Peace Curriculum

I appreciated “Learning to Increase Peace” (Dec. 8), about the violence on high school campuses in L.A. Issues surrounding violence and conflict must be addressed at an earlier age, and we are attempting to take on the problem through an extensive integrated curricular approach through the Northridge Middle School Institute for the Study of World Peace.

Our program, which operates through a small grant, involves 160 seventh-grade students and four academic teachers who are focusing their curriculum on peace issues in the world and in the community. We involve the kids in doing research on world conflicts, have daily news briefings, and have established a team government based on the United Nations. Also, we have formed a Peace Team Choir and have provided a weeklong seminar for 25 students with the Community for Nonviolence Resource Center. The students have taken field trips to the Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Center and the Reagan Library World War II exhibit. We have also presented speakers from a consulate and from the military.

In short, we are saying that if we are really going to deal with violence in society, we must begin to recognize that “society” needs to be an integral part of our curriculum. Our approach has deviated from the “don’t do this” mentality to one of inductive thinking: “In order to make this life work, we need to pay attention to some basic issues of humanity, citizenship and personal responsibility.”

This curriculum does not exist in packages, in workbooks, or on a standardized test. It is our hope to bring 10 more peace institutes to the city’s schools next year.

RONALD KLEMP Ed.D., Adviser

Northridge Middle School Institute

for the Study of World Peace