National Teachers Initiative Sun December 25, 2011 Peace Game
Puts 'Weight Of The World' On Students John Hunter's fourth-
graders are remarkably successful at resolving world crises
peacefully. Hunter, 57, has been teaching for more than three
decades. He wanted to get his students to think about major
world issues, so he invented the World Peace Game. Students are
divided into countries, and then given a series of global crises
— natural disasters, political conflicts — that they have to
solve. "Sometimes World Peace Game feels like, you know, the
weight of the world on your shoulders: This is exploding over
here, this is firing over there, this is spilling oil," 11-year-
old Julianne Swope tells Hunter. "And I just look at the board
and ... I say to myself, 'Oh my gosh, I need to fix this.' " The
former World Peace Game player says Hunter always told his
class: "Know the consequences." She says that principle should
be applied in life as well. Hunter says he hopes the game
teaches students "how to make peopl