The importance of teaching peace and profit in high school

​I teach high school econ by default, and have therefore been a student the last few years.  In doing so, I’ve been able to delve into some extremely hopeful narratives, affirming that economics is absolutely worth the entirety of my attention, and now I think it is the most important subject to teach.  (Spanish is ‘my subject’, and history now too, but econ always takes the conversation to the next level.  After all, money talks!)

Graduating university, I was dedicated to small-scale sustainable agriculture, and thankfully many others have been too; contributing in innovative and impactful ways.  From community supported agriculture, to school gardens, to advocating access to nutritious food, a lot of attention has been paid to re-building a sustainable, sovereign food system. 
 
Meanwhile, the problems we intend to solve escalate: climate change, deteriorating soils, deforestation, obesity and starvation, ill health, and injustice in myriad forms.  For every laudable effort towards alleviating suffering, “paying attention” rewards us with increasingly depressing statistics.  Protests and band-aid solutions feel like more of the same, and end up being more depressing than the problems, affirming to the already depressed that there aren’t affective solutions available to us, or effective enough, or fast enough. 
 
I can’t teach students about the world without teaching them that it is possible to create a better world, and be an example of it.  The curriculum must be simultaneously revealing of the intrinsic faults of our current system, and illuminate possibilities for students that are actionable, regenerative, and personally profitable. 
The curriculum should spark conversation, ignite interest, and most importantly, cultivate hope for regeneration in the next generation. 

I am also unsatisfied if this conversation is not happening outside of the classroom. It needs to be happening at dinner parties, so we will throw dinner parties.  It needs to happen at city hall, in local business, and by local organizations and activists, so we will hold round-table discussions.  It needs to happen with consumers, so we will hold bazaars for communities to experience the pleasure of participating in a regenerative economy.  The economic system we live in implicates our worldview. Steven Pinker and Barack Obama purport that the long arch of history bends toward justice and less violence. 

From my studies and observations, I’ve come to the glad conclusion that peace and prosperity, justice and regeneration, are interwoven and interdependent.  History and science fiction have shown that we can just about create any reality our minds can imagine.  If we can imagine it, and know it is possible, we can experience a more harmonious and abundant world, and solve what ails us more quickly, more fully, and more profitably than the common narrative allows.    

This blog is meant to be a hopeful and honest share of my journey as I attempt to create the world I want to see.  From my vantage point as a single mom and a teacher, struggling economically, I am motivated by the desire to have what I want for all people: security.  Peace Profits is born from the desire to share hope and inspiration, and make a better world, even one that is motivated by self interest and the desire to make money.