Welcome everyone! We deeply appreciate your taking time out to attend and participate in our 2nd General Meeting! We are so happy that the Soka Educators International Network (SEIN) is growing and you are with us today to plan our future. SEIN was created to encourage all of you Soka educators and now you are really encouraging us!! As it should be with the Mystic Law.
Like the tree that is our model, we have been growing steadily but surely. We first started in 2003 with a quarterly newsletter which we sent out to less than fifty people. Since then, five years later, we have grown to over 200 in our our network and our countries include, Brazil, U.S., U.K., France, Nigeria, Netherlands, Austria, India, Japan, Canada, Portugal, Israel, Cyprus, Peru, and others. The newsletter is archived at Soka University in Japan, is on the SGI-USA Culture Department Website, has been translated occasionally into Portuguese in Brazil, and is posted on our own blogsite: www.sein2008.blogspot.com More importantly, many of you report its great value in your lives.
In November 2005 we started our Online Forums and we were asked to have them more often so we have them twice a year. We have grown from ten people to over thirty participants and from the work of one person to a team of planners and committee heads. This year we started having co-facilitators and co-hosts. We are a much more international a community and had our first multi-lingual Forum (English/Portuguese) this year for the Spring 2008 Forum.
Out of the forums grew the desire to create change together. We are now completing the first stage of four projects: internationality, disarmament, dialogue skills handbook and our own website on time!!
SEIN Website headed by Constance Haig and Martin Rees. The new SEIN website will be launched at the end of December 2008 and so we will be able to move our Online Forums to our website in early 2009. Soon Soka Educators can share lesson plans, read our newsletters, read and work on our Dialogue Primer, work on and download our Disarmament Exhibition. Next year's General Meeting will also be on this site! To view the work in progress go to - http://strangelyperfect.com The bulletin board, which you asked for last year, will be there as well.
Internationality. The last Spring 2008 SEIN Forum was hosted by Brazilian members. Participants found it difficult to understand some of the more advanced discussions in English, and felt the need to express themselves in their own language. We decided to introduce an automatic translation facility into the SEIN Forum, with non-primary-language-speakers having access to support from a instant translator. The person making the post was responsible for simultaneously posting the online translation in the second language, so the Portuguese contributor would post in English as well. This way, the individual takes responsibility for being understood by the other, which is a Buddhist tradition and develops our compassion. The next step will be bilingual translators so that Buddhist and educational terms can be better understood around the world.
Disarmament Exhibition headed by Terry Ellis with Michel Nader and Dave Koranda. We have something to celebrate!! No new nukes!! Americans urged Congress not to fund the Reliable Replacment Warhead (RRW). They heard us! On July 10, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed an annual spending bill rejecting all funding for the new weapon. This is a significant victory. Thank you all for your prayers.
There are many great resources out there; the problem is getting them to the teachers and students who will benefit. From the SEIN perspective, our goal is to continue to look for other teachers who want to take on the challenge of creating original lessons infused with the Soka/Makiguchi spirit. It will take time to develop our own touch, so that the lessons, applications, etc. we create stand out among the many other resources available. Please let Terry Ellis (calellis@worldnet.att.net) know if you are interested in contributing to this project.
The Disarmament's Exhibition's first document will be an interview by Terry Ellis with Richard Rhodes about the history of the development of nuclear weapons, and lesson plans regarding the people and physics behind this. This will be ready for the website in December. Rhodes portrays this history as a tumultuous human drama; the key is to engage students of all ages in this learning process. Many of the challenges and debates surrounding nuclear weapons have been with us from the start. We want to provide ongoing "news" about nuclear disarmament activities, research and information from around the world, educational tools for use in classrooms, libraries, and communities and an exhibition which could be downloaded and used in small spaces with PowerPoint capability as well. See attached proposal and powerpoint document created by Terry's son.
Dialogue Primer headed by Dennis Merimsky with Po Halikalani and Stephanie Tansey. The Dialogue Skills primer is going on the website in December. In 2009, we can expand it to include Buddhism and dialogue as well as Dialogue experiences. Attached you can see possible chapter headings for an expanded dialogue booklet. At this stage it is a kind of a roadmap or vision, which can be changed as we go along. Dennis' resolution is to contribute a paper about Buddhism and dialogue in 2009. Please see attached proposal.
New Development for SEIN
Buddy System for the Online Forums
The first new development is to introduce a Buddy System for anyone who wants it or for those who want to help others learn the ropes to SEIN forums so that more and more people can enjoy the riches we all get out of it. We want to offer this buddy system for new community members, for those in need of support in your language; and for those who need technical help. The current buddies are: Constance Haig, Jill Rees, Terry Ellis, Dave Koranda, Dennis Merimsky and Stephanie Tansey. If you'd like to be a buddy please contact Stephanie. If you feel like you'd like to have a buddy to help you enjoy the Online Forums, please contact Stephanie.
So now we'd like to ask your opinion on how to do this so it really works. We think that these buddy relationships should be multinational relationships as much as possible, for example, a French-American buddy team or an Austrian-Brazilian team. We also think we should limit these buddy systems to the month before and after the forums. Also that one buddy should only have five such relationships. SEIN is not a full time activity and we are all busy educating our students so we don't want to add to your work. We want the buddy system to enrich everyone's teaching.
Translations Committee headed by Jill Rees with Michel Nader. This is to support the Forums. We are developing a four-tier buddy system according to our capacity. Non-native English speakers will have the support of same language partners of different language levels or SEIN Planning members.
Now we are ready for advice and questions from you, our wonderful SEIN Community: Simply reply to this email OR go to our blog: http://sein2008.blogspot.com and if you need help logging in contact Constance Haig at (Haig.Constance@orbital.com).
Like the tree that is our model, we have been growing steadily but surely. We first started in 2003 with a quarterly newsletter which we sent out to less than fifty people. Since then, five years later, we have grown to over 200 in our our network and our countries include, Brazil, U.S., U.K., France, Nigeria, Netherlands, Austria, India, Japan, Canada, Portugal, Israel, Cyprus, Peru, and others. The newsletter is archived at Soka University in Japan, is on the SGI-USA Culture Department Website, has been translated occasionally into Portuguese in Brazil, and is posted on our own blogsite: www.sein2008.blogspot.com More importantly, many of you report its great value in your lives.
In November 2005 we started our Online Forums and we were asked to have them more often so we have them twice a year. We have grown from ten people to over thirty participants and from the work of one person to a team of planners and committee heads. This year we started having co-facilitators and co-hosts. We are a much more international a community and had our first multi-lingual Forum (English/Portuguese) this year for the Spring 2008 Forum.
Out of the forums grew the desire to create change together. We are now completing the first stage of four projects: internationality, disarmament, dialogue skills handbook and our own website on time!!
SEIN Website headed by Constance Haig and Martin Rees. The new SEIN website will be launched at the end of December 2008 and so we will be able to move our Online Forums to our website in early 2009. Soon Soka Educators can share lesson plans, read our newsletters, read and work on our Dialogue Primer, work on and download our Disarmament Exhibition. Next year's General Meeting will also be on this site! To view the work in progress go to - http://strangelyperfect.com The bulletin board, which you asked for last year, will be there as well.
Internationality. The last Spring 2008 SEIN Forum was hosted by Brazilian members. Participants found it difficult to understand some of the more advanced discussions in English, and felt the need to express themselves in their own language. We decided to introduce an automatic translation facility into the SEIN Forum, with non-primary-language-speakers having access to support from a instant translator. The person making the post was responsible for simultaneously posting the online translation in the second language, so the Portuguese contributor would post in English as well. This way, the individual takes responsibility for being understood by the other, which is a Buddhist tradition and develops our compassion. The next step will be bilingual translators so that Buddhist and educational terms can be better understood around the world.
Disarmament Exhibition headed by Terry Ellis with Michel Nader and Dave Koranda. We have something to celebrate!! No new nukes!! Americans urged Congress not to fund the Reliable Replacment Warhead (RRW). They heard us! On July 10, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed an annual spending bill rejecting all funding for the new weapon. This is a significant victory. Thank you all for your prayers.
There are many great resources out there; the problem is getting them to the teachers and students who will benefit. From the SEIN perspective, our goal is to continue to look for other teachers who want to take on the challenge of creating original lessons infused with the Soka/Makiguchi spirit. It will take time to develop our own touch, so that the lessons, applications, etc. we create stand out among the many other resources available. Please let Terry Ellis (calellis@worldnet.att.net) know if you are interested in contributing to this project.
The Disarmament's Exhibition's first document will be an interview by Terry Ellis with Richard Rhodes about the history of the development of nuclear weapons, and lesson plans regarding the people and physics behind this. This will be ready for the website in December. Rhodes portrays this history as a tumultuous human drama; the key is to engage students of all ages in this learning process. Many of the challenges and debates surrounding nuclear weapons have been with us from the start. We want to provide ongoing "news" about nuclear disarmament activities, research and information from around the world, educational tools for use in classrooms, libraries, and communities and an exhibition which could be downloaded and used in small spaces with PowerPoint capability as well. See attached proposal and powerpoint document created by Terry's son.
Dialogue Primer headed by Dennis Merimsky with Po Halikalani and Stephanie Tansey. The Dialogue Skills primer is going on the website in December. In 2009, we can expand it to include Buddhism and dialogue as well as Dialogue experiences. Attached you can see possible chapter headings for an expanded dialogue booklet. At this stage it is a kind of a roadmap or vision, which can be changed as we go along. Dennis' resolution is to contribute a paper about Buddhism and dialogue in 2009. Please see attached proposal.
New Development for SEIN
Buddy System for the Online Forums
The first new development is to introduce a Buddy System for anyone who wants it or for those who want to help others learn the ropes to SEIN forums so that more and more people can enjoy the riches we all get out of it. We want to offer this buddy system for new community members, for those in need of support in your language; and for those who need technical help. The current buddies are: Constance Haig, Jill Rees, Terry Ellis, Dave Koranda, Dennis Merimsky and Stephanie Tansey. If you'd like to be a buddy please contact Stephanie. If you feel like you'd like to have a buddy to help you enjoy the Online Forums, please contact Stephanie.
So now we'd like to ask your opinion on how to do this so it really works. We think that these buddy relationships should be multinational relationships as much as possible, for example, a French-American buddy team or an Austrian-Brazilian team. We also think we should limit these buddy systems to the month before and after the forums. Also that one buddy should only have five such relationships. SEIN is not a full time activity and we are all busy educating our students so we don't want to add to your work. We want the buddy system to enrich everyone's teaching.
Translations Committee headed by Jill Rees with Michel Nader. This is to support the Forums. We are developing a four-tier buddy system according to our capacity. Non-native English speakers will have the support of same language partners of different language levels or SEIN Planning members.
Now we are ready for advice and questions from you, our wonderful SEIN Community: Simply reply to this email OR go to our blog: http://sein2008.blogspot.com and if you need help logging in contact Constance Haig at (Haig.Constance@orbital.com).
Agenda for the Online General Meeting
Welcome
Appreciation
General Report on SEIN
Report on the Progress of the Forums – Jill Rees
Report on the Progress of the Website – Constance Haig
Report on the Disarmament Exhibition – Terry Ellis
Report on the Dialogue Primer – Dennis
Welcome
Appreciation
General Report on SEIN
Report on the Progress of the Forums – Jill Rees
Report on the Progress of the Website – Constance Haig
Report on the Disarmament Exhibition – Terry Ellis
Report on the Dialogue Primer – Dennis
Questions and advice from SEIN community:
How do you see SEIN supporting the development between Nichiren
Buddhism and the global society?
Thoughts and recommendations on our projects-
How do you see the new international buddy system working and growing??
How can we be of more help to you?
You will be getting a summary of our meeting. It will act like Final Encouragement from all of us!
Don't forget! Our next Online Forum will be from Sunday, November 16 through Sunday, December 13. The Online Forum is located at: www. earthchartercommunities.org/soka The theme is: The 2008 Peace Proposal: Humanizing Religion, Creating Peace, Soka Educators and the principle of Obutsu Myoho – Understanding the relationship between religion and government. We want to take this opportunity to work on ways the SEIN community can help our friends in the SGI use the ideas of the Peace Proposals in their daily lives and activities. Another deep and wonderful dialogue! See you online!
Thanks to everyone who have volunteered to be on the committees and to all of you for your support!
Stephanie Tansey (US living in Nigeria) and rest of the SEIN Team: Michel Nader (Brazil), Jill Rees (UK), Constance Haig (US), Dennis Merimsky (Israel), Terry Ellis (US) and Dave Koranda (US)
31 comments:
Greetings Everyone! WOW - We have accomplished so much since last years General Meeting! Thank you Stephanie for this wonderful way to connect with Soka Educators around the globe.
To view the Dialogue Primer chapter proposal and the Disarmament Exhibition Proposal please go to:
http://strangelyperfect.com/publications/
Sincerely, Constance Maryland USA
Hello from Po:
Aloha mai kakou! from Moku o Keawe, Hawai`i Island here in Waikoloa. count me in. can't wait to participate. nmrk *po
p.s. please note: my inoa/name is Pohaikalani...mahalo!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to our General Meeting! I know everyone in the US (and probably people around the world) to the elections so SEIN greatly appreciates your coming to our meeting!!
I have exciting news. I will be going to Japan in the middle of November to talk to the SGI about the future of the Soka Educators International Network. This General Meeting will be a great way for you to help me present the collaborative future we want. I intend to talk to SGI about how we can best help create the United Nations of Education together with our Sensei because that was the conclusion of the Spring Forum. Let's see what else or how else the SEIN Community can help through this General Meeting.
We will be together until Sunday, November 3rd. So here is a plan for the week:
Monday. Reviewing the Report. Any questions or comments in the direction that SEIN is going in. Improvements on the Newsletters, the Forums, the Blog? Are we doing too much?
Tuesday: How do you see SEIN supporting the development between Nichiren
Buddhism and the global society?
Wednesday: Thoughts and recommendations on our projects
Thursday: How do you see the new international buddy system working and growing??
Friday: How can we be of more help to you?
Saturday: What is the best relationship between SGI and SEIN?
You don't have to write in this order but if you start on something -- please write the topic clearly so we can follow you!
To respond, wonderful SEIN Community, simply reply to this email OR (tomorrow since the General Meeting is not quite up the Blog but will be!) go to our blog: http://sein2008.blogspot.com . If you need help logging in contact Constance Haig at Haig.Constance@orbital.com.
Great to be with you again -- This is going to be fun!!
Stephanie Tansey (US living in Nigeria) and rest of the SEIN Team: Michel Nader (Brazil), Jill Rees (UK), Constance Haig (US), Dennis Merimsky (Israel), Terry Ellis (US) and Dave Koranda (US)
Hi everyone!
It is so good to be together again.
We are still dusting off our common mortal lives and connecting again in friendship.
So please take a moment to think about SEIN as it is right now from the report. What do you enjoy most about the SEIN activities? What needs improvement?
Then we can juxtapose this with the Tuesday topic -- How do you see SEIN supporting the development between Nichiren
Buddhism and the global society?
For me I think SEIN and Soka educators are like the door to a beautiful garden. You can be part of SGI and open the door and see the true reality everywhere you look. Or you could be on the common mortal side and open the door to a deeper understandng of your life and your students than you ever had before.
What do you think?
Po said:
"For me I think SEIN and Soka educators are like the door to a beautiful garden. You can be part of SGI and open the door and see the true reality everywhere you look. Or you could be on the common mortal side and open the door to a deeper understandng of your life and your students than you ever had before." WoW....great insight!
I love that you compare it to a garden because here in Hawai`i talk is all about sustainability and putting our people to work! feel good work! a garden is one such thing...one such way! I agree with opening the door to a deeper understanding of your life especially as it is reflected by my students (and vice versa, mono to mono, human heart to human heart!). Each year I must bring the Buddha to work...and i proudly do so, as i am sure WE all DO! Each year I pledge to do one more thing to bring happiness, peace and a pathway to better understanding of our human connectedness to my students and this year...it's all about gardening. native hawaiian plants, preferably the "kalo"/taro...more later! glad to be on board w/SEIN. again! *po
The relationship between SEIN and Soka University:
We are educators in different areas of education, with different experiences of our attempts to apply Soka principles in our areas, and we are in possession of different areas of expertise. (For example, I teach in secondary schools in the UK and am interested in systemic education). Our weakness could be that we don't have one school in which we can develop a set of Soka principles into a system which could be used as a 'model school' in the way Margit's is in Austria for example. This is something I would like to change!! Soka University is many Soka schools throughout mainly Asia and of course USA Soka University, which are very academic. They aren't inclusive and don't generally have to plan for disruptive pupils. Their teachers in the main are practically inclined and are involved in the area of teaching using their Soka principles on a daily basis.
Putting these together, we can come up with some universal, international, teaching and learning ideas, reports from experinces in other environments, handbooks, training articles and workshops and stuff like that, which can support the Soka school teachers.
They could perhaps involve us in 'at the chalkface' experiences, theories and activities which would give us support on a practical level one would hope, and which would give us insight into what we are aiming towards, or not as the case may be (ie some of their practise may not be very applicable to dealing with SEN peupils, ghetto kids, illiteracy, refugees and stuff that we are involved in as individuals.
Actually I see the exclusivity of the Soka school system as being the greatest schism between the tow grouops.
OK let's go folks, please correct my muddled thinking and get those ideas in.
Jill
Hi Jill - what a great topic you have raised! It has always been my viewpoint that SEIN carries a very different mandate than the Soka School Systems. Maybe it would be great if there were Soka Schools all over the globe, but what SEIN offers is a way for all educators who practice this Buddhism and are out in the "saha world" as Dave Koranda mentions, to connect and share experiences, information, struggles, & victories.
So many of these SEIN educators are the only Buddhist in their schools struggling to apply Makiguchi's value creation concepts amidst violence, poverty, etc.
It makes me very happy to think there is a SEIN educator somewhere in Northern Scotland who can talk to a SEIN educator in South Africa, or Brazil or Japan. SEIN is important because it is creating the first causes for the idea of a United Nations of Education to begin.
Best for SEIN to stay as a support group to all educators of Soka Gakkai vs. becoming formally integrated into the Soka Educational system.
What does everyone else think about this topic?
Sincerely, Constance Maryland US
Posted for Terry Ellis:
Hello everyone and thanks to Stephanie for being the bridge until Constance can help me figure out how to sign in to the blog. My family just moved and it took 17 days - not to mention about 7 hours on the phone and in AT&T offices - to get my DSL only line installed.
This experience was a lesson in what happens in large organizations that are departmentalized and noone is communicating, and you're trying to do something that goes against the business plan and what most people are requesting! (sound familiar?) Add on government regulations related to Homeland Security and things do get difficult. It's my benefit to be back online in time for the general meeting, since this is the first time I have participated.
SGI is definitely not AT&T, but since it's mission is so historic and global in vision, no wonder those of us who dream of helping to create links between people under this umbrella run into obstacles with "departmentalizing and communicating." I'm happy that Stephanie is going to seek guidance.
I value what I am learning through SEIN about individuals involved with education in different countries. It gives me a sense of realizing my dreams for kosenrufu, as well being in touch with Sensei's heart. But when it comes to expanding participation, I feel that I must be careful within the SGI--USA organization. As a new Culture Dept. leader for our region in Florida, and a longtime line leader in SGI-USA, I know how busy people are and they want to maximize the causes they are making for kosenrufu. I know that if I begin to promote this too strongly, it may create misunderstandings among people who think I am "doing my own thing" or diverting the energies of members that could be better invested directly in their local organizations.
One question in my mind, for example, is how does the efforts of SEIN overlap with Culture Department activities. I know that there have been some international culture department gatherings in the past, but I've rarely heard much about these.
Is SGI promoting the same thing we are in this way.
It seems that the work of arts internationaly is more on the radar screen, such as in the International Artists for Peace, with Herbie Hancock, etc. I don't all of the history, but it seems to me that this came about through the efforts of the artists themselves, rather than something that Sensei created. Am I correct? In that case, perhaps we can envision ourselves in the same way.
What does everyone think about this?
Terry, Florida US
Thank you, Constance. I was able to start out in Google and get to a place where the comments came onto my screen. And now, I should be able to post. So, SEIN has pushed me past my generational limits into blogging. . . Let's see if my comments arrive . . .
Terry
it being tuesday, i wanted to comment on "SEIN supporting the development between Nichiren Buddhism and the global society". to some extent it seems we can see that connection by our contributions and comments. the mere fact that we are moved to communicate and share with each other through so many different time zones. and all trying to understand what soda education really is and share experiences.
a number of years ago i was writing a novella and commented to a senior in faith when we were in japan that i hoped i would be able to have buddhist tenants in the writing. the short version of his answer was; you are practicing nichiren buddhism. you are trying to share a vow with president ikeda. how could that not come through no matter what you write? in other words, perhaps because we have this network and can stay in touch it is another form of encouragement for all of us and little by little it has to spread to a bigger circle on the globe.
dave koranda
Hi Everyone!
Wow -- isn't this exciting?!! A lot of interesting input. Let's see --
I agree with Terry that we should not focus on expansion -- SEIN should be a support for Soka Educators at least for now -- of course when, in a thousand years, we are the UN of Education -- we will need to have representatives from every nation (if there are any left) or of any constituencies wherever and whoever they are.
I do think we can all grow more deeply if those who want to, take on the care of one or two people. More deeply of course means that our sphere of influence -- the environment that we are able to affect because of our life force -- will become greater. But each person shouldn't take care of more than five educators (at the very most), in the buddy system for example, because we want Soka educators active with their districts which are the forefront of kosen rufu. This we will speak more about on Thursday.
I like that fact that we don't always meet -- as Jill said to me once -- it takes time to implement what we learn -- so coming together twice a year and then commenting on the experiences from the newsletter twice a year -- this seems to be about right.
This leads to today's discussion: Thoughts and recommendations on our projects. I am inputting this into the email for your convenience. Please take a moment and ask questions, make comments or suggestions as you like. I am attaching a proposal by Terry about the disarmament education project and suggested chapter titles for the enrichment of the dialogue skills handbook which should be on the website by the end of 2008. I need to caution you -- Constance and Rees are doing hours of work putting together the website -- just the barebones website. 2009 will definitely show development but rather than suggest more and more things to put on the website, let's focus on ways to make contributions interactive. Many websites fail because the webmaster doesn't have the time to refresh the site on a timely basis. Since this is the volunteer effort on the part of Constance and Rees I want to find ways to lessen the work load and increase the value at the same time. We are looking for the right middle way here:):)!
Posting for Po -
i wanted to say that most guidance that comes from or through Sensei Ikeda, is guidance that encourages a "self-motivated" practice. i believe through the years that a self motivated practice is one that comes through each individuals faith and through other like minded individuals like within our SEIN that help to encourage others to have the fire and passion of self motivation, be it through dialogue and/or a forum in which to lead a most fulfilled daily life and practice. the "model" of be the change you wish to see or be the President Ikeda you wish to be! i believe that is the example of the Artists for Peace initiative which includes the likes of Herbie Hancock, Buster Williams etc. They were given personal guidance from Sensei and through this guidance became the self motivated Sensei, themselves! Sometimes, i know that i personally need more than the periodicals can provide (Living Bud. and WT). Sometimes, i know i need more than just District meetings can provide...etc. SEIN helps to create a component that encourages my faith even more and fuels my ichinen further than I thought possible! nmrk *po
Hawaii US
Hi Everyone - wanted to add to the discussion re: promoting SEIN, meaning of SEIN and interaction between SGI and SEIN and so forth. First I believe it is truly wonderful that Stephanie will be going to Japan and have the opportunity to talk about future development of SEIN community.
Like Po although very busy with my local District activities (hey we just opened new activity center -kai kan - only 7 minutes from my house last Sunday, amidst the cornfields!) I too, always felt I needed to fulfill my personal mission in a broader way. When SEIN came along having been an educator part of my life I immediately thought -yes, this is my part of my mission to support SEIN in any way possible.
Because my faith has grown so much in this process last year I wrote a letter to Sensei explaining about my work in aerospace (putting SEIN name on a microchip aboard the DAWN spacecraft which is currently - 374 million kilometers from earth)then learning to make websites at work and the inter-connection to blog and website creation for SEIN and how happy I am to be even a small part of this process of connecting educators who practice this Buddhism.
Anyway to make a long story short I received a phone message response from Sensei! He said he had received my letter and regarding SEIN that he had looked at all the photos I sent him off the blog of the educators and families, and read the blog, and thanked SEIN so much from the bottom of his heart.
Pretty amazing. I, too, have been thought to be going rogue, by local members in my area if I talk about SEIN. So I have stopped talking about it, but will tell any educators I meet who are members.
Sincerely, Constance Maryland US
From Susan Tan:
Hi Everyone!!
I'm reading all of the wonderful inputs that our occurring here at the SEIN General Meeting. Thank you Constance for the website and what seems to be endless hours of effort to make this great cart of educators wheel itself more smoothly through the global tangles of technology.
I was very encouraged by the women from Austria and her wonderful experience of challenging the educational system in her country with the spirit to turn an impossible situation into possible. I think, because like many educators in the trenches of teaching children, it’s our action and attitude based on faith and courage that make our own personal carts move forward to establish happier students and broaden education’s true purpose, which I believe is to elevate our perspectives to a rich more humane vista of possibilities (whatever they may be).
Po’s “self-motivated” piece was very well put. I know that encouragement; life to life and in a forum like this, just to write one’s ideas, thoughts, experiences, and insights is a wonderful comfort. The Artists for Peace initiative had a dramatic start and then seemed to fall back a bit for some months, giving meaning to my father’s advice: “It’s easy to buy a house, but hard work to maintain it.” As a district leader I feel “the challenge” to be the change I want to see, as Calvin so aptly put, while still maintaining the cohesive structure SGI organizationally and relationships with members. Rather… the message meaning I got: “Don’t spread yourself too thin”, is also well advised.
As for myself, having just returned from the WD Conference at FNCC, I learned that:
* Our purpose for chanting is to empower ourselves and not protect, which in my mind, in this forum, means: Utilize dialogue as a means to encourage educators internationally to be better at what they do and make an impact within our community based on our faith and practice and guided by our mentor, Daisaku Ikeda.
* Use geese as our symbol for encouraging multiplicitly and leadership based on desire and sense of mission, rather than appointment. (Stephanie started SEIN with a vision. Many of us have vision that can compliment the one started and expand and build on it)
* Finally, grow and develop organically, expanding with like-minded individuals. The very fact that members are international educators with many varied situations and conditions makes for excitement and uniqueness with many possibilities for discussion.
As for today’s topic: Thoughts and recommendations on our projects. My thoughts…
1. The technology; website and expanded venues for discussion and sharing are most critical. I really salute those working on this. Developing the place to easily access and dialogue; chat rooms, uploading lessons, etc. is so essential. I think that this forum is critical for all of the others to be successful.
2. Stephanie’s trip is also so important. It would be wonderful to get the kind of support and/or suggestions that would pronounce a more solid vision with that of Sensai’s. What would a UN of Soka Educators look like? How would it function? What would be it’s focused mission? What would be the objectives? How would implementation of the objectives look like? Benchmarks? Units of Interest? Lessons for global learning? Value education that supports humanistic education?
3. Disarmament Education… It’s so hard to wrap my mind around this when my daily life is about putting out emotional fires and securing freedom from fear; my own, my students, teachers, administrators, policy, and legislative/political mandates that blur the enjoyment that once was American educational freedoms. Is Disarmament Education about any of this? I need more enlightenment.
Finally, to share… Every year I go to the Central Ohio Interfaith Main Event. It’s usually about the only Interfaith forum I seem to be able to make in my crazy schedule. Each year they have a speaker; this year it was Dr. Susan Huntington, professor of Buddhist Art and Asian Culture from the Ohio State University. Her talk for me was very exciting. She presented visuals of imagery and sacred places giving examples of 8 faith traditions; Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Baha’ism, all from the country of India. It was brilliant because for the first time in this organization of 12-15 years, a scholar introduced to all of those representing these faiths, a collective visual overview of each faith coming from a country that was not western or the U.S. The prospective allowed us all to see, in essence, ourselves, and each other more objectively and clearly through non-bias eyes. Not only did the perspective teach us about each other in a way that we couldn’t have reached without a learned educational view, but it taught me about my own Buddhism, giving me a prospective on other Buddhisms in relation to SGI that was positive and allowed me to understand Nichiren’s real concern; the suppression of common individuals.
It think that what I’m saying in how this works with this forum, is that some times we can’t see the forest through the trees, so it’s good to step back and look through the eyes of time, through the eyes of others, through the eyes of the mentor to see where it is that we’re going. Are we teaching education or wisdom? New perspectives take courage; sometimes where others haven’t gone before.
Congratulations to all of you!!
Susan Tan
Posting for Terry -
Hi Susan,
My email heading on the Internet says Calvin (my husband), but I'm the one writing and also the person coordinating the project on Disarmament Education.
I understand exactly what you are talking about as far as your day-to-day focus as an educator. I do believe that once students see the link between their own emotions and fear, and war, then they understand the United Nations, as well as nuclear disarmament - the ultimate expression of fear.
When I asked Richard Rhodes what an individual could do to help with disarmament, he said "prevent the brutalization of children." Don't have time to go into a lot detail this evening, but there are so many ways for students to understand the famous UNESCO quote that "War begins in the mind of (hu)men." Rhodes shows the dilemma that scientists and even pacifists like Einstein faced as physics moved toward unleashing the power of the atom.
Peace education includes disarmament education. I've worked on methods of peace education and understanding the UN for 15 years, but not done much so far with nuclear weapons. So, I'm challenging to deepen my understanding, and find effective ways to share this information with students of different ages. Several recent events have refocused me on this topic,:
First, Sensei's reminder last year that eliminating nuclear weapons was Toda's last will to the youth division (and the end of the Human Revolution movie, which I saw again last January at the FNCC during the mentor-disciple conference.)
Second, my experience with a young woman of East Indian origins who grew up in England, and was attending an international women's peace conference in Ft. Lauderdale. She came to a dialogue session I had suggested on nuclear weapons. At the time she was working on her master's degree in human rights and genocide at Columbia University. (She has since graduated and decided to go back to London for law school.) She told me that it wasn't until she was required to take a class on nuclear weapons and disarmament as part of this masters program that she had ever been exposed to this topic, and at first she found it dry and difficult. In fact, at the beginning she questioned whether it had anything to do with her academic focus, and her desire to pursue a career at the UN/international level. By the time the class ended, she said it revolutionized her thinking, and she realized how important it was. This set off a lightbulb in my mind, for this was a young person who was highly motivated, telling me she had learned nothing about nuclear weapons until she was in a masters program.
In the course of their education, some students may take a course in physics, but even if they do, they may never learn about nuclear weapons. Also, as the number of people who lived through WWII generation rapidly declines, we are raising children now who have only a vague sense of that time in history.
When President Ikeda interviewed Joseph Rotblat in Quest for Peace, he asked what books he could recommend for young people, and one suggestion was Rhodes' books on the history of nuclear weapons. He is now working on the final book, on disarmament. As a teacher, I realized how much I didn't know when I read his first book, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize.
Thanks!
Terry, Florida US
Posting for Po -
i sooo enjoyed reading what Susan and Terry wrote and shared. mahalo/thank-you!
i also remembered that while living in the Bay Area (San Fran) specifically in Palo Alto and i sat on the United Nations Associaiton Board of Directors for some time while living there, before moving back to my homeland of Hawai`i, we worked on "model U.N." for middle, high school and college. we had "mini" mock U.N. assemblies and sessions throughout the Bay Area. we worked alot with Stanford Univ. in the nearby neighborhood. we also worked on and developed Model U.N. curriculum. so, might i suggest we get our hands on some of the U.N. curriculum to perhaps encourage us not to "re-invent the wheel" so to speak? i will have to look long and hard for mine...i've used it profusely but have loaned it out soooo many times to various teachers, schools and U.N.A. (Hilo). we (SGI) members in the Bay Area, i lived in San Jose, Sunnyvale and Campbell at various times while living there. we (SGI) were encouraged to participate in as many U.N.A. events as possible by our then Leader, Danny Nagashima. many of us like myself got very involved w/our community U.N.A. i supported U.N. themed plays and events. i supported the youth division w/a 50 year celebration of United Nations event. i supported U.N.A. events locally that welcomed various visitors from other countries. i supported all of this as a community member and SGI member, following in the same guidance of Sensei via Danny Nagashima, i have supported and coordinated fashion show fundraisers for local U.N.A. i have brought (2) model U.N. youth to the San Jose Community Center (SGI) to share thoughts on Pres. Ikeda's then peace proposal. they were impressed and outstanding speakers. the local members (SGI) really welcomed them! but i almost forgot about the development of U.N. curriculum, pretty cool beans! hook-up w/a local U.N.A. organization and ask for the curriculum or perhaps it's on the U.N.A. website. worth a look see. i remember it being powerful! it would make a great template for SEIN to follow. another suggestion: at some point perhaps when we work on any long term documents, SEIN should think about using "WEB-EX" or a prototype that will encourage everyones ability to type, edit and communicate at the same time as we work on the document. nmrk *po
Hawaii, US
Posting for Stephanie -
Hi everyone again!
I am glad we are getting serious about the disarmament exhibition -- as we have all noted -- it is so easy to forget about disarmament. Below is a passage somebody just sent to me. what a mystic work we do!
The main reason relations between different peoples and cultures degenerate into the kind of atrocity symbolized by "ethnic cleansing" is to be found in closed thinking and narrowness that grips people's minds. People of different ethnic groups who managed until only days before to live side by side without particularly overt problems are suddenly at each other's throats, as if prodded and moved only by hatred. It is difficult to believe that the recurrent strife and bloody conflicts we are witnessing today have broken out solely because the restraining frameworks of ideology and authoritarianism were removed. Economic hardship cannot explain it either, though it may have acted as the trigger; if that were the underlying cause, there would be no necessity to resort to killing. We can only conclude that the true cause lies deeper, in a disease of close-mindedness whose roots are submerged in the history of civilization.
And I really like Po's suggestions for interactive support for the website. This way Constance does not need to spend so many hours (and Rees!) keeping things up to date.
I also appreciated Susan's FNCC guidance -- lets' make SEIN more than I (the founder) every dreamed it could be.
For today let's talk about:
How do you see the new international buddy system working and growing??
Stephanie, Nigeria
Hi Everyone - what great ideas people are presenting.
Here is a brief update on the website. The biggest challenge currently is the fact that we are maintaining the blog as well as developing the website both at the same time. You may have noticed I am posting all the emailed comments to the blog. I am doing this because ultimately all on the blog will be transferred to the website in an archived form. That way we will have a searchable permanent record.
After the website is rolled out the current blog will cease to exist because one function on the website is on-line forum function which can act similar to our blog. The setup is such that we can create as many forums as we like for various uses. I created a Bulletin Board Forum where folks will be able to post notes. The great thing about the program we are using for the SEIN website creation - WordPress - is it has a lot of function-ality as well as it is very flexible.
As in every type of endeavor the startup is the time intensive challenge, but when that is over a lot of the site data will be added to and uploaded by SEIN members themselves. Then Rees and I can just troubleshoot and or try new methods.
The site will have video, audio, podcast, interactive book contribution areas and much more.
Finally the best thing is after are registered for site usage you will only need to go to one place to find SEIN's on-line forums, archived data, new stuff, etc.
Sincerely, Constance Maryland US
I'm a bit behind here.....
Soka Education: The main thing is that education can't be national, it must be international. This is because if education is run by national government it will inevitable aim to serve the national agenda, rather than the individual. Makiguchi education is for the individual to be able to achieve their potential and lead a life of happiness and value.
SEIN is the only Soka education organisation which is truly international, it relates to Soka Univeristy in the same way that the Earth Charter relates to the United Nations. SEIN should be the foundation of Soka Universities and schools throughout the world.
Furthermore, there must be a 'united nations of universities, possibly of education authorities, which have the power to supercede national governments in determing curricula etc. This has occured a little bit in some items, like citizenship and sex ed, not in others like evolution/science where partisan interests take over.
I would like to ask if there are special considerations for non-secular national education systems - I suspect these will be Muslim, Jewish and Christian.
Buddy system - I think we need to get on and act now. I suggest contact links for each volunteer buddy so members coming onto the site can click on. When this reaches 5 it stops being active. A job for Computer-Geek-Man ????(my husband, he knows who he is)
Could I just make a respectful request for people esp American members not to use TLAs? as I don't know what they mean.
(Three Letter Acronym)
FCCN?
(FLA)and some others
I am managing with SGI, SEIN and UNESCO no problems.
Thanks
Jill
Very interesting too reading Terry and Susan, many thanks for all your ideas.
Princess Diana once said, when she was campaigning against land mines, that there would be no wars if everyone gave their children lots of cuddles.
I was in a country recently which shall remain nameless, where most people are lovely but underneath you could sense anger and frustration. There was a lot of oppressing of various sections of society in that country - it is known for it. I was teaching.
The thing was that it is a recommended way of discipline to beat your sons quite hard, and the dads are dead tough and macho. The people don't tend to smile very much.
Our driver was the opposite, and totally laughing, playing around, warm and able to establish intimate relationships with us without any of the normal reservations. He invited us to his place, which was full of giggling children. He played with the school children endlessly and they all loved him.
Of course we can't speculate, but I reckon his dad was warm with him and he didn't get spanked. I know he got lots of cuddles because he cuddled us all the time!
Where the children are treated harshly they respond with anger, where they are treated gently they make relationships easily.
I tell this to illustrate the link between disarmament and education, how we treat children determines their capacity to form relationships, to live without fear, and to come to agreement without resorting to violence.
Sensei said the battle of the future will not be between religions but between violence and non-violence.
This is something we can influence directly in schools.
How can we link our remit for education to disarmament in a practical and helpful way, bearing in mind Susan's comment about education and not wisdom only, we should remain fairly focussed, even as we get to know each other better and make friendships.
Hello everyone,
Thanks for your thoughts on the buddy system Dave. With what I hear from the other inputs about not straining too much what do you think about this:
As the forum approaches and people sign up for it, the Planning Group will have an e-group meeting and decide who wants to support which newcomers. Either because of the language barriers or technical barriers. That buddy will stay with the new SEIN participant until two weeks after the end of the Forum. I say two weeks because we can get some great evaluations from newcomers this way so can improve for the next forum. This seems to be a simple way to start. For the subsequent forum we can shape our direction based on our first one. What do you think?
Friday: How can we be of more help to you?
For example -- timing of the General Meeting? I have tried twice to have it in early October but failed because I just got too busy. Would there be a better time? July? August?? or January like a kickoff? or September which is when the 3rd newsletter goes out? Try again for early October? We want to make it a good time for as many people as possible so that it becomes a service to our community. Any thoughts about this?
Thanks for everyone's great input!
Stephanie
One more thing --
From Constance's last comment, and previous suggestions, I think we can say that the website will be interactive enough for Constance to manage it without too much effort. So that is what we want. Thanks everyone,
Stephanie
Terry - this says we must transcend the framework of the state -- to go from national to human. how we can transform to the sovereignty of humanity would be an important discussion to have with students.
Perhaps your exhibition could have points for discussion -- like this one.
With the invention of nuclear arms, war as a nation’s sovereign right became an act that could lead directly to the annihilation of the human race. Because of that, as I have repeated ly stressed, humankind has no choice but to learn to transcend the framework of the state, to master the shift in perceptions from “national” to “human” interests, from the sovereignty of the state to the sovereignty of humanity. The question always in my mind, therefore, is how our system can be transformed into one built on the idea of human sovereignty.
1991 Peace Proposal to the United Nations – Daisaku Ikeda
Posted for David K. -
hello
re the buddy system, it makes sense to have one or two people to
communicate with
particularly when 'buddies' are from different countries. i have used
a system of pairing
exchange students with american students in classes for years. they
both benefit tremendously.
i suspect it would work by either selecting a buddy from the web site
and we stop after a few people
or they are somehow assigned. but i fear that makes extra work for
someone (stephanie).
at any rate, those who want a buddy could submit their name and
location etc on the web site and someone
would get back to them.
by keeping it primarily to the forums it should alleviate what some
have mentioned about being spread too thin
and having other sgi and work responsibilities.
and it's interesting to me that the response i have gotten when i
bring up sein and some of the forums was very
positive. either that or i was so excited that i didn't notice that
anyone had an odd look on their face. but all the
responses were positive here. i am not sure if that is because the
university is one of the central points of the
community. everyone i mentioned it to seemed to think that it was
amazing that soka educators from throughout
the world were communicating on some kind of regular basis. and it
seemed they were encouraged by it.
david koranda Oregon US
Hi Stephanie - I sincerely recommend General Meetings be held in Jan. or perhaps August.
But never at the same time as newsletters. Difficult for me to keep up with posting, monitoring and what will become other website tasks for two functions posting at the same time. Later on we should be able to do it.
Thanks, Constance
I agree with everything Dave says, and the experience with buddies is interesting. I think we're nearly there and it's just a question of how to link person with buddy, perhaps good if they could choose their buddy if possible I guess, just as we choose who to go to for guidance in SGI, it isn't imposed.
This AGM does seem to be at a rather odd time of year, not usual for AGMs which rtend to be in January, or April. I don't know why though. January might be good, as all but the most dedicated are stuffed after the Christmas turkeys.
Jill
Hi everyone:
It looks like we have really developed fresh ideas about disarmament, the buddy system and the website so thanks a lot for your thoughts.
We have been discussing the final topic - What is the best relationship between SGI and SEIN? throughout the General Meeting.
We said that SEIN was like a garden door. We said that SEIN was a place where educators could come in from the saha world and find friendship and deep dialogue. We looked at the difference between SEIN and SUA. We identified ways, through the disarmament project to further connect members to the international community like the UNA and vice versa.
We have Sensei's contact with Constance Haig, the fact that he is happy to see SEIN exist. SEIN material is sent to many SGI leaders and staff people at SGI Japan, US, UK, Canada, India and others.
We agree we don't want SEIN to be too cumbersome and never to compete with SGI. So what do we want the SGI/SEIN connection to be or to become? I am going for guidance about this because we are at a critical stage in deepening this relationship the right way. So what would you like to see the SEIN/SGI relationship be?
Part of the objective of the next forum, that starts Sunday, November 16th will be to look at how SEIN can help members make use of the Peace Proposals in their daily lives and in the greater community. What I learned from the last forum was that Sensei is someone who is influential locally, nationally and internationally. I think by helping members gain access to the richness of the peace proposals, more and more members can learn how important this is and how to get there.
Any other ideas? Will concrete proposals be helpful here?
Stephanie
FINAL DAY OF GENERAL MEETING:
Hello everyone!
I will be sending out a summary in the next few days. Thanks for helping out SEIN and giving us concrete and purposeful direction.
During this last day, let's talk about the upcoming forum. during the forum we are going to take time to develop ways to help members better use Sensei's peace proposals? Should we break out into different professional teams? Should we break it down into local, national and international applications? Should we suggest applications in the community?
This is a new direction for SEIN and want to get everyone's wisdom on how to do this well.
Thanks and thanks again for your participation!!
Hi everyone
I apologize to participate so late in the week ; I apreciate a lot the SEIN since I began to be incorporated more or less two years ago.
As I take a new determination to finish my PhD (I haven't finished yet), I try to concentrate me on this when I have free time.
In fact, as another members of the SEIN, I really apreciate this initiative and I'll really do all my best to support it.
For the moment, I can transmit too that
*I think that SEIN is created "at the good moment" of the growth and expansion of the educators group in the SGI. As I explained to you in a last mail, the activities of the SGI-France are stopped since september 2006 to protect the organization in a period of institutionnal transformation (in the positive way to be legally recognized). So what you are proposing seems to me as a continuity with educators activities that I participated in France with educators from France and another countries of Europe. The main diferences is that SEIN is for the moment an internet project and, in the future it will be surely very intersting to promote meetings/trainings as we suggested (Michel N) to meet together in Brazil in 2010.
*as french member, I 'm very concerned to the disarment exhibition as France is one of the nuclear country in the world. And it seems very dificult to transmit as educator another way to think in comparison to the oficial discurse about the necesity of nuclear use.
*a suggestion : do you think it will be interesting to connect our SEIN to the new creation of Gajokai (YWD in all the world who have decided to deepen the study of great writers etc) ?
I'll try to participate to the next forum ; my PdD will be part of your determination... I mean, it encourages me to transmit to you my experience when I will finish.
I wish to all of you a very good beginning of november to prepare the 18th of november.
Friendly
Anne Péné-Annette
university of Saint Quentin en Yvelines/geography
France
I've really enjoyed this dialogue and the collective wisdom I've heard. As to Stephanie's question: Relationship between SGI and SEIN...
* President Ikeda says in his Oct 24 WT "We should advance with dynamism and good cheer." He preffesed this with: "When times are dark and gloomy..." As a teacher struggling now and not receiving much encouragement from my local area, this forum has been one of encouragement and
a place to write and feel validated about what I do. I always feel that what I'm thinking or saying is taken seriously. People here, don't really know
me, but though dialogue and encouragement; each person's story, I am encouraged from a different source. This makes me better in my local area.
* It has also been educational; inspirational, and enlightening. I say that because our systems of education have become clogged and it's amazing how the entire US ed system is floundering not knowing how to pull itself out of it's NCLB mess. It's important to find other places to get information, and learn what others are doing in their own areas. Altough simple, the dialogue here, is honest and sincere and helps me to take ideas and see them as other possiblities to solving problems. (Thank you Terry and Po)
* Everything in SEIN and SGI is faith based. My daughter, at SUA, told me this...It's all about faith, Mom. You've got to believe that it's going to happen, and it will; you've got to believe in yourself!" Differences are in our own head. I learned yeseterday that bacteria and the host work side by side; whereas, viruses will, because of their never being satisfied "desires" will attack the host. My friend said, "He thinks of the US as a "virus" and other indiginous cultures as "bacteria" (they live in harmony with the host). SEIN is necessary for US to learn from the international perspective and gain from this wisdom.
Thank you all again.
Hugs and love,
Susan
PS. Thanks Stephanie. Keep us posted and have a wonderful trip to Japan!!
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