“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more ‘successful’ people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form.

It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these needs have little to do with success as our culture has defined it.” — David Orr

In its first decade, the 21st century has presented academics with a remarkable number of challenges, emerging from such disparate fields as technology and politics, popular culture and the business sector.  There is a perceived necessity to adapt our educational techniques as well as the content of our curriculum in response to external pressures that grow and shift from year to year. 

Nevertheless, many of us are tasked with conveying truths about the universe, history, problem-solving, the mind, and the human condition that remain unchanged despite the constant flux of our society and culture.  Our greatest challenges, therefore, may lie in the delivery and explanation of such information: not only in justifying our approach to our administrators but, more importantly, in making our field relevant and relatable to our students and to the outside world.

The colloquium explores the challenges and aims of those striving to provide education for a new humanity.  Transcending teaching techniques, Education for a New Humanity will investigate subject matter that is most important in helping develop critical learning skills for global citizens.  Papers, panel discussions, talking circles, and fine art performance will present unique approaches and topics for debate and discussion.

Dr. David Orr

David W. Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics and Special Assistant to the President of Oberlin College and a James Marsh Professor at the University of Vermont.

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