Peace Studies in Schools (Hansard, 28 July 1982)

§ Lord Hatch of Lusby
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, since the noble Lord's Question lacks any definition of the term "peace studies", I can only answer that the Government regard it as essential that what is offered in any institution should always be education and never indoctrination.

§ Lord Hatch of Lusby
My Lords, perhaps I should declare a non-pecuniary interest as a long-standing honorary member of the School of Peace Studies in Bradford, and professor in Zambia. May I ask the noble Lord whether he realises that the term "peace studies" has been used by members of his own Government, including the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Education? Therefore I assumed that it was not necessary to define it. Would he say whether he and the Government stand by the attack made by the Under-Secretary of State in a public speech in which he described peace studies as a Trojan horse; and would he agree that peace studies themselves, in the teaching of mediation as an alternative to force, have a very valuable part to play, not only in this country but throughout the world?

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, I note the noble Lord's interest and I would point out that the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in any department is never a member of the Cabinet—I say with regret. As to Trojan horses, I have not read my honourable friend's precise words, but any subject can be a Trojan horse and it must be the case that the quality and content 234 of what is taught in our schools depends above all else upon the qualities of those who teach it. The most innocent curriculum can become dangerous in irresponsible hands and the most dangerous curriculum doubtless can be put to some good use.

§ The Earl of Lauderdale
My Lords, would my noble friend agree that a valuable component in serious peace studies would be the history of the balance of power?

§ Lord Elton
Yes, my Lords, and I would go on to say that the sort of balanced analysis of human behaviour which the noble Lord, Lord Hatch of Lusby, quite rightly thinks should be pursued in our schools has for many generations been pursued in the subjects of history, geography and economics.

§ Lord Annan
My Lords, would the noble Lord agree that in the last 40 years in our universities and institutes of higher education, departments of history, politics, international law and international relations have been set up which exist to promote the study of why states come into conflict with each other? Does he not agree that there is no need of further proliferation? Is he aware that in universities there is some suspicion of some of those who promote peace studies, in that it is feared that they are interested in propagating a particular explanation of this subject rather than considering dispassionately the whole of the evidence relating to peace, as would be customary in any university which had a regard for scholarship?

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, in response to that, I should like to say that peace, like salvation, is very greatly to be desired, and our concern is that in their consideration of how to achieve it our young people should be given guidance which is realistic and balanced. Prejudice in pursuit of either aim is a fatal handicap.

§ Lord Beloff
My Lords, is my noble friend the Minister aware that the Institute of Peace Studies in the University of Bradford has been described some years ago in relation to both its content and the type of student who attended it as being a rest camp for urban guerrillas? Is the noble Lord further aware that since the proposed affiliation of the National Union of Teachers to the CND, parents are rightly disturbed about what "peace studies" might mean in the schools?

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, the first half of my noble friend's supplementary question I note with great interest in the context of Lord Hatch's declaration of interest. As to the second, I am well aware that there is a wide unease about this subject, but, as I said in my opening reply, it has not actually been defined and it does not, in the terms of secondary education as I understand it, yet lend itself to definition. What matters is the quality of the teachers and the way they put across what they are teaching. It is my experience that a good teacher will give good guidance, irrespective of his own personal convictions or prejudices in either direction, on matters in which children ought to be taught to make up their own minds—and that is what we want to pursue.

§ Lord Stewart of Fulham
My Lords, is it not important that the peace studies should contain an account of the important part played by the Atlantic Alliance in keeping the peace over the last 30 years?

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, I would entirely agree, and I am tempted to follow that theme wider into the area of the question of the validity of deterrence as a means of keeping the peace; but in order to keep the peace in your Lordship's House I thought I would not.

§ Lord Brockway
My Lords, arising from the original Answer of the Minister in which he deprecated documentation to schools—

Several noble Lords
"Indoctrination".

§ Lord Brockway
I am sorry my Lords; I misheard. I substitute the word. Is he aware that in a Written Answer to a Question by me this week the Government acknowledge that they send to schools their documents about disarmament? Seriously, may I ask him this: the United Nations has now decided to set up a world disarmament campaign to distribute information. Will that information be available in the schools?

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, Her Majesty's Government do not exercise censorship over what goes into schools unless it is obscene. The publications of Her Majesty's Government are available to all schools and so, indeed, are the publications of the Government of the Soviet Union. It is to make up their minds that our children must be taught.

§ Lord Hatch of Lusby
As a non-urban guerrilla, may I ask the noble Lord whether, in the light of his original Answer to me, he will take this opportunity of dissociating himself from the words used by the Under-Secretary when he described these studies as a Trojan horse? Is he further aware that there are five universities in this country with schools of peace studies, training teachers of peace studies, and therefore that the term "peace studies" is defined and is being taught under the aegis of our universities? Would he invite his honourable friend the Secretary of State and his noble friends behind him to visit these schools of peace studies and see what is being taught there and whether it is not helpful to the peace of the world that we are all seeking?

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, I would never dissociate myself from the words of my honourable friend on such an invitation as I have now been offered. But I would say, as I said at the beginning, that the term, as used, is not defined in our schools and I am not prepared to condemn out of hand something which the noble Lord has not specifically described. If the noble Lord's Question is addressed to matters other than the schools, I ought to apprise myself of that also. But I do not think that will be helped if all my noble friends and I were to tramp through the classrooms in the first instance.