“By law, public schools in this country do not promote religion or religious belief. That said, nothing says that children could not be taught some of the tenets of ancient wisdom, which is already happening in certain schools.

How can we introduce ancient wisdom to children? We, the parents and grandparents, must do this. It is our job, not that of the schools.”

—————————Ellen from NH

“I don’t know if this first quest is rhetorical or practical. I’ll answer from the practical standpoint. As a former school principal, I see the challenges of teaching Daoist wisdom in schools as many. The biggest challenge would be time. When would it be done. There are many mandates in place that require schools to teach major subjects for prescribed times. Also, who would teach it. How many teachers are trained and prepared to teach Daoist wisdom in school? We are a multicultural society albeit one where some would like to see that change as well. What would we do to see that other wisdom traditions are also taught in school? Time? Expertise? Where I was a principal, the Social Studies class did cover different cultures and their practices at one grade level. Not exactly sure that is the same thing. 🙂

I think we can introduce ancient wisdom to children at home. I think one if the best ways to teach is to show up from a place where we act the part. I also believe there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. I think knowledge is based in facts. Wisdom includes the totality of experiences that we have and learn from. That learning process takes many years, so I am no convinced children are learning wisdom in primary grades. They would be learning cultural values and, hopefully, those lessons would stay with them as their wisdom evolves over time. These are great discussion questions and I had to really think a lot about this.”

———————————Mark from TN

“I think we could have a real impact on kids if we made learning Tao fun and engaging for Kids! When I was in School as a young child, we would have a moment in some of the days when our teacher read to us! If Little kids heard the Wisdom of Tao at a young age, especially if the teacher had the kids do some projects, and talked with the students on what each one felt they thought each chapter meant to them, it would certainly change how they behaved, and viewed each other and their world! Also if parents and their kids talked maybe once a week about the Tao Te Jing, and just spent a little Quality time sharing their thoughts. A little no screen time, just being together as a family and thinking and talking to each other about what each of our roles are as people on earth what an impact we could have on creating family unity, and much more peace for us all! I think getting to young children to learn Taoist wisdom, and Families, and School instilling good values, and morals in our kids, and encouraging all our Kids to think rather than just react, would truly change our whole world for the better, in one generation even! Kids are open pallets when they are young and just starting to grow. Sharing all these pearls from the Tao to young ones, could really make this world a better place for all beings, by starting with all us Humans, the ripple effect could help All life, and our Mother Earth too!”

——————————–Peter from MA

“Prior to Covid, I worked at several alternative high schools for a little over two years. During those two years, I focused on three types of activities: Qigong/Tai Chi, teaching Nonviolent Communication and assisting students in a Peace Circle.

The components I found important in these student based relationships were listening, understanding (not necessarily agreeing), opening my heart and discussing their feelings and needs with compassion. I found it was helpful not to direct or command them to take a certain path but support them and allow them to explore what made their own life better and gave them meaning.

At times when several of the students were emotionally upset, I helped them practice Tai Chi and/or Qigong. As they began to get in touch with what was going on inside of themselves and as their energy level began to subside, we talked about the incidences which agitated them. During our discussions we often talked about their feelings and needs that were not being satisfied or met. A couple of students became steady in their quest to learn Qigong due to the calmness they felt afterwards.

We had two ongoing Peace Circles a week which usually had approximately 15 students who attended. Prior to the students arriving, I would place a group of hand written cards on two tables. One table had cards with a feeling written on each one and on the other table were cards with a need written on each one. As the students arrived in the room they would select a card from each table that listed their current feeling and their current need. One student would volunteer to begin and he/she would voice their feeling and then read their need. This often led to a deeper explanation than just reading the card. Other students would join in the discussion regarding what they heard from the other student.\\

The Peace Circle allowed students to voice who they were, get support and connect with others and be themselves without fear of criticism or reprisal. My participation in the schools started when I joined a school based activity group that focused upon improving educational programs. After attending the group meetings and discussing current activities, I began offering to work with various members on their current projects to improve schools. As I became a working member, I began suggesting various activities which were a part of my life and volunteered to teach the activities. This later led to me writing two grants which funded my activities.”

—————————————————-Frank from MI

“I believe it is quite possible to formally encourage more emphasis on the basic principles of kindness, compassion, gratitude and generosity into our childrens’ lives from an early age, not least of all in a school setting starting as early as children learn to socialize. But the basic principles are fundamental to humanity and get too easily pushed aside while focus in the school environment is on aptitude, learning skills and early encouragement of academic achievement and competition. These are fine but need to be seriously balanced by the softer skills relating to co-existence and harmony with others and with all things in nature…… that includes frogs and insects and dogs and cats that fall prey to insensitive and cruel human beings including children.

Early on teachings in schools and discussions and reminders in the classroom will promote better behaviors outside the classroom and influence at home with family and friends. Our children and grandchildren are the future of our world and change in terms of what a “successful” human being means needs to be instigated from the earliest childhood.

Incidentally I found an interesting article on the web about Chinese parent teaches children: https://psyche.co/guides/how-chinese-philosophy-can-help-you-to-be-a-better-parent”

—————————————Jessica from MA

“Children can learn Daoism in school. From my experience – teaching Qigong to my grandchildren’s pre-school (age 2-3) – I use children’s songs that incorporate movement and body- awareness, I use songs with simple movements, I include self hugs, tapping, and songs of the love of friends, family and animals, songs about the seasons and nature. That is all about Daoism to children. They respond beautifully to relaxation at the end of the practice. Also, their teachers are happy.”

—————————————–Ruth from Israel

“Great questions. I agree that children should learn these ideas in school. However, introducing these practices in schools could be difficult. Some people will not want these practices taught to their children because they think teachers are trying to convert them to another religion. This will be a hot issue in our divided country right now. That may sound a little crazy, but many will be skeptical if parents are unfamiliar with Taoism. I think the place to start is perhaps in those schools that already offer meditation and yoga practices for the children. Also, the individual school boards in most areas will need to approve the curriculum before it can be taught. Parents should probably be educated first in these practices to see the benefits for themselves and their children.”

—————————-Dana from NJ

“Daoist wisdom (a term that could never be used in the public schools in the US) cannot be taught here for the same political and religious reasons that schools cannot teach the correct history of slavery in this country and children cannot read books about slavery like Beloved by

Toni Morrison or about the Holocaust like Maus by Art Spiegelman. The only way to expose children to daoist wisdom would be to get it on TikTok. And then it would take off like a rocket!”

——————————–Cortney from FL

“Interesting questions. SCHOOLS: You may have already heard a lot about this, but in Florida, at least, you can’t teach anything like this in schools. No current history of the past 20 years and more. Very restrictive. I’m sure Gail and Patti could tell you more about what is happening with the schools. It is terrible. CHILDRENS BOOK: I thought you might write a children’s book on Dao wisdom. So I researched what is available. Here are two that I found.

CHILDREN’S CLASSES: Have you considered doing qigong classes for kids? You could incorporate Daoist wisdom within the class. Kids today are very stressed, and I think this would be an excellent outlet for them.”

—————————————Candy from FL

“In the U.S., there is a frank disregard for anything that could be considered “religious” in our schools. I wouldn’t consider Daoism so much a religion as it is more of a philosophy and way of life. That said, there are those who would still try and call it indoctrination if it were introduced in a public school curriculum. It is a slippery slope for school boards to navigate, although the Dao as a philosophy stands a far better chance in mainstream public education than Christianity does today.

Still, there’s nothing stopping parents from teaching their children this. So maybe the trick is not involving the Dao in the controversy of public education but rather educating parents so that they can teach their own children at home. Just my thoughts…

Thank you for these thought-provoking questions!”

—————————————Jasmine from MA

“While it would be wonderful, given the current Governor and his reactive mode I don’t think public schools could consider bringing in anything that they might misconstrue as a religion (even though it is not.) On the other hand, some of the private schools might be interested if it was translated into ways that were relevant to children. Are there any books that teach

Daoism? I can imagine that schools like Montessori and the Out of Door Academy and other private schools might be interested if it was approached as a way to connect students to their inner wisdom.

If a school were interested I think that children’s books that address Daoism would be wonderful. Also, there may be books that aren’t identified as Daoist but that reflect Daoist principles could be used. If so, we could read these books to children and dialogue with them about the ideas.”

————————————Juliet from F

“The children can learn Daoist wisdom in school if / when the teachers are educated and encouraged to pass on this wisdom. This may require a profound change in the school system. As long as it is not in the interest, from the system’s perspective, for the teachers and the children to get this type of education, it will not happen. BUT if we are talking about homeschooling, in that context, it could be done immediately. It is just a matter of matching people with the knowledge and interest to teach with the homeschooling parents.

A few ideas come to mind:

– children’s books introducing Daoism principles

– Qigong for children where, aside from movement, there are short “stories” describing the Daoism wisdom

– Camps, after school classes, etc.”

———————————–Anna from WA

“Speaking strictly about what is happening in the Florida school system, if they allow Christian views, they can allow other views and teachings. Also, based on the Supreme Court decision about the coach in Washington State praying on the football field that has opened the way for (supposedly) any teachings as far as the law is concerned.”

——————————–Peal from WA

“I wanted to tell you relates how to introduce Daoism to elementary school children. I know my classmates and I wore the yin/yang symbol on t-shirts or on jewelry from Claire’s when we were in elementary school because it was trendy. I never knew what it meant. We just thought it looked cool. I’m sure there are a lot of young people who have seen that symbol and the introduction to Daoism could be describing what the symbol means. It wasn’t until my mid 20’s reading a lot of books one summer that I learned about the yin and Yang flows, masculine and feminine, and that we all flow back and forth in between the 2 energies. I feel like I’m just

coming out of a yin flow entering a Yang flow and I know that it will then return back to yin. It’s very interesting!”

————————————Lynn from CO

I am grateful to have many supporters from the World, who help spread word of peace, balance, harmony, and unity. I am happy to see things starting to change. I believe in near future something will be done in our school system and teaching wisdom to children will happen. When children grow up, some of them will become leaders and those become leader will lead well by follows the wisdom: to earn peoples trust and to wing without fighting.

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