Peace Issues: a Humanities Curriculum for High School, 1994-1995
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 418 901 SO 028 116 TITLE Peace Issues: A Humanities Curriculum for High School, 1994-1995. INSTITUTION Community Unit School District #9, Granite City, IL. SPONS AGENCY Illinois State Board of Education, Springfield. PUB DATE 1995-00-00 NOTE 208p.; Developed by a Committee of Granite City High School Teachers. AVAILABLE FROM Illinois State Board of Education, Division of Secondary Education, 100 N. First Street, N-242, Springfield, IL 62777-0001. PUB TYPE Guides Non-Classroom (055) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Citizenship; Citizenship Responsibility; *Conflict Resolution; Global Education; High Schools; *Humanities Instruction; *Justice; *Peace; *Secondary School Curriculum; Social Studies IDENTIFIERS *Peace Education ABSTRACT This curriculum focuses on peace and justice issues while emphasizing the positive of the building of relationships. Units are developmental in approach and work from "Relating to Self" to "Relating to Others" to "Relating to Community and World." A Code of Ethics is presented to guide the unit and a section on sports' ethics is aimed specifically at high school students. Topics discussed include conflict resolution and peer mediation, bias, environmental concerns, world conflict, gender issues, ageism, disabilities, the Holocaust, African American and Native American cultures, and problem solving. (EH) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** Peace Issues A Humanities Curriculum Developed by a Committee of Granite City High School Teachers Community Unit School District #9 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND 1994-1995 DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY =.A. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Funded by a 1 School Improvement Change Grant Illinois State Board of Education U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 'This document has been reproduced as 00 received from the person or organization originating it. Dr. Goni Michaeloff Minor changes have been made to N improve reproduction quality. O Grant Project Coordinator Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. C/) BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 BOARD OF EDUCATION Mr. Pete Novacich, President Mr. James Noeth, Vice President Mr. Rick Dickerson, Secretary Mr. Walter Whitaker, Treasurer Mrs. Carolyn Nemeth, Member Mr. Jeff Parker, Member Mr. Eldin Rea, Member Granite City High School Humanities Curriculum Course: Peace Issues 1994-1995 HUMANITIES CURRICULUM COMMITTEE MEMBERS Teresa Johnson, Chairperson Gene Baker Mary Bright LaVerna Corbitt Lois DuMey Amy Hildebrand Andy Yurko Funded by a $7,592.00 FY95 School Improvement Change Grant, Curriculum Improvement, Illinois State Board of Education Dr. Goni Michaeloff, Project Coordinator SUPERINTENDENT Steve Balen ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT/SECONDARY EDUCATION Tom. Holloway GRANITE CITY COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #9 1947 Adams Street, Granite City, Illinois 62040 PeaceIssues Table ofContents I. Introduction 1 II. Code of Ethics 3 III. Relating to Self 4 IV. Relating to Others 25 A. Family 25 1. Appreciating Family Heritage 25 2. Problem Solving 29 B. Conflict/Resolution and Peer Mediation 34 C. Bias 70 D. Beyond Bias to Understanding 90 1. Role Models 90 2. Gender Issues 96 3. Ageism 101 4. Disabilities 109 5. Native American Culture 115 6. African/ African American Culture 123 7. Asian American 140 8. Holocaust Victims 146 E. Sports' Ethics 150 V. Relating to Community and World 152 A. Man's Link to the Environment 152 B. Understanding and Managing World Conflict 180 VI. Appendices 191 A. Bi-State Area Resources 191 B. Supplemental Handouts 192 VII. Sources VIII. Committee Recommendations The world is too small For anything but mutual care And deep respect; The world is too great For anything but responsibility For one another. Abraham Heschel Introduction If we wish to live in a peaceful world, if we wish our children to live in a peaceful world, then !'educating for peace" must be an overriding concern in our classrooms, homes, and communities today. With rising gang activity on our streets; an increase of violent behavior in our schools and at our sports events; the escalating incidences of suicide and domestic violence; the mounting divorce rate and numbers of "unparented" young people, the future of our society is indeed precarious. To these problems, we add the threat of nuclear destruction and the global environmental crisis, and the prognosis for our future worsens. As classroom teachers, we are concerned with shaping the lives of our young people. In a real sense, they are our future. By emphasizing traditional values, we hope to guide them. While, at the same time, searching out our own ways to live in peace, we hope we can "empower" them by helping them find healthful ways to live in a peaceful world. Peace Issues is a curriculum of activities developed by a committee of Granite City High School teachers under a School Improvement Change Grant funded by the Illinois State Board of Education. In developing this curriculum, we wished to focus on peace and justice issues while emphasizing the positive--the building of relationships. Among our objectives, we have tried to develop activities that will teach peacemaking or conflict resolution; activities that will invite students to make connections with others--even with others of diverse cultures and lifestyles. In addition, we have planned activities that will develop respect and a sense of responsibility for the earth, which sustains us all We have attempted to group activities under units, with the Peace Issues 2 first unit entitled RELATING TO SELF. Before we can learn to respect and relate to others, we must first develop a healthy sense of self; we must learn to understand our feelings, to love ourselves, and to be at peace within ourselves. Additional units focus on RELATING TO OTHERS: first, to those from among our family and peer groups; then to others, including those whose gender, age, ethnic and cultural backgrounds differ from our own. Since we believe it is appropriate to address the topic of sports ethics with high school students, we have included activities aimed at such. For the unit RELATING TO COMMUNITY AND WORLD, we incorporated "earth education" activities designed to promote understanding and a sense of kinship with the earth on whichour very survival depends. We also included activities that would help students identify and gain some understanding of national and dnternational conflict issues. The activites we planned are, admittedly, limited inscope, as we were limited by time. But, they are a beginning. --Teresa Johnson, Chairperson August 1995 6 Peace Issues 3 PEACE ISSUES: A CODE OF ETHICS SHOWING RESPECT IS A BASIC LAW OF LIFE. Because I desire to treat all persons and things with respect I Treat every person, from the youngest child to the oldest in my community with respect at all times, showing special respect for my elders, parents, teachers, and community leaders. Avoid hurting other hearts as I would avoid a poison, taking care never to cause another to feel "put down". Touch nothing that belongs to someone else without permission or an understanding between the other and myself. Repect the privacy of others, taking care never to intrude on a person's quiet moments or personal space. Never walk between persons who are conversing. Speak in a soft voice, especially in the presence of strangers and persons for whom special respect is due. Never speak in a negative way about others, whether they are present or not. Treat the earth as my mother, showing deep respect for her minerals, plants, and animals. I will do nothing to pollute the air or soil unnecessarily and will rise up to defend the earth from those who destroy her. Show respect for the beliefs and religions of others. Listen with my heart to hear what others say, even if I feel that what they say is worthless. (An excerpt from the wisdom and practice of Native Americans, See unit on Native Americans.) 7 Peace Issues 4 Unit: RELATING TO SELF Note: This unit consists of two sections--Text material to be used in conjunction with activities and worksheets where noted in the text. The activities and worksheets follow the text. I. TEXT: INTRODUCTION In our society, SELF is a much discussed subject. In the Webster's Collegiate Dictionary there are four hundred fifty words that begin with the hyphenated SELF. There are some who would say we are preoccupied with SELF, but others would say that understanding who we are and what we are about is the beginning of a productive and happy life. The person I relate to and talk to (in my mind) the most is myself. How I relate to myself and what I say to myself is very important to my self-image, self-esteem, and how I handle self conflict. Therefore, we will take only three SELF words and look atthem more closely: Self-image, Self-esteem, Self-conflict. (Activity I suggested) II. TEXT: SELF-IMAGE Self-image is simply the verbal and mental pictures I have of myself, is internal, within each person, and is not particularly based on truth or fact, but upon perception. What all of that means is that I take my experiences and process them in my brain and draw a conclusion. That conclusion is then a part of my self- image, the continuously changing picture that I paint of myself for my own viewing only. What influences these conclusions that cause our mental pictures of SELF? Environment: Where I live, country, state, section of town, etc. Significant People: What parents say about me,to me; How people treat me. Economic Factors: Material possessions and their importance to me. Physical Body: Physique, Beauty, Disabilities, etc. Social Structure: How well do other people like (prefer) me.