CTAUN Conference

Friday, January 31, 2014 at the United Nations, NYC
"Promoting Peace Through Education"

Conference Report by Dr. Ann Cavanaugh Grosjean, Theta Chapter

On January 31, 2014, 466 educators, including many DKG members from several states, braved the cold to attend the 15th annual CTAUN (Committee on Teaching About the United Nations) Conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The theme this year was Promoting Peace Through Education. The morning began with the movie, Determined to Save Succeeding Generations from the Scourge of War, an 11-minute graphic and moving portrayal of what war feels like to innocent people. The film set the stage for the day with "It isn't enough to talk about peace, one must believe in it...one must work at it." (Eleanor Roosevelt.) Virginia Gamba of the UN discussed disarmament and feels that we should "make disarmament a major pillar of peace education." She quoted Nelson Mandela, "Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world."

Dr. Robert Scott, the president of Adelphi University and moderator of the morning panel, Threats to Peace, described the causes of war and stated that teachers can help by fostering a climate of peace and non-violence. We can encourage students to think globally and act locally with empathy and diversity. He assured us that cooperation and empathy are as innate to humans and animals as is competition. H.E. Ambassador Janine Felson, representative of Belize to the UN, stated that in 2007 the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) issued an assessment and identified the threats to peace, security, and economic development. In 2009, a Resolution on Climate Change was passed as a response to the problem, yet compliance will happen only when there is cooperation by all and political agreement that climate change is a threat to peace. Rima Salah, a clinical professor at Yale and formerly at UNICEF, spoke of the impact of war on children, many of whom die before the age of five. Others are orphaned, displaced, maimed, and traumatized; some become victims of trafficking, sex slaves, or child soldiers. She also spoke about her experiences with UNICEF's "Back to School" campaign to provide children with pens rather than guns.

The Spotlight speaker was Dr. George Lopez, vice president of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). He maintains that peace education is for everyone. "Peace education is citizen education; the goal is universal responsibility."

Dr. Thomas Ward, CTAUN member and dean of the International College at the University of Bridgeport, introduced the eleven Poster about Peace contest winners. These university students from around the globe displayed their posters and spoke with conference participants during the lunch break as well.

Tony Jenkins, vice president for Academic Affairs at the National Peace Academy, led an interactive session Practical Strategies for Peace Education. He believes that peace education should be incorporated into all areas of education. He defined peace as "the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which we are all a part." www.nationalpeaceacademy.us/edresources/study-guide

Lorna Edmundson, Professor Emerita of Wilson College, was the moderator for the afternoon panel, Solutions for Peace. She spoke briefly about growing trends toward campus internationalization and service learning projects. Charlotte Mouriot, a teacher from the United Nations International School, described how they teach about peace and the United Nations. She also described the peace tables in their classrooms where students can work out their problems. She is trained as a mediator with the New York Peace Institute and also writes a blog about peace education and parenting.

Minerva Diaz, an artist focusing on human and global issues and an affiliate director of Peace Jam for the state of New York, an educational initiative that uses Nobel Laureates as role models for students, unveiled a beautiful painting she created of a girl reading a book of thank you notes with Malala Yousafzai on the cover. www.peacejam.org Cora Weiss, president of the Hague Appeal for Peace and Honorary Patron of CTAUN, gave the closing keynote. She believes that "Teachers are the world's most important people beause everyone in the world will pass through your hands." She reminded us that Peace Education is not a separate subject, but one that should be taught in teacher-training programs as it can be integrated into our curricula no matter what we teach..

Peter Yarrow, founder of Operation Respect, peace activist, and folk singer (Peter, Paul, and Mary), spoke about empowering children to create peace by active listening and role playing and urged us to bring the joy of song back into the classroom as a way of passing down our cultural heritage and for fun. He then went on to sing his quintessential peace song, Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, urging all to sing along. He followed it with Don't Laugh at Me, the theme of Operation Respect, (which he told us exists in 22,000 schools worldwide) and finished with a rousing rendition of If I Had a Hammer, a wonderful way to conclude our conference. His music can be downloaded free from the Operation Respect website, www.operationrespect.org.

For a more detailed report and for many teacher resources, please visit the CTAUN website, www.teachun.org To access the report, click on Conferences and then 2014 UN. We hope you will join us next year!!

 

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