The task of a teacher in history and humanities

Letters | 30 November 2023, The Age

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I feel for Farah Khairat (Comment, 30/11), faced with insensitive and bludgeoning bureaucrats censoring teachers’ discussion of contemporary politics. Trying to direct teachers and their students not to discuss the Middle East conflict was sure to fail and unsurprisingly achieved the opposite result. It is important that students are given the tools to understand the terrible events unfolding in Israel and Gaza. This should be done in an objective and dispassionate way, avoiding advocacy or polemical commentary for either side. Teachers have a crucial role in giving students the means to understand the world and reach their own conclusions free of any state censorship or personal opinions. 

– Pier Paolo De Carlo, Ascot Vale

Please, just present the facts

It is understandable that a humanities teacher like Farah Khairat needs to discuss the Gaza war with her students. But as a teacher, she should present the facts and not teach according to her personal views. Regarding this horrendous war, it’s important to place it in the context of the Palestinians being badly treated since Israel was established in 1948, which is not acceptable. However, the teacher needs to place that in the context of the necessity for Israel to be established after Jewish people had been badly treated for about 2000 years before then. 

– Marguerite Marshall, Eltham

The aim is to educate, not indoctrinate

I was teaching in an independent school in 1970 when protests against the Vietnam War were at their height. I recall my principal speaking to a staff meeting on the morning of the largest of them where he defended the right of senior students to attend. From memory, he quoted liberal political philosopher John Stuart Mill to justify the students’ right to protest. He also welcomed informed discussion in the classroom of the war and its implications, as he did of many controversial social and political issues. All he asked of the staff was that they remembered their responsibility to educate, not indoctrinate. I’m sure he would have welcomed Farah Khairat on his staff, not castigated her or threatened her with disciplinary action. 

– Terry Hayes, Yarraville

There needs to be balance and context

Farah Khairat expresses surprise that as a teacher, her school management has told her not to speak to her students about the conflict in the Middle East. She shouldn’t be surprised. The reason is in her description of what she would have sought to discuss with them – ″⁣the thousands killed and trapped beneath rubble″⁣. No context, no mention of the hostages, of the horrific massacre which started this war, nor of the terrorist organisation which runs Gaza and hides behind the civilians who have become its victims. Until she provides a balanced and historically accurate perspective on events to her students, she should stick to the curriculum. 

– Paul Roberts, Miranda

Gaza is a tragedy, but there are two sides to it

Farah Khairat writes about her concerns about restrictions on her ability as a teacher to talk about the situation in Gaza. However, she demonstrates exactly why there must be such restrictions. As a teacher, Khairat has a responsibility to always present history and current affairs in a balanced way. It is difficult to see how she could do this when she uses highly emotive phrases such as “thousands of children and dozens of teachers and school staff killed in Gaza” and “one Palestinian child killed every 10 minutes”.

However, she makes no mention that Hamas is a registered terrorist organisation, that Hamas started the current conflict by undertaking a terrorist raid in Israel, killing more than 1000 people, that Hamas still holds about 150 hostages. What is happening in Gaza is a tragedy but, as in all conflicts, there are two sides and tragedies are occurring on both sides.

If Khairat wants the right to talk about this conflict, then she needs to show that she can do this in a balanced and unbiased manner. 

– John Rosenberg, South Melbourne

FORUM

Few answers

Your correspondent (Letters, 29/11) asks why do the 2 million people of Gaza need bomb shelters in the first place?

The 9 million people of Israel have bomb shelters in their homes and streets because they are constantly facing missile attacks from Gaza in the south and Hezbollah in the north. They have built underground hospitals and blood banks so that these life-saving facilities can operate while Israel is being attacked on multiple fronts.

There seems to be lots of criticism of Israel and little criticism of Hamas and, ultimately, few solutions about how Israelis and Palestinians can live together. 

– Miriam Zajac, Caulfield

Opposite effect

Your contributor, Farah Khairat, shows exactly why schools may have felt the need to ban discussion about the conflict now going on in the Middle East (“Why I refuse to stay silent on Gaza”, 30/11). While she describes heartbreaking scenes in Gaza, she neglects entirely to mention Hamas’ horrific attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 – including the taking of hostages – which triggered this current conflict. She writes about not allowing personal views to enter discussions, yet she refers only to “Israeli aggression”.

It is revealing that her descriptions of civilian suffering exclude the savagery inflicted by Hamas on October 7, thus casting doubt on her ability to lead an impartial discussion, and perhaps inadvertently reinforcing the school’s policy. 

– Arlene Murkies, Brighton

No censorship, please

I agree with Farah Khairat. I deplore the instruction from her school not to speak about the conflict in the Middle East with curious students. Open discussion in the guided environment provided at school will help them to discern information they are exposed to from other sources, promoting understanding and acceptance of alternative points of view. Censorship creates a void in which biased views can develop from selective sources of information.

Students deserve the opportunity to discuss issues of interest and concern to them. 

– Gary Smith, Rippleside

Of independent mind

I have taught about the Arab-Israeli conflict for more than 30 years. At the end of the course my students would have no idea where my sympathies lie. This is as it should be.

The greatest gift we can give students is to nurture them as independent thinkers who are well equipped to make informed decisions for themselves as they enter adult life. Therefore, I take some issue with Farah Khairat’s article.

On the one hand, she says, “I appreciate that personal politics and beliefs [of teachers] should not be brought into the classroom.” But she then lists the litany of her grievances against Israel’s recent role in Gaza that she would like to teach, with no mention of the Hamas attack of October 7. Is this really how she suggests history should be taught? If so, I don’t blame her educational masters in silencing her. 

– Andrew Kokic, Wattle Grove, NSW

The job at hand

I became a teacher to provide students with a mechanism for forming their own conclusions on controversial issues; getting them to think about the world beyond their own backyard. Studying conflicts and identifying both sides of an issue empowers students to form their own views on serious disagreements that arise both at home and internationally. That was my job. 

– Graeme Rose, Wangaratta