Action Plan

Education as Humanity’s Best Hope for the Future

So, we come to the questions of how the diverse peoples of the Earth can be brought collectively to an understanding of who they really are and what should be the purpose of their lives as their planet struggles to sustain their wild and willful activities at this moment in human history.

How are they to learn to be responsible crew members of Spaceship Earth? How are they to escape outmoded teachings in which they have falsely learned to view themselves as beings separate from each other and from the rest of life?

How are they to embrace a new role of conscious evolution and sing a new song of transcendence?

How are they to accomplish the leap into an Age of Consciousness that will enable them to secure the future of their world as a global civilization destined to reach out into the mystery of the cosmos?

It is a monumental challenge, but here again we have reason to be hopeful.

Learning is at the heart of the human enterprise. Looking back to ancient cultures, we can be amazed at the extent of their knowledge. Some of it has been proven to be false as the evolution of thought progressed on the planet, and some of it we now see to be superior wisdom to what current generations accept as truth in diverse cultures around the world. It is a never- ending journey towards enlightenment with the potential to take false turnings, but always with the capability of self-correction.

Throughout all this history, we have seen how knowledge can be spread with intention.

No better example exists than the systems of education that have been built over the past 150 years to serve the requirements of industrial economies. Not all of it has been good, but the error has been in the underlying assumptions, rather than in the process. We know how to do this to serve national interests.

A good example is how literacy has permeated every culture and every corner of the planet. At the beginning of the 20th century, 12% of the global population was literate. By the end of the century, 86% of the global population could read. In industrial countries this was more than 90%.

Reading, taught in school, has become the absolute right of every child in every country in the world. This is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on The Rights of the Child.

What was done with reading could be done with the principles of global citizenship taught in schools, in much less than 100 years, given our current global digital capacity.

Now, we have to embrace the challenge of doing this for the collective good of humanity. Our task is to build a system of education for global citizenship that will be available for all.

How do we begin?

One thing surely is clear. It should be based on wisdom. A beginning is seen in the examples discussed above. It is not a complete picture, but it is a good start. Additions can be made over time from wisdom keepers in diverse cultures and indigenous communities. And it must be available in the many languages of the world. All of this will add to the Song of Transcendence now beginning to be heard. The most important question is how to proceed to spread the wisdom we already know to the generations now alive. This will include the ones in school where the formal system of education can be utilized. Those no longer in formal educational institutions can be reached in a myriad of ways through the digital world now extant in every country.

What is important is that we act. Here is a pilot project of how to begin.

Formal Education System

In the formal education system, the teaching of global citizenship can begin in the senior grades of high school. The advantage of beginning here is that the students once they attain mastery can become teachers of global citizenship to junior students through a process of Each One Teach One. They will also be able to set up informal modes of learning through Global Citizenship clubs. At the same time, there is no reason that versions of this information cannot usefully start in the intermediate grades of Elementary School or in the grades beyond.

Learning to become a global citizen requires a comprehensive learning model. We need to shift the learning model from passively remembering facts (primary level) to actively incorporating this knowledge into our thinking (secondary level) and acting to apply this knowledge to acts of good work (tertiary level).

This is where the work of the Visioneers International Network comes to the forefront. It has designed an approach to do this that is ready to be piloted in schools in British Columbia, Canada with the intent of spreading it more widely through other educational systems in Canada and beyond. The core content is a series of 10 videos featuring the wisdom of selected global thought leaders whose teaching is summarised above. The series is called a Journey of Extraordinary Wisdom https://thevisioneers.ca/the-waging-peace-project/introduction and is available online to be led for students in schools by their teachers.

Teachers in school can customize the videos for use with their particular classes and also add other content relevant to learning to become a global citizen. This comprises the mastery of basic knowledge at the primary level of learning. To move to the secondary level of incorporating the knowledge into the thinking of the students requires a model of group learning and discussion focusing on key questions of meaning and application. A description of this process can be seen at https://thevisioneers.ca/the-waging-peace-project/a-course-in-becoming-a-global-citizen.

The final stage or tertiary level of learning requires the students to develop projects to apply their new knowledge to acts of good work in their community or beyond. This involves working in groups, learning the skills of collaboration to attain an intended outcome. The basic value common to all projects will be the principle of interconnection or oneness whereby students are learning the power of working together for the benefit of all. Projects may address social problems such as homelessness, poverty, inequity, etc., or environmental problems arising from a disconnect between humans and nature, such as pollution or destruction of ecosystems.

To attain a certificate of global citizenship, students will be required to complete all three stages of the learning process, including learning how to teach others about global citizenship. Following certification, in-school activities can be set up whereby the senior students can be leaders for teaching junior students about global citizenship. Eventually this can result in the development of a culture of global citizenship in the school, such that students will look forward to lives of meaning in which they see themselves as co-creators of a glorious future, free from threat of war, in which people spend their days in peaceful coexistence at all levels of society—humanity’s golden peace. https://thevisioneers.ca/the-waging-peace-project/humanity-s-golden-peace.

When schools have reached this level of competence in teaching global citizenship, they can then extend their reach by twinning with other schools anywhere in the world. In this way the learning of global citizenship can spread informally around the world. In addition, the formal education systems in all countries can be encouraged to adopt the learning model described above through international educational organizations such as UNESCO.

The intent is a planet-wide initiative mounted in the 21st century aimed at preparing coming generations of leaders to build a future of collaboration and peace in the spirit of unity.

Global Citizenship for All

Beyond the initiative to foster the competence of global citizenship through the formal educational systems of the world, a parallel thrust is being launched so that people of all ages in all countries may attain an equivalent level of competence. The beginning of the process is already in place through the platforms of the Visioneers International Network https://thevisioneers.ca/, soon to be extended for people everywhere to take a self-guided learning journey online and receive their certification of competence as global citizens.

8