A few years ago, a magnificent example of humanity’s instinctive bent toward good, justice and self-determination became evident in a fourth-grade classroom at Venable Elementary School.
What prompted the radiant display of individual courage and righteousness was a weeks-long exercise called World Peace Game. Since local teacher John Hunter invented the game in 1978, it has pitted the mental abilities and virtuous qualities of youngsters against the complexities of real-life problems at a national level.
Involved are four countries with varying degrees of wealth and resources, each of which is led by a prime minister and cabinet. The objective is to attain world peace, but to accomplish this the children must solve a dizzying array of problems and unanticipated crises, in addition to raising each country’s asset value.
Variables such as weather and the capricious winds of chance come into play, just as they do in reality. The game often mirrors real life, revealing both the good and bad traits of human nature.
“In this one particular game there was a prime minister who became a tyrant,” said Hunter, who is now the gifted resource teacher at Agnor-Hurt Elementary School in Albemarle County.
“He had merged two other countries with his country, so three of the four countries were under his power. He’s running the show, and trying to take down this last country — he’s trying to take over the world.
“I’m thinking, ‘What is this kid doing? This is not the peace game.’ But I surrender the game to the kids, so I had to let it happen.”
What happened was the emergence of a scenario that has played out repeatedly on the world stage throughout history.
“All of a sudden a prime minister from one of the countries the tyrant had captured stands up and calls for a coup d’etat to try to overthrow him,” Hunter said, the excitement of the remembered moment reflecting in his voice. “We had a series of coin tosses and the tyrant wins and remains in power, and the other kid had to go into exile.
“As soon as that happened, another kid, who happened to be an arms dealer, stands up and calls for a coup d’etat. They did that five times, and finally took the tyrant down on the fifth try.
“These kids, completely on their own, had decided they were going to stand up one behind the other and take this tyrant down. They were willing to sacrifice everybody to do it, but they were going to stop him, and they did.
“And these kids didn’t bat an eye. They said, ‘If I go down, then you stand up, if you go down, then he stands up. If he goes down, then that one stands up.’ ”
For more than 30 years, these yearly classroom clashes of good versus evil and generosity against greed have gone largely unnoticed. This will change next Sunday evening with the premiere of the documentary film “World Peace… and other 4th-Grade Achievements” at the Paramount Theater.
Local award-winning filmmaker Chris Farina directed and produced the documentary, which follows a fourth-grade class at Venable Elementary School as it deals with the weighty problems of a make-believe world. The film also reveals the remarkable relationship Hunter has with his students as he gently guides them toward knowledge.
Farina learned about the game in an article he read. After watching a segment of the game being played, he realized it had great potential as a film.
“The original idea was simply: Here’s a wonderful teacher working with really engaged students,” Farina said. “I felt if we could just capture and portray the beauty in that relationship, we would have something.
“But then, as I watched a couple sessions of the game, it became more and more obvious to me how important the game itself was. You could actually watch these kids grow as they grappled with all these problems.
“We hear so much negative stuff about our educational system. But when you see a story like this, you realize that here’s a really great teacher who has in so many ways dedicated his life to his students, and by doing that has made a big difference in so many of their lives. It’s very life affirming.”
Hunter came up with the idea for the game when he was a social studies coordinator, and tasked with developing an engaging curriculum for gifted students. He looked for a pathway other than the usual lecturing or book reading assignments.
“I had visited India several times and had studied Gandhi’s work,” Hunter said. “That influenced and inspired me to do something peaceful and constructive in the world.
“So when I was given the opportunity to develop a curriculum, I thought about looking at problems in the world as an approach to studying history and so forth. Children like to play games, so I decided to create a game that would be fun and also provide experiences that would teach.
“We happened to have Africa on our study guide that year, so I put a giant map of Africa on a piece of plywood and divided it into four countries. Then we dug up all the conflicts we could find that countries there have with each other.
“I threw these kids into this chaos and said, ‘OK, let’s see if you can figure a way out of this. In the process, of course, we had to research and learn about a lot of things so they could do it effectively.”
With experience and input from Hunter’s students, the game has evolved through the years. The film reveals its current sophistication, as well as the seriousness and enthusiasm the children bring to the multi-tiered playing field.
The game has exposed true brilliance, as in the case of one 10-year-old girl who was a minister of defense. Hunter and the other students became incensed when she started a small war with a peaceful neighbor.
“We were saying to her, ‘This is a world peace game, what are you doing? You can’t do this. This is wrong,’ ” Hunter said. “She wouldn’t answer and tell us why.
“Finally, a couple game days later, we came to understand that this girl had averted a much larger war by doing this. Everybody would have gotten drawn into this big war, but her small incursion had blocked out that possibility.
“At that point we had to stop and talk about philosophy, conditional good and what is right and wrong. I don’t know if we ever came to any conclusion, but it was a great lesson about the ambiguity of life.”
Although a number of age groups have played the game, Hunter feels fourth-graders are particularly well suited for it.
“Fourth-graders [have] got just enough worldly knowledge to be able to put themselves into this imaginary space with some confidence,” Hunter said. “And they’ve got the adventurousness of childhood.
“They will take a risk for something they believe in, and yet their beliefs are open and subject to change and grow as they learn. They are very flexible in that way.
“Through the game they learn how to work, live and function comfortably in this vast thing we call life. They learn how to forgo their safety blanket of ignorance and step into the unknown fully aware and able to learn and not be held back by preconceptions.”
Farina felt so strongly about the importance of spreading the word about what Hunter and his students were doing that he went into personal debt to make the film. It’s hoped that the premiere showing next Sunday will pay for remaining production costs and help with marketing the film.
“We explored getting grants to make the film for about a year,” said Farina, whose other films include, “Route 40” and “West Main Street,” which shows mostly older residents talking about their memories of Charlottesville during the 20th century.
“But there comes a time when you say, ‘I can sit around and wait for the money, or I can get this done.’ So early on I self-funded to get it shot, and went into a little bit of debt.
“For me, filmmaking has never been financially rewarding. There have been other rewards that have replaced that. For me, it’s creating a film with subject matter I care deeply about.
“John is such a wonderful teacher, and I feel he has lessons to share. I feel very lucky that I was able to have the opportunity to make this film. There is this idea that there is value in doing something like this, and that’s not related to the whole financial bit.”
Bama Works Foundation and the Horton Foundation made generous financial contributions to the film. Many individuals also stepped up to the financial plate to help.
Although Farina didn’t think of a salary for himself, he had to pay a professional film crew that cost about $2,000 a day. Including initial marketing costs, the project can exceed $120,000.
“Obviously, we would like to get our money back, but more importantly is making an impact with the film,” Farina said. “What’s really important to this film is to make sure educators around the world get to see it.
“We’re making the point that John’s lessons need to be shared, particularly with teachers. We would also like to see the World Peace Game replicated so more children can get this experience.
“A week after the game in the film finished, we returned to the school to talk to the kids about the experience. One girl, Amelia Thompson, talked about how she was honored to work with the children on her team.
“I was watching John and he teared up when he heard that. I asked him about it later, and he said as a teacher when you do this kind of teaching you hope it has an effect, you hope it gets through to them, but you never know.
“When he heard that 10-year-old girl say what she did, he realized right then that she got it.”
The premiere of “World Peace and other 4th-Grade Achievements” will be presented at 6 p.m. Feb. 21, at the Paramount Theater.
Tickets are $10 for youth and $15 for adults and are available at www.theparamount.net, the theater’s box office, which is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, and by telephone by calling 979-1333.
at a glance
“World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements”
6 p.m. Feb. 21
Paramount Theater
www.theparamount.net
979-1333
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