Category Archives: Articles

All My Work is Peace Education

Martha Llanos, Peru

Martha_LlanosIn my varied career, including my time as the first UNICEF Regional Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, I have worked for the rights of the child in Peru and around the world.

Last year I had a wonderful time sharing Peace Ambassadors workshops with women and girls from India, Nepal, and Greece.

I just completed three presentations at the International Conference on Human Development that took place in Lima.

Now I am preparing to journey to Slovenia and Croatia to work on intercultural issues and coping and resilience in emergency situations.

All my work is peace education. The heart of peace education is understanding people’s lives, dreams, cultures, and practices and appreciating them in whatever contributions they make to society.

Peace education encompasses flexibility, creativity, discovery, and finding value in every way that collectivity can be built for the common good. Values such as cooperation, trust, solidarity, and respect are essential for peace building.

As Mahatma Gandhi said:

If we want true peace in the world, we shall have to start with the children. We will not have peace in the world if we continue to violate children’s rights.

To build a global culture of peace we must build a collective vision in which the culture of peace features presented in the UNESCO Manifesto are expressed in our everyday life: Continue reading

A Reflection on 9/11

Marge Schiller PhD
(PCC Director)

I avoided thinking about 9/11. Even though that day was a life altering experience for me.

I was in New York City when the World Trade Centers were hit. But going back to the shock and grief and fear of being there then was not something I wanted to do.

9-11-01candlesimplelgwhite19/11 was a defining moment in the USA. People in my country and around the world came together in shock and surprise.

It was not just the number of deaths; many more people have died in defining moments of war, famine or disaster. It was the vulnerability of our wonderful, optimistic, almost adolescent country.

We were looking at a new reality that brought us both closer together and also further apart from the post 2000 global society.

The new millennium had the USA in a different and (for us) disturbing place in the world order.

On September 11th I was working with seventy senior executives from a Manhattan based hotel chain. To provide context for the management training session I had asked the group the question “Is Then the Same as Now?”

We had just started to talk about changes in the hospitality industry and the world when we heard the news.

Outside the mid town building there was smoke, and ash covered the streets. Because communications were shut down, we even speculated that the USA was at war.

childholdinghandWhen Rachel, aged three, was brought to the corporate headquarters by her mother, I took care of the little girl so Lynette could work.

As Rachel and I walked around corporate headquarters I saw how her presence affected others.  Those who were in shock unfroze. Anyone who had been crying stopped when they heard her voice or saw her sweet face.

That was when I knew that children are the image and voice of hope — especially when we suspect things are hopeless.

That was how the Positive Change Core was initiated — to serve children and youth with strength-focused approaches to schools and learning.

But yesterday I did not want to go back to 9/11.

Yes, that day changed my life — but now what?

The answer showed up on the news and in today’s newspaper.

“We can summon once more that ordinary goodness of America — to serve our communities, to strengthen our country and to better our world.”  Barack Obama

Nine One One is a day for Service. The remembrance is in the present. In giving back. Remembrance comes best in being of service to children, youth and others in our community.

That is the greatest memorial for the dead.

That is what 9/11 means to me today.

Please Send Us Your Stories & News!

7265445 (WinCE)We invite you to send us your stories about strength focused work with children and youth for publication on the PCC website.

Whether you have a short snippet to share or would like to send us a longer story, we’d love to hear from you!

Shorter pieces can be published directly on the website. If you would like to send us a longer article, please include a short introduction for publication on the site. We’ll convert the longer piece into a  downloadable pdf to accompany the web-page introduction.

You may find our PCC Web Writing Guide helpful in writing copy for publication on the web.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Intergenerational Conversations

Marge SchillerThis is the title of an article by PCC founder, Marge Schiller PhD.

As Marge says:

Schools and youth are agents of benefit for their communities and the world. They are the future. Sustainability of that future depends on human beings, young and old meeting our responsibility as stewards of the earth.

In this article, Marge talks about the benefits of creating space for intergenerational conversations and explains two of the foundational principles of PCC:

  1. Don’t do anything about me without me
  2. Maximum mix is magic

She shares some thoughts on how to proceed with such a gathering, and suggests three phases for maximum success.

Download  Intergenerational_Conversations

The Power of Commitment

nancy_headshot_sepia

This is the title of an inspiring article by Nancy Oelklaus, who is a former assistant superintendent of schools in Texas. Nancy is also an executive coach and the author of Journey from Head to Heart: Living and Working Authentically and Alphabet Meditations for Teachers.

Nancy describes ‘the invisible school’ – the billions of neuronal patterns that each of us is carrying around inside our heads. How we think about school. How we feel about each other.

This invisible school has its dark side – our negative responses to others’ imperfections and our tendency to analyse, judge and perhaps condemn.

But as Nancy says:

Since we are susceptible to the phenomenon of mirror neurons-being influenced by another person’s state of mind-we need to protect our brains from invasion by negativity.

A starting point is to write or draw or create in some visual form our commitment to our relationship with ourselves, parents, students, and colleagues. Following are some examples.

My hope is that these words inspire you to write your own commitments, read or write them every day, and have a more peaceful and rewarding experience in education.

Download The Power of Commitment

Articles and Publications

We are always looking for articles and publications that relate to Positive Change Core and our work.

Please contact us if you feel you have a resource that belongs here. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy reading the resources below.

  • Word document) Flourishing Canton– Canton Ohio – read what happens when a group of intergenerational citizens in June 2006 together with the Positive Change Core go back to the future, and rediscover (and begin to realize) the flourishing city Canton once was – reprinted with permission from AI Practitioner
  • (PDF) Life Long Learning and Education ‘On the Road to Finding Out’ – explores possibilities for individual and educational transformative positive change through lifelong learning and lifelong education. reprinted with permission from AI Practitioner please note this is a very large file so may take time to download