Teaching Peace by Jan Arnow

          Despite the difficulty of obtaining a copy (it was not “currently” available on Amazon.com nor directly available through Barnes & Noble), this book was well worth the challenge.  Ms. Arnow’s book provides a comprehensive guide to parents, teachers and administrators who desire to create an environment of peace and compassion in the home, school and community.  It is full of compelling quotations, some of which are included here, and helpful resources to mine. 

Teaching Peace should be part of every educator’s and parent’s library. The book begins with a discussion of the conditioning for hatred and violence in our culture and how it has affected children and adults. The author states, “It is in the mind of each of us that the foundations for peace in our local and world communities is constructed.  If we are to be peacemakers, we must each be peace thinkers and peace feelers”.  However, to rekindle our compassion we must resist an onslaught of cultural stimuli that has moved us from empathy to fear, despair and often violence.  The marketplace and media have been very effective in desensitizing our youth, especially since the deregulation of children’s television in the 1980’s. 

Since then, numerous restrictions that protected children from commercial exploitation have been removed.  Most children once played outside and interacted with others.  Now, many sit glued to the television, passively fed information on what to buy and how to use specific toys of aggression and violence.  Television programming is often dominated with violent acts and the reinforcement of cultural stereotypes.  However, Ms. Arnow clearly puts the primary responsibility for this dismal state of affairs not on the marketplace, but on the consumers who continue to reward such demoralizing and simplistic programming with viewers.

Given the time most children are exposed to television and the internet, which has even less inherent governance of content, children today feel that they are inheriting a dangerous world.  Many youth are angry with us for the increase in racism, hatred and violence as well as for abandoning them to their dire standing as children without a childhood.  Jan Arnow believes we must help our children convert these problems into opportunities to meet the challenges of our social ills.  She states, “We must learn to confront our despair; to acknowledge that what we fear will not go away. We must break the taboo about dealing publicly with our concerns for the future by deciding that we as individuals, families, schools and communities are willing to talk to our children and are open to listening and to truly believe that it is our responsibility to do so.”   Ms. Arnow believes that we should guide our children toward effective action.  As they grow older, they can gather information that helps them better understand the issues, inform and educate their peers and mobilize them to further action.

Teaching Peace includes easy to use checklists for choosing toys, TV shows and children literature as well as aids to evaluate news programs with your children.  Emphasis is placed on helping you and your child to become more aware of how violence, sexism and racism is perpetuated in our culture and how we can act to minimize its effects.  The book has numerous listings of resources that help parents express their concerns about commercial television programming, children’s video games, toys and literature.

Jan Arnow’s book speaks to educators and administrators as well as parents.  Most schools in America perpetuate and communicate the values, power relationships and behavior standards of middle-class Europeans while 20% of our children live below the poverty line and more than 30% are of color. The reluctance or inability of schools to educate much of these “different” children results in neglected, rejected cast-off kids turning into bitter, gun-toting criminals.  We, educators and administrators, as professionals are responsible for implementing strategies to improve school culture and student outcomes.  They should include multicultural education, parent resource centers and violence prevention programs.  Here again, the author lists resources that facilitate effective action in this regard.

Violence is approaching the position of being America’s number one public health problem.  One in 100 Americans are incarcerated (the highest percentage of any nation).  This book offers clear ways for parents, teachers and administrators to partner in actions that create cultural and institutional change toward peace and away from compassion fatigue.  I hope its clarion call echoes across America.

“One of the biggest lies out here is that no matter what race or religion you are, it doesn’t matter.  Now, that’s a lie, and we all know it.  If we don’t talk about these problems and take them on, they’re going to get much, much worse.” – Spike Lee

Tim Wolcott, March 2008