6 minute read
The Values of Peace Malcolm McKenzie
The Values of Peace
By Malcolm McKenzie
On April 16 and 17, 2021, Keystone Academy in Beijing was honored to be the host of However, some might take issue with the varying ways of trying to achieve this laudable aim. Many might also question the annual Leadership Conference for some of the values that become attached, ACAMIS: the Association of China and inevitably, to this project. ‘Peace’ is not a Mongolia International Schools. Despite value, it is a state of being or existence, the pandemic, the conference was face- but values need to be articulated, grown to-face, with over 300 and upheld in order delegates able to attend to promote peace in person, though the successfully. It is my two keynote speakers were from America, education belief that the link between education and and their speeches were virtual. Stedman for peace: a peace is strengthened immeasurably, in Graham spoke on his book Identity Leadership, purpose and philosophy and in practice, when it is and Rosalind Wiseman, the founder of Cultures a practice underpinned by values that give it cogency. of Dignity, spoke about her work in promoting needed now But all too frequently, perhaps owing to the emotional wellbeing in schools through the more than association of valuesbased schooling with cultivation of a culture characterized by dignity ever opportunities for indoctrination, the and respect. values underpinning the
The theme of this ‘education for peace’ ACAMIS conference project can be taken to was ‘Values Added’. In opening the vitiate rather than support it. Let me try gathering, and welcoming the participants, to correct that. I made brief remarks on the connections It is common in schools to talk about between education for peace, values, ‘Value Added’. This refers to what the our own school Keystone Academy, and institution, and its teachers, add to what schools everywhere. In this short piece the students bring with them. We expect I will share these remarks in a slightly creative and productive schools to expanded form, as follows: add signifi cant value to their
‘Let me start by saying something students’ learning. It about peace, and education for peace: may be diffi cult to a purpose and a practice needed now measure this, but more than ever. That will lead me we know and directly to our theme of ‘Values Added’. appreciate Educators national and international its often make a link between education and peace. The International Baccalaureate mission speaks of ‘young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world’, while the United World Colleges (UWC) say that ‘UWC makes education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future’. These are just two examples from many. One of the profound and I hope enduring contributions of world education, in philosophy and practice, has been this: an unabashed emphasis on inspiring children in our schools to use their acquired knowledge and skills for promoting and nurturing a more peaceful world. Who would take issue with this? worth as a goal. It is not as common for schools to concern themselves with the ‘values’ that they add to the lives of their students. A focus on values leads naturally to our theme of ‘Values Added’. This should encourage engagement with and discussion of the importance of values in the school curriculum, in and out of the classroom. Is it enough to be merely a ‘Value Adding’ school? Or should holistic learning, within an educational framework that is interested in peace building, require ‘Values Added’ as well? And, if so, which and whose values?
The more that our world becomes desperate, and our planet degraded, the more I feel that the values we as educators add are the most important educational issue of our times. The values that we should be teaching, and living, in the school communities that we build, as teachers and leaders, are both local and global, and contemporary yet enduring. They are pluralistic and inclusive, and most certainly not fundamentalist in any way. Education for Peace is a mantra to which educators, national and international, can easily subscribe. To make the mantra meaningful, however, values appropriate to its realization need to be spelled out.
Now for a slight detour, before returning to our main road.
This school, Keystone Academy, was opened in Beijing in 2014. Keystone is a not-for-profit Chinese private school that now numbers over 1500 students. Older students board, and there are now about 450 boarders and 120 teacher families resident on campus. The school blends Chinese national with international curricula across the student age range from 5 to 18. In the Middle and High School Divisions, the IB Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme are used. The nature of Keystone’s bilingual program in Chinese and English means that about half the teachers are Chinese, and the other half drawn from a wide range of countries around the world. Although Keystone is allowed to admit students regardless of nationality or passport, most of the students are Chinese. We are a national school with a world flavor.
We have three foundational keystones. The third of these keystones is that of ‘promoting Chinese culture and identity in a world context’. This is expressed through our entire curriculum, outside and inside the classroom, by what we call our Chinese Thread, a rich cloth which wraps what we do in a cloak of ‘Chineseness’ that is woven from and for our country and the world. We have written a book on this which is subtitled ‘Local Culture in a World School’.
And this brings me back from my detour to the main road, and to values – and our ‘Values Added’ theme. At Keystone, the values underpinning our school are both specific and specified. We chose a set of simple, elegant, yet profound Confucian values that are immediately known and warmly appreciated in our Chinese context. However, they are most definitely not unique, nor exclusive. In addition to their deep roots in Chinese soil, these values were chosen because they transplant readily to, and bloom beautifully in, other earth. I have heard this referred to as Confucian cosmopolitanism. It is not difficult to find values anywhere that are deeply local within their context yet transferable across time and place. And having a local frame for a global reach makes a big difference when it comes both to explanation and to engagement.
Our ‘big five’ values, in Chinese and English, are ren/compassion, yi/justice, li/ respect, zhi/wisdom, and xin/honesty. They are on display throughout our classrooms and campus, they are known and loved, and they guide our decision-making, our leadership, and our instruction. Each member of the Keystone Academy community — parents, students, teachers and support staff — is expected to act in ways that make manifest these five values in daily action. Membership in our community offers unique privileges and also implies shared responsibility. In an atmosphere where safety, trust and belonging are our goals, we create a strong community partnership through a collective embrace of these values. All community members affirm our values, and these core principles provide the foundation for our behavior and interactions. In the past few weeks, as examples, these values have been at the fore of both our matriculation ceremony for new students, and also our leadership handover from seniors to slightly younger fellow students in the High School.
Values added deliberately to a school’s total curriculum, in the context of education for peace, lead naturally to a vision that seeks changing and challenging directions, and solutions. Peace is elusive, we know that, but should never become illusory. It is the task of national and international education and the work of world educators globally, with a careful choice of the added values that accompany these, to protect this purpose.’ ◆
Malcolm McKenzie is Head of School at Keystone Academy, China ✉ malcolm. mckenzie@keystoneacademy.cn
