My article on Upbringing and Education was contributed to the November issue of This Week in Palestine on education.
The ministry in charge of education is called Tarbiyeh wa Ta’aleem in Arabic, which literally means “upbringing and
education.” So education not only means finishing a syllabus, which includes
languages, sciences, and social studies, but also building character and
instilling in children the moral values that make good citizens who care for
the common good. Unfortunately, tarbiyeh
is practically non-existent in most schools. Although there are some schools
that have very strict rules in order to guarantee discipline and a well-behaved
class, this does not mean at all that moral values are built into the system.
The students end up behaving well for fear of the administration or the system
of punishment, but that does not create a permanent transformation.
We have a tendency to blame all the bad things that affect our
community’s behaviour on the occupation. There is a lot of truth in that,
especially because we are all in a permanent state of frustration – when we are
forced to wait for hours at checkpoints to be able to get to work and earn a
living, or when our homes are demolished, or when the breadwinner does not come
home at the end of the day because he was picked up by the army and thrown in
jail. Yet there is still a lot that we can do to improve our lives. One example
concerns the unethical behaviour of drivers, especially at Qalandiya
Checkpoint. Instead of staying in line to ensure a smooth crossing for
everyone, each driver thinks of outsmarting the other, irrespective of the
confusion this creates and how it affects public welfare. In fact, every driver
feels that he or she is the only one who is in a hurry and that everybody else
is on a leisure tour. Actually, we are subconsciously angry at the occupation
but we take it out on each other.
Respect for the rights of others starts from kindergarten, and
teachers and parents have a great responsibility to instil moral values in the
children in order to create a generation of good citizens who care for the
common good. Parents and teachers are supposed to be role models. If the
children watch their parents throw tissue paper from the car window, they are
bound to do the same with their own trash. And if they hear their parents
cursing at the checkpoint and picking a fight with the car that just passed
them, then those children will surely see nothing wrong with picking a fight
with their own classmates. It is not surprising that the violence of the
occupation has found its way into schools and homes. For this reason it is very
important that the schools have programs that allow children to vent their
anger and to help them use their energies in positive ways. Very often I pass
by a school at the end of a school day, and it is unbelievable how rough the
children are with each other. In fact, the teachers are often unable to control
the children. We must realize that there is something very wrong and that we
risk losing a whole generation. So what can we do? How can we put an end to
this phenomenon? What kind of an education system do we need in order to bring
up a generation that is caring and committed to moral values?
A remarkable spirit prevailed during the first Intifada as
everybody struggled willingly for the same cause with discipline and
cooperation. But at the same time, while the authority of the military was
eroded, so was every other kind of authority, whether at home or at school. The
young people took upon themselves a big responsibility and lost much of their
childhood; a childhood that could not be retrieved as they became, overnight,
responsible young men and women. The spirit of rebellion against all authority
was a natural reaction. I remember once asking a young boy to pick up a bottle
that he had thrown onto the street. He replied, “Let the municipality pick it up.”
This is when I realized that neither home nor school alone can repair the
damage that has been done. Gone are the days when a young boy would heed my
request. It now takes more than a request. We need to build on the spirit of
cooperation and discipline that we all experienced during the Intifada in order
to heal the brokenness of our society; a society that is still not liberated
from occupation. We need a built-in system in our schools that stresses moral
values and teaches ethics as one of the compulsory subjects.
Unfortunately many of the teachers themselves have been born and
brought up under this brutal military occupation, while their own parents were
struggling to make a living. So it is not surprising to see a lot of
frustration reflected throughout the community. Anger and frustration do not
help the process of healing or of bringing up a healthy generation. Frustration
is very contagious. Thus we need teachers who consider teaching to be a
vocation and who radiate joy and hope in order to provide children with a
wholesome education that includes good citizenship practices and an
appreciation of the common good.
Given that many of the contributors to this issue will write
about the educational syllabus and the standardized exam that encourages memorization
instead of innovative and critical thinking, I will not touch on this subject.
But I want to appeal to those who have anything to do with the school
curriculum to include at least two periods of ethics a week in the school
timetable, starting from the early childhood years. They can even be part of
the religious education periods. It would be worth experimenting on combining
both Muslims and Christians during these periods that would encourage tolerance
and acceptance of the other.
Many schools and teachers can integrate ethics throughout the
curriculum. At the same time I hope that the Ministry of Education will realize
the need for this and that both parents and teachers will cooperate in bringing
up a new generation that will enjoy living in a society that respects and
promotes the common good. We need to give our young generation the hope that
this is possible and that they can have a role in this change.
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