Youngsters who learn to treat domestic animals with tender loving care are inclined to show respect and compassion for all living. This is the underlying premise of Guardians of the Planet, a novel curriculum being introduced in lakeside area grade school classrooms by the Alianza por una Educación Humanitaria-Humane Education Alliance (APEA).
APEA was founded in January 2011, operating under the umbrella of the non-profit organizations: Lakeside Friends of the Animals, La Tienda de la Ciencia and the Mariposa Project. Next month APEH will complete the second year of a fine-tuned outreach program involving 3,000 children in 31 primary schools.
Spearheaded by María Teresa Jiménez González, professor and founding director of La Tienda de la Ciencia (The Science Tent), the project aims to promote and instill fundamental human values such as empathy, non-violence, justice and personal responsibility, while building each student’s knowledge, abilities for critical thinking and sense of self-esteem.
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