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Betty 75

Betty Reardon: “Meditating on the Barricades”

In this reflective article, Betty Reardon argues that one of the current challenges to the field of peace education is to transform our political discourse as an essential process in the transformation of our present global realities, the ultimate purpose of an authentically just peace.

Tolerance – the Threshold of Peace

Tolerance, a fundamental value of democracy, has fallen victim to the conditions asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants flee, and, sadly has little valence in the immigration policies of the nations in which they seek refuge and asylum. In this post, Betty Reardon applies some of the underlying principles of her 1994 publication, “Tolerance – the Threshold of Peace,” to today’s issues of mass immigration.

Betty Reardon 1985 Interview

Making Peace a Real Possibility: Video Interview with Betty Reardon (1985)

In this 1985 video interview, “Making Peace a Real Possibility,” Betty Reardon examines the intersections of gender and militarism. In her contemporary commentary, Betty identifies how the hopes for peace education she held at the time have been hearteningly fulfilled by the ideas and actions being pursued by present peace educators.

A message from Betty Reardon

Launching the Second Trimester of $90K: New Initiatives, New Opportunities. We are now a third of the way into the IIPE/GCPE campaign through which we hope to raise $90k to sustain these movements that have become a global community of peace educators. A member of our community has offered a second matching challenge donation: for each sustaining pledge of $19 dollars, the donor offers a single $19 additional contribution.  We hope that will mean lots of extra $19s!

“Social Education for Human Survival”

Commenting on her 1975 publication, “A Social Education for Human Survival: A Synthesis of Practices in International Education and Peace Studies,” Betty Reardon asserts that teachers should be provided with the rationale that underlies the curricula they are called upon to teach, and urges attention to “the ecological imperative,” the need for peace education to confront human responsibility for the survival of the planet.

Law as an Instrument of Peace: “War Criminals: War Victims”

This article by Betty Reardon is the third in a series exploring Betty’s 6 decades of peacelearning: a review of her publications in development of theories, pedagogies, curricula, and teacher preparation in peace education. In this post, Betty comments on “War Criminals, War Victims,” a world order study unit for senior secondary grades from the “Crises in World Order Series” published in 1974. Betty’s commentary explores the “Shimoda case,” and raises issues of the legality of nuclear weapons and the standing of individual citizens in international law. She links this case to contemporary efforts to apply international law to the abolition of nuclear weapons. The case and collateral materials used together could open inquiry into the role of law in, and citizen responsibility for the disarmament and peace movements at upper secondary and lower tertiary levels.

Teaching about Peacekeeping and Alternative Security Systems

This article by Betty Reardon is the second in a series exploring Betty’s 6 decades of peacelearning. In this post, Betty comments on “Peacekeeping,” a curricular unit in the secondary school series on “Perspectives in World Order” published in 1973.  Betty’s commentary here focuses on two excerpts examining approaches to peacekeeping and alternative security.  We post this article on the cusp of the 100th anniversary of “Armistice Day,” which marked the end of fighting in WWI (Nov. 11, 1918).  The “War to End all Wars” turned out to be a false promise as evidenced by the persistence of major wars throughout the 20th and into the 21st century.  We have much still to learn from this tragedy, and it is our hope that Betty’s inspiring and practical vision for “Teaching about Peacekeeping and Alternative Security Systems” might help us in that journey.

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