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"You are a really good guess speaker."
This comment is from a 9th grader following a program about consumerism. I like the comment a lot. At first I had a good chuckle at her typo, but then I realized that being a “guess” speaker—one who promotes guessing, imagination and critical thinking—is exactly what I hope to achieve.
Despite a lifelong interest in animals and the environment, I chose a career path which reflected another passion: fashion. I became a fashion coordinator for a women’s wear designer. While I loved many aspects of my job, I slowly found myself making choices that conflicted with my own sense of ethics. Day by day, my professional decisions violated my personal principles. The day I was asked to show fur in a fashion show, was the day I made the decision to quit.
While searching for another job in the fashion industry, I began to volunteer in the education department of a humane society in Philadelphia. I was eventually hired as Director of Humane Education where I was fortunate to work with Zoe Weil (who later went on to co-found IHE). After Zoe and I developed the organization's first humane education department, I decided that I wanted to pursue my master’s in humane education. Unfortunately, in 1988 there was no such program offered anywhere in the United States. Out of necessity, I cobbled together my own version of a master’s in humane education at the University of Pennsylvania.
After receiving my master’s degree in 1991, I moved to Boston to become Director of Humane Education at the New England Anti-Vivisection Society. Again, I had the pleasure of working with Zoe who was then Director of Humane Education at the American Anti-Vivisection Society in Pennsylvania. After Zoe developed the Sowing Seeds Humane Education workshops, we worked together to facilitate these trainings around the country.
In 2001 I founded Circle of Compassion, a non-profit offering presentations for 6th grade through adult audiences to encourage living with compassion for people, other animals and the planet.
I hope that through my humane education work I can help young people understand that their beliefs do matter and that it is possible—and in fact necessary—to find a life’s work that reflects our deepest beliefs about the world and doesn’t cause ourselves (or others) harm or suffering. I want young people to know that they have choices. I was almost 30 before I realized this lesson myself.
In light of the challenges that I faced in becoming a humane educator, it is a particular joy to be on the faculty of the nation’s first humane education master’s program. I finally feel at home at IHE. If you are considering a career in humane education, if you are already an IHE student, if you are a parent encouraging compassion in your child, if you are a classroom teacher looking for practical teaching strategies, or if you are someone trying to make a positive difference in the world in your own unique way, you have found community in IHE. Welcome home.
Melissa Feldman is on the faculty of IHE and Valparaiso University and has been a humane educator since 1985. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s of education degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980 and 1991, respectively. She is currently director of Circle of Compassion, which offers humane education presentations for 6th grade through adult audiences free of charge in western Massachusetts.
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del.icio.usWatch and share IHE President, Zoe Weil's TEDx talk -- an inspiring vision of how to create a just, compassionate, healthy world for all through solutionary education.
April 28, 2012 - 8:30 am to April 28, 2012 - 5:00 pm | Location: Nightingale-Bamford School
How can we best prepare our students for the important roles they must play in meeting the challenges of today's world? How can we help youth to become creative and critical thinkers who embody the qualities of wisdom, compassion, and integrity and who focus their grea...
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