Educators Honored as Global Citizens

The Boston Research Center for the 21st Century cast the spotlight on the critical role of education when it selected as its 1998 Global Citizens educators Young Seek Choue and Vito Perrone.

On Thursday, October 8, Dr. Choue, founder and chancellor of Kyung Hee University in Korea, a comprehensive school system that embodies U.N. ideals and seeks to instill in students an ethic of service to global society, was honored for his "courageous and wholehearted dedication to the founding of institutions that aim for a peaceful world through humanistic education and international cooperation." Dr. Perrone, director of Teacher Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, was presented his Global Citizen Award "for progressive leadership to improve education by empowering students and teachers, refining the art of teaching as a profession of hope, and advancing peace studies." A teacher for most of his life, Vito Perrone has taught in public schools and has been a professor of history, education, and peace studies at the University of North Dakota.

The Global Citizen Award was inaugurated in 1995 by the BRC's founder and president of Soka Gakkai International, Daisaku Ikeda, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. In his message for the conferral of the awards, Mr. Ikeda remarked: "It is extremely significant that this year's Global Citizen Awards should be conferred on two outstanding visionary educators. It is my firm conviction that education represents the most certain means by which to effect the historical transition that confronts humankind: to move from a twentieth century filled with war and violence to a twenty-first century of peace and coexistence."

The ceremony itself, which is always a joyous celebration of human solidarity, is meant to provide a site of learning with the thought, as Mr. Ikeda observes, that "nothing inspires hope, or serves as a deeper source of encouragement, than the example of our fellow human beings." Drs. Choue and Perrone each received $20,000, a gold medallion, and a certificate representing his life work designed by artist Tini Miura.

"Global citizen par excellence" is the way that futurist and economist Hazel Henderson spoke of Dr. Choue as she introduced him to the audience at the awards ceremony. "His life has been difficult, fraught with many dangers and imprisonment. Yet, Dr. Choue has always been an activist for world peace."

Dr. Henderson, a 1996 Global Citizen awardee and the author of Building a Win-Win World, described Young Seek Choue as an agent of change and an inspiration who "has set a national example to all Koreans of personal development, civic involvement, and thinking globally while acting locally."

In a philosophical vein, Dr. Choue observed in his address, "We come to this world empty-handed, live briefly, and leave this world empty-handed again." He continued, "Should we not continue cultivating a brighter cultural legacy for our neighbors, fellow countrymen, the entire humanity, and its posterity?"

Dr. Choue urged that we all come together to construct "what I call global common society." The educator is optimistic about the "progressive integration of regional organizations into a global cooperation society" and urged, "If we are to be reborn and reconstruct our human society as a worthy one, we must reform our hearts and minds."

Educator and author Deborah Meier introduced her friend of many years, Dr. Vito Perrone, calling him a "giant" among early childhood educators. "Vito," she said, "pioneered accountability in the best sense--giving an account of one's work to those whom one served."

The long-time teacher declared that "our best learning takes place when it is most embedded in meaningful, satisfying, and joyous work." Praising Dr. Perrone, she described him as a man with "some kind of radar for staying the course, for ignoring fads, for sticking to old-fashioned language, for remembering our common history."

Deborah Meier reminded the guests assembled to celebrate with the new Global Citizens that Vito Perrone is not only a leader of educational reform but also "a leader in many other causes. He is a spokesperson on issues of justice and peace. The very qualities of respect for others that make him so special as an educator make him special as a global citizen, as a man of all places and all times."

In the course of his remarks, "The Continuing Imperative: Educating for Peace and Social Justice," Dr. Perrone acknowledged the intellectual inspiration of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, educator and first president of the Soka Gakkai. "As he understood it," Vito Perrone summarized, "schools need to be places that nurture creativity, happiness, cooperation, a oneness of spirit." Referring to Makiguchi's observation that "I have come to burn more and more with a fever to do something and the sooner the better," the American educator urged that "that sense of burning for the better should be within all of us."

Referring to Mr. Ikeda's perception of the United States as a "miniature of the world," Dr. Perrone declared that "we should be celebrating the rich possibilities of this diversity, relishing our place as the crossroad of the world." Vito Perrone's persistent vision is one of schools that "become places that ensure that children and young people possess the skills, knowledge, and dispositions that will enable them to change the world, to construct on their terms new paths."

It was a grand evening for the new Global Citizen awardees, their families and friends, assembled guests and well-wishers, former awardees who were present--Elise Boulding, Randall Forsberg, Hazel Henderson, and John Montgomery--and BRC executive director Virginia Straus and the BRC staff who this year celebrate the fifth anniversary of the founding of the peace institute. The festive occasion was concluded by United Nations Under Secretary-General Joseph Verner Reed, who offered congratulatory remarks and the evening's champagne toast.

--Helen Marie Casey

See our Special Feature for synopses of all the 1998 Global Citizen Awards Ceremony.

Autumn was a special season for the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century. The Center celebrated its fifth anniversary, published three books, and introduced its new publications to faculty for possible course adoption at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature in Orlando, Florida.