Discussing the recent Israeli-Palestinian Conflict In Schools

[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.

Jews are subject matter experts in anti-Semitism in a way that you are not, and many DCPS teachers are not. In the same way that Black Americans are subject matter experts on anti-Black racism, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools have never have discussions when Palestinians civilians were murdered, it barely gets a footnote in the news if at all. Violence is never acceptable but unless the schools are willing to talk about the entire history of the situation, root causes, the apartheid setup, Israeli atrocities over the past decades, then why are we talking at all?

Why do schools feel the need to talk about this stuff at all? In general the discussion about a high-profile traumatic current event is supposed to be at least in part to reassure kids and provide psychological support. If that’s the goal then the aim would be to support Jewish students on Tuesday. But that is never a goal in DCPS.

An in depth history lesson can come later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools have never have discussions when Palestinians civilians were murdered, it barely gets a footnote in the news if at all. Violence is never acceptable but unless the schools are willing to talk about the entire history of the situation, root causes, the apartheid setup, Israeli atrocities over the past decades, then why are we talking at all?

Why do schools feel the need to talk about this stuff at all? In general the discussion about a high-profile traumatic current event is supposed to be at least in part to reassure kids and provide psychological support. If that’s the goal then the aim would be to support Jewish students on Tuesday. But that is never a goal in DCPS.

An in depth history lesson can come later.

But it won't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools have never have discussions when Palestinians civilians were murdered, it barely gets a footnote in the news if at all. Violence is never acceptable but unless the schools are willing to talk about the entire history of the situation, root causes, the apartheid setup, Israeli atrocities over the past decades, then why are we talking at all?

Why do schools feel the need to talk about this stuff at all? In general the discussion about a high-profile traumatic current event is supposed to be at least in part to reassure kids and provide psychological support. If that’s the goal then the aim would be to support Jewish students on Tuesday. But that is never a goal in DCPS.

An in depth history lesson can come later.

But it won't.

Well, take it up with the new social science curriculum that we just put into place. In the meantime either don’t discuss it, or kindly refrain from telling my kid that the people who slaughtered 1000 Jews this weekend were “freedom fighters.”

[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.

I was going to post something similar. People continuously conflating a country/politics with religion (this applies to many places) is wrong. Issues are more complex than that.

And YOU are the one conflating it here. If this topic is to be addressed in school at all (and I hope it is not) it should be from the starting point of “a horrible anti-semitic attack happened in Israel and we know that some Jewish students may be feeling sad and scared.” YOU are the one who immediately wants to skip this part and go straight to lecturing kids about politics.

Are jewish kids in America actually feeling “scared”?

[Anonymous]

If a nuanced view = antisemitism, then I guess Thomas Freidman is an anti-semite.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/opinion/israel-hamas-.html

[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.

I was going to post something similar. People continuously conflating a country/politics with religion (this applies to many places) is wrong. Issues are more complex than that.

And YOU are the one conflating it here. If this topic is to be addressed in school at all (and I hope it is not) it should be from the starting point of “a horrible anti-semitic attack happened in Israel and we know that some Jewish students may be feeling sad and scared.” YOU are the one who immediately wants to skip this part and go straight to lecturing kids about politics.

Are jewish kids in America actually feeling “scared”?

Is this actually a f’ing question? Jews in America may be scared, yes.

[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.

I was going to post something similar. People continuously conflating a country/politics with religion (this applies to many places) is wrong. Issues are more complex than that.

And YOU are the one conflating it here. If this topic is to be addressed in school at all (and I hope it is not) it should be from the starting point of “a horrible anti-semitic attack happened in Israel and we know that some Jewish students may be feeling sad and scared.” YOU are the one who immediately wants to skip this part and go straight to lecturing kids about politics.

Are jewish kids in America actually feeling “scared”?

Are Palestinian kids here also feeling "scared"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a nuanced view = antisemitism, then I guess Thomas Freidman is an anti-semite.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/opinion/israel-hamas-.html

ffs. the point is the average DCPS teacher has no “nuanced view.” and the appropriate thing is to offer support for the potentially upset kids, not lead off with a Thomas Friedman op ed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a nuanced view = antisemitism, then I guess Thomas Freidman is an anti-semite.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/opinion/israel-hamas-.html

ffs. the point is the average DCPS teacher has no “nuanced view.” and the appropriate thing is to offer support for the potentially upset kids, not lead off with a Thomas Friedman op ed.

I think it depends on the age of the kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I was going to post something similar. People continuously conflating a country/politics with religion (this applies to many places) is wrong. Issues are more complex than that.

And YOU are the one conflating it here. If this topic is to be addressed in school at all (and I hope it is not) it should be from the starting point of “a horrible anti-semitic attack happened in Israel and we know that some Jewish students may be feeling sad and scared.” YOU are the one who immediately wants to skip this part and go straight to lecturing kids about politics.

Are jewish kids in America actually feeling “scared”?

Is this actually a f’ing question? Jews in America may be scared, yes.

Due to a conflict thousands of miles away from here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I was going to post something similar. People continuously conflating a country/politics with religion (this applies to many places) is wrong. Issues are more complex than that.

And YOU are the one conflating it here. If this topic is to be addressed in school at all (and I hope it is not) it should be from the starting point of “a horrible anti-semitic attack happened in Israel and we know that some Jewish students may be feeling sad and scared.” YOU are the one who immediately wants to skip this part and go straight to lecturing kids about politics.

Are jewish kids in America actually feeling “scared”?

Are Palestinian kids here also feeling "scared"?

Yes to both, especially if they have politically engaged families that are discussing this a lot or family members back in Israel/Gaza.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I was going to post something similar. People continuously conflating a country/politics with religion (this applies to many places) is wrong. Issues are more complex than that.

And YOU are the one conflating it here. If this topic is to be addressed in school at all (and I hope it is not) it should be from the starting point of “a horrible anti-semitic attack happened in Israel and we know that some Jewish students may be feeling sad and scared.” YOU are the one who immediately wants to skip this part and go straight to lecturing kids about politics.

Are jewish kids in America actually feeling “scared”?

Are Palestinian kids here also feeling "scared"?

There are a lot of Jewish kids in DCPS - not many or any Palestinian kids. And the fact that you can apparently not countenance providing ANY institutional support to Jewish kids just proves my point.

[Anonymous]

My 6th grade at DCPS is Palestinian and has family in Gaza right now- we have no way to reach them. Food, water, electricity and internet are inaccessible. The terror of no way out, no aid, and constant bombing is something NONE of you here will ever begin to understand. EVER.

1. Do you think my Palestinian child will receive any kind of "support" or "compassion" from DCPS? The answer is no. In fact, it's been the opposite in our years here.
2. The amount of slurs and tropes I have experienced my whole life has never stopped- if anyone here believes for a second that any sort of sympathy is with anyone who is Palestinian (even in DC), think again.
3. I could give zero %^%^ about whatever watered down conversations are happening in DCPS right now- to even be able to care about that right now, or have that as one of your "concerns" is so reeking of privilege and so highly offensive that I can't even begin to wrap my head around it.
4. The comments here remind me of why Palestinians are not safe anywhere in the world- especially in their homeland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a nuanced view = antisemitism, then I guess Thomas Freidman is an anti-semite.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/opinion/israel-hamas-.html

ffs. the point is the average DCPS teacher has no “nuanced view.” and the appropriate thing is to offer support for the potentially upset kids, not lead off with a Thomas Friedman op ed.

I think it depends on the age of the kids!

Absolutely not in the immediate aftermath. This is as if a teacher right after George Floyd said “well that was bad, but we need to focus on black crime rates.”