If only there was an institution where you could borrow books for free, or some futuristic handheld device with the sum total of human knowledge at your fingertips.
Our education system starting from middle to university level has horribly failed these youngsters. I say youngsters because, yes, this is all a part of finding your identity and place in the world. Many do it with some knowledge and experiences, but these protesters do it to be part of the "popular" crowd. Foaming at the mouth as they shout the same boring and repetitive narrative with the usual buzz words. There is no knowledge, critical thinking or analysis behind any of it. And now the latest in this lineup of ignorant souls comes Kymani James, a so-called activist since the age of 14 from Boston. He showed a video "negotiating" with Columbia University because he was asked to meet with them having said in a stream that, "Zionists should die." Just the fact that Columbia negotiated with him and promised they would not bring the police or National Guard to the campus and allow the protesters to carry on, shows the direction the US is going in, and not a sound from the White House. Federal funding should be taken from these universities, but that's off the table as far as Biden and his admin are concerned. Yes, it's true, many, if not most of these students haven't a clue about the history of both sides, but let's also remember that the university staff and administration are in their corner as well, and so the indoctrination continues.
I agree about the education system. I teach middle school history which includes the study of ancient Israel, so at the very LEAST my students know this was our land some 2-3k years ago. But sadly, I have to watch what I say from there. After this course, that's probably all they will get except for some minor exposure to the Holocaust. I don't remember learning about WWII in HS so I'm assuming that's the end of the road for any Jewish studies. Then these kids move on to college and get the Qatar backed narrative and the TikTok narrative- and here is part of why we are where we are in the US.
I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. I did learn about WWII in HS, but it was so rote, dates, people nothing connected. It was in college during my Western Civ course (which I'm sure they no longer offer) that I was totally turned on to history by my professor (here's the irony) a professor of Middle East concentration, a follower of Edward Said, etc. etc. I adored him but not his politics. However, he never let it interfere with my learning, and my love for all things historical and political I owe to him. He's still writing and lecturing in his 80's. You are so right in everything you've said, especially Qatar and TikTok. I wish you well in your teaching and hope you never have to encounter the DEI craziness that has begun to permeate education.
Thank you! 💕 and unfortunately my big district also pushes DEI. Our union even passed a resolution against US aide to Israel. So, I will probably not be supporting my union as much.
Perhaps people would do well to read Bernard Lewis (a prof. at Princeton and Middle East scholar) ... he wrote about all this years ago. There is bound to be implosion if an economic downturn occurs ... it might even get ugly; even uglier than this.
I think the failure starts in elementary school. We should be teaching children that differences should be respected, and that our similarities as humans far outnumber those differences.
We should be training children to think and analyze, not just memorize. And we should explain why hate and violence are always the wrong choice.
I agree with everything you have said, and it should begin even earlier, for those children who attend preschool. I'll go one more having taught from 4th to graduate level students. In addition to teaching, the teacher is the model for their students. They watch every move you make and listen to every word you say. They also watch your interactions with others, especially colleagues and administrators, and even how you dress and present yourself every day. The climate of the classroom environment will show this in how students conduct themselves. Unfortunately, I think in many schools (I hope I'm wrong), teachers are more concerned about putting their students in boxes and teaching woke ideology.
Yes - my children are both in their late 20s now, so we had less of an issue with ideology and more with teachers who clearly had no calling for education. They did have some wonderful teachers though. My favorite was the second grade teacher they both had. I called her the brain stretcher, and she was the ideal you describe.
I'm glad your children had some really good teachers. They exist but hard to find in many schools. There was assessment cheating in my high school and it was blatant, until someone at the school had enough and blew the whistle. The staff was interviewed by the Department of Education and behold, nothing happened to the educators who helped to do the cheating. In fact, one became a principal of an elementary school. Talk about irony.
Bibi is not being a demagogue. He is right to be concerned about what is taking place on our campuses since it directly impacts Israel which needs American support. These "students" represent the democrat party base and are causing the democrat party and WH to drop its support for Israel and threatening its supply of arms. I'm not sure why Bibi would be trashed by supporters of Israel when all he is doing is fiercely defending his country, which is obviously why he is so despised by those who want Israel obliterated. I wish we had a president that was fiercely defending our country the way Bibi fights for his.
"Transgenders" are not being attacked. In fact they are the ones doing the attacking.
"There is no bravery required to surround yourself with thousands of braying, potentially violent thugs chanting hate slogans you agree with." No, but it certainly stirs up the adrenaline. I remember being 16 and marching with the Anti-Nazi League, a communist front organization, through London, It was certainly exuberating, made me feel powerful, invincible and important. When I look back, I understand how misguided it was. Most of these "students" have no idea what they are marching against, or why.
Thanks for your contribution to Future of Jewish; and, your own UpstandersCanada! Nonetheless, regarding this essay, you sort of 'lost me' at: "Israel’s prime minister has compared the anti-Israel protests and violence across North American campuses to 1930s antisemitic mobs. I am of two minds on this statement: Every time this demagogue opens his mouth," It is Israel's Prime Minister; not, prime minister. "this demagogue opens his mouth". By all means, criticize any elected official for specific acts or statements that you disagree with and please point out useful alternatives in terms of actions to be set in place by elected officials. Just in case it was an oversight, it does seem to me that being an Elected Official requires a large batch of ego, egoism, egotism and/or a helluva lot of ambition and drive. Prime Minister Netanyahu accomplished two things early in his life which are notable for a potential leader in any field. He served Honorably in his national defense's armed service. He was a high achieving and motivated university student. Additionally as a still young man he showed many signs of high leadership ability. As very early footage him UPSTANDING for his homeland and People and Citizens at a confrontational international 'hearing'. The footage shows him as a very gifted orator and communicator. As I have written previously, my educated guess is that in the last 20 years of so Netanyahu as Prime Minister and otherwise was HIGHLY successful in creating good communications (mainly behind the scenes and away from journalists), that led to relations with leaders of other regional nations which can be described as 'enemies'. It is my 'belief' that those abundance of communiques over many years has been a great advantage during the present early stages of this unfolding severe crisis.
Our education system starting from middle to university level has horribly failed these youngsters. I say youngsters because, yes, this is all a part of finding your identity and place in the world. Many do it with some knowledge and experiences, but these protesters do it to be part of the "popular" crowd. Foaming at the mouth as they shout the same boring and repetitive narrative with the usual buzz words. There is no knowledge, critical thinking or analysis behind any of it. And now the latest in this lineup of ignorant souls comes Kymani James, a so-called activist since the age of 14 from Boston. He showed a video "negotiating" with Columbia University because he was asked to meet with them having said in a stream that, "Zionists should die." Just the fact that Columbia negotiated with him and promised they would not bring the police or National Guard to the campus and allow the protesters to carry on, shows the direction the US is going in, and not a sound from the White House. Federal funding should be taken from these universities, but that's off the table as far as Biden and his admin are concerned. Yes, it's true, many, if not most of these students haven't a clue about the history of both sides, but let's also remember that the university staff and administration are in their corner as well, and so the indoctrination continues.
I agree about the education system. I teach middle school history which includes the study of ancient Israel, so at the very LEAST my students know this was our land some 2-3k years ago. But sadly, I have to watch what I say from there. After this course, that's probably all they will get except for some minor exposure to the Holocaust. I don't remember learning about WWII in HS so I'm assuming that's the end of the road for any Jewish studies. Then these kids move on to college and get the Qatar backed narrative and the TikTok narrative- and here is part of why we are where we are in the US.
I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. I did learn about WWII in HS, but it was so rote, dates, people nothing connected. It was in college during my Western Civ course (which I'm sure they no longer offer) that I was totally turned on to history by my professor (here's the irony) a professor of Middle East concentration, a follower of Edward Said, etc. etc. I adored him but not his politics. However, he never let it interfere with my learning, and my love for all things historical and political I owe to him. He's still writing and lecturing in his 80's. You are so right in everything you've said, especially Qatar and TikTok. I wish you well in your teaching and hope you never have to encounter the DEI craziness that has begun to permeate education.
Thank you! 💕 and unfortunately my big district also pushes DEI. Our union even passed a resolution against US aide to Israel. So, I will probably not be supporting my union as much.
All the best to you😊🇮🇱
Perhaps people would do well to read Bernard Lewis (a prof. at Princeton and Middle East scholar) ... he wrote about all this years ago. There is bound to be implosion if an economic downturn occurs ... it might even get ugly; even uglier than this.
I will check him out. I'm sure my professor knows him. Thanks.
No Holocaust studies in your district or state?
Yes, in my daughter's in 8th grade history class they did what seemed like a "blip".
There's no head shake emoji. Blips aren't enough.
I think the failure starts in elementary school. We should be teaching children that differences should be respected, and that our similarities as humans far outnumber those differences.
We should be training children to think and analyze, not just memorize. And we should explain why hate and violence are always the wrong choice.
I agree with everything you have said, and it should begin even earlier, for those children who attend preschool. I'll go one more having taught from 4th to graduate level students. In addition to teaching, the teacher is the model for their students. They watch every move you make and listen to every word you say. They also watch your interactions with others, especially colleagues and administrators, and even how you dress and present yourself every day. The climate of the classroom environment will show this in how students conduct themselves. Unfortunately, I think in many schools (I hope I'm wrong), teachers are more concerned about putting their students in boxes and teaching woke ideology.
Yes - my children are both in their late 20s now, so we had less of an issue with ideology and more with teachers who clearly had no calling for education. They did have some wonderful teachers though. My favorite was the second grade teacher they both had. I called her the brain stretcher, and she was the ideal you describe.
I'm glad your children had some really good teachers. They exist but hard to find in many schools. There was assessment cheating in my high school and it was blatant, until someone at the school had enough and blew the whistle. The staff was interviewed by the Department of Education and behold, nothing happened to the educators who helped to do the cheating. In fact, one became a principal of an elementary school. Talk about irony.
Bibi is not being a demagogue. He is right to be concerned about what is taking place on our campuses since it directly impacts Israel which needs American support. These "students" represent the democrat party base and are causing the democrat party and WH to drop its support for Israel and threatening its supply of arms. I'm not sure why Bibi would be trashed by supporters of Israel when all he is doing is fiercely defending his country, which is obviously why he is so despised by those who want Israel obliterated. I wish we had a president that was fiercely defending our country the way Bibi fights for his.
"Transgenders" are not being attacked. In fact they are the ones doing the attacking.
Great points.
"There is no bravery required to surround yourself with thousands of braying, potentially violent thugs chanting hate slogans you agree with." No, but it certainly stirs up the adrenaline. I remember being 16 and marching with the Anti-Nazi League, a communist front organization, through London, It was certainly exuberating, made me feel powerful, invincible and important. When I look back, I understand how misguided it was. Most of these "students" have no idea what they are marching against, or why.
Thanks for your contribution to Future of Jewish; and, your own UpstandersCanada! Nonetheless, regarding this essay, you sort of 'lost me' at: "Israel’s prime minister has compared the anti-Israel protests and violence across North American campuses to 1930s antisemitic mobs. I am of two minds on this statement: Every time this demagogue opens his mouth," It is Israel's Prime Minister; not, prime minister. "this demagogue opens his mouth". By all means, criticize any elected official for specific acts or statements that you disagree with and please point out useful alternatives in terms of actions to be set in place by elected officials. Just in case it was an oversight, it does seem to me that being an Elected Official requires a large batch of ego, egoism, egotism and/or a helluva lot of ambition and drive. Prime Minister Netanyahu accomplished two things early in his life which are notable for a potential leader in any field. He served Honorably in his national defense's armed service. He was a high achieving and motivated university student. Additionally as a still young man he showed many signs of high leadership ability. As very early footage him UPSTANDING for his homeland and People and Citizens at a confrontational international 'hearing'. The footage shows him as a very gifted orator and communicator. As I have written previously, my educated guess is that in the last 20 years of so Netanyahu as Prime Minister and otherwise was HIGHLY successful in creating good communications (mainly behind the scenes and away from journalists), that led to relations with leaders of other regional nations which can be described as 'enemies'. It is my 'belief' that those abundance of communiques over many years has been a great advantage during the present early stages of this unfolding severe crisis.
Superb piece.
Lots of nuance and a dazzling display of verbal dexterity.
Eschizoide social pathology manipulationg