Why Do We Teach Peace Education?

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”     

(Martin Luther King)

Children are not born with a sense of 'difference' - they do not naturally notice the difference between themselves and other babies - the development of an awareness of others as being different from themselves is a gradual, fairly long-term process and children are usually just beginning to truly become aware of others as being different from themselves around the same time they enter school. Even then, this awareness is more heavily influenced by the attitudes and perceptions of the adults and older children in their lives rather than a true recognition of 'different' internalized naturally. 

Schools, therefore, have an awesome responsibility to help families foster growth in the empathy, generosity and acceptance capacities of all students, building on the natural acceptance and innocence of childhood. This may be the most essential teaching we do as we encourage students to think independently, honour humanity and be fully aware of their personal strengths and ways in which they can make an immediate and sustained positive impact on the world. We call this Peace Education. 

We teach Peace Education as a way to extend the acceptance of all by all - to ensure this doesn't become a 'story of childhood' but rather an enduring life experience.

We teach Peace Education to help children understand they are always capable of accepting, honoring and valuing the existence of all humans - including themselves.

We teach Peace Education to leverage the natural innocence and acceptance of children into expansive, shared experiences where learning frames connections rather than divisive distinctions between people. 

We teach Peace Education to foster dialogue, exchange of ideas and promote empathy for all. 

We teach Peace Education to help our children understand humans must have love, attention, care and connection to even survive - without each other, no human child could live and grow. We are a dependent species - we need each other and we need the best of each other to thrive and grow successfully. 

We teach Peace Education so our students will learn a language of positive conflict resolution where our problems challenge us to think differently, exercise empathy and seek best possible resolutions for everyone, not just for a privileged few.

We teach Peace Education to help children learn to share their ideas and experiences comfortably and to accept, listen to and honor the ideas and experiences being shared with them as well.

We teach Peace Education so all of us - regardless of where we were born, what faith we follow - or don't, our gender, age, occupation, education or ability - learn to honour all cultures and communities and share the essential skills, strategies and resources we need to live successfully side by side in a world that can successfully sustain all human life.

Tonight I had the pleasure of taking my seven-year-old grandson to a birthday party for one of his classmates. As I dropped him at the party, the broad smile on his face as he caught sight of his friends - all clearly from very diverse backgrounds and cultures - and the beautiful smiles they returned as they all rushed together in one boisterous re-connection, made my heart sing. These children will - and already are - changing the world. If we, as adults both in schools and as parents and grandparents, keep our wits about us and deliberately leverage this natural joy in companionship and connection, these children will grow into joyous, accepting adults - not just tolerant of each other but fully accepting and celebrating all humans as simply wonderful to experience life with together. The divisiveness that is currently writing the beginning of the 21st century story will transform into fully collaborative enthusiasm for improving the quality of life for the planet, and write a completely different script for the future. 

We teach Peace Education so our children will raise their voices in unison rather than division, celebrating both the human experience and the rich cultural diversity that brings vibrancy, energy and joy to daily living for all of humanity. 

We teach Peace Education so the divisiveness  pinging around the world today will seem as archaic, irrelevant and small-minded as many of the historical events that populate humanity's past and our history books today - one where protectionism, violence, war and conflict over our differences slip into the 'lessons learned' pages of the past and clear the way for a beautiful new story of sharing and celebration of rich and diverse human experiences. 

It is, for me, a privilege and an absolute responsibility to teach Peace Education. 

It is also my hope for the future of humanity. 

Lorraine Kinsman, Principal

When the Most Unexpected Things Happen...

“Children need art and stories and poems and music as much as they need love and food and fresh air and play.”    (Philip Pullman)

      January 3, 2017 was a most exciting day - it was our first official day of school in our beautiful new building! 

      As I stood outside in the frigid weather welcoming students and parents who made their way to school through snowbanks and on icy streets and sidewalks, there was a definite sense of euphoria - all of us had worked so hard together to establish a school where children could thrive as learners in a unique school-within-a-school setting  - there had been many challenges but we collaborated, shared, compromised, planned collectively, accommodated and were accommodated with a graciousness and deep commitment to placing student well-being above everything else - and this was indeed a moment to bask just a little in recognition of a job well done by so many!! 

I spent most of that first day visiting classrooms, trying to get the mountain of snow that had accumulated in our yard removed, changing lunchroom plans to accommodate the arctic temperatures, documenting minor building deficiencies and moving in and out of several meetings, working on plans to ensure our transition to the new building was as smooth as possible.  My 13-year-old granddaughter, Grace, accompanied me to school that day since she was still on winter break - taking photos and running errands around the school. It was a lovely, snowy launch to our new school and when we dismissed the children at 2:35 pm, it was with a mixed sense of excitement over the limitless possibilities in front of us and a bit of nostalgia for the lovely closeness we had shared during our first four months with Tuscany School. I went into the last meeting of the day knowing this was a day to never forget.  

Boy! Was it ever!!

About 10 minutes later Mrs. Carroll interrupted our meeting to tell me my family had been in a motor vehicle accident and I needed to take a phone call. My husband and daughter had been hit in an intersection in SE Calgary by a semi-truck and were both on their way to the hospital. Over the next eight hours, as our family gathered at the Foothills, we learned the details of the accident and were extremely relieved that both of them managed to walk away from the accident with significant bruising and soft tissue damage, and a cracked patella only. My husband was released after a thorough check up, my daughter spent the next week in hospital undergoing tests and scans, luckily coming home with only a leg brace to immobilize her knee for six weeks. Truly nothing physiotherapy and time won't heal. 

Needless to say, most of the month of January I have been living a split-life between the school, hospital and home quite willingly - the euphoria of the first day in our new school could have been eclipsed by a much more devastating outcome, and we are all truly grateful inconvenience has really been the biggest impact of this accident. 

Well, almost...

On the night of the accident, when I finally made it home just past midnight, I grabbed my briefcase from the car and went inside, directly to bed. In the morning I discovered my laptop had slid out of the briefcase during the drive home and it spent the night in the backseat of the car - where I retrieved it frozen almost solid in the -26 degree overnight weather! When the laptop warmed up, the condensation gathered inside managed to destroy all the data on my hard drive and no recovery program was able to retrieve anything, despite numerous tries. So I've also spent most of January trying to re-assemble data from back up sources and make sense of my digital world once again. Just a little wrinkle to the whole story to remind me to be more diligent with my back ups!

2017 has certainly come in with a bang for the Kinsman family - as well as for the families and students of Eric Harvie School!

I am happy to report healing is happening all over and physio is being 'enjoyed' by all:)  I am slowly and steadily recovering documents and access codes/passwords to the various platforms that demand my attention almost daily. The students are settling in nicely - for the most part - and our first report cards have gone home. Our first Artist in Residence, Rebecca Ellison, has begun working on our large 'legacy' murals with all the students and teachers, all 6 Kindergarten classes (3 AM and 3 PM) worked together to present our first Peace Assembly on the 20th and were absolutely outstanding! Committees of teachers and students are gradually using design thinking strategies to plan learning spaces and are beginning to shape dynamic, engaging places to think, share and create in together. Hope, our Therapy Bunny, has been actively supporting students who are finding the transition to a whole new place and way of doing things to be just a little overwhelming and we are delighted she has joined our team! The Learning Commons book collection is emerging from the mountain of boxes stacked in the storage room, our gym is being well used and the floor is still shiny :)  We have hosted our first School Council meeting (very well attended!) and are moving forward with an ambitious fundraising event planned for February 15th - the Mad Scientist 'Fire and Ice' event! And I am happy to report that, as of today, our outside bells are all working :) January is almost over - I have managed to access this blog again and slowly am getting re-focused on the writing of my PhD thesis (perhaps the biggest casualty of January!). As Anne of Green Gables would say 'all's right with the world'.

At least for now :) 

When the most unexpected things happen it is amazing the strength one takes from the support of an outstanding team - in my case it has been the strength of our staff, students and parents that has buoyed and carried me through the challenges of an almost - but not quite - overwhelming month. And I know it is not the excitement of one day of opening that needs to be celebrated but rather the amazing adventure we are all on together - one that will bring us many opportunities to play, create, share stories, explore, laugh and cry together. That is what school is truly about and why it is such an honour to be the principal of this amazing place. 

Lorraine Kinsman, Principal