Why Every School Should Have Peace Education

According to Coleman McCarthy, “unless we teach our children peace, someone else may teach them violence.” We must remember this sentiment as we consider peace education, which is so often brushed aside to make time for more traditional areas of study. Children are malleable in their thoughts and opinions, as well as in the way they handle situations. This flexibility of thought makes it all the more important to help them form more peaceful dispositions. It is also important to recognize the messages promoting violence that are being sent to children through the media. On a small scale, television shows often feature conflicts being resolved through physical violence. On a larger scale, people generally regard war as negative, but it is also portrayed as necessary, and peaceful alternatives are rarely discussed. To make matters worse, there is still propaganda circulating that glorifies war. 

Chris Hedges is a reporter who was tasked with covering the Persian Gulf War. In his writing, he discusses the restrictions that were put on him as a reporter. These restrictions allowed the military to control the narrative surrounding the war, presenting it as righteous to the public. He claims that, “War is a force that gives us meaning,” implying that it is not always necessary, but it gives leaders and a nation something to believe in. It is important that we give children something else to believe in: the fact that peace works. This belief will help them build resilience against harmful pro-war propaganda, and hopefully the next generation of leaders will be one that turns to peace before violence. Similarly, in her piece, “Warfare is Only an Invention,” Margaret Mead presents the idea that war itself is a concept that is taught within society. It is an invention, much like infrastructure and industry, and like any invention, it can be replaced by a better one. In order for war to be replaced by a better and more peaceful “invention,” we must prime the next generation to come up with peaceful alternatives by presenting peace as a viable option.

Although it may sound obvious that children should learn to be peaceful, it is not often incorporated into mainstream curriculums. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum, the U.S. government commissioned textbooks for children in Afghanistan in the ‘80s that taught them the alphabet with images of Kalashnikov rifles and tanks. They were said to be made in large part to support the Cold War struggle against the Soviets. Although this is a rare case, it shows that during times of war, those in power often try to bolster support, and influence children towards violence. However, it is during times of conflict that it is important for children to learn about peace. This will help them think critically about the world around them, and reframe the way that they view conflict going into adulthood. 

Jojo Ziegler ‘25 and I (Paige Okerstrom ‘25) decided to address the need for peace education by putting together a lesson plan and going to the Valley School to teach fifth-grade students about peacebuilding. During our lesson, the students were shocked to learn that despite the “Never Again” movement following the Holocaust, there have been 285 armed conflicts since 1945. We walked them through the importance of peace education as well as the difficult reality of responding to conflicts peacefully. We then had them discuss different scenarios of global conflict and come up with an effective solution prioritizing human life. One of the scenarios we had them discuss was:

You are the leader of a European country. There is a civil war going on in a neighboring country and many people are losing their homes and are searching for a place to stay. You know that accommodating refugees might upset residents near the border, but you are concerned for their safety and want to help. There is already tension between your country and the neighboring country, and you are also concerned about violent outbursts along the border. What do you do?

 Some caught on right away, drawn to solutions like bringing the issue to the UN,  negotiating with leaders, or establishing safe zones for refugees; others initially advocated for the use of violence, arguing that war would stop the conflict quickly due to the military prowess of the United States. Once they finished discussing in small groups, we had a class discussion in which we came to the conclusion that addressing situations violently will only propagate a global culture of violence, bringing more violence in the future. 

The students learned that peaceful methods often take more time to be effective and can be difficult to implement, but they are worth it. Not only do peaceful solutions help to establish a global standard of peace, but they also often last longer, as they address systemic issues that could otherwise have violent manifestations. Seeing the students dig into peacebuilding and learn from the lesson was heartwarming. At the end of the lesson, we asked them to write their takeaways on a notecard. Some of the takeaways that resonated with us the most were:

“For some reason I thought of hate, but now I realize peace is better.”

“Peace is always here even if there is violence going on.”

“Peace is better than violence because it can save lives no matter what side they are on.”

“This class definitely changed the way I think about peace.”

These notecards showed us that a simple forty-five-minute lesson could reframe the way that fifth graders thought about peace and conflict resolution. This led us to consider what could be possible if peace education was universally incorporated into curriculums. Our belief is that peace education, given the opportunity, can create a generation of leaders who prioritize human life and productive conversations over violent resolutions. In order for this to happen, peacebuilding must be taught on a large scale, as education is the greatest vehicle of change. Albert Einstein once said, “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Both in classrooms and conversations, peace must be considered a viable option; only then will the global community truly be able to set the standard of peace for generations to come.