Once accepted into grad school at UW-Milwaukee in 1983, I was like a kid in a candy store trying to focus in on one area of educational studies. I considered becoming a school psychologist or counselor. Community Education was a draw for me as well as I imagined myself running a cultural center or library.

Higher Ed Administration was another interest of mine and I remember one of my professors saying he could see me as a “dean of students in a small private university.” Diving deeper into the myriad choices, comparative education systems research and philosophical discussions regarding the cultural significance of what is taught in schools drew me in like a siren call.

In addition to my graduate studies, I was involved with peace organizations focused on preventing a nuclear war. Educators for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and US/USSR Friendship Alliance were a few of the groups in my radar. As I continued to consider my path in graduate school, it occurred to me to integrate my passion for education with my passion for peace.

This ah-ha moment led me to the door of Dr. Ian Harris, a professor in the newly formed Peace Studies program at UWM. Dr. Harris would become my primary mentor in grad school, and we would work together on his book, Peace Education, which was published by McFarland and Inc. Publishers in 1988.

In this book published over 30 years ago, peace is defined as a concept which motivates the imagination and connotes more than the cessation of war. It envisions human beings working together to resolve conflicts, respect standards of justice, satisfy basic needs and honor human rights. Peace education was simply defined as attempts to teach people about peaceful conditions and the process of creating them. The core values of peace education are non-violent conflict resolution and social justice.

Fast forward to today and it’s clear how relevant this concept remains.

School board meetings across the country have become hotbeds of conflict where considerations of topics such as critical race theory and social injustice have resulted in books being banned, teachers losing their jobs and parents fighting with each other in very public and toxic ways.

Children are growing up in a society where safety drills on how best to confront a live shooter situation are conducted in addition to fire drills as our desensitization towards gun violence continues to fester. Since 1963, nearly 193,000 children and teens have been killed with guns on American soil— more than four times the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action in the Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars combined.

Add to that the racial reckoning unfolding across the nation and stirring up the masses in conflicting ways, a pandemic that has significantly impacted low-income and marginalized populations, Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and an increase in destructive natural disasters like the Marshall Fire due to climate change and its no wonder that so many of our young people hide behind their hand-held devices and live in a meta-verse of a reimagined existence.

For those who can’t find comfort or relief from the stressors and feelings of impending doom, they may turn to drugs or thoughts of suicide. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released a report in 2021 which indicates that in the US, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death for all ages and 2nd leading cause of death for youth and young adults between the ages of 10-34. A person dies of suicide every 11 minutes in the US.

So, what can be done to promote non-violent conflict resolution, social justice, collaborative efforts to ensure basic needs are met, and the protection of human rights in the classroom and beyond?

Some good news is that there are many universities and colleges across the country offering Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution programs. This list includes University of North Caroline-Chapel Hill, University of California-Berkeley, Colgate University, Georgetown University, Swarthmore College and Notre Dame. Still, it is an uncommon major with just over 600 graduates in the US a year in the field.

Some examples of peace-building classroom strategies from around the country as cited on the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) website are as follows:

Maria Eugenia Zelaya is a high school Spanish teacher in Gainesville, Florida. In her Spanish classes, Maria has her students research peacebuilders and create a cuento de paz (peace story) for younger children. Each story must be written in both Spanish and English, have graphics, and have a positive ending that promotes peace.

Ezra Shearer, a high school social studies teacher in Missoula, Montana, takes a more research-based approach. Ezra asks each of his students to examine a specific global conflict, focusing mostly on conflicts where USIP works. Students must go through the step-by-step process of conflict analysis, provided by the Peacebuilding Toolkit for Educators, and present recommendations to resolve the conflict.

Vince Facione, a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, asks his students to research one specific global conflict in his high school social studies class. Choosing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he creates a graphic organizer for students to answer several questions: 1) What do I know about the Arab-Israeli peacemaking process? 2) What are the sources of information? Are they reliable, or are they biased or fake news? 3) What do I want to learn more about? What do I want to gain a greater appreciation of?

Ms. Cameron, a high school English Literature teacher in Grandview, Missouri, created a mock United Nations. This experiential learning opportunity allows her students to understand how countries work together diplomatically to pursue peace. Amy provided some students in her class with a passport from a specific country, and other students are given the identity of a United Nations (UN) representative. Students given a passport are tasked with presenting their country to the panel of UN representatives in the hopes of being allowed to join the UN. Students experience firsthand the complexity of geopolitical relations, and they grapple with the strict criteria to join the UN. This means that they must demonstrate an understanding of how economics, politics, and human rights intersect.

Locally, a recent initiative called the “Kindness Challenge” had a positive impact on students in the St. Vrain Valley School District and has resulted in a dramatic decrease in bullying. Students recognized other students committing acts of kindness. This program was created by Kids for Peace to provide schools a tool for creating a positive school environment and a culture of kindness.

One of the most inspiring local initiatives is the Denver Public Schools Student Board’s Challenge 5280 social justice policy campaign launched in 2018. Students engaged with community members, organizations, and businesses to brainstorm root causes of social justice issues, strategies to address these issues, and policy implementation. Students also considered sustainable approaches for their policies so their goals could continue to be met and maintained through ongoing efforts which could ultimately lead to a culture shift at their schools. Here are examples of the wide range of topics considered by the sixteen student groups and some of the accomplishments:

South High School students submitted a proposal for a comprehensive health class for 10th graders across the district. “It is unacceptable that we don’t have one now. It’s really important that we provide social, emotional and physical health, peer pressure, substance abuse, sexual assault education and more to students,” said one of the students involved.

West Campus students tackled an underlying issue that divides their school: two schools on a shared campus — West Early College and West High School — and better ways to partner as one cohesive unit. Their tactics center around what they can do to encourage more communication between parents, students, and staff, and have led to a new Parent-Teacher-Student-Organization (PTSO).

In the case of Denver Center for International Studies (DCIS-Baker) students and their “From Muted to Magnified” project, they so eloquently pointed out several areas of racial and cultural division in the community and brought forth real solutions.

Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design (DSISD) pushed for greater awareness and access to the many college and career paths available at their school — including options for AP classes, Concurrent Enrollment, Early College, Career Residency and more. As one student said, “There is a lack of diversity in which pathways students select. Our project is called Divergence because we’re encouraging students to diverge from the path they might feel is “expected” of them, but instead to research and find one that best fits the one for their career goals.

You can learn more about this program and watch a brief and compelling video here: https://www.dpsk12.org/studentdriven change-through-social-justiceprojects/

In addition to USIP resources, teachers who are motivated to empower their students with non-violent conflict resolution strategies, knowledge of social justice and human rights, and ways to promote harmony in and outside the classroom, can find a wealth of teaching tools.

Peace Works through the Peace Education Foundation is a great place to start (https://peaceeducation.org/) and they also include training opportunities for teachers, administrators, counselors, parents, and community agencies. Other options include World Peace Teaching Peace (https://worldpeaceteachingpeace.com) and the Southern Poverty Legal Center’s Learning for Justice (https:// www.splcenter.org/learning-for-justice).

With the threat of another world war looming on the horizon, it is a challenge to remain optimistic. By examining the causes and prevention of war as well as the nature of violence (which includes discrimination and marginalization), and by considering strategies to overcome persecution and transform us to a more just and equitable society, peace studies offer hope for the future.

We stand, therefore, at the parting of ways. Whether we find the way of peace or continue along the road of brute force, so unworthy of our civilization, depends on ourselves. -Albert Einstein, 1938