate that a PEACE curriculum might best be led and supported by those who have the greatest stake in its outcomes: students themselves. A good place to start is with student-led extracurricular activities.
Student government and student newspapers (or their media equivalents in today’s digital world), intramural sports, debate teams, and service clubs are among the PEACE activities that school administrators, teachers and parents should embrace and fully integrate within the formal education system. These and other extracurricular activities are often what students sign up for most willingly.
School faculty can build on that student interest and enthusiasm to instill PEACE principles in students. There is also scope for engaging parents as well in a school’s PEACE program, The partnering of teachers, administrators and parents can reinforce the messages that a PEACE curriculum offers their students both on and off the school grounds.
The benefits from adopting a proposed PEACE curriculum will never be as spectacular as landing a human on the moon or placing a robotic probe on Mars. What it will achieve is more subtle. Its dividends are manifested in the mundane practice of living and working harmoniously together, in the classroom, the community and the country. Still, I argue that such an outcome should be equally as worthy of cheering supporters as any major breakthrough in space exploration. ###