Learning How to Hope: A Hope Curriculum

Abstract

Humanist sociology shares space with positivity fields such as peace and conflict studies, positive psychology, and the wellness arms of health, science, and education to contribute to the “plus” side of knowledge and be part of the “solution” to problems and discord in human living systems. Hope is an often misinterpreted merit. It helps one imagine something different, yes, but it is also deeply connected to a sense that something can be different; something you wish will happen and a notion that change is actually (however unlikely) possible. A critical middle step between identifying spaces in need of transformation and working for change is the capacity to move from the perceived to the possible— the ability to imagine other that than what is. In this article, hope is examined conceptually, including an overview of recent literature on hope, the outcomes of hope, and what the alternatives to hope are. After identifying the importance of hope, hope’s role in the social study of peace and nonviolence will be examined looking at peace education and the potential of a “curriculum for hope.” Finally, this article offers a “how” of hope by presenting hope pedagogy for all to be utilized at the individual level.

Human Resource ‘Kurikulum Merdeka’ from Design to Implementation in the School: What Worked and What not in Indonesian Education

“…Since the public authority sent off the Independence Curriculum Program, there is great expectation for the progress of this educational plan. As a free educational program for understudies, educators, and instructive units, there is no impulse or need for all instructive units to carry out the Independent Curriculum program straightforwardly (Standish, 2019). In addition, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic since March 2, 2020, is still being felt and has made the Indonesian public experience changes in the life administration.…”

Hope and Mental Health: An Investigation of Loneliness, Depression, Stress, and Hope in University Students amid COVID-19

“…Evidence clearly suggests that hope helps one imagine something different, but it is significantly correlated with growth-mindedness (Dixson, 2020) or one's beliefs that changes required to produce the desired outcome are possible-the ability to imagine something other than what is (Snyder, 2000). Some scholars ascribe hope to wishful thinking or a creative capacity that's so important for future visioning (e.g., Standish, 2019) changes, positive beliefs, and behaviors tracking hope, according to research (Snyder, 2002;Van der Kolk, 2014).…”

“…Since hope is vital to the satisfaction of basic human needs (Maslow, 1943;Standish, 2019), as one must be hopeful to strive toward fulfilling physiological needs (e.g., food, shelter, love), then it seems reasonable to hypothesize that hope might buffer against threatening forces like loneliness (Snyder, 2000(Snyder, , 2002. For instance, hope and hopeful thinking might mitigate against college students' (dis)stress, worry, and feelings of loneliness-as alarming rates have been reported by the NIH amid the global COVID-19 pandemic (Kumar & Nayar, 2020).…”

What Birds Know: The Bird-Watcher as Sociologist

“…For implicit in these statements is an assertion of what ought to be: The birds should belong to all of us, but our society is not yet structured in a way that makes this so. This, then, is a destination, a vision for a possible world and for the work inherent in humanistic sociology and its teaching (Goodwin 1987; Standish 2019).…”