Moving beyond Tolerance
2001; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 82; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1177/003172170108200815
ISSN1940-6487
Autores Tópico(s)Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy
ResumoMr. Cirone describes a program in Santa Barbara County, California, that helps schools teach children about the causes, instruments, and dangers of hatred and discrimination. LEARNING tolerance for human differences is never an easy task, but those who work with young people must try to help them do so. In Santa Barbara County, we have created the Beyond Tolerance Educational Center, a nonprofit, self-sustaining organization whose mission is to combat hatred and intolerance through education. Operating under the umbrella of the Santa Barbara County Education Office, Beyond Tolerance serves as a resource center for educators and provides county schools with informational resources and programs that promote social awareness and tolerance. For the center's co-director, Adele Rosen, Beyond Tolerance is a powerful tool for fighting hatred. Rosen was chosen as co-director in part because she helped to organize the effort to bring the Anne Frank in the World Exhibit to Santa Barbara two years ago. She raised the money that allowed 10,000 students to view the exhibit. community responded with great support, said Rosen. It was a real success story. The Santa Barbara County Education Office wanted to capture that energy and spirit, so it decided to develop a way to teach children about the causes, instruments, and dangers of hatred and discrimination. With the district's backing, Rosen and Carol Spears, the other co-director, birthed the idea for Beyond Tolerance, as Rosen likes to put it. One of the programs offered through Beyond Tolerance, called Living Voices, is a multimedia experience designed for fifth- through 12th- graders, in which an actor interacts with video footage from a historical era, such as the civil rights movement or the Holocaust. All the programs are quite stirring, says Rosen. Some 10,000 students have been able to see the Living Voices program Right to Dream (about the civil rights movement), and similar numbers have seen Through the Eyes of a Friend (about the Holocaust). In April 2000, Living Voices presented Within the Silence, which focused on the Japanese American internment camps. It's essential that young people learn about what actually happened and about what not to accept, says Rosen. Different hate-related events are happening all over the world, and people need to speak up. The center also offers to schools training through Facing History and Ourselves, a national organization that has trained more than 40 Santa Barbara County English and history teachers at a weeklong institute. The teachers learn methods of inquiry, analysis, and interpretation in support of tolerance and democratic values. On completing the Facing History workshop, one teacher was heard to remark, I loved learning how to teach difficult, life-changing subject matter in a responsible, sensitive way. While Rosen focuses on raising money and on public relations, co- director Spears goes into elementary schools, coordinating and presenting two other Beyond Tolerance programs: Multicultural Celebrations and The Immigrants. Spears brings with her into classrooms the experience and connections she gained as the docent chair for the Anne Frank exhibit. She is also a docent for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The Multicultural Celebrations program demonstrates to students that people all over the world celebrate the same kinds of things for the same reasons; they just do so in different ways. For example, Spears brings to the classrooms she visits five different celebration bags for Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, Japanese Children's Day, Passover, and Cinco de Mayo. kids love it, says Spears. They learn that food, music, costumes, and decorations play a role no matter what the country, culture, or religion. The other Beyond Tolerance program, The Immigrants, is targeted to fifth-graders who are studying American history. …
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