1. Colman McCarthy 1938- Teaching Peace
Leo R. Sandy

2. McCarthy cont’d
McCarthy once said, “Why do we not have peace? Because we do not teach peace”
A journalist and educator, he has taught peace courses to more than 6000 students in high schools, colleges, universities, and prisons
He believes that peacemaking skills can be taught and that students are eager to learn them
His father was a WWI veteran who quietly but strongly opposed war and this stayed in McCarthy’s mind while growing up

3. McCarthy cont’d
After college, McCarthy worked as a laborer at a Trappist monastery in Georgia and between work he read hundreds of books many of which were about peacemakers
After leaving the monastery, he became a freelance writer, and his first article criticized the head of the Peace Corps, Sargent Shriver. In turn, Shriver invited McCarthy to join his speech writing staff in Washington, DC
He met and married his wife who was a fellow staff member, and they had 3 sons
Later, McCarthy became an award-winning writer for The Washington Post

4. McCarthy cont’d
He saw his job as a journalist mainly to ease suffering in the world, and emphasized the use of nonviolence against military spending, the death penalty, and other controversial issues
He received a lot of angry mail to his columns but reasoned that it must be because he is doing his job well
McCarthy’s column became syndicated, appearing in 73 newspapers
After speaking at his son’s high school, he was invited to teach a course in writing but said that he’d rather teach peace

5. McCarthy cont’d
His reason for wanting to teach peace was stated as, “Why are we violent but not illiterate? Because we are taught to read. Unless we teach our children peace someone else will teach them violence?
The course became very popular to the point that he also offered it at another high school
One student said that he took the class because he was ashamed of humanity
McCarthy was criticized by some of not having balance in his courses

6. McCarthy cont’d
On the issue of balance, McCarthy saw his course as the balance because students were saturated with violence from many sources in the culture and there was very little in their lives to counter it
Many educators started seeking out McCarthy so they could develop their own peace courses, and in response he developed the Center for Teaching Peace
He later wrote two textbooks, Solutions to Violence and Strength Through Peace
He taught in very unconventional ways as in taking students to meet homeless people and prisoners on death row

7. McCarthy cont’d
He advised his students to not ask questions but question the answers, especially the the ones that say that violence is the answer
He asks students to not necessarily accept what he has to say but just to consider it. “I’m in the information, not the conversion, business”
He reaches out to “difficult” students and encourages his students to disagree with him
To those who question the effectiveness of nonviolence, he responds by acknowledging its riskiness but also points out its greater successes (see “Why Civil Resistance Works” by Stephan and Chenowith)

8. McCarthy cont’d
When asked about the problem with Hitler, McCarthy responds by saying that policies and structures must be in place to prevent another Hitler – policies that disallow violence as a political technique
In response to the Columbine shooting, McCarthy said that the response to do something focused on reactive measures such as metal detectors, hallway police, or ID badges instead of textbooks on peace and hiring peace educators
McCarthy did inspire some high schools and colleges to teach peace (U of Maryland, American U, and Georgetown U Law School)

9. McCarthy cont’d
By 2003 more than 70 U.S. colleges and universities were offering degrees in peace studies, compared to 1 in 1970 (Today several hundred institutions of higher education are offering peace studies minors and majors as well as masters and doctoral degrees)
The two lessons that McCarthy has learned from his students are that nonviolence is teachable and that young people are hungry to learn the skills

10. McCarthy Quotes
Everyone is a pacifist between wars. It’s like being a vegetarian between meals
Warmaking doesn’t stop warmaking. If it did, our problems would have stopped millenia ago
The earth is too small a star and we too brief a visitor upon it for anything to matter more than the struggle for peace
Unless we teach our children peace, somebody else will teach them violence
If peace is what every government says it seeks, and peace is the yearning of every heart, why aren’t we studying it in schools?

11. McCarthy Video
YouTube: Coleman McCarthy: Teach Peace

12. Reference Beller, K, & Chase, H. (2008). Great peacemakers:
True stories from around the world. Sedona, AZ:
LTS Press
Coleman McCarthy: Teach peace. Retrieved from