When Zoe Weil and Rae Sikora teach seminars on education, they always ask participants this question: What are the best qualities of human beings? The answers almost always include: mercy, respect, love, hope, joy, generosity, honesty, courage and integrity. "These same qualities come up over and over again," said Weil, an innovative educator who lives in Surry. "If that is truly what it means to be humane, then how can we find a way to live by these values and virtues?" The answer, say Weil and Sikora, is a burgeoning field of study called humane education. Traditionally, this term has been associated with the treatment of animals – as in the work of the Humane Society. But Weil and Sikora are committed to developing a more comprehensive definition, and their determination is considered by experts to be trailblazing in the American educational system.

Last week, under the auspices of the International Institute for Humane Education, a certification program run by the two educators, and the University of Maine Summer Institute, Weil and Sikora offered EDU 580, a five-day intensive graduate course titled "Humane Education: Paving the Way for a Compassionate and Sustainable Future." It is, they believe, the first graduate accredited course in humane education to be taught in this country. "We’ve been laying the groundwork for years," said Weil, who earned graduate degrees from Harvard Divinity School and the University of Pennsylvania before moving to Maine in the 1990s. "We’re doing this now because we’re finally ready. Where we are is where environmental studies was 20 years ago and women’s studies was 40 years ago. As with any field of study, it takes the grass roots efforts to get it into the academic arena."

The class, which had 16 participants, took place in Surry at the Center for Compassionate Living, a nonprofit organization founded by the two women to promote the presence of humane education in all areas of lifestyle choices. The syllabus included daylong inquiries into animal issues, human rights, environmental studies and educational practices. Students’ grades are determined by class participation and a research paper or project. While Weil and Sikora support the place of the Three R’s in education, they propose that it’s time for education to take on a reverence for all forms of life. The elements of humane education, they say, are a proliferation of information, the encouragement of critical thinking, the willingness to "fall in love," and insight into choices available around any given topic.

"By ‘falling in love,’ " said Weil, "I mean falling in love with the planet, with ourselves and each other. If we don’t care, what’s going to make us live peaceful, sustainable, joyful lives?" The approach reemphasizes qualities proposed by the Maine Learning Results, a state-mandated set of academic standards, but which sometimes get overlooked or squeezed out in the classroom. Specifically, these include personal and global stewardship and care for self, others and the environment. In other words, an outline of humane education is available at the state level, but isn’t formalized in the classroom the same way math, English and history are.

"Socially, the world has become global," said Sikora, a spokeswoman for human and other species rights for more than 20 years. "What we’ve mostly become is a global mind. What’s happening here is that the mind is taking along the heart." While there are individual courses in humane education – such as an animal rights course taught at Harvard – there is no degree program in the field at American universities. At the University of Toronto, however, David Selby heads up a graduate program in humane education. Earlier this year he taught a workshop there with Sikora and Weil.

"I admire them both immensely and think they are at the very leading edge of a very holistic conception of human education," said Selby, whose textbook "EarthKind" is one of six on the required reading list for the course in Surry. "We’re talking about a big contribution to inquiry encouraging children and adults to reflect upon the values of society, to think about the individual and about the world view. Education should be about encouraging people to ask themselves and each other very serious questions about the nature of being. This is about extending the theory of knowledge – the epistemology – underpinning education."

More than half of the participants in last week’s course work in Maine classrooms as teachers, workshop leaders or counselors. Frank Donaldson, a guidance counselor at Pendleton Street School in Brewer, took the course because the one he originally enrolled in for summer credits was canceled. On Friday, he described the week as "interesting" and "challenging." "A lot of the material I already knew cognitively, but seeing it upfront had shock value," said Donaldson, who works with children in kindergarten through second grade. "The course brought it more forward in my consciousness." Donaldson wasn’t sold on the practical application for classrooms, where he says ideas of all kinds should have balanced representation. But he said he was impressed by the commitment of the program organizers. Still, that word "balance" can easily raise the eyebrow of any activist.

"Humane education is a new field of study and we don’t know for sure what the specific practical results will be," said Josephine Donovan, a UM professor of English and author of the book "Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations." "Specifically in elementary and secondary schools, there is a need to develop a more empathetic and nonviolent attitude toward animals, other human beings and the natural world, and create a more compassionate world. There’s a growing interest in this among students, especially at the university level. So I think it’s the way of the future. In a way, what the Center for Compassionate Living is trying to do is, in fact, provide balance with the overwhelming socialization of the other side." Others in the fight to invigorate humane action are also eager to see what the results of a formalized educational standard will be.

"First, I think it’s amazing that anyone would have the courage and audacity to invent a Center for Compassionate Living in the first place, to say nothing of creating a curriculum to actually take into schools," said Jon Wilson, editor and founder of HOPE magazine in Brooklin. "In this day and age, when so many of us seem so focused on money and material things, this is a highly unusual kind of vision and commitment. Yet it is precisely what is required in our culture – that people of courage stand up for what they believe is possible, no matter how unusual, no matter how seemingly far from the mainstream. My admiration for the work that Rae and Zoe are doing – so full of intention and rigor – is just unending. I think the ground they are breaking is tremendously important."

Sydney Thomas, a professor of counselor education at UM and the administrative force for getting the course accredited, said she would like to see the course become a requirement for master’s and doctoral students in her department. Her own work in animal-assisted therapies has shown her the value of teaching children compassion at an early age. "Now is the time for this," said Thomas, who sat in on the course. "We’re frightened about school violence. There’s a lack of respect on the part of students, but also on the part of teachers. We’re busy, busy, busy. People may see humane education as soft, tree-hugger, 1960s hippie stuff. But what impressed me is that Rae and Zoe are not at all like that. This is not the tree-hugger mentality. They are teaching people to be effective communicators and are saying: ‘Why not tell the truth?’ What could be more important than that?"

As an introductory activity on the first day of class, Sikora and Weil did an awareness raising activity called "Wonder Walk." Each participant paired with a partner for a walk around the Center’s pastoral grounds, including a meadow of wildflowers with a trail leading to a pebble beach and a view of the mountains of Mount Desert Island. While one person closed his or her eyes, the other led a walk through nature – stopping to smell a flower, listen to a buzzing bee, taste an herb from an organic garden or watch a bug crawl through the grass. Then, after 15 minutes, the partners switched places, and began again. The purpose of the Wonder Walk is, essentially, to take time to smell the roses. Or, put another way, to tenderly reconnect with the natural world and with another human being through one’s own senses. At the end, Thomas posed a telling question: "What would happen if you did something like that every day? What would it do for your soul?"