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SUA and the Challenge of ESD

By Jay Heffron and Alain Vizier
Soka University of America in Orange County, California

Fostering global citizens committed to "the creative coexistence of nature and humanity" is a fundamental principle at Soka University of America (SUA) enshrined in mottoes given to it by the university's founder, Daisaku Ikeda. This principle was earlier elaborated by Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the father of Soka pedagogy, in A Geography of Human Life (1903). Geography emphasizes the examination of "synchronicity" and space, of coexistence on Earth.

As Makiguchi often commented, cultural and environmental phenomena are not separate but, rather, profoundly interconnected. We should, he wrote, "regard people, animals, trees, rivers, rocks, or stones in the same light as ourselves and realize that we have much in common with all of them." The secrets of the macrocosm, Makiguchi believed, lay hidden within the microcosm of our "native cultural community, our homeland." Nothing is so universal that it cannot be discovered in the particulars of our own individual experience, our own home community.

Living Together

Makiguchi felt that a question and its answers had to become an essential part of the school's curriculum: how do we--together--live--here and now--on Earth? Beneath its apparent simplicity, the question addresses not only issues concerning the environment, but also the very complex formation of social territories. Following Makiguchi's path, the first course taken by all freshmen is "Core I: The Enduring Questions of Humanity." Core I looks at central inquiries that Eastern and Western cultures have developed about what makes for a meaningful and successful life, including: What does it mean to live a virtuous life? How do we perceive ourselves and others? What should be our relations with the community and with various forms of governance? What is the value of life? What is the nature of evil? How do we interact with nature?

With Core I, students explore the difficulties and nuances of cross-cultural attainments and a broader consciousness of their role as citizens of the world. Its objectives parallel those expressed in the United Nations' agenda.

These and related concerns are also the focus of a required sophomore seminar, "Core II: Enduring Questions in Contemporary Context." Interlocking cultural and environmental concerns--the loss of a sense of community with the Earth and its inhabitants, the simultaneous fragmentation and homogenization of global cultures, the retreat into survivalism and naked self-interest, whether of nations or of individuals--are topics for discussions. Students and faculty critique together such primary materials and documents as the "International Bill of Human Rights," "Agenda 21," "The Earth Charter" and "A New Pacific Peace Resolution," a resolution signed in 2000 by Pacific Island leaders calling for a "Pacific Way" of harmony, justice and tolerance.

Direct Experience

These lectures and seminars are complemented with field-based research classes called Learning Clusters (LCs), where students explore a particular problem or question through direct engagement and experience in the surrounding community, both social and natural. The purpose of these LCs is to allow a full achievement of human potential that, according to Makiguchi, cannot be had through books alone; it must also come from direct, active communication with one's immediate environment.

According to a recent UN study, education for sustainable development can be fully understood only through a critical reevaluation of the historical forms and practices of education: "Traditionally, education was designed to pass on existing knowledge, skills and values. The new vision reorients it in terms of how to prepare people for life." Certainly, the effort to grasp life in all its complexity, while searching for lasting peace, has been an essential component of SUA's curriculum since the opening of the university in August 2001.

Jay Heffron is a professor of history and Alain Vizier a visiting associate professor of philosophy and literature at Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo.

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