Imagine a child who is never taught to hate, but to understand and co-exist. Envision a child who is educated about community and social justice instead of divisiveness. Picture the adult this child will become; imagine a world filled with these adults.

You have just shared our vision.

Global Village International School for Peace and Diversity Studies (GVS) is a non-profit, distance-learning K-12 school based in Southern California. Grounded in the belief that access to information and peace education are the keys to ending prejudice, we offer a full diploma program, college preparatory classes and college counseling to that end. To accomplish our vision, a dedicated team has created an educational program that integrates Peace and Diversity Studies (PDS) with the core subjects of Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. Our mission is preparing people for a life as informed leaders and effective agents of social change while providing a safe haven for those harassed or ostracized in the average school.

The recent escalation of hostility in the Middle East and United States underscores the precarious balance on which human existence currently rests. While governments have focused on force and retribution as solutions to violence, GVS believes that engaging students in studies that inspire inquiry, encourage communication, and foster cooperation will lead to an understanding of the root causes of world events. Bertrand Russell understood that "We must have some concept of the kind of person we wish to produce before we can have any definite opinion as to the education which we consider best." At GVS we endeavor to support the development of thoughtful, compassionate and aware human beings who will provide a constructive and hopeful foundation for global survival.

GVS represents a new model of education that incorporates distance learning in the form of Internet and/or text-based instruction with studies in peace and diversity. The Internet provides an ideal means to do this: students who would otherwise be isolated from each other can build community regardless of where they live. The course of studies involves core courses, PDS, Service Learning, and electives. PDS subject areas include: "The History of Civil Rights in America," "Coming of Age," "The Literature of Diversity" and "Global Spirituality and Activism."

Peace and Diversity Studies

Students learn about cultures, histories, and social climates in their Peace and Diversity coursework. For example, our Peacemakers course presents role models who enact non-violent social change and concrete examples of successful non-violent movements. GVS scholars consider questions like: What enables peacemakers to look at painful truths without giving in to a sense of hopelessness? What sustained Martin Luther King? How did Mandela emerge after 27 years of imprisonment to speak of reconciliation rather than hate?

Service Learning and Electives

GVS believes in education through action. Students research and choose where to volunteer their services. By expending their own time and energy, people learn about real world dilemmas and solutions firsthand. Participants will gain from this experience in their own unique ways, but they will all learn that one person can and does make a difference.

A student named Sreymol had lived in a Cambodian orphanage before an American adopted her. Having spent years of her life under challenging circumstances, she realized that helping others is very important. At seventeen, she hosts her own website, where she sells homemade clothing and pies, donating the proceeds to the homeless. As Sreymol exemplifies, our students come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and nationalities, and GVS acknowledges this broad range of backgrounds by offering elective credit for many different kinds of life experience.

Is GVS Biased?

The fact that progressive visions challenging the status quo are often seen as biased is of concern to organizations working for social change. Bias is defined as an attempt to influence in a particular, typically unfair direction, and the idea of prejudice is often associated with the term. At GVS we think people are constantly influencing each other; thus it is not enough to ask whether or not something is biased. We believe there are better questions, among them: Is your research thorough? Have you examined a diversity of arguments?

Historian Howard Zinn once wrote, "In a world where justice is maldistributed, there is no such thing as a neutral or representative recapitulation of the facts." Every curriculum is shaped by certain assumptions about life, whether by conscious intent or reliance on conventional wisdom. Our curriculum philosophy begins with the idea that "common sense" can keep us from making new connections and approaching problems from creative angles. In short, the status quo is often an obstacle to change and the world needs transforming.

We are not neutral in regards to alleviating poverty or preventing bloodshed; we cannot afford to be. We are of the same mind as Philip Slater when he asserted that "Every apathetic individual is a brick in a tyrant's throne." We are in accord with Gandhi when he proclaimed that "You must be the change you wish to see in the world," and we affirm Albert Einstein's statement, "We cannot solve problems we have created with the same thinking that created them."

Our educators attempt to provide examples of voices from across the spectrum, but there is a limit to what one can do. We have observed that people are bombarded with images from the dominant culture everyday. Accordingly, there is a definite emphasis on progressive perspectives in GVS lessons. We agree with Einstein: "The important thing is to never stop questioning," and with John Holt: "True education does not quiet things down, it stirs them up. It awakens consciousness. It destroys myth. It empowers people."

Our world is filled with opportunities for numbness and distraction; we are confronted with such an incredible array of movies, TV shows, new stores, magazines, sports events, etc. that it is easy not to think much about the big picture, or even the smaller one just outside the window. Advertisements tell us that if we love our children, we should buy them the latest toys and the latest fashions and that happiness equals a fast food meal. GVS wonders if we love our children enough to let them learn about what is going on in the world. Do we care for them enough to give them the tools that inspire hope for the future?

We take the words of two very different men to heart. The Dalai Lama once said that "Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace," while Adolf Hitler confided, "It gives us a very special, secret pleasure to see how unaware the people around us are of what is really happening to them."

The GVS vision is holistic, incorporating the whole child and his place in the world. We invite you to learn more about us at http://www.globalvillageschool.org. The Global Village School address is P.O. Box 402, Ojai CA 93024. GVS phone # is (805) 646-9792.