Dear Teacher,
I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no one should witness. Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates. So, I am suspicious of education.
My request is: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns. Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only If they serve to make our children more human.
Anon
This is 'Poetic Offering For Peace' Logo created by Nomisha Kurian
The theme for today is Global Peace
On the 22nd Jan 2021 nuclear weapons became illegal under international law. In 2017, ICAN, the organisation that campaigned for this, received the Nobel Peace Prize in honour of their efforts. To date, their treaty has 84 signatories in addition to the 50 UN ratifications. POPS aims to build peace in a nuclear-free world.
Do some research – find out more!
Write a poem or a story (or draw a picture) from the point of view of someone who, like the Holocaust survivor, finds it hard to understand why we don’t take peace education more seriously. What would you say in a letter about it to a teacher?
What logo would you create for POPS? You might get a chance to share it at some point