I'd Rather Teach Peace

by Colman McCarthy

Book Overview

In 1982 acclaimed Washington Post columnist Colman McCarthy was invited to teach a course on writing at an impoverished public school in Washington, D.C. He responded, I'd rather teach peace. Thus began the work he has passionately pursued for the past twenty-five years teaching courses on nonviolence, conflict management, and peace studies, to students in a range of schools, from Georgetown University Law Center, to a juvenile prison, and various...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570757623
• ISBN13: 9781570757624
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Orbis Books
• Length: 140 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Teach our youth of a more practical solution: Peace

Very heart-felt, and gets to the core of many issues affecting us as a nation, and really does make you wonder "Why don't they teach Peace in school?".

This is a wonderful life-changing book.

I love McCarthy's book. His writing is enjoyable, which is how all writing should be. It was a pleasure to learn from this man. I recently started studying anything I could find about peace and this book was the second one I read after searching at the local library. I now have an idea how much literature there is out there about non-violence. McCarthy has successfully urged me to keep reading about this subject. Besides his occasional description of other sources, mentioned throughout his book, he even put a section at the end that lists additional authors and their titles, for further study. As a result of reading his book, I find that I would like to help in any way I can to make the world a better place through teaching non-violence.

How to teach peace...and how to learn to be peaceful

In 2002, I read 101 books. "I'd Rather Teach Peace" was the best one.Colman McCarthy tells stories about teaching people to resolve conflicts. He describes what worked and what didn't. He also tells you what his students taught HIM --- he's humble enough to know he's a student, too.I learned that I don't think about peace enough. Now I think about it more and I keep an eye out for conflicts that I can help to resolve. I don't know exactly how to create peace around me, but thanks to Colman McCarthy I know I need to learn.This is an inspiring and simple book. I'd gladly read another 100 just to stumble across something like this again.

It changed my stance from hardcore military to peace seeker

Get this book and absorb it! I have reviewed it for two publications and still marvel at its contents. This man changed my mind about the subject of peace, so give him a chance to reach you. Even if you are a diehard military person (I'm a former sergeant of the 101st Airborne) you will still see the common sense in what this man is teaching. His solutions will work, but only if enough of us heed his words and apply them. I wish every person in the world would read this book!

A gem of a book

Most of us know Colman McCarthy as a perceptive and sensitive journalist and religious commentator. But what we may not know is that he's also a devoted teacher of peace issues and peacemaking--so devoted, in fact, that he gave up his position at the "Washington Post" to devote himself full time to teaching. Moreover, he's taught in an amazing variety of contexts: university law schools, colleges, correctional institutions, inner city schools, suburb schools, alternative schools, public schools.*I'd Rather Teach Peace* is a running account of some of McCarthy's experiences at the various places he's taught peace. Three features make the book especially worthwhile. The first is McCarthy's wonderfully flowing style. Reading his prose is like having a conversation with a person who loves words and people. The second is McCarthy's reflections on peace and peacemaking, and why so few folks in this country take either very seriously. But the third feature--and, for my money, the heart of the book--is the story of McCarthy's adventures in the classroom, chatting with kids about peace, overcoming their resistance, learning from their experiences, challenging them to think outside the box. McCarthy clearly teaches peacemaking as a way of life, not merely a cessation of war, and one of the first conditions is that his students begin to ask themselves some tough questions about how and why they value what they do. In reading his accounts, we find ourselves in the classroom with him and his students.Professional teachers (and I'm one of them) will profit from the pedagogical strategies that McCarthy writes about. My favorite one, an exercise for encouraging students to reflect on the meaning of authority, is the "red car, green car game." Excellent!