[Gwen Shangle]

Cosmic Education can serve as an antidote to intolerance. The overarching themes of interconnectedness and unity are powerful in helping us not only accept differences, but to even celebrate them, and realize we need them to keep us all moving forward. It is our differences that make us unique and special, both individually and as groups within our society.

Two things stand out to me in reading this post; first the idea of teaching whole to specific, and the idea of commonalities of all living things.

In traditional education, we often start from the detail and move outward. For instance, we study our country or state. Montessori sought to give children the big picture first; present the Universe, or the map of the planisphere (whole world map) first. This does several things; it allows the child to have context in the detail to be presented, and the framework. It is like reviewing the table of contents in a book, it gives the detail a place to rest that gives it more meaning. This technique also allows for a more unified and complete perspective over time. Humans can be quite egocentric, and studying things in a larger context gives our students a global, or even universal, perspective.

The fundamental needs of Humans is a series of presentations and works that allow students to discover the commonalities of all humans. Students identify and name those things humans need, which includes not just concrete things such as food and shelter, but moving beyond that and discussing things such as art and religion. Once we see that all humans tend to have a way they celebrate beauty, God, or birth of new life, and we then compare these to our own with a sense of respect and reverence, we develop tolerance. The differences are investigated and honored, but even more so a deep respect for the differences emerges. In many schools, the study of other religions does not begin until middle school history, when ideas of tolerance are typically already formed (although never too late!). We want to allow these exposures at early ages as well.

Lastly, I cannot state strongly enough the power of connecting with nature. We cannot expect children who don’t play with the earth or spend time in nature, or know where their food comes from, to truly then care for the future of the Earth. Allowing children to merely play and be with nature with their time unstructured, allows them to connect and therefore care. Even adults find it to be healing, rejuvenating and often necessary. More to come on this another day….

These things can be done in homes with some forethought as well.

Some books I enjoy on this subject:

Last Child in the Woods, Louv

Peaceful Children, Peaceful World, Aline Wolf

On The Day You Were Born, Frasier

Miss Rumphius, Cooney

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