LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER... IN PEACE from early childhood
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FOR PEACE
If we
asked the people around us to make a list of the basic characteristics or
trends of the current society, almost surely, they would mention quite
a few negative behaviors and values of the human being. Behaviors
that are the origin of numerous problems and social conflicts: violence of
all kind, deterioration of the environment, margination, poverty, consumerism,
drug addictions, etc. These are problems that condition our “quality
of life” and our life as human beings.
If we
looked further at the causes of this negative vision, we
could easily arrive at the predominant model of socialization and relation
in our society: we live in a culture of violence and contempt.
In the
face of this reality there is a general request to act as soon as possible
and develop preventive actions to stop unwanted behaviors. The demand
is for the governments and different agents of socialization (family,
school, and mass media) to come to an agreement and plan proposals
that bring about a radical change in our social model.
Learning
to live together is not achieved by decree.
Learning
to live together and in peace is not achieved, and experience has
demonstrated so, by doing interesting but isolated actions, always loaded
with good will and voluntary efforts, as our society has shown us day by day.
Learning
to live together and in peace can only be achieved by a plan of action
that is perfectly structured that leads the children and fills their
minds with norms, values, concepts and behaviors towards the assumption of
peace and the rejection of violence as essential components of their personalities.
And we have to do this when the personality of the children is being
formed and not later.
It is
indispensable to make a profound social change. And this change can only come
about from the creation of an educating society, where education for all the
children in the world is a reality and not just a speech that later gets lost.
To make
this possible and to reflect on how this education should be so it can lay
the foundation on how all people can live together regardless
of their origin and circumstances, we are holding the Permanent Chair of all
of us, which main objectives of this Project are:
•
Highlight the stage of initial and preschool education as the
best time to model a harmonious personality in children as well
as to provide them with education in values as this is the time when they
are shaped in children.
•
To make the world aware of the fact that only with quality, global
education, full of values in the widest sense of the term, can we achieve
a better world.
• Make available for teachers, pedagogical and methodological
procedures to help them instill in children norms, values, concepts
and behaviors that foster the attainment of peace and the rejection of
violence as essential components of their personality. We propose
a continuous work with the children to influence any future actions
on their part, to pass on values that remain with them for life.
• To
call on Supranational Institutions and Governments to provide
the necessary resources and to work so that all the children in the
world, without distinction of race, color, sex, language, religion,
national or social origin, economic situation, birth or any other condition,
have access to the quality education they deserve just for being
children, and from the moment of their birth.