McCarthy speaks at Cate School
In February, Colman McCarthy of the Center for Teaching Peace in Washington D.C. spoke to the the Cate School community. He was in Santa Barbara to be honored by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation of Santa Barbara, and he was invited to Cate by Steven Crandell (uncle of Meghan '03, Caitlin '06, and David Crandell '10). McCarthy is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and teaches classes at three Washington DC high schools. He was a columnist for the Washington Post for 28 years and founded the Center for Teaching Peace in 1985, a nonprofit that helps schools begin or expand academic programs in Peace Studies. "We are graduating students as peace illiterates who have only heard the side of violence," McCarthy lamented. "Unless we teach our children peace, someone will teach them violence."
At one point in his talk he held up a $100 bill and challenged the audience: "I'll give this to anybody who can identify these next six people--Who were Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and Paul Revere?" Hands flew up and students easily answered his challenge. But when he asked "Who was Jeanette Rankin [first woman member of Congress, voted against World War I and World War II, and said, 'You can no more win a war than win an earthquake.'];
"The last three are women peacemakers. The first three are all male peacebreakers. You know the militarists, but not the peacemakers."
Students and faculty were very moved by his presentation and crowded the stage afterwards to ask him questions and continue the conversation. Many purchased books published by his Center, in the hopes of bringing a peace curriculum to Cate.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
