Proposal for a Peace Studies Course

Proposal for Peace Studies Class

Wilson High School

Colman McCarthy

Feb. 22, 2010

The purpose of the course is to expose students to the ideas and ideals of nonviolence, as taught and practiced by both the well-known and unknown peacemakers, past and present. The class is discussion-based, with students encouraged to express their views, however conventional or unconventional those views may be. Along with the course text, “Solutions to Violence,” other readings include newspaper or magazine stories, as well as films about nonviolence. Topics to be discussed include alternatives to the violence of war, racism, sexism and speciesism.

The theme of the course is based on this thought: don’t ask questions, do something bolder and braver--question the answers. What answers? The ones we too often hear from governments, the media and sometimes our own friends: the answer to settling conflict is violence.

The course is taught by Colman McCarthy, a former Washington Post columnist and the author of six books on nonviolence. In addition to teaching at Wilson High since 1985, he currently teaches at Georgetown Law School, American University, the University of Maryland and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. He has had more than 7,000 students in his classes since 1982.