Ruekmusings: Schools need courses in Ethics and Peace Studies

Ruekmusings: Schools need courses in Ethics and Peace Studies: "I am unbelievably fortunate to have the opportunity to teach both Ethics and Peace Studies at my school. Students need the opportuniti..."

World War I ends Sunday, Oct. 3, 2010- what??

The Treaty of Versailles was to have ended The Great War.  The terms  of the treaty were so harsh that they helped fuel a second war.  That war ended 65 years ago. Yet, Germany has been held responsible for the war debts of World War I for all these years.  It seems obvious that Hitler would refuse to pay reparations while he led Germany. What kept the German debt alive for so many years after Hitler's Germany folded?

According to the Daily Mirror of Britain in a story posted yesterday http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315869/Germany-end-World-War-One-reparations-92-years-59m-final-payment.html, when World War II ended, West Germany took on the remaining debt. In 1953, West Germany seemed to have satisfied the debt obligation. "But there was a clause in the so-called London Debt Agreement of 1953 that interest on multi-million pound foreign loans taken out in the Weimar Republic era, to pay off the reparations bill, should themselves be repaid if Germany were ever reunited (italics added)." There is the rub. Germany DID reunite and that meant that interest on the debt resurfaced and had to be paid. Talk about a loophole! 

The reunited Germany has been making these payments since 1996. There are many costs of war. Human and physical destruction lasted for generations. Healing needs to begin early and debts should not last for decades. On Sunday, at long last, the financial debt will be over. Thank goodness it did not provoke yet another war. We can only hope the current generation does not harbor ill feelings like those which followed World War One.

What defines effective help in Pakistan?

Weeks after the waters have receded in Pakistan the crisis remains. Crop land and livestock have been destroyed, distinctions between farms have been erased, schools are flooded and empty, and infrastructure has been washed away. According to the BBC's Aleem Maqbool, at least 1,750 people have been killed and at least ten million people are internally displaced.

The people of Pakistan need every type of aid imaginable. How can this aid be distributed effectively? Pakistan's own President remained on vacation in Europe for the first two weeks of the crisis. Can he be counted on to handle aid responsibly?  The army and militant groups offer to assist those in need. Do these groups see a recruiting opportunity?  Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been in Pakistan since the beginning of the crisis. How do they distribute aid when the arteries of the nation have been severed? If the governments of other nations want to send aid, to whom will they send it?

Clearly, it is not a post-crisis time in Pakistan. This is the next stage of a crisis. When this stage is over, where will the farmers go? How will people determine whose land is where? How much have the floods shifted the physical geography of Pakistan?  Will militant groups gain momentum?

These are some of the questions we are pursuing in this course.  Questions that have very difficult answers.

Welcome

Welcome to Beth Ruekberg's Contemporary World Issues Class.

What are the roots of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict or the crisis in Darfur? What roles do sanctions play in solving conflicts? What are the consequences of the Gulf oil spill? Why do some humanitarian crises receive more international attention than others? Why don't we hear more about the oil crisis in the Niger Delta? These are among the questions that we will explore in this course. There are on-going issues that we will examine. At the same time, we will draw content from the daily national and international headlines. Through the use of simulations, daily readings, personal accounts, and individual and group presentations, we will analyze a wide range of social, economic, and political issues in our world today.



Enduring Understandings/Essential Questions:

• How do problems escalate into crises?

• Are there factors that crises have in common?

• What tools and methods can be used to help resolve conflicts and crises? What influences their effectiveness?

• What factors influence the sides that people take in conflicts and crises?

• Why do some issues receive more international attention and assistance than others?

• Can individuals help solve global problems?