Transition Times: If Transition Year is about the world beyond the classroom, then this week's One World Week is Transition Year in motion. One World Week is an invitation to young people to ask tough questions about conflict across the globe, writes Louise Holden
This evening, students from Ireland (North and South), India, Kenya, Honduras and Costa Rica will gather online to discuss their experience of conflict, from bullying to war. The web forum is just one in a week of events designed to encourage students to think about their peers in developing nations and to confront issues such as violence and poverty across the globe.
The theme of this year's One World Week is 'Peace and Conflict', a subject that many Irish students have engaged with in a new way since the invasion of Iraq by US forces last March. Transition Year classes are using the week to look at ways that young people can bring about peace, rather than always being the victims of war.
The National Youth Council has produced an educational pack, which can be used all year round. It's full of fascinating insights into global conflict and into the roles young people play in war.
Students are encouraged to ask tough questions. Is conflict right when it prevents further conflict? Are human beings instinctively confrontational? Will Christians and Muslims always be at war?
In classrooms around the country students will look for true definitions of everyday violence. Which of the following, for example, do you consider a violent act?
Drinking and driving
Slapping children
Experimenting on animals
Using racist language
Joyriding
Selling drugs
At least a quarter of all the people killed in armed conflicts around the world are children, but young people are rarely asked for their opinions about war.
We have no "war" in Ireland now but we witness many violent acts at home and across the globe. This week many young people in Ireland will be asked about the violence in their world and how they would go about changing it.
If you missed the chance to get fully involved in One World Week, the resource pack is available all year round from The National Youth Council, 3 Montague Street, Dublin 2, tel: 01-4784122, website: www.youth.ie
