The World Mural 16x24 feet original was collaboratively created by child artists from 50 counties on the National Mall in Washington DC. Mural creation is a peace educational component of the international children’s celebration organized every four years by the International Child Art Foundation. The mural, symbolic of collaborative creativity of the world’s children, depicts their visions of the world in the new millennium.
The "successful models" that are offered in this section are not recommended as the be-all-and-end-all of educational reform. Indeed some of the programs presented, the Khan Academy for one, have been criticized as being the "same old, same old," dressed in new clothing. This is probably a great exaggeration since the Khan Academy has done something unusual, in fact, something incredible, by "flipping" how we approach the process of education instruction. This in itself is something to think about. It has also given the world thousands of videos that students are willing to explore. Perhaps they are just a new and different approach to classroom presentation, but for some they are working--and this gets to the crux of the matter: are we going to find one approach to having a successful education system? Probably not.
Some of these programs presented here are supplemental to already "packed" school requirements, others can be worked into state, national and international standards, and at least one is a pre-school program. Nonetheless, models here are presented as ideas that help us level the playing field, show students how to teach one another, reintroduce civic responsibility, and most importantly allow for them to explore their own emotions, by understanding how to relate compassionately to others and the world with dignity and respect.
