As the United States continues to take action against the ongoing terrorism threat and gears up for war against Iraq, high schools across the country have begun finding ways of preparing the nation's youth. Teachers have started to help their students deal with their war anxieties and increase their knowledge on the growing conflict with Iraq.
According to a CNN.com article, teachers have begun to integrate war issues into an already crowded curriculum. Several teachers, however, do not mind the intrusion into their classrooms. "There's more genuine interest in a current event than I've seen in a long time, and that's because it's really relevant to these kids," stated Todd Wallingford, a high school civics and history teacher from Boston, Mass., in the article.
As students' interest in the issue grows, teachers must be sure to educate their students properly. "It's a hard issue to talk about, and when you take it into the classroom, you don't want to push one point of view," said Susan Graseck of Brown University, an overseer of Iraqi-conflict lesson plans.
According to Graseck, the point of these discussions is to help students think more clearly on these issues so they can form their own views and opinions. While growing up, most students have adopted their parent's ideology, and more often than not, these opinions are one-sided. What teachers are now correctly aiming to do is show students every angle of the debate without blemishing the students' opinions with their own.
Balance is the key for teachers to open the doors to their students. In order for students to fully understand the issues concerning the war, teachers must present each viewpoint from a neutral standing, as well as allow students to freely express their own opinions and debate amongst each other.
Although they should encourage students to express individual viewpoints, teachers themselves must remember to remove their biases. If a teacher sides with a particular standpoint, students having differing views may be coaxed to follow the popular vote. Although there is a fine line between participating in and moderating a conversation, teachers must be careful to let students think for themselves.
Another issue dealing with balance is simply finding the time to incorporate the debate into class time. With teachers often focusing on preparing students for standardized testing - in New York's case, the Regents - there appears to be very little time to inject opinionated learning that is unrelated to the existing curriculum. Many social studies and government teachers have implemented the topic into their classrooms, yet the question still remains as to how much textbook information can be dropped in exchange.
An ideal method of incorporating the debate is to merge the issue with everyday classroom studies. Since the growing debate is flexible, and not written into textbook stone, teachers can find ways to integrate the debate and opinions into the class studies and historical perspectives. This gives teachers the freedom to mold the issue within the limited class time without ignoring their set curriculum.
Another possibility is to create a before or after school discussion group. This would reduce the amount of time taken up by discussion of the war. However, by creating an optional discussion group outside of school, a limited number of students will participate in the debate, since there is a high probability that only students with an existing interest in politics would attend.
However, the goal of these discussions is to have all students actively involved to broaden their horizons on the Iraqi conflict. Teachers must carefully educate their students through neutral debate, and while it is necessary for students to learn the topics on their curriculum, it is important for all teenagers to learn and fully understand an issue that already has a direct impact on their lives.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
