Children as peacemakers.

As warfare spreads to many corners of the globe, children sadly have been drawn into the center of conflicts. In Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Colombia, however, groups of children have been taking part in peace education projects. The children, after learning to resolve conflicts, took on the role of peacemakers. The Children's Movement for Peace in Colombia was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. Groups of children acting as peacemakers studied human rights and poverty issues in Colombia, eventually forming a group with five other schools in Bogota known as The Schools of Peace.

The classroom offers opportunities for Children to replace angry, violent behaviors with cooperative, peaceful ones. It is in the classroom that caring and respect for each person can empower children to take a step forward toward becoming peacemakers. Fortunately, educators have access to many online resources that are especially useful when helping children along the path to peace (see Online Resources), The Young Peacemakers Club, started in 1992, offers a Web site with resources for teachers, a Peace Art collection where children can share their art projects, and information on starting a Kindness Campaign. The World Centers of Compassion for Children International call attention to children's rights and how to help the victims of war. Starting a Peacemakers' Club is a praiseworthy venture for a class and one that could spread to other classrooms and ideally affect the culture of the entire school.

A representative blueprint for such a curriculum and a schoolwide culture of peace has been mapped out by Theresa Bey and Gwen Turner in their book Making School a Place of Peace, in which they stress partnerships between schools and families [Bey & Turner, 1996). In Israel, Grace Feuerverger, in Oasis of Peace, recorded the daily life of Palestinian and Israeli children who learned to live together as peacemakers at their school Neve Shalom (Feuerverger, 2001).

In recent years, groups of children have taken on the roles of peacemakers in bringing forward personal causes for peace. Groups of Protestant and Catholic children from Northern Ireland journeyed together to America and other neutral areas, where they learned to live and work together. It is especially heartwarming to know that Gregory R. Smith, one of the most prominent young peacemakers today, is a 13-year-old recent college graduate whose intellectual talents have brought him prominence. He describes his major goal in life as being a peacemaker. He joined with others to assist the children living in Timor, Brazil, and Rwanda.

Children have many places where they can learn peacemaking, often practicing peacemaking skills in their schools, homes, community centers, and places of worship. But they look especially to their teachers as role models and advocates for teaching peacemaking. Naomi Drew (1999) outlined a peace pledge that one teacher created along with her class of 10-year-olds:

"We pledge to be peacemakers at all times, to treat others with respect and to live by the Golden Rule."

These praiseworthy goals hold promise for a more peaceful future for those who work and learn together in schools.

References

Bey, T, M., & Turner, G. Y (1996). Making school a place of peace. Thousand Oaks. CA: Corwin Press.

Drew. N. (1999). The peaceful classroom. Carson, CA: Jalmar Press.

Feuerverger, G. (2001). Oasis of dreams: Teaching and learning peace in a Jewish-Palestinian village in Israel. New York: Routledge Falmer.

Online Resources

Children as the Peacemakers: www/peace-kids.org/ World Centers of Compassion for Children International: Children's Rights: www.centersofcompassion.org/

Young Peacemakers Club: www.celebratingpeace.com/ Peacemakers.htm

Gregory R. Smith: http://walkofhope.org/ Gregory%20R.pdf