Susan Milan believes Mohandas Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. still have a lot to offer today’s young people.

As Gandhi wrote: “If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.”

Milan, a veteran kindergarten and first-grade teacher at South Whidbey Elementary School, will speak tonight about how the principles of non-violence can be taught to young students.

The program will be at 6 p.m. in the community room of the intermediate school on Maxwelton Road, sponsored by the South Whidbey Elementary Parent-Teachers Association.

“This is something completely different, something we’ve never done before,” said Kris Rea, PTA president.

Milan has taught multi-age elementary classes at the school for eight years. She’s lived on South Whidbey for 23 years, and her three sons attended the district’s schools. Her youngest son, Dylan, is a senior at South Whidbey High School.

Milan will base tonight’s program on techniques she learned this past summer at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo, Calif. During the two-week session, she and 39 other educators from throughout the United States studied with experts of the civil rights movement and the teachings of Gandhi and King.

They also developed a school curriculum based on the issues they studied.

“I’ll be sharing how to bring this to our kids,” Milan said. “I’ll offer ideas and resources on building a sense of community and cross-cultural understanding.”

She said she’ll also emphasize compassion and empathy for others through talking, negotiating and collaborating, “rather than controlling, or using power in a hurtful way.”

And she’ll discuss the role of such activities as service projects and art and letter exchanges.

Milan will also speak about how community can be built through the sharing of the stories and artwork of children, and she’ll have children’s literature and resource guides for parents on hand.

“Our common human qualities transcend borders, cultures and religions,” she said. “Building understanding of other cultures helps to humanize and reduce fear, or ‘otherness.’ It is separateness that leads to violence, based on fear and mistrust.”