No person anywhere can be unmoved by the human suffering in Palestine and Israel; wanting to take action to stop it is a natural and positive response. But teachers and students in Australia have faced criticism for their acts of solidarity with some victims of this war.
In Melbourne’s The Age newspaper, and in the Educator Online, we argued that conversation about the causes and consequences of war on Gaza should happen at school – even when it’s difficult.
There are clear standards about respectful exchanges of ideas in schools, and teachers don’t tolerate racism or discrimination. Students are being subjected to a floods of information, opinions, and reactions to the war, and have few good models of humanising discussion about what’s happening and why. Teachers can help students understand events, and find hope by taking action in accordance with their conscience. Teachers were encouraged do just this for the war in Ukraine, yet similar actions in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza are described as ‘political’, or ‘inflammatory’.
More generally, it’s vital to encourage teachers who wrestle with the normalisation of war through education.
The way that past wars are taught, and the way that current wars are interpreted at school, shapes society’s relationship to armed conflict. Schools are a primary site for the normalisation of war, and teachers who reject the story that some wars – like the one on Gaza – are not only a legitimate means to resolve conflict, but are morally right and necessary, should be applauded.
Read more in The Educator Online.
