Film Discussion: World Peace & Other 4th Grade Achievements

Join us September 30th, 1pm (EDT), for an online discussion with Author/Educator John Hunter and Filmmaker Chris Farina, RSVP for Link.

World Peace and Other Fourth-Grade Achievements (2010). 

Our Radical Pedagogy Series begins with an award-winning documentary from director Chris Farina and Rosalia Films, that interweaves the story of John Hunter, an inspiring teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his students’ participation in the World Peace Game: an eight-week immersive experience he created that transforms the children into empowered citizens of the world. Watch the film directly from our website: https://www.epsilonspires.org/world-peace

The film traces how Hunter’s unique teaching career emerges from his own diverse background. An African-American educated in the segregated schools of rural Virginia, where his mother was his 4th grade teacher, he was selected by his community to be one of seven students to integrate a previously all-white middle school. After graduation, he traveled extensively to China, Japan, and India, and his exposure to the Gandhian principles of nonviolence led him to ask what he could do as a teacher to work toward a more peaceful world. Accepting the reality of violence, he would seek to incorporate ways to explore harmony in various situations. This exploration would take form in the framework of a game – something that students would enjoy. Within the structure of that space, they would be challenged, while enhancing collaborative and communication skills.

In 1978, Hunter led the first sessions of his World Peace Game. Over time, in a synchronous unfolding with the growing global focus on increasingly complex social and political conditions, the game has gained new impetus. As Hunter succinctly explains, “The World Peace Game is about learning to live and work comfortably in the unknown.”

John Hunter's Ted Talk on teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_UTgoPUTLQ

Director Chris Farina’s films specialize in telling the stories of individuals whose profound contributions to their community have often gone unnoticed, expanding the audience’s notion of what it means to be human. His work is guided by the principle of respect for the individuals portrayed, allowing them to tell the stories of their lives and their community. Farina’s award-winning short film: The Holistic Life Foundation: breathing love into a community, focused on HLF’s work primarily focused on the youth of the impoverished neighborhoods in west Baltimore. His most recent film, Seats at the Table, presents another educational portrait of a class which connects university students with residents of a maximum-security juvenile correctional center through the study of great works of Russian literature.