World Peace and other 4th-Grade Achievements Extended Trailer

THE FILM

World Peace...and other 4th-grade achievements interweaves the story of John Hunter, a teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his students' participation in an exercise called the World Peace Game. The game triggers an eight-week transformation of the children from students of a neighborhood public school to citizens of the world. The film reveals how a wise, loving teacher can unleash students' full potential.
The film traces how Hunter's unique teaching career emerges from his own diverse background. An African-American educated in the segregated schools of rural Virginia, where his mother was his 4th grade teacher, he was selected by his community to be one of seven students to integrate a previously all-white middle school. After graduation, he traveled extensively to China, Japan, and India, and his exposure to the Ghandian principles of non-violence led him to ask what he could do as a teacher to work toward a more peaceful world.
Hunter teaches the concept of peace not as a utopian dream but as an attainable goal to strive for, and he provides his students with the tools for this effort. The children learn to collaborate and communicate with each other as they work to resolve the Game's conflicts. They learn how to compromise while accommodating different perspectives and interests. Most importantly, the students discover that they share a deep and abiding interest in taking care of each other. World Peace....and other 4th-grade achievements will inspire others by documenting the unheralded work of a true peacemaker.


THE GAME

The World Peace Game is a hands-on political simulation that gives players the opportunity to explore the connectedness of the global community through the lens of the economic, social, and environmental crises and the imminent threat of war. The goal of the game is to extricate each country from dangerous circumstances and achieve global prosperity with the least amount of military intervention. As "nation teams," students will gain greater understanding of the critical impact of information and how it is used.
As their teams venture further into this interactive social setting laced with highly charged philosophical issues, the skills needed to identify ambiguity and bias in the information they receive will be enhanced and more specifically they will rapidly perceive that reactive behavior not only provokes antagonism, it can leave them alone and isolated in the face of powerful enemies. Beliefs and values will evolve or completely unravel as they begin to experience the positive impact and windows of opportunity that emerge through effective collaboration and refined communication.
In essence, as meaning is constructed out of chaos and new creative solutions are proposed, the World Peace Game players will learn to live and work comfortably at the frontiers of the unknown.

• Category

  Film & Animation

[punkbunny9]

Where can I get this in full?? I've been looking through my school library system and can't find it.

[WorldPeaceFilm]

At this point, the film is only available for purchase by educational institutions. You can visit our rosaliafilms website and follow the link to "how to purchase the film". Please share with your school library. Thanks for your interest.

[DurexDurpaneu2]

I am buying this and I'm putting it on my fb wall. Thank you TED for showing me this.

Our hope for a better future is within the ability to share knowledge.The best and most powerful tool for this job is the Internet. SO GET ON IT PEOPLE. spread the word.

[commandervulkan]

Reality of politics, only difference is vocabulary level and age (I'd say education but we have seen some horrible leaders.)

[Tonyvampirekiss]

not world peace we need a new law that puts mankind before everything else.

[buyakga1946]

"One person can't win, everyone has to win." Out of the mouths of babes.

[Munjoy19]

"They" are a nonprofit institute that needs to recoup the costs of widespread distribution and publicity (the same PR that brought the movie to your attention, I'll wager). The plan is ultimately to release the film for individual use in September.

[abemore]

They are charging $250 for a copy of the film & guide. So unfortunately it looks like right now they are more interested in monetization than helping people. The corruption of the monetary system at it's best.

[Grognax]

If the goal is to help the biggest number of people, why not just show the movie for free?

[ZAKANDWHATARMY]

Beautiful... I really love this

[cgStarling]

There was a segment on NPR about this teacher & his game. Seems like a great idea to get kids thinking different ways.

I def plan on seeing the movie if I can find it. No video rental places anymore and Redbox is very limited on what new films they add (the main blockbusters, a crappy horror, couple crappy action, occassional bigger deal independent, and 2 or 3 documentaries a year, if theyre a big deal). So no telling.

[Cynnoma Andrews]

Gay.

[Wally White]

Played this back at venable. I miss mr hunter.

[spellboundltdmusic]

Wonderful!