Presentation notes from
-
Socratic Seminar: Here is a link that gives a fairly good overview
of what a Socratic Seminar is and how it is conducted. Despite first
appearances, it is intended to be different from a basic university style
seminar. There are specific rules related to Socratic Seminars that are
important to maintain to create the
atmosphere that is essential for students to feel safe to participate in an
'unfiltered' manner:
http://www.socraticseminars.com/whatare.htm
(thanks to Matthew Crawley for this)
- presentation Dr. David Swan:
Quote: 'Amusing Ourselves To Death' by Neil Postman (from
the Forward)
"We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy
didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of
liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least,
had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares. But we had forgotten that
alongside Orwell’s dark vision there was another- slightly older, slightly
less well know, equally chilling: Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to
common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the
same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed
oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive
people of their autonomy, maturity, history. As he saw it , people will
come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their
capacities to think. What Orwell feared were those who would ban books.
What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban books for there
would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those would deprive us of
information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much information
that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth
would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of
irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we
would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies,
the orgy porgy, the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked, the civil
libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny
“failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for
distractions.” In 1984, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New
World they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that
what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right (about our
times)."
o fundamental right and responsibility of us as citizens to be more involved in our society and politics
o Public heath threat of the millennium
§ Violence
o Past decade 40 million deaths
§ 75% civilians
o Military employs more research people than any other industry
o “you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you
o give bad news with good news
o truth take courage and sets us free
o bad news is that we are the problem, good news it hat we can be the solution
o Increase in systemic and direct violence
o Life is political à PERIOD!!
o we need to shift from symptoms to causes
o we need to understand and have a vision of what peace and justice is.
o The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing – Albert Einstein
o Prescription
§ Get involved
o TLC
§ Truth
§ Love
§ Courage
o Think independently
o Listen to understand and you need to be silent to listen
o Mountain analogy
§ Team
o The less you eat, the more you can work à life of simplicity
§ Minimal needs
· You are controlled by your needs
o Faith. Must have faith
-
presentation by
o child wants to die because they have nothing to live for
o Music videos promote violence
o We are working against cultures who promote violence
o Explore both sides
- peace education has to start with student teachers
o may be to narrow to focus on peace education
§ rather use it as a guide/label to see what goes under the label
§ focus on getting a peaceful world
o there is peace education in schools but not enough
- after lunch discussion
o institution vs people vs people of institution
- presentation – Ruben
o was hired to be director of Mac Hall back in the day
o Fail safe world vs fail fail world
o World is a puzzle
§ Who do you trust
1) it is a puzzle
2) cosmic à who are we?
3) Historical à where are we
4) The dream à what can we become
5) What strategic directions
6) Our contribution
7) What infrastructure
8) What projects
ALL THIS LEADS TO RESULTS
- people are an artifact of evolution
-
humans are the only creatures that can alter the future
Bob
Stewart’s Presentation—What’s Happening in Alberta (Sunday Am)
Q&A
Session
Ø
AB
curriculum emphasizes responsible citizenship at all grades—is this not
teaching a form of peace?
Ø
How do we
define responsible citizenship?
Ø
Peace
education is happening it’s just not well known nor centrally driven.
Responsibility lies on teachers more than boards, unions etc
Ø
We
aren’t ready to drive a political campaign yet—and perhaps that’s not the
right focus—look more towards individuals than groups
Ø
Post-secondary
emphasis is necessary in order to spread message of peace. How can teachers
teach peace if they themselves are not receiving the message early on?
Ø
Maybe we
should direct efforts at the bottom rather than the top—why not go to the
February teacher’s convention. Visions of safe and caring while laudable will
only go as far as the teachers will support it.
Ø
How about
a peace conference for youth—encourage them to help drive the process
Group
Discussion—Where do we go from here (Sunday PM)
Ø
Emphasize
youth—build on ideas like youthnet
Ø
Need a
groups for parents with younger children
Ø
Need to
take care of disparity to eliminate violence
Ø
One
formula for all will not work—need continued dialogue
Ø
Keep
Ghandi’s example and wisdom involved in the process
Ø
Expand on
concepts related to healers and health
Ø
Try to
present at teachers convention
Ø
Hold
regular gatherings to discuss varying aspects of peace—use these forums to
bring more into the fold
Ø
Peace
education—we need to build the foundation before acting
Ø
How do we
make the website more global in appeal?
Ø
Look at
collective rights in context of human rights
Ø
Struggle
against the code of silence in policing
Ø
Encourage
disarmament (UN curriculum recently developed)
Ø
Emphasis
needed on fundraising—nothing is too small or too big
Ø
Must see
ourselves as global citizens beyond borders
Ø
Need a
social transition from competitive to cooperative
Ø
Using
music and Socratic seminars is a great way to encourage dialogue
Ø
Maybe we
need to change our name from peace education—it gets in the way and carries a
stigma to some. Really aren’t we talking about forms of responsible
citizenship? By being more embracing we may be more successful in creating
collaborative efforts
Ø
Can we
add more resources and links to the website?
Ø
Scan the
world for other resources no need to reinvent the wheel
Ø
Could we
offer speakers to interested groups?
Ø
How about
writing Op-eds on these ideals
Ø
Should
reach out more to interfaith groups
Ø
Our goal
is to position youth so that they may continue spreading the message
Ø
Should
develop some concrete objectives for the next 10-20 years by which we can
measure our success and see where we’re headed
Ø
Need to
link with all peace organizations
Ø
No member
fees—actions for peace should be accessible to all regardless of financial
ability
Ø
Lead by
example. Start small grow big
Ø
More
conferences would be a good way to spread the message