A community-involved Southern California resident, Lynn Hildebrand teaches with the Humane Society of San Bernardino Valley’s animal welfare department. Concerned about the links between animal abuse and human violence, Lynn Hildebrand wholeheartedly supports the principles of a humane, or character-driven, education that instills values of compassion and respect in children.

1. z
The Importance of
Humane
Education in
Instilling
Compassion
Lynn Hildebrand

2. z
Introduction
 A community-involved Southern California resident,
Lynn Hildebrand teaches with the Humane Society of
San Bernardino Valley’s animal welfare department.
Concerned about the links between animal abuse and
human violence, Lynn Hildebrand wholeheartedly
supports the principles of a humane, or character-
driven, education that instills values of compassion
and respect in children.
Held up by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings as a vitally important pedagogical approach,
humane education augments core academic pursuits
in the arts and sciences. Part of the everyday
curriculum students encounter at a young age involves
taking responsibility for personal actions.

3. z
Humane Education
 Ms. Hildebrand finds a core benefit of this approach to
be preventing violence from occurring later in life.
Studies have demonstrated that humane education
exerts changes in attitude and can have a profoundly
positive effect in engaging students in exploring the
meaning and purpose of kindness.
By its nature, humane education is difficult to quantify.
While empirical research firmly supports the
importance of this educational pathway, there is no
easy way of determining how far behind society would
be in overall compassion to humans and animals, if its
contributions were not felt.