Discussing the recent Israeli-Palestinian Conflict In Schools

[Anonymous]

The topic came up today in one my Middle Schooler’s 6th grade classes. I honestly wish the teacher would have just moved along - based on the talking points my kid came home with. Curious what others heard from their kids. Do teachers have free rein in discussing this or is there some kind of official dcps guideline?

[Anonymous]

What “talking points”?

[Anonymous]

What talking points? And Hamas and Palestinians aren’t the same. They can’t be used interchangeably.

[Anonymous]

At six grade, let the kids discuss this. When they come home, if you have your own talking points, discuss it again.

[Anonymous]

Kids know there is a brutal war happening

[Anonymous]

Kids need to be aware of and feel safe talking about what is happening in the world. I made sure my 6th grader knew about the events of the weekend and had some basic historical understanding of the conflicts in the region as well as an understanding of terrorism before going to school on Tuesday just to make sure she would not be blindsided if/when the topic comes up.

I also made her know there are very complicated issues for a lot of people and she absolutely does not have to have a position or to take a stand or claim a “side” on anything and should not feel pressured to do so (on this or any other topic).

The only stand we encourage her to take is that violence and bloodshed is awful and we oppose violence always.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At six grade, let the kids discuss this. When they come home, if you have your own talking points, discuss it again.

+1

[Anonymous]

There’s a ton of antisemitism in DCPS so I actually did not want my (Jewish) child to discuss it at all. I just mentioned it to him briefly. We’ll see what he brings back from school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a ton of antisemitism in DCPS so I actually did not want my (Jewish) child to discuss it at all. I just mentioned it to him briefly. We’ll see what he brings back from school.

Palestinians =\= Hamas

Jews =\= Israel

Some people being fed up with Israel does not make them antisemitic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a ton of antisemitism in DCPS so I actually did not want my (Jewish) child to discuss it at all. I just mentioned it to him briefly. We’ll see what he brings back from school.

Palestinians =\= Hamas

Jews =\= Israel

Some people being fed up with Israel does not make them antisemitic.

So can people talk about how Hamas mounted a brutally antisemitic attack; or were they just “fed up with Israel”?

And that’s very cute of you to believe that our experience of antisemitism in DCPS thus far is about Israel. It’s more than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a ton of antisemitism in DCPS so I actually did not want my (Jewish) child to discuss it at all. I just mentioned it to him briefly. We’ll see what he brings back from school.

Palestinians =\= Hamas

Jews =\= Israel

Some people being fed up with Israel does not make them antisemitic.

So can people talk about how Hamas mounted a brutally antisemitic attack; or were they just “fed up with Israel”?

And that’s very cute of you to believe that our experience of antisemitism in DCPS thus far is about Israel. It’s more than that.

To be clear, I think Hamas are brutal and awful. I think the people "fed up with Israel" are outside observers, like regular US citizens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Palestinians =\= Hamas

Jews =\= Israel

Some people being fed up with Israel does not make them antisemitic.

+1.

I think it’s a good thing for kids to know what is happening around the world as long as the teacher presents a balanced view. Both sides have done horrible things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a ton of antisemitism in DCPS so I actually did not want my (Jewish) child to discuss it at all. I just mentioned it to him briefly. We’ll see what he brings back from school.

Palestinians =\= Hamas

Jews =\= Israel

Some people being fed up with Israel does not make them antisemitic.

So can people talk about how Hamas mounted a brutally antisemitic attack; or were they just “fed up with Israel”?

And that’s very cute of you to believe that our experience of antisemitism in DCPS thus far is about Israel. It’s more than that.

To be clear, I think Hamas are brutal and awful. I think the people "fed up with Israel" are outside observers, like regular US citizens.

So yeah hopefully DCPS teachers won’t present this as “being fed up with Israel.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a ton of antisemitism in DCPS so I actually did not want my (Jewish) child to discuss it at all. I just mentioned it to him briefly. We’ll see what he brings back from school.

Palestinians =\= Hamas

Jews =\= Israel

Some people being fed up with Israel does not make them antisemitic.

So can people talk about how Hamas mounted a brutally antisemitic attack; or were they just “fed up with Israel”?

And that’s very cute of you to believe that our experience of antisemitism in DCPS thus far is about Israel. It’s more than that.

To be clear, I think Hamas are brutal and awful. I think the people "fed up with Israel" are outside observers, like regular US citizens.

Hopefully you can understand why it would be antisemitic to launch into a discussion of the brutal Hamas attacks on Jewish civilians as “well, some people are fed up with Israel.” But this would be par for the course for DCPS. My kid knows that antisemitism is OK in a way that other kinds of discriminatory talk is not ok in DCPS. He is resigned to it, which is bad in and of itself, but also makes it that much harder to convey the values of equity & fairness to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a ton of antisemitism in DCPS so I actually did not want my (Jewish) child to discuss it at all. I just mentioned it to him briefly. We’ll see what he brings back from school.

Palestinians =\= Hamas

Jews =\= Israel

Some people being fed up with Israel does not make them antisemitic.

So can people talk about how Hamas mounted a brutally antisemitic attack; or were they just “fed up with Israel”?

And that’s very cute of you to believe that our experience of antisemitism in DCPS thus far is about Israel. It’s more than that.

To be clear, I think Hamas are brutal and awful. I think the people "fed up with Israel" are outside observers, like regular US citizens.

Hopefully you can understand why it would be antisemitic to launch into a discussion of the brutal Hamas attacks on Jewish civilians as “well, some people are fed up with Israel.” But this would be par for the course for DCPS. My kid knows that antisemitism is OK in a way that other kinds of discriminatory talk is not ok in DCPS. He is resigned to it, which is bad in and of itself, but also makes it that much harder to convey the values of equity & fairness to him.

Well, this is one of the challenges of this discussion for schools.

Is Hamas's attack on Jewish civilians in Israel an attack in Jewish civilians worldwide?

Is the conflict political, ethnic, and/or religious?

How does/should international policy differ with regards to countries that discriminate citizenship and rights based on religion and/or ethnicity?