by Mary Pat Champeau, IHE's Director of Educational Programs"Every now and then, I'll meet an escapee; someone who has broken free of self-centeredness and lit out for the territory of compassion." ~ Marc Ian Barasch, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life
"I hope a prescription for Prozac comes with this Animal Protection course!" ~ IHE student who shall remain nameless
"Make of yourself a light." ~ The Buddha's Last Instruction
Recently, I held a salon for M.Ed. students in our semester-long "Culture and Change" course. The assignment we were talking about was based on the book I reference above, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life. The assignment is: "After reading Field Notes on the Compassionate Life, describe how you might cultivate a culture of compassion in your work as a humane educator, and your personal goals in bringing more kindness to the world as an educator/changemaker."
One of the students qualified his response by saying that he was still working in the field of computers and was not yet a humane educator. He went on to answer the questions posed by the assignment, and when he was finished, a silence ensued. One of the other students spoke up and said how much he had learned over the past two years from this particular student and that he considered him certainly to be a humane educator, even if his paid work happened to be in the field of computers. Another student added that she had once attended an IHE Sowing Seeds teacher-training workshop several years ago, and at the end of two days, the trainer had said that each participant who completed the weekend was now a humane educator -- after only two days.
We believe this. We believe that people who are drawn to this work are already humane educators, and they are seeking the information they need to become more effective and far-reaching with their message of sustainability and compassion; they are looking to connect with others who are like-minded, and to feed the fire that keeps their passion burning. Perhaps the job we have will not be called "humane education" -- it doesn't matter. Humane education is a practice, a way of being and working in the world. Many potential students who first contact me say, "I've been interested in this my whole life, I just never knew there was a name for it!"
Some of the information humane educators put themselves in the way of is disturbing and dark, but they do it anyway. In IHE programs, educators are asked to take field trips to schools, lectures, areas of environmental degradation, slaughterhouses, egg farms or auctions, civil and human rights organizations, and to interview people who've suffered under the yoke of oppression -- all as ways of bearing witness. The onus is on us to take the information of present-day reality -- even when it's hard to bear -- move through it (not allowing ourselves to get stuck in anger or despair), and come out the other side so we can educate about these topics without anger, judgment or bias. If you are passionate about creating a just, compassionate, sustainable world for all, and you are taking positive action in some way to educate others, you are a humane educator and a force for change in our world. Please, embrace the role!
Like our blog? Please share it with others, comment, and/or subscribe to our RSS feed.
1 comments:
How are they able to take trips to places such as egg farms and slaughterhouses? I was under the impression that these places don't allow visitors, under the pretense of "biosecurity" but we all know the real reasons. That's why most of the video and photos we have of such places were taken by undercover investigators.
Post a Comment