foreignnations.org online interview with Robert Beebe
International Education Foundation (IEF)
International Vice President for Curriculum Development

Website:
International Character Education

foreignnations.org: Can you tell us about the history of IEF?
Where and when did this project get started?

IEF was substantially born out of the opportunity that came to work with the Ministry of Education in Russia after the break-up of the USSR in the early 1990s. It was preceded by the work that was done by the International Leadership Seminars, a project of US-CARP, under the leadership of Dr. Joon Ho Seuk. After meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev in the Kremlin in April 1990, Rev. Moon directed Dr. Seuk to organize a series of seminars to teach the Divine Principle to thousands of Soviet students in the United States. From July 1990 through October 1991 about 3,500 students and professors from the Soviet Union came to the United States for these seminars. This was all done in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.

On this foundation IEF was created to work with the Ministry to develop an ethics curriculum, in part to replace the outmoded Marxist-Leninist indoctrination classes that students formerly received. IEF's first project was to hold a series of seminars in the Crimea in November 1992 to which the Ministry invited educators from each of the 89 regions of Russia. From this event a team of writers was put together to create the first textbook in the ethics curriculum that would come to be known as My World & I.

foreignnations.org: Who were involved in IEF at the beginning?

Dr. Seuk was overall in charge and continues to be IEF's International President. We had a New York office under the direction of Tony Devine which gave logistical support and educational research to the team in the former USSR. We had a Moscow office under the direction of Jack Corley. The original writing team consisted of Myra Stanecki, William Haines, Dorothy Kolomeisky, Kevin Convery, Anna Bryska and Nina Sobol. Its scientific editor was a prominent pedagogue by the name of Dr. Bronislav Bitinas.

foreignnations.org: How were its activities financed?

By and large IEF's activities were financially supported by a group of young fundraisers under the direction of Ittetsu Aoki in the U.S.

foreignnation.org: Which part was your responsibility?

Originally, I was responsible for developing the work in the northeast region of Russia centering on St. Petersburg. I also helped in creating the original outline for the first textbook and gave the lectures at one of the seminar sites in the Crimea. In 1996 I was asked to come to Moscow to assume responsibility for multiplying IEF's curriculum throughout the former Soviet Union, or as it was now called, the Confederation of Independent States (CIS). From 1996-2004 I travelled extensively throughout the CIS and beyond, conducting training workshops for teachers on how to use the My World & I curriculum.

foreignnations.org: Why did the Russian Ministry of Education like IEF's curriculum project?

With the demise of the communist system and its underlying ideology, the bottom had dropped out of Russia's entire value system. The post-Soviet period began to see the rise of an extreme individualism among the youth in reaction to the collectivism of the past. Violence, crime, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and STDs were increasing rapidly. At the same time the Ministry was impressed by the positive responses of the students who had attended the seminars in America and thus were very responsive when IEF offered to develop an ethics curriculum that would teach young people values using a more contemporary methodology than the more didactic Soviet style.

foreignnations.org: Did other ministries of education in the CIS get involved?

At first IEF's work focused on Russia, but we soon began to work with other former Soviet republics and their ministries of education. Eventually the textbooks were translated from the original Russian into Azeri, Mongolian, Tajik, Kyrgyz and other languages. I personally met and worked with several ministers of education to multiply our curriculum in their countries.

foreignnations.org: How can I understand “International Character Education”?
What is it all about? Can you elaborate a little bit?

The term "character education" is essentially an American invention and involves an educational movement that was launched in the early 1990s in the United States. In other parts of the world it goes by other terms, such as "values education", "moral education", "ethical education", etc. At its most basic it involves teaching students fundamental universal values, such as respect, responsibility, honesty, compassion, courage, loyalty, fairness, service, and others. It also tends to touch on topics relating to sex education, advocating purity and abstinence as opposed to the safe-sex and condom-giving approach. It also usually involves teaching conflict resolution skills, relationship building skills, service learning, preparing youth for marriage and establishing a future family.

Although character education seeks to teach universal values, as it is taught it often reflects the national culture. Thus, whereas Americans may stress honesty, Japanese would likely promote loyalty. American character education tends to reflect American individualism while the one we taught in Russia had a more collective flavor.

foreignnation.orgs: How did school principals and teachers respond to the IEF's character education material?

The response was overwhelmingly positive. Over and over again, we would hear people say that our material was exactly what was needed. We were only limited by our own budget and human resources in following up with them afterwards. They were limited by their dire financial situation (many teachers would work without pay for months on end). We ended up giving away or selling at vastly reduced prices much of our material.

foreignnations.org: During the communist era wasn’t there any type of character education?

Communist era "character education" (if it could be called that) was very ideological. Its main purpose was to raise up students to be obedient to the state and to believe that they were helping to build a "worker's paradise." To that end, young people were encouraged to work hard and make sacrifices for the greater purpose. In the process, however, the family unit was undermined by the state, children were even encouraged to inform on their parents, and men in particular were emasculated by a system that offered no opportunities for individual initiative or ownership.

Reverend and Mrs. Moon meet with Mikhail Gorbachev
in the Kremlin on March 31, 1990

foreignnations.org: What is the difference between the character education conducted by IEF versus that of the communist era?

IEF's character education promotes the unique value of the individual and the sanctity of marriage and family as the cornerstone of a moral society. As I mentioned above, the communist version was very ideological and tended to undermine the family. Also, it was heavily collectivistic, stressing the whole purpose of serving the state to the complete neglect of the value of the individual. Of course, under communist ideology a person’s value derives from his ability to produce. He has no intrinsic value otherwise since human beings are simply, in the Marxist phrase, “matter in motion.”

foreignnations.org: What is the philosophy of IEF?

IEF’s educational philosophy is based upon Unification Thought’s Theory of Education. We believe that the essential purpose of education is to help an individual to fulfill three fundamental life goals, i.e., 1) becoming a mature individual by developing one’s heart and conscience, 2) building loving relationships with others, especially in marriage and family, and 3) making a positive contribution to society. Thus, education is more than simply academic or technical, but involves educating the whole person. One of the weaknesses of modern education is its tendency to overemphasize intellectual and professional development to the neglect of the more fundamental need to develop one’s character so that a person will use his knowledge and skills for altruistic rather than nefarious purposes. In this sense, education first begins in the home by imparting basic values, which is then built upon and supported by the school and larger community.

An overview of IEF’s philosophy of education may be found in the PowerPoint presentation entitled The Need to Educate for Character.

foreignnations.org: Was IEF’s curriculum written for the elementary and high school levels only? What about the university level?

As the immediate need facing Russia’s educators was to develop something for the high school level, this is the area IEF focused on. For the first few years we developed and improved high school textbooks, teacher manuals and a parent’s handbook under the general title of My World & I. In the late 1990s IEF published a textbook for the junior high level with the title First Peak, utilizing a Russian phrase referring to entering puberty.

For the university level our New York office put out a book based upon IEF’s PowerPoint series but with much more statistical research, stories and anecdotal evidence to back up its arguments. The title of this book is Cultivating Heart and Character. The PowerPoint series of 13 presentations themselves have been used at the university level as well.

foreignnations.org: How did the pupils who were taught this curriculum respond?

As I mentioned above the response to the material was overwhelmingly positive. The content addressed concerns that were very relevant to teens and pre-teens, but which were generally neglected in the general curriculum. As it was taught, the curriculum sought to promote traditional values but by using a modern interactive approach in contrast to the more didactic style still being used in many of the former Soviet republics. The lessons employed a variety of approaches, including cooperative learning techniques, classroom discussions, role play, journal writing and experiential learning. They addressed topics like peer pressure, human sexuality, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage suicide, parent/child relationships, marriage and divorce, and family breakdown. These and other topics engaged the students’ interest to a high degree and helped them to grapple with real issues they were facing in their own lives.

foreignnations.org: As an American working in Russia, how did you and other western
educators overcome the challenge of working with Russian educators?
How did you integrate the American vision of education with the Russian vision of education?

Because we arrived at a time of transition from an old outmoded system to something new, we found Russian educators to be much more open than they would have been ten or even five years earlier and probably more open than they are now. We began working at a time when there was a real window of opportunity to collaborate on creating something entirely new. There was a real interest on the part of Russian educators to learn from America and the West in general. At the same time, we were well aware of the West’s own shortcomings in the area of education and sought to point them out to our Russian colleagues. As time went on and we became more aware of Russia’s educational history, we tried to incorporate some of the best aspects of Russian education into our work.

foreignnations.org: How many schools and universities are in the CIS?
In how many schools has the curriculum been taught?

Currently Russia has about 1,300 colleges and universities of which about half are state run and the other half are private. The private schools are fairly recent and enroll much fewer students than the state schools, although their numbers and influence are growing. Elementary and high schools in Russia total about 66,000, almost all of them state-run. Reliable data are hard to come by for the other former Soviet republics, but we may imagine the total for the entire CIS to be twice that of Russia since the CIS population is about twice that of Russia’s.

A general estimate is that about 10,000 schools in the CIS have used IEF’s curriculum, or about 7% of the total. More than 200,000 textbooks have been sold or distributed among these schools since 1993. IEF has done a considerable amount of work in the colleges and universities as well, although more in the form of giving lectures rather than through a formal curriculum.

foreignnations.org: Has the IEF curriculum been used in some form in countries outside the CIS?

IEF’s work has had great impact throughout the world. Seminars presenting the lectures and curriculum material have been given in more than 70 countries covering all the continents. Some countries, like the Philippines, adapted the material for use in their schools. Currently IEF is working in collaboration with the Universal Peace Federation to multiply character education in many places throughout the world through various pilot projects, as in Federated States of Micronesia, the Caribbean, the Philippines and several countries in Africa. UPF’s Discovering the Real Me series is largely based on IEF’s material, especially at the high school level.

foreignnations.org: In the Kaliningrad Region of Russia, where I lived from 1992 until 1996, I worked very closely with the regional Ministry of Education. With its help I could send more than 100 teachers and school directors to IEF’s training workshops. We distributed in the Kaliningrad Region 2000 copies of the My World & I textbooks. Fifty schools were using the material to teach their pupils by the time I left. Is the curriculum still being taught in Russia?

Frankly, it is difficult to keep track of where and how many schools continue to use the curriculum due to limited resources and staff. The project took on a life of its own beyond the direct control of IEF. By the time I left in 2004, we were still finding teachers and schools whom we hadn’t heard from in years who were still using the My World & I curriculum. In recent years it has become more difficult for foreign organizations in general to work in Russia. Foreigners are restricted to staying in the country not more than three months at a time. The Russian government has become more insistent on using only Russian-created materials in its schools. However, knowing how much so many teachers believed in the curriculum, I believe there remain many schools that continue to use it even if they may not be able to do so very openly now. I know also that many Russian textbook writers included our material when writing their books. So IEF’s influence continues to be felt in different ways.

foreignnations.org: What is your current work with IEF in America?

My full time work is as principal of New Hope School, a first through eighth grade school in Clifton, NJ. In addition, I continue to hold the position at IEF as International Vice President for Curriculum Development. In that capacity I have been helping with the development of UPF’s Character Education Initiative, revising and adapting the My World & I material for the Discovering the Real Me series as well as creating some new content for the junior high school level.

foreignnations.org: What did you like most about working in Russia?
Has it changed your perspective on education?

I liked the challenge of working in a new culture, especially one that had been separated from much of the rest of the world due to the Cold War. It always amazed me that I was able to live and work in a place that had been America’s enemy throughout my entire life. Early on in my time in St. Petersburg I knew that the Cold War was over when a Russian general, whose cadets had attended one of our programs in the U.S., would send over a box of food every week for our family when it was so difficult to find basic foods in the stores. My experience taught me that, despite cultural differences, people are the same everywhere. We all share fundamental desires for love, family and happiness. I always felt privileged to be able to work in Russia. Even now I still maintain contact with people there. Just this week my eldest daughter went over to St. Petersburg to teach English at a school that was founded by one of the teachers who has been working with IEF.

Probably what made the greatest impact on my perspective towards education was the example of parental heart shown by Russian teachers towards their students. Very often working without pay during the darkest times of the 1990s when the whole economic system was crumbling, I saw teachers show up day after day to take care of their students. For me, they embodied what IEF talks about that teachers are secondary parents to their students. They had that kind of concern for the lives of their students. This I will never forget.