Blog | Solutionary Learning from the Institute for Humane Education

by Marsha Rakestraw In a recent memo, the Trump administration has argued for US government agencies to adopt an “explicit and uniform definition” of gender that would “define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals a person is born with.” As the New York Times reports, this proposed definition would “eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have opted to recognize themselves … as a gender other than the one they were born into” and would essentially remove civil rights protections for people who are transgender. Despite a (slowly) growing societal acceptance…

by Elizabeth O. Crawford, Ph.D. During Earth Week 2018, I was a guest presenter to kindergarteners attending Island Montessori School (IMS) located in the beautiful, coastal town of Wilmington, North Carolina. As teacher educators often remark, classroom visits rejuvenate and inspire our work preparing the next generation of educators. When we spend time with children and their educators, we are reminded of our ultimate purpose: to ensure that all children have access to quality educational experiences, where they feel valued as whole persons with unique interests, talents, and passions, and that we support teachers in this important work. Grounded in…

by Marsha Rakestraw We’ve all done it: Seen a nice shirt or must-have pair of pants or shoes. We buy them (usually at a discount price, because we’re bargain hunters after all) and take them home. We wear them for a bit, and then the new and shiny wears off. We get bored with them (or outgrow them), and they eventually linger in the closet with all the other clothes that no longer give us that happy feeling they did when they were new. Not only does this common habit affect our bank accounts and our consumerism impact, but buying…

by Marsha Rakestraw Each May and June in the U.S. we celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Moms usually receive pretty, smelly, “girly” stuff, and dad’s get yet another manly tie, cologne, or something to BBQ. Just one of the countless ways we perpetuate the stereotypes and biases about what women and men are supposed to like and be like. And our media, marketing, language, and culture about these expectations and assumptions filter down to the youngest of us. Research shows that even young children can quickly fall into these sex-based stereotypes and prejudices. In honor of celebrating our gender…

by Marsha Rakestraw We enjoy our cars, our homes, our stuff, and the wastes and the toxic chemicals and pollutants used to create — or which are a result of — our shiny stuff go “away” somewhere that we don’t really have to think about. But there is no “away.” The waste processing plants, the oil refineries, the chemical plants – those are somewhere, and usually that somewhere is in a low-income and/or “minority” neighborhood. Many schools are teaching kids about recycling and going “green,” but often the issue of environmental racism isn’t addressed. Yet, it’s an important issue that…

by Zoe Weil I wanted to share an excerpt from my book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life. My book, Most Good, Least Harm, “is based on a very simple premise: when we do the most good and the least harm through our daily choices, our acts of citizenship, our communities, our work, our volunteerism, and our interactions, we create inner and outer peace. I call this way of living ‘MOGO,’ short for ‘most good,’ and it has become the guiding principle of my life. The MOGO principle is simple in theory,…