EDUCATION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

This article explores theoretical and practical issues related to education for peace and justice. It briefly presents educational theories of Plato, Aristotle, John Dewey, and Paulo Freire, recent papal and conciliar teachings, and the work of prominent religious educators. The power of education for aiding in justice and peace education is shown through guiding principles, curricular and methodological arrangements, ways of handling controversial issues, and the effective use of the arts.


JOHN L. ELIAS Fordham University
This article explores theoretical and practical issues related to education for peace and justice.It briefly presents educational theories of Plato, Aristotle, John Dewey, and Paulo Freire, recent papal and conciliar teachings, and the work of prominent religious educators.The power of education for aiding in justice and peace education is shown through guiding principles, curricular and methodological arrangements, ways of handling controversial issues, and the effective use of the arts.
T he curriculum specialist Eisner (1979) raised the issue of the explicit, implicit, and null curricula in education: It is my thesis that what schools do not teach may be as important as what they do teach.I argue this position because ignorance is not simply a neutral void; it has important effects on the kinds of options one is able to consider, the alternative one can examine, and the perspectives from which one can view a situation or problem.(p.50) In the past, what was often missing in the school curricula, as well as in many parish ministries, was an explicit attention to the issues of peace and justice.
The Catholic Church possessed a rich tradition of social teaching, which has been called the best kept secret.This social teaching was known primarily to specialists.Recent curricula and courses have included this aspect of Catholic thought in a more prominent manner.Religion textbooks at both primary and secondary levels include units in peace and justice education.The purpose of this article is to present some theoretical and practical aspects of education for peace and justice that may be used in school and parish programs.While the primary focus is upon education in the schools, reference will also be made to religious education of adults.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHERS
Education for peace and justice begins with a number of premises: there continues to be injustice and violence in the world at the local, national, and international levels; something positive can be done about these situations; something can be done about them through educational efforts.While there is general agreement that education can do something about these injustices, there are some issues about the efficacy and limitations of education in these areas.
The Christian tradition, and in a special way many documents in Catholic social thought, have affirmed all three of these statements on many occasions.Many educators have posited a connection between education and the just and peaceful society.Plato's Republic (1968) described the education of the philosopher king as the most important factor in bringing about a just society.The philosopher king was to receive a rigorous education through mathematics and philosophy.Plato also felt that through education the basic ideals of justice and peace could be clarified and that clarification of such language would ultimately result in effective actions.It was Plato's view that education entailed first of all a vision of the good and just society.Once persons embraced this vision it was their responsibility to work for making this vision a reality.The enduring value of Plato's political philosophy is that those who are to rule should be prepared for this by a rigorous intellectual training.A contemplation of truths that transcends the ordinary experience of individuals may broaden the vision of leaders to contemplate all political decisions in a wider perspective (Cahn, 1997;Elias, 1995).
Although according to today's standards Plato's vision of the just society contains certain injustices with its class rigidity and aristocratic rule, Plato brought the issue of justice to the fore in education with penetrating analysis of the meaning of justice and its various components (Noddings, 1995).Plato's stress on the importance of the state and state education has been a valuable contribution to Western political theory.
For Aristotle, Plato's disciple, justice is one of the four virtues -along with prudence, fortitude, and temperance -necessary for the well-being and happiness of individuals and societies.For Aristotle, the virtue of justice is achieved through the performance of just actions.Aristotle's treatises on ethics and politics are largely discussions about the education of persons for participation in a just and peaceful society.
Aristotle's approach to moral and political education entails that people be trained in morally appropriate modes of conduct, which Aristotle called habits.It was the function of the community to inculcate values in its young through supervised training.This training was the building and formation of character (Aristotle, 1985).This great Greek philosopher made this case for political education of the young: No one will doubt the legislator should direct his attention above all to the education of youth; for the neglect of education does harm to the constitution.The citizen should be molded to suit the form of government under which he lives.
For each government has a peculiar character which originally formed and which continues to preserve it.(Aristotle, 1964, p. 268) Neither Plato nor Aristotle did justice to the demands of a practical political education for justice.The liberal education that they proposed stressed intellectual and moral virtues and placed less emphasis on the practical moral reasoning demanded in public and political life.The Greek tradition found in these two men formed the Western academic tradition in which seeking after truth took preference over seeking after justice and morality.Yet the vision of education that they present is a powerful one in the history of political thought and education (Elias, 1995).
The American educator who devoted the most attention to the connection between education and society was the pragmatist philosopher and educator, Dewey (1916).The achievement of democracy was the main focus of Dewey's attention, which was to be maintained by eliminating injustices and conflicts in society.For Dewey, the ultimate purpose of education is to bring about necessary changes in society in order to produce a society that is more democratic and violence free.This goal was to be accomplished by involving students in joint activities permeated by the spirit of democracy.The task of schools was not just to individuals to social institutions but were "to deepen and broaden the range of social contact and intercourse, of cooperative living, so that members of the school would be prepared to make their future social relations worthy and fruitful" (Dewey, 1966, p. 361).Though Dewey's primary attention was given to schools, these ideas can be extended to all of education.For Dewey, the school is to be structured around the democratic principles of moral equality, mutual respect, participation, and cooperation.Education is to promote a democratic society by involving students through experiential education in activities that would enable them to be critical of the social, political, and economic levels of society.For Dewey (1966), education was the primary means for the survival of society: Education is not the only means, but it is the first means, the primary means and the most deliberate means by which the values that any social group cherishes, the purposes that it wishes to realize are distributed and brought home to the thought, observation, judgment and choice of the individual.(p.37) Today, it is Freire, the Brazilian educator, who has been most responsible in bringing issues of justice and peace to the fore of educators.Freire's theo-ry of education as conscientization, or political consciousness-raising, contained in the greatly influential Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970b) is an attempt to empower people to deal effectively with oppression and injustice.Freire attempted to do this through a process of bringing persons to a critical awareness as a step to taking concrete action to deal with injustices.Freire (1970a) speaks of conscientization in these terms: Our pedagogy cannot do without a vision of humankind and the world.It formulates a scientific humanist conception which finds its expression in a dialogical praxis in which teachers and learners, together, in the act of analyzing a dehumanizing reality, denounce it while announcing its transformation in the name of human liberation.(p.20) Freire developed this educational theory when leading a campaign to eliminate illiteracy in the early 1960s in Brazil.Because of Freire's then revolutionary methods, he was imprisoned and forced into exile.Through many books and talks, Freire has advocated an approach to education for justice that entails raising consciousness in people of the unjust situations in which they live.In Freire's (1970a) view, there is no neutral; education is either for domestication or liberation.
In Freire's approach, the role of the teacher is that of a coordinator who arranges for learning by leading a group in dialogue on issues relating to injustice.Teachers are not to impose their ideas on students but to draw out their ideas or perceptions.Freire maintained great faith in the ability of oppressed people to correctly analyze, discuss, and act on situations of injustice.
What should particularly recommend Freire to Catholic educators, as well as other educators of other religious faiths, is the theological vision that permeates Freire's writings.Hennelly (1989) has made the case that Freire's educational vision is rooted in a theology close to liberation theology.Freire (1972) has said that Although I am not theologian, I line up with those who do not find theology an anachronism, but recognize that it has a vital function to perform.And to fulfill that task, the theologian should take, as the starting point in his reflection, the history of man.(p.8) Within Freire's writings, one can find such theological themes as God as creator and liberator, the Easter experiences, the Word of God, Church, human liberation, hope and love, human dignity, human freedom, and Catholic social thought (Elias, 1994).Freire also offered this endorsement of basic Christian communities that attempt to apply the Gospel in social situations: "When popular groups assume the role of subject in studying the Gospels, which they no longer simply read, then they inevitably study them from the standpoint of the oppressed and no longer from that of the oppressor" (Freire & Faundez, 1989, p. 66).

RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
Religious educators have more powerful reasons for a commitment to engage in education for peace and justice.Religions provide spiritually oriented visions of the just society as well as additional motivations for achieving it in the form of symbols, examples, writings, and exhortations.Furthermore, for Catholic educators there is the rich tradition of the Church's social teachings rooted in the Scriptures and the tradition of the Church.The Hebrew Scriptures, especially the prophets Isaiah and Amos, place great emphasis on working for peace and justice.The Christian Scriptures present the example of Jesus who labored to bring about the reign of justice and achieve a peace that is beyond understanding.
Every pope since Leo XIII has placed emphasis not only on the social mission of the Church but also pointed out how important education is in accomplishing this mission.Pope John XXIII (1977) in Mater et Magistra spoke of the role of parents and schools to inculcate a sense of responsibility that would make children aware of their duties in every action of life.
The 1971 Roman Synod of Bishops offered the most extensive treatment of education for justice in any Church document.In the spheres of justicefamily, school, work, and social and civic life -"educational method must be such as to teach men to live their lives in its entirety and in accord with the evangelical principles of persona and social morality which are expressed in the vital Christian witness of one's life" (Roman Synod of Bishops, 1977, p. 401).The document describes this education as direct, toward a renewal of heart based on the recognition of sin in its individual and social manifestation.It should foster a way of life in which justice, love, and simplicity are valued.This education should be practical and continue throughout life.It should come through action, participation, and vital contact with the reality of injustice.Partners in this education should be churches through teaching and liturgies, schools, trade unions, and political parties.Finally, in words resembling the pedagogy of Freire, it states that education for justice will also include a critical sense, which will lead us to reflect on the society in which we live and on its value; it will make men ready to renounce these values when they cease to promote justice for all men.In the developing countries, the principal aim of this education for justice consists in an attempt to awaken consciences to a knowledge of the concrete situation and in a call to secure a total improvement; by these means the transformation of the world has already begun.(Roman Synod of Bishops, 1977, p. 402) Pope John Paul II (1986) in many of his teachings made explicit the connection between seeking justice and peace, most notably when he stated that if social justice is the means to move toward a peace for all peoples, then it means that we see peace as an indivisible fruit of just and honest relations on every level -social, economic, cultural and ethical -of all life on earth.(p.11) John Paul II's explanation of the "new evangelization" contains the essential element of bringing the Church to the world's need for peace and justice, in contrast to the evangelization of the past which focused primarily on bringing people from the outside world into the Church.Furthermore, ever since Vatican II and the important statements by the American bishops on peace and the economy, many schools and parishes have made forms of social education an important part of the educational curriculum.
One problem that usually goes unexamined in peace and justice education is the connection between religion and violent injustices.Anyone who looks at the present situation in the world can easily see the connection between religion and forms of injustice and violence in the world.Some of the bloodiest disputes in the world have forms of religion as part of the equation.One thinks of violence in the Mideast, Northern Ireland, and India.All major religions are implicated in some way in these issues.An honest approach to education for peace and justice must not shy away from the implication of religions themselves in violence and injustice (Coppola, 2000).
A valuable theological source for peace and justice education remains The Faith That Does Justice (Haughey, 1977).This text is a response to the Jesuits General Congregation of 1974-1975 in which the Society of Jesus committed itself, in response to the Vatican Synod of 1971 on justice in the world, to work for peace and justice throughout the world.The rich resources of the Scriptures, theology, tradition, history, and Catholic social teaching are brought to the service of religious educators and pastoral ministers by scholars such as Dulles, Dych, Donohoe, Hollenbach, and the editor, Haughey.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATORS
Many religious educators have made education for peace and justice central to their educational theories and proposals.A collection of essays edited by O'Hare (1983) includes the insights of such prominent theologians and religious educators as Elizando, Fahey, Hughes, Isasi-Diaz, Harris, Moran, Groome, and Boys.These writers examine and comment on a broad range of issues in peace and justice education.Foundational issues in this education include an examination of the biblical roots of peace and justice, the need for courage, a concept of the priesthood of all believers, and social reform as the way to achieve justice.Educational issues concern a discussion on how to educate for justice in a just manner, the mobilization of grassroots Christian communities for such education, and the development of curricular materials.Broader issues in Christian ministry are also included: the role of the liturgy, pastoral care and counseling, the connection between spirituality and social responsibility, and the role of the arts in such an education.Johnson (1986) has edited a valuable resource for college and university teachers who conduct courses in justice and peace education.With some adaptation, some of these models can be utilized at the secondary level of education and in some parish programs for youth.Fahey (1986) provides the definition of justice and peace education accepted by the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities: Justice and peace education constitutes a multidisciplinary academic and moral quest for solutions to the problems of war and injustice with the consequential development of institutions and movements that will contribute to a peace that is based on justice and reconciliation.(p. 3) The book contains course descriptions for the humanities: religious studies, philosophy, literature, and composition; the social sciences: economics, history, political science, psychology, and sociology; the professional disciplines: business and management, education, engineering, and social work; and interdisciplinary courses in world hunger and science and technology.A final chapter describes courses that incorporate experiential learning as an essential component.

THE POWER OF EDUCATION
Education for peace and justice draws on the power of education to help students understand, appreciate, and act.Education has the power to contribute to efforts for advancing peace and justice in the world.Education can enable students to understand the causes of injustice and violence in past history and in present situations through a careful study of history and the social sciences.It can assist students through the study of theology, philosophy, psychology, and the social sciences to understand what it is about human nature and human institutions that causes violence and injustice.Education has the capacity to aid in understanding the strategies or remedies that have helped to overcome injustices (e.g., legal actions, lobbying, reforms, and even revolutions).Thus all academic disciplines have their contribution to make to peace and justice education, as made clear in the Johnson (1986) collection described earlier in this article.
Peace and justice education has the capacity to go beyond intellectual understanding to enable us to feel, appreciate, sense, perceive, and imagine the evil of injustice and violence in the world.It can stress that understanding needs to be accompanied by a deep sense of anger, outrage, and indignation about injustice.Understanding is valuable but in itself may not be sufficient to move people to action.Education can also give students an inner feeling for the motivations and personal power of individuals who have struggled to work against injustice and violence in its many forms.Thus education for justice and peace through the humanities and history, and especially literature and the graphic arts, is powerful in evoking feelings and sensitivities about injustices and motivating them to work for justice.
Certain forms of peace and justice education include acting politically to combat injustice and violence.Education for reconstruction, praxis-education, and service-learning can involve students in concrete actions of an individual or communal nature.Students can also be involved through letter writing, lobbying, demonstrations, community action, and so forth.Education for peace and justice that does not lead to some personal or communal action is actually inadequate, incomplete, or purely idealistic.The Christian faith has rightly been described as the faith that does justice.
The power of peace and justice education is revealed in principles drawn by Butkus (1983) from the works of Dewey and Freire.The context of such education should be a democratically structured community that commits itself to the values of equality, mutual respect, and cooperation.The primary educational method should be dialogue in which all parties listen and participate.The epistemology or approach to learning is a critical praxis or conscientization in which situations are reflected upon, and actions are planned and then evaluated.The point of departure for such education should be the learners' situation, needs, interests, and experiences.The overall future vision should be that of the reign of God, utopian in nature in which peace and justice prevail.

PRINCIPLES FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE EDUCATION
Principles for peace and justice education are related to the objectives, curriculum, and methods to be employed in such education.These traditional educational categories provide a framework for the development of programs and courses.

OBJECTIVES
Various attempts have been made to describe objectives and principles for peace and justice education.A group of Australian Catholic educators have identified these principles: • Another way to think about objectives is to define the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed for such education.Justice and peace education includes an exploration of concepts of peace and justice as states of being as well as active processes; an inquiry into obstacles to peace and justice as well as causes of a lack of peacefulness and injustices in individuals, institutions, and societies; and finally, the resolution of conflicts and how to deal with injustices, exploring a range of different alternative futures.
The knowledge base for peace and justice education should include an understanding of the following: conflict, power, peace, gender, war, race, nuclear issues, ecology, justice, and futures.Important skills for educators to attempt to develop include critical thinking, co-operation, empathy, proper assertiveness, and conflict resolution.Attitudes to be fostered through this education are self-respect, respect for others, ecological concern, open-mindedness, vision, and commitment to peace.

CURRICULUM
Over the years, many approaches have been developed to organize curriculum in schools and adult education (Kliebard, 1987).Each of the major curricular approaches can be used to deal with issues of peace and justice.Behavioral approaches to education are designed to affect the habits and behavior by promoting pro-social behavior and removing aggressive tendencies.The development of cognitive processes clarifies the key ideas that are involved in recurring debates over peace and justice issues.Academic rationalism deals with relevant educators of the past and present who bring classical ideas to bear on present discussions.Educators committed to furthering personal relevance begin with the resolution of personal conflicts and move to issues of local, national, and international significance.Education concerned with social reconstruction and social adaptation has been at the forefront of peace and justice studies.Thus various forms of curricular development can be utilized in planning for peace and justice education: behavioral objectives, concept learning, disciplinary approaches, personal growth, and social reconstruction.Complete educational approaches will incorporate two or more of these approaches.
If one takes a concept approach to peace and justice curriculum, it is clear that the concepts that need to be treated throughout the curriculum are human identity, whereby individuals may have a sense of emotional security; human fellowship, to provide a sense of compassion and of caring relationships; cooperation and trust as opposed to competition and fear; reconciliation and resolution of conflict, including mathematical formulations; and beauty, including harmony with nature and the aesthetic values of different cultures (Educating for Peace, 1986, pp. 74-75).
Curriculum areas for peace and justice education include understandings and notions of peace; Christian tradition and peace; peace and personal fulfillment; violence and non-violence; conflict, conflict management, and conflict resolution; war and human aggression; nuclear issues; peace and human rights; peace and development issues; environmental concerns; and visions of transformation.
Various approaches are presented for putting peace studies into the curriculum: integration into existing academic subjects, a broadly based integrated or interdisciplinary approach; informal learning by the hidden curriculum; extracurricular activities; topic work which is particularly applicable to primary schools.

PROCESSES OR METHODS
One approach to peace and justice education is based on the See, Judge, and Act Method developed by the Young Christian Workers Movement and Canon Cardijn of Belgium in the 1940s.This approach was used extensively in Catholic Action groups throughout the world.Through this method, we establish our own system of peace and justice values in our behavior through a continuing program involving experience, study, decision making, and action.
See. Peace and justice entails dealing with consciousness and experience, thus going beyond objective inquiry to confront our negative feelings and fears and to trust and be guided by our positive emotions and hopes.We see by reflecting on our experience by showing a readiness to modify and enlarge our understanding of the principles and means of creating peace.
Judge.Peace and justice education enters into a second state, a stage of involvement and decision making either alone or with others.This entails showing a concern for real-life situations of conflict and violence within our various communities.It also entails showing empathy based on self-awareness and an understanding of the likely emotions of other actors in the conflict.We make judgments about factors involved in a conflict, the roots and nature of a conflict.Decisions can also be made about appropriate strategies of peace and justice making for those involved in conflicts.Our analyses can be communicated to others in various ways, once we have justified them on moral grounds.

Act.
The third stage is one of action in order that we might move beyond biases in a balanced manner.Actions also include sympathy for those affected by violence or injustice; a readiness to cooperate with others but also, if necessary, to act alone; patience and restraint; knowing the value of compromise and its limits; flexibility of mind and approach but employing means that are appropriate to the end; persuasiveness and tact; and a sense of perspective and humor.
A second process that might be used in peace and justice education is actually a variation of the See, Judge, and Act Method.It is the method of social analysis presented by Holland and Henriot in their influential book, Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice (1986).The analysis proceeds by means of a pastoral circle that includes four movements.This approach is most suitable to the corporate praxis advocated by Fleischer (2004) in which communities engage together in reflection and action.
First, the educators or pastoral planners insert themselves into a situation by identifying the experience of individuals who are living any form of injustice or violence.Students may study such issues as gang violence, environmental pollution, poverty, inadequate housing, and job discrimination among others.
Second, the group then does social analysis by probing the causes and consequences of the unjust or violent actions that are taking place.This is the study part of the process.Materials exist in libraries and on the Internet.Students may also interview people involved in unjust and violent situations or governmental officials that deal with these problems.
Third, the group engages in theological reflection on the situation and their analysis of the situation in light of the Scriptures, tradition, and theology.The teacher can be of assistance in providing leads for student study and reflection for this step in the process.The richness of the Scriptures, Christian tradition, social teaching of the Church, and theological writings can be examined.
Fourth, the group makes a decision about what the situation calls from people of religious faith.Problems relating to injustice and violence can be addressed in many ways.Groups of adults have many avenues of social and political action open to them.For example, Interfaith Groups in the South Bronx have addressed issues of housing, the drug culture, and unsafe environment.There are many actions appropriate for students in school settings.
One valuable method in teaching about peace and justice is the use of case studies.Case studies have the potential of engaging students in real life issues.Hicks (1988) has gathered well thought out cases that can be used with secondary students and in adult education programs.Cases are given in the following areas: conflict, peace, war, nuclear issues, justice and development, power, gender, race, environment, and futures.In the hands of a skillful teacher, cases can reinforce in students valuable principles relating to peace and justice.

PRINCIPLES FOR HANDLING CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES
In education for peace and justice there is no way to avoid dealing with controversial issues.People of good faith have honest differences of opinions about what constitutes an unjust situation and about what actions are appropriate in given situations.The question arises about what stance teachers in a classroom should take on controversial issues relating to peace and justice.Because of the stature of the teacher in the classroom, there is always danger of indoctrination or manipulation of students to accept the views of teachers in controversial issues.A number of approaches for dealing with controversial issues have been presented by Stradling, Noctor, and Baines (1984).Teachers can adopt the role of an impartial judge of a discussion group.This approach has the potential of minimizing the teacher's bias, freeing everyone to take part in the discussion, bringing up issues that the teacher did not think of raising and allowing students to use their communication skills.Some limitations of this approach are that it might weaken rapport between students and teachers if it does not work effectively.It might be difficult to get students used to the approach.The approach may also reinforce existing attitudes and prejudices, and may not work well with all students.
A fuller treatment of the issue of dealing with controversial issues has been presented by Hill (1982) who presents four possibilities with regard to teachers' viewpoints.Teachers may maintain an exclusive partiality in which they present views in a way that they preclude any challenge from the students since they present only one opinion on a controversial issue, their own.This position amounts to an unwarranted indoctrination.Second, teachers may maintain exclusive neutrality in which they keep controversial issues outside the educational setting.This does not appear to be wise or even a possible stance especially where students are probing and questioning issues of the day.Third, teachers may attempt neutral impartiality in which they treat all points of view and allow students to come to their own conclusion and clarify their own values, without giving their own views.While this stance appears to be pedagogically sound, one wonders if it is possible or even wise not to share views on matters of controversy.Finally, what Hill advocates is that teachers strive to exhibit committed impartiality in which they fairly present all points of view and also give their own personal beliefs relevant to the controversial issue.
Thus a thorny issue in peace and justice education is the ideology or belief system of the teacher.Educators have to be aware of their own social and political ideologies and how these have come to bear in educational settings.It is now generally accepted that educators cannot be totally value-neutral in their teaching.What, however, is a democratic socialist, a Marxist, an anarchist, a democratic capitalist to do with political and economic ideologies in the context of the classroom when these ideologies bear on issues relating to peace and justice education?
The ideological issue is a broad one, but the issues arise with regard to one's views on particular political parties, policies, programs, and projects.Sound education demands that one does not present merely one's own views but try to present legitimate and respectable views and ideologies.A person can make known his or her positions but must avoid any form of indoctrination or manipulation.
The indoctrination issue is connected with the age and maturity of students.Education for peace and justice with school age students presents particular difficulties because of students' lack of knowledge of alternative viewpoints.With adults, one can expect that a group will hold a wide range of views and possess various beliefs, a fact that acts as a check.
Education thus has a twofold task when it comes to ideology.Teachers must educate students to critique and be suspicious of the ideologies that are dominant in society, which is the false consciousness that prevails.Teachers also have the task of educating students for commitment to ideologies and belief systems that are powerful enough to encourage them to act in the name of justice and peace (Elias, 1986).

CRITICISMS OF PEACE AND JUSTICE EDUCATION
Educators should realize that education for peace and justice has come in for some criticisms.Some charge that peace education is about frightening children on nuclear war issues.In some courses, students are supplied with magazines, pamphlets, books, and posters depicting in graphic detail all the horrors of nuclear war and the results of the atom bomb on Hiroshima.Films such as Full Metal Jacket, Saving Private Ryan, and others about war are full of close-ups of mutilated limbs and terror stricken faces.Often material and commentary have a strong political bias.It is alleged that during such sessions it is not uncommon for children to be physically sick, to faint, or to become hysterical.The first aim of the course is to shock, to numb, to promote feelings of despair, guilt, and hopelessness, and to create a situation where the teacher's own stance on the issues -the teacher's own ideologiesare readily acceptable.If such charges are true, teachers have not acted responsibly in dealing with the sensitivity of young children and even youth.Some contend that peace education is really appeasement education.It is encouraging attitudes of weakness and appeasement which could leave countries weak and defenseless.In teaching about peace and justice, teachers need to be aware of their own personal viewpoints.Reliance on the social teachings of the Church and statements by such authoritative persons as the pope and the conference of bishops provides a balance of treatment.In these issues, one can expect differences of opinion that need to be clearly presented.
In the opinion of some, education for peace and justice can easily turn into a form of political indoctrination.This is true of any education in a subject where there are differences of opinion.Teachers who are committed to impartiality will honestly present all viewpoints.Catholic educators have many resources in the teachings of the Church for dealing with issues in the area of peace and justice.

CURRICULAR DECISIONS TO BE MADE IN PEACE AND JUSTICE EDUCATION
When it comes to new subjects in the curriculum, there always arises the issue of whether or not they should be taught as separate subjects or as integrated in all subjects in the curriculum where relevant.Both approaches have merit.Perhaps to make up for past deficiencies in the curriculum and in parish programs, it might be wise to have peace and justice taught as a separate subject or at least as a separate unit in subjects like theology or religion.But a case can also be made for a school or religious education program to find various ways to introduce issues relating to peace and justice.
Justice and peace education may proceed in one of two ways.It may begin with authoritative sources such as the Scriptures, social teaching of the Church, or the writings of theologians and social scientists.Or it might proceed from the problems that students face in their lives or are aware of as existing in their society or in the world.No matter what, both sources and situations may play a role in such education.Perhaps it is best to vary approaches, at times beginning with what the sources challenge us to do or with situations of poverty, discrimination, and what they call Christians to respond in study and action.
Education for peace and justice may deal with broad subjects or with specific subjects.Education can proceed from dealing with concepts of peace and justice to the various forms of justice and theories on violence.On the other hand, one can focus on a specific issue such as world hunger and a central issue and see how a thorough study of it involves one in many issues that are closely related to peace and justice in the world.At times, there is a tendency to do too many things in the curriculum when a thorough study of one particular and central problem may be the gateway to the study of many issues.
Education for peace and justice should embrace two processes.There is a short term goal of giving valuable information in classes for youth and adults.But teachers should also have in mind certain long term goals that are not easily achieved.These are goals relating to changes in values and attitudes that take much longer to accomplish.There has to be realism that students are greatly influenced by the cultures in which they are reared and educated.Schools often present a set of challenges to the values and attitudes that students have received from their families.One only has to deal with such issues as welfare reform, military buildup, and capital punishment to be inundated with many preconceived values and attitudes.Often all that can be done in classes is presenting information and offering challenges to these notions.Teachers in religious schools and parishes should not shy away from presenting positions that the Church has taken on controversial issues and explain the reasons behind these positions.
Educators for peace and justice also must make decisions about the correct balance between content and methods, product and process.Some teachers approach teaching by focusing mainly on what the students are to learn.Others are more intent on using methods that reflect certain values, such as non-violence, tolerance, freedom of expression, and critical openness.The proper balancing of substantive and methodological issues characterizes the art of teaching.

TEACHING JUSTLY IN EDUCATION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
Teaching is an activity that needs to be scrutinized for its moral dimensions.Like all human activities, teaching involves issues that bear on justice, as well as good and evil.It is not enough to teach about justice or to encourage others to work for justice, teachers must also teach justly.They should manifest justice in their dealings with their students, parents, administration, and society.Teachers must also teach in a just manner.Issues related to freedom, fairness, and equality are issues of justice.Justice can be raised about the purposes, content, methods of teaching, and methods of evaluation.The example of justice in practice may go further than discussions or lectures about justice and peace.
Teaching justly entails a respect for the person of the learner, a respect for the discipline, a respect that shows itself in relationships with students and with all persons who are involved in teaching activities.
Teaching justly means making students aware of what is happening to them in the educational process, making them critical of the very process of education.Just teaching entails building in students a criticism not only of injustices in society but also of injustices involved in the very enterprise of education.Education is always conducted in such a way as to foster uncritically certain values.Teachers, methods of organization, methods of evaluation, choice of content, and all aspects of the educational enterprise assume certain values, about which students should be made self-critical.
To teach justly teachers need to question what their motives are for intro-ducing justice and peace education into educational settings; to be clear about the objectives of peace and justice education; to be aware of the presuppositions of students about issues of justice; to be aware of their own ideologies and those of the institutions within which they work; and to attend to the processes to be used in justice education.

ART AND EDUCATION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
Social analysis may not be enough in the work for peace and justice.Teachers must also view issues from within, using more than pure analysis and reflection.Imagination deals with problems in such a way as to offset rigidity and aimlessness, excessive literalness, and rigid pursuit of predetermined goals.
Education restricts itself to museum art if it reinforces privatizing responses; generates no communal forms; isolates itself in structures, process, and purposes; or sees world and tasks of world-forming as addenda to the educative enterprise, subject only of the sporadic product.(Woodward, 1983, p. 129) Bringing the aesthetic into education for peace and justice enhances this education in a number of ways.It brings in study of present paradigms for and approaches to such education.Attention to the problem of violence and injustice are supplemented by attention to larger meanings and implications.Education for peace and justice becomes conscious of the interactive power of themes and principles in a communicative art productive of necessary contextual shifts.This aesthetic is introduced through many modes: theater, story, sustaining myth, challenging parables, and sharp satire.Examples abound including the novels of Dickens and the biographies of and films about advocates for peace and justice such as Dorothy Day, Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, and Gandhi among others.
Justice education includes an education toward an appreciation of wholeness, the essential integrity of the beautiful that can sharpen perception of evil.
Beauty can give impetus to action.Soelle (1977) in the poem, "Ernesto Cardinal" explains how love of beauty motivated him to become a priest, a poet, and an activist for justice in Nicaragua: This led him he said to poetry (and beyond) it led him to god (and beyond) it led him to the gospel (and beyond) it led him to socialism (and beyond). (p. 25) start with human experience • seek critical awareness and understanding • see peace and justice as fundamental though paradoxical values which require flexibility in their pursuit • value Jesus Christ as the source and model of action • work toward social change • work through conflict to healing • work toward conversion and reconciliation • promote creative imagination • aim for the growth of compassion, insight, self-awareness, and inner discipline.(Educating for Peace, 1986, p. 65)