Children of war. (Peace Education).

"Mrs. Barton, can I read you my letter?" an eager 3rd-grader asked his teacher on a day I was visiting his classroom during the 1991 Gulf War. The letter he wrote that day spoke of his fears that war would be coming to America. As I read other letters from children printed in newspapers, they echoed the same fears I heard in that classroom. Many expressed sentiments of patriotism, as well as genuine concern for the young victims of bombings--the children of Iraq, Israel, and Kuwait.

The 3rd-grader in Mrs. Barton's class wrote:

I have a dream that Saddum Hussein will leave Kwuait (original misspellings were retained). And that there will be peace instead of war. President Bush and Hussein will settle their difference by talking and negotiating. By obtaining peace, the lives of many young soldiers will be saved. They will never have war again.

As the children read their letters, one question in particular was repeated: "Why are there wars, anyway?" Our present generation of children, in America and in warring nations throughout the world, are begging for answers to this question that children have asked for generations.

ACEI has taken a stand on the global tragedy of children affected by war, especially on the use of child soldiers in combat. Cited in an ACEI Resolution on Child Soldiers (see p. 320-L) is the astounding information that "more than 22 million children have been displaced by war." ACEI is also working for more peaceful lives for children through our UN representatives, Eileen Bayer and Lynn Staley. In their article in the Winter 2002/03 Exchange, Bayer and Staley called on all teachers to become "conduits of peace." Through ACEI's privileged status as an NGO (non-governmental organization) at the United Nations, we can consider ourselves legitimate advocates for peace education in our schools and communities. Please consider this as a natural role in your life as an educator ... for our children's sake.

Psychologists and educators emphasize the importance of changing children's attitudes toward war through education. Is it possible that the anti-war demonstrations in America and abroad in recent years were sparked by memories of two decades ago, when children and schools were actively involved in peace activism to prevent a nuclear war? Children were actively engaged in peace education activities back then, stitching their own designs into peace quilts and encircling the Pentagon with a Peace Ribbon. Hopefully, our present generation of children could once more make the prevention of nuclear war a central issue in their lives.

Early childhood educators in particular must work to assure children as best we can that we will take care of them and keep them safe. Through the arts and literature, we can help children work through the feelings of fear and foreboding that are common in time of war. One Web site we encountered showed children's drawings from the time of the Spanish Civil War, which reflect children's thoughts and feelings while living through a war. We also have valuable research from the 1960s through the 1980s on the attitudes of children regarding nuclear war (see Online Resources).

Through the arts and literature, children can be introduced to new roles as peacemakers. In many international communities, children have formed Peacemaker Clubs, inspired by the book Sadako (Coerr, 1993), which tells the story of a young Hiroshima resident suffering from leukemia, the "atom bomb sickness." Sadako strove to fold 1,000 origami cranes, hoping that if she were successful she would be granted her wish to live. Children in Japan and around the world have been inspired by Sadako's story, folding their own cranes and working for peace. A live show based on the book was performed by the Kennedy Center Players at the University of North Florida. Hundreds of paper cranes decorated the stage and the performers repeated the message from Sadako's monument: "This is my cry. This is my plea--Peace in the world!" The children listened with great respect and attention. The book was the subject of in-class discussions, with study materials prepared for them in advance. Folding paper cranes is difficult, even for adults, but it is a peacemaking project worth learning. Arts and literature projects such as this deliver the message that children can express their thoughts and ideas for a peaceful world.

Students around the world have demonstrated concrete support for children affected by war (e.g., the children in Kosovo and Afghanistan). In the past few years, significant sums of money were raised by American children to buy needed classroom items for children in war-torn areas of the world. The U.S. government, United Nations agencies, and private organizations have taken on leadership roles in providing relief to alleviate hunger in these areas. While assuring children that they will be safe, you can also suggest ways they can offer direct assistance to the children directly affected by war. Teachers also may focus on the sacrifices made by armed forces. Such support is particularly essential to the emotional well-being of children whose parents are serving in the military.

A project such as a peace quilt or the installation of a peace pole could be a unifying activity for a school, giving children the opportunity to express their ideas and dreams of a world of peace for all children. We can be justly proud that ACEI has taken on vital leadership and advocacy roles in advancing greater awareness of the impact of war on children.

References

Association for Childhood Education International. (2003). ACEI resolution on child soldiers. Online at www.udel.edu/bateman/acei/CsoldierResolution.htm

Bayer, E., & Staley, L. (2002/2003). Teaching peace in a violent world. (ACEI Exchange.) Childhood Education, 79(2), 96-P.

Coerr, E. (1993). Sadako. Illustrated by E. Young. New York: Putnam.

Online Resources

Afghanistan: War Hurting Children the Most: www.ipsnews.net/ interna.asp?idnews+4947

HAWCA Serves Orphan and Poor Children (Refugee camps): www.hawca.org/schoolintmenu.htm

Images and Risks of Nuclear War (1986). National Academy of Sciences, National Academy Press, Washington, DC (Research from the 1980s on children & nuclear war): www.ul.cs/cmu.edu/webRoot/Books/ National_Academy_Press_Books/nuclearwar/war4

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: Educ. Dept. (for Partners in Educ.): www.kennedy-center.org/education/national.html

Peace Poles: "May Peace Prevail on Earth" (in several languages): http:// salsa.net/peace/eoplepole.html

Talking to Kids About Terrorism (Southern Poverty Law Center: Teaching Tolerance): www.tolerance/org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=272

Talking to Children About the Threat of Biological Warfare/Terrorist Attack: www.fema.gov/kids/terrorism.htm

Talking to Kids About Terrorism or Acts of War: New York University Child Study: www.aboutourkids.org/articles/war.html

They Still Draw Pictures: Art of Spanish School Children During Spanish Civil War (1938): http://orpheus-1.ucsd.edu/speccoll/tsdp/

Online Resources for Sadako

Bearable Times: The Kids Hospital Network--Sadako Cranes for Peace (Project to collect paper cranes to be sent to Hiroshima): www.cranesforpeace.org/cranes.htm

Exploratorium Magazine: Exploring Origami (folding paper cranes): www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/paper/paper2.html

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes: A Web Quest for Grades 3-5: http://asterix.ednet.lsu.edu/~edtech/webquest/sadako.htm

Sadako Peace Project: Video and additional activities, including World Peace Project for Children: www.sadako.com

Sadako Story: Her letters to friends and her mother: www.sadako.org/ sadakostory.htm

KidReach Reading Center, the Online Reading Center--Anticipation Guide for Sadako: www.westga.edu/~kidreach/sadako.html

--Aline Stomfay-Stitz, University of North Florida

Edyth Wheeler, Towson University