Year 3 middle school students (16-17 years old) from Mahatma Gandhi Miguel de Cervantes School (Punta Arenas) spent two months studying the Letter of Peace. Cristian Muños, who teaches philosophy at the school and collaborates with Universitas Albertiana, organised a series of training sessions on the document in association with a commemorative event marking 25 years since Chile and Argentina signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which took place on September 12th.

The sessions were progressive. The first included a general lecture on the Letter of Peace Addressed to the UN followed by a group discussion. On another occasion participants split into groups, and, using the Foundation’s virtual classroom they discussed each of the 10 points separately. Guidelines on how to evaluate group discussions were drawn up and a date was set to carry out this evaluation, so that all groups would be able to discover and learn about the Letter of Peace through the comments and ideas generated by their peers. Finally the learning process was drawn to a conclusion by analysing how to put the principals in the Letter of Peace into practise.

This Letter of Peace learning experience was very enriching, as it opened up dialogue. In this way it made a valuable contribution to training that helps people understand and assimilate peace as a value. These kind of educational events not only promote the discussion and analysis of the Letter, they also generate a fertile debate that creates a tradition of promoting peace, thanks to the results brought about through understanding.