Betty A. Reardon

Biographical Information
"She works for the Peace Education Center at Teachers College (Columbia University, and the Hague Appeal for Peace Global Campaign for Peace Education. Betty A. Reardon (born 1929) is acknowledged worldwide as a founder of peace education. For over 40 years she has developed curricula, taught courses, led teacher-training workshops, and given countless talks to grassroots meetings, university symposia, and international conferences. She founded the Peace Education Center at Teachers College (Columbia University) and has been centrally involved in organizing internationally for peace education. Now retired from Teachers College, she continues to travel widely and to teach about peace education in many settings.Betty Reardon was born June 12, 1929, exactly the same date as Anne Frank. She was brought up in Rye, near New York City. At that time Rye was a small town where everybody knew everybody – not the high-priced New York suburb it has become. She attended Rye Grammar School and then Rye High School. The same group of students went all through school together. World War II was an important influence on her thinking. She wrote an anti-war essay in 5th grade and comments: “The teacher thought it was funny. It was a kind of satire, but I was damn serious.” Even then, she believed that there must be an alterative to war...

"In 1963, Betty started working in peace education full-time as Director of the Schools Program with the Institute of World Order. She was interested in critical inquiry into war as a system. She understood the need for significant change in people’s mindsets. During the early years of the Vietnam War this was difficult in the USA, as many people supported the war. Betty was subject to “official observation” as most peace movement people were.

"Betty was among the first to start substantive work on the theory and curriculum of peace education and she is still engaged in this effort. She developed courses and led teacher-training workshops. She published numerous books and articles on peace, women, peace education and related topics. She founded the Peace Education Center at Teachers College (Columbia University) and used this institutional niche to organize the International Institute on Peace Education that first met in 1982. Betty served as Founding Director of this Institute and brought together peace advocates and educators from around the world under its auspices, as well as through the Peace Educational Centers Network. Thus she has promoted the international solidarity of peace people and organizations.

"Betty holds a doctorate in education from Columbia University and a master’s degree in history from New York University... Her book, Educating for Human Dignity, designed for teachers and teacher educators, is the first resource offering both guidance and support materials for human-rights education programs from kindergarten through high school."

Affiliations

 * Director, Global Education Associates
 * Vice President, People's Movement for Human Rights Learning
 * Steering Committee, Global Action to Prevent War
 * Advisory Council, National Peace Academy