The Boston Research Center is pleased to introduce our new e-newsletter, designed to keep you up to date with our activities in support of peace, learning, and dialogue.
New at the BRC Website: "Learning to Learn About Death" "To be with someone who is dying is a profound learning how to love." So said Mary Catherine Bateson to the capacity crowd gathered at the Boston Research Center on February 27 for the public dialogue "Understanding Death, Appreciating Life." Joining Bateson in open reflection were Harvard professors (l-r) Nur Yalman, Tu Weiming, and Harvey Cox. The BRC has just posted a feature article highlighting insights and lessons from that memorable afternoon. The event was part of the BRC's yearlong investigation into how enlarging our conception of death and life might lead to a more peaceful, compassionate world. The next event -- the Fifth Annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue -- will take place September 20. It will extend and deepen the dialogue started on February 27.
On April 13, the BRC hosted a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society (PES) held in Cambridge, MA. The session, chaired by
Jane Roland Martin of the University of Massachusetts - Boston, was called
"Expanding Philosophical Horizons: W.E.B. Du Bois, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, and Maria Montessori." The presenters,
Rodino Anderson of Bowdoin College,
Monte Joffee of the Renaissance Charter School in New York City, and
Jennifer Whitcomb of the University of Colorado at Boulder, are all contributors to the BRC-developed book
Ethical Visions of Education: Philosophies in Practice, edited by
David T. Hansen of Teachers College. The respondent was
Dale Snauwaert of the University of Toledo.
From the Archives: David Hansen on the Moral and Ethical Dimensions of Teaching
In 2007, David T. Hansen spoke with the BRC about the value of focusing on the ethical dimensions of teaching and learning in a time of commercialized, standardized education. He also talked about how the book
Ethical Visions, with its
international approach to educational ethics, can help counter the ill effects of narrowly conceived American exceptionalism. "A book like ours, in its own modest way," said Hansen, "can help us think about using power wisely and humanely and for good ends. It can have this effect because it can show students that we have a lot of
solidarity with the rest of the world, so much more than we are aware of." Hansen doesn't deny our differences, but contends that our differences can be encountered as energizing.
"To be with someone who is dying is a profound learning how to love." So said 
In 2007, David T. Hansen spoke with the BRC about the value of focusing on the ethical dimensions of teaching and learning in a time of commercialized, standardized education. He also talked about how the book