Robert Schwalb
Several years ago I was designing computer systems for large corporations. Working countless hours and focusing on little other than career goals -- money and advancement mostly -- sapped my energy and left me little time for anything else. Sure, I cared about social justice, animal welfare, and environmental issues, but I put them in the back of my mind, fearing a loss of focus on my all-important career. Occasionally, I eased my nagging conscience by writing a check for a good cause.
In the summer of 2001 after completing a large project, I found myself with a rare week off. That very same week a national animal rights conference was taking place in Washington, DC. I wanted to learn more about the animal issues I was hearing about so I went. At the conference I learned a lot; I also became overwhelmed. Animals were in much worse shape than I ever could have imagined. Unimaginable cruelty was happening countless times every single day all over the world. I felt completely powerless; that is, until I walked into Zoe Weil’s humane education workshop.
In the one-hour session, Zoe talked about the possibility of educating a generation of young people based on the principles of compassion, respect, and responsibility. She talked about the programs she developed that asked students to be conscious of the consequences of the choices they made every day and that inspired them to make choices that do more good and less harm to people, animals, and the environment. She demonstrated some activities and shared personal stories about her journey as someone trying to live a more humane life. I remember leaving the session feeling an enormous sense of relief knowing there was a movement underway to educate young people in the hopes of bringing forth a kinder world.
I went back to work the next week, but couldn’t stop thinking about Zoe’s workshop; in fact, I couldn’t stop thinking about it over the next several months. I finally realized my purpose in life was not to improve more corporations’ bottom-lines, it wasn’t to see how many prestigious clients I could line up, and it wasn’t to see how fat I could make my bank account. I wanted to help make the world a better place and ease some suffering. Becoming a humane educator was the answer. I enrolled in IHE’s Masters Program.
Going into the program, I assumed my major insights would come from learning the issues. I did learn a lot about the issues, but my greatest and most unexpected insights came in learning about my own life. Through my studies at IHE, I realized I was unwittingly contributing to many of the problems I wanted to solve. As a result I began making different choices; ones that reflected the values I felt were important.
The support I received from IHE staff and fellow students was crucial. They helped guide me as I sought to make better choices in my life; they helped me make sense of the issues; and, they showed me by example what it meant to try to live a humane life.
As I finished my studies at IHE, I put the skills I had acquired into practice. I started offering my humane education programs to public schools in Chicago. At the same time, I began assembling a curriculum for a non-profit organization in New York City called HEART (Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers). Soon after, I accepted HEART’s offer to become their full-time humane education instructor in New York City. I worked for HEART in New York City for three years, then moved back to Chicago to help start up a HEART operation here. We now have three instructors in Chicago.
I won’t lie; working in New York City and Chicago public schools has been a huge challenge for me. But it’s a challenge filled with enormous rewards. I see students all the time who initially appear indifferent to environmental destruction, animal mistreatment, and the suffering experienced by people living in distant parts of the world. Then, inevitably, something happens; they begin to realize that it’s okay to care, and they realize they really do care. And beyond caring, they now possess the know-how to make a real positive difference in the world. In short, they feel empowered.
Inspiring others to care and to act is what humane education is all about. Though in its infancy, it is already changing the world; I have seen it – and experienced it -- for myself.
Watch 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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