On the 21st
of September the world celebrated the International Day of Peace, a day
dedicated to world peace and the absence of war and violence, a day which conforms
perfectly to LUC’s profile of global challenges. LUC could of course not miss the opportunity
to dedicate some time and effort to this important day. Therefore, a round
table discussion on peace education was held at LUC, for peace education is
perhaps one of the most profound, bottom-up ways of building towards a more
peaceful future. But can peace education really make a change in the world, besides
just giving us a good and warm feeling inside?
Four experts shone their light on the different aspects, levels and concerns of
peace education. They are all experienced in different sides of peace education
and gave therefore a very diverse insight to the subject. The panel consisted
of Lieke Scheewe, student and activist at the development NGO Light for the
World, Jenny Gillet, Curriculum Manager at International Baccalaureate, Prof.
Lennart Vriens, Professor of Peace Education at SIFE University College
Utrecht, and Mrs. Iona Ebben, Trainer and Research Fellow at the Clingendael
Institute. Different topics were discussed, e.g. whether peace education can
lead to world peace and the way in which peace education is implemented in
policy making. Active engagement with
the public gave rise to an interesting interaction between personal experiences
and peace educational ideals.
'World peace starts from within' seems to be a hackneyed ideal to which peace
education is implicitly connected. Building world peace is often not as simple
as that. Of course, peace education itself cannot suddenly transform every
single human being into a peaceful, world-loving creature. It can, however,
provide the necessary infrastructure in which each individual can move itself towards
a more peaceful future. A quote mentioned during the round table discussion
that is very suitable and self-explaining in this matter is the following one
by Martin Luther King Jr.: 'Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but
a means by which we arrive at that goal.' The participants in the round table discussion
agreed that this is a very important and relevant idea when it comes to the aim
of peace education. Peace education should not be impersonally, drily given
information about war, violence and peace, i.e. a distant and unknown stream of
facts that goes in at one ear and out at the other. Neither should peace
education be an overload of too idealistic, peace-loving, universal happiness
celebrating messages that people just do not buy. The approach of peace
education should be in the middle of these two extremes, enabling people to
think for themselves in a critical way about the world around them and to look
beyond cultural boundaries and biased media.
An additional aspect of the round table discussion which was rather interesting
from an LUC student’s perspective was the way in which peace education is
practiced on different levels and how it plays an essential role on each of
them. The spectrum of peace education, about which the expert panel talked,
ranges from primary school to diplomatic training and everything in between and
beyond. What struck me most was how peace education is of major importance on
all those different levels and how we should never stop learning and reminding
ourselves about it, for peace does not establish itself without any effort. It
should constantly be rebuilt collectively.
Hence, we as LUC students, with our futures in front of ourselves, bound to end
up in diverse places throughout the world, should never forget this importance.
We should always keep reminding ourselves that peace is not a goal we strive for,
but a means to get there.
By Emiel Coltof, LUC Class of 2015