Global Days of Listening
Like their teachers, students are constantly absorbing information from news sources, locally and globally. But what if they were able to connect directly with other youth in countries always in the headlines — and talk with them one-on-one — all without media bias, hype or spin and with the ability to ask questions, get answers, forge relationships and promote understanding?
As an educator concerned with creating real-time value in education for students, I have undertaken this experiential approach through Global Days of Listening (www.globaldaysoflistening.org). Our students at the Bethpage High School first connected with students in other parts of the world in September 2010 and those connections have continued through the present.
New York students connect with youth from Afghanistan via technology. All sorts of questions have been asked, conversations exchanged and mutual understanding increased. Last year, in occasion of the Nassau County Human Rights Commission’s Human Rights Awareness Conference held annually at Adelphi University in February, Bethpage students introduced the Global Days of Listening to Adelphi students and professors. In addition, they also presented at a United Nations Human Rights Conference for teachers last year, with simultaneous video-conferencing to Canada, Mexico and the Philippines.
Global Days of Listening began with a Singaporean doctor, Wee Teck Young. After volunteering in the Afghan refugee camps, he found youth — tired of conflicts endured throughout their entire lives — seeking peace, leadership and hope through non-violence. The Afghan Volunteers reach out through Skype and livestreaming on the Internet, hoping for relationships to form when people (especially other youth) dispel myths and discover the many similarities we all commonly share, despite cultural, physical, economic and social differences.
These Global Days of Listening sessions are offered on the 21st of each month and are also sometimes arranged specifically for universities, high schools and interested groups. The most recent session was on October 10 at Hofstra University's Day of Dialogue in preparation for the Presidential Debate the following week. The event was sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement at Hofstra and was a resounding success for the students, professors and media in attendance. We have held Global Days of Listening sessions with SUNY at Stony Brook, Adelphi University, St. Joseph College and Chestnut Hill College in Pennsylvania. A session at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan is coming up.
This opportunity continues with a monthly session for students in Bethpage and elsewhere to connect with contemporary youth living half a world away. This hands-on experience offers the invaluable gift of inquiry that can open minds, ideas and dialogue aimed at complementing classroom education. And the goodwill that results transforms strangers into friends.
For more information, go to http://ourjourneytosmile.com/; http://globaldaysoflistening.org;or http://2millionfriends.org/as we try to reach 2 million new friends, via the Internet.
(J. Jill Rito, a member of the Bethpage Congress of Teachers, is a teacher at Bethpage High School and an adjunct professor at SUNY at Old Westbury.)