The best textbooks are real life.
For some students at South Whidbey High School, real life is the subject in Current World Problems classes. And for the past two weeks, war has been the only thing on the lesson plan.
When the war in Iraq began last week, world problems teachers had a made-to-order curriculum about the most complicated of international issues. At the same time, it is a controversial issue for the school district.
On advice from the state’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, school district administration largely closed Current World Problems classes to media last week. Superintendent Martin Laster said the district chose to close the classes because war is a sensitive subject and the district cannot be certain how it is affecting students.
However, students and teachers in those classes did choose to comment on the war out of class.
Senior Nick Bergthold said Current World Problems is his favorite class. He said he is glad the current war is the subject of his studies.
“I find the war very interesting to study,” he said. “It’s happening now, it affects me and pertains to the future.”
Bergthold is in Eric Sturgis’ class. His study materials, he said, differ both in form and perspective from the textbooks required in other subjects.
“We watch the daily newscasts, and discuss them,” he said. “We also read newspapers and Newsweek magazine.”
Both Sturgis and the school’s other CWP teacher, Tom Kramer, ar using the war in Iraq as a teaching tool. The Middle East is an area of study every year for the classes, but the latest developments make it more interesting and topical.
“There is something very compelling about war, and the students are very interested,” Kramer said.
Both teachers are attempting to provide clarity about the situation.
Sturgis says his class began studying Iraq in February. Since then, they have learned Great Britain formed the state of Iraq in 1919 and that Saddam Hussein’s regime official began in 1979.
The more the students know about Iraq’s history, Sturgis said, the better they become at analyzing the daily news coming out of that nation.
“The students have a good background and knowledge about the country to make intelligent decisions about the war,” he said.
Kramer says his course is focusing on what the issues are in the Middle East, why the United States is there, what Washington, D.C. and the U.S. military hope to accomplish, and how what is happening in Iraq affects the rest of the Middle East.
Before the war began, class discussions centered around President Bush’s policy toward Iraq. Now that war has begun, students are talking about all aspects of the events in Iraq. Discussions have shifted to military strategy, Turkey’s role in the war and the responsibilities of the invading military coalition in postwar Iraq.
Both Kramer and Sturgis agree students are definitely interested and well-informed about what is happening.
Students in the classes are tested on their knowledge of current events. When it’s relevant, Kramer’s students will watch CNN, as they did more than a year ago during the 9-11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. However, watching the news is not always the best way to study.
“But it’s difficult to keep track of what is real,” Kramer said. “Television offers just bits and pieces. I look for intelligent, encapsulated pieces that have a beginning and an ending.”
Study of the war seems to be reserved for students at the high school. Langley Middle School Principal Greg Willis said the war is not a part of the school’s civics class curriculum at present.
