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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 not bad at all.
Despite a life long 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, was the day I made my 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. Soon thereafter, I was hired as Director of Humane Education where I was fortunate to share an office with Zoe Weil (who later went on to co-found IHE). After Zoe and I created a very successful humane education program, I decided that I wanted to pursue my master’s in humane education. Unfortunately, in 1988 there was no such program 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 the Humane Education Department at the New England Anti-Vivisection Society. Again, I had the pleasure of joining forces 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 free presentations that encourage living with compassion for people, other animals and the environment for 6th grade through adult audiences in the Boston area.
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 and suffering. I want young people to know that they have choices. I was almost thirty 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 an IHE student, if you are a parent trying to raise a compassionate child, if you are a classroom teacher looking for ideas and support, or if you are simply someone trying to make a difference in the world, you have found community in IHE. Welcome home."
Melissa Feldman is on the faculty of IHE and Cambridge College and has been a professional 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 and a humane educator who promotes greyhound protection for the GREY2KUSA Education Fund. Melissa serves on the board of Compassion in Action, a humane education organization based in Keene, NH. She also teaches English as a Second Language at Boston University.
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October 24, 2008 - 8:30 am to October 24, 2008 - 5:00 pm | Location: Lions Den Recreation Center
The Sowing Seeds Workshop will teach you how to offer effective and transformative humane education programs in schools or your community. You'll learn new activities that teach critical thinking about relevant issues of human rights, animal protection, environmental p...
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