Your Name and Title:
Zoe Weil
President, Institute for Humane Education
School or Organization Name:
Institute for Humane Education
Co-Presenter Name(s):
n/a
Area of the World from Which You Will Present:
Surry, Maine
Language in Which You Will Present:
English
Target Audience(s):
Educators, Parents, Students
Short Session Description (one line):
title: The Answer to All Our Problems
Our interconnected problems and unsustainable systems can be fixed through education.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
The answer to all our problems, large and small, is really quite simple: we must transform how and what we teach in schools. Today’s world presents unprecedented challenges and unprecedented opportunities to our children. What if students learned how to identify complex, systemic problems and create solutions that both addressed root causes, and which were healthy and positive for all people, animals, and environment?
To achieve this, we must do three things:
adopt a more relevant and meaningful purpose for schooling
make school experiences real-world and solutionary-focused
prepare teachers to educate their students to be solutionaries
Through more meaningful education, young people gain the power to become deeply engaged citizens able to interconnect the issues of human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection. As a result, they will evolve into conscientious choice makers able to lead positive change for a more peaceful, just, and healthy world.
Few places better than school are able to address and grapple with “social problems, economics, foreign affairs,” and any number of issues, controversial or otherwise, relevant to the lives of our children. Schools and teachers can provide one of the best venues for investigation, research, and analysis, with the goal of turning controversial issues into the clay from which students can mold new ideas and develop meaningful solutions to problems that are all too commonly perceived and presented in either/or terms. By educating, a generation of solutionaries, the grave problems in the world have more potential for being solved.
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session:
Zoe’s TEDx: “The World Becomes What You Teach” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5HEV96dIuY
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