Earth

EDUCATORS
After Paris,
A Different Kind of Global Education
Thom
Markham
CEO, PBL Global
With the event in Paris,
something’s changed
in our world. It’s not as
if we and our children
don’t know about terrorism,
or refugees, or the
general level of chaos permeating the landscape
of politics, economics, technology, and social and
family relationships. But something has changed.
There’s a sudden, strong whiff of hate and fear in
the wind.
The first lesson for any teacher is that hate and
fear are the enemies of learning. Beliefs limit and
narrow perspectives. When fear wells up in the
body, passes through the heart, and travels to the
hindbrain, the brain responds by swiftly focusing
on survival, not creative response. The resulting
isolation is not brain-friendly—it leads to a hardening
of the pathways of antagonism, difference, and
eventual violence, and to abandonment of another
fundamental of learning, joy.
Education doesn’t mix well with politics, but beyond
politics and the domain of honest argument
lies the sacred territory of human connection. That
connection is now being tested.
What to do, as a teacher?
In these days, it is necessary to step outside the
bounds of education and look for guidance. Each of
us must look in the direction that suits us, but kind
and forgiving words abound, in every religion and
philosophy. For example, the Vietnamese Buddhist
monk, teacher, and author Thich Nhat Hanh has
written of the “morality of belonging,” in which the
highest moral good in a global world is to embrace
one another.
In fact, there is no other choice possible now. The
route of difference and division in a globe shrinking
by the minute will be a disaster—and that is
not the world we wish to leave to our students.
Establishing a global circle of care should be the
fundamental, passionate, non-negotiable response
of every teacher to the news.
Another, more operational, choice can back up
this commitment in the classroom. Continue to
invest in building the skills and knowledge necessary
to craft the world anew by teaching science,
social studies, writing and reading, and other fundamentals
necessary to live and act well. But focus
as well—or perhaps commit to a higher and more
pronounced focus—on those qualities that make
us uniquely human and are equally necessary to
overcome the natural animosities of our tribal past.
Treat emotional skills as real skills, not ‘soft’ skills.
Highlight and impress on students the traits that
can lead us out of a wilderness: empathy, inspiration,
creativity and sensitivity.
Be aware, also, that the economic measurements
and data driven ideas that underlie the present
work in classrooms, while useful in many ways,
will not save us. Belonging and caring do not arise
because one is better educated or holds a higher
degree. Like all morality, those qualities come
from the generation that leads the learning for the
younger generation. There has always been a particular
responsibility for teachers to help maintain
and further the social good, but the responsibility
weighs heavier now. It’s time to practice, preach,
and teach the “morality of belonging.”
22 www.KidsStandard.org
Publication INC.