Building Bridges of Understanding
There is hope
Genre: NEWS
In a country where basic freedoms are not only enjoyed but
demanded by citizens, it is often very difficult and many times
may seem impossible for people here in Canada, to understand
or even fathom what life is like for people around the world
where gun shots and poverty are the norm.
Classrooms all over Ontario however, are attempting to bridge
the gap and pave the way to better understanding, through the
implementation of an OAC (grade 13) World Issues course, which
explores the many integral and most significant issues that affect
different parts of the world.
A specific activity required by students in the course is
to explore political, geographical, nationalistic or religious
issues through the interpretation of a piece of music. Once every
week since the beginning of February, a pair of students introduce
their classmates to their chosen piece of music, which is directly
linked to a specific geographical area in the world. Facts and
opinions are presented, and then the discussion opens up. This
is when the sparks begin to fly.
"The discussion is where the meat is," expresses
one student. "This is where our opinion matters, where
we get to say what we think, and make our own small attempts
to finding a solution to all the problems we're presented with."
The first piece of music presented was in a foreign language
addressing the battle for the province of Kashmir between the
nations of Pakistan and India. Once the discussion opened up
a controlled, yet heated debate broke out between the students
of whether religion and politics should ever 'go together'.
"I don't see why any country needs a national religion,"
one student says. "There isn't a need for it, I mean
we [Canadians] don't have a national religion and we're able
to live."
"I disagree. Politics and laws in Canada are very
connected with the Christian tradition," another student
argues. "Whether we like it or not, religion and politics
are definitely connected with one another."
This dialoguing continues until every student in the classroom
feels that all opinions and views have been addressed and a fair
attempt at finding a solution has been made. In the Kashmir issue,
students more or less mutually agreed that in order for any solution
to even be fathomed, there must first be a ceasefire and both
sides must compromise. A fairly simple solution, yet stubbornness
on both sides of the conflict has resulted in only intensifying
the problem, threatening to reach conditions that are out of
control.
The crisis in Kosovo and the Arab-Israeli conflict have been
among the other powerful and emotional presentations, but most
recently the song "Zombie" by the Cranberries seemed
to spark a discussion that extended to almost all conflicts all
over the world. The pair presenting this piece of music seemed
to leave a large piece of the puzzle out of the picture when
they discussed the Irish Republican Army's terrorist acts in
Northern Ireland. At first, the discussion sprung towards basic
comments on how "violence is wrong" and "they
should have tried other methods" to solve their problems.
Yet, some students had puzzled looks as they tried to decipher
exactly what would push a group of people to bomb and terrorize
those they felt were responsible for their misfortune. The World
Issues course instructor completed the puzzle.
"I think a large piece of the puzzle has been left
out," she began. These people [the Catholics in Ireland]
suffered from intense poverty, it's unimaginable. You mention
that other paths should have been explored before they resorted
to violence, I think that digging a little deeper into the issue,
you would have discovered, that many attempts had indeed been
made throughout the course of this conflict, before the IRA resorted
to their terrorist activities."
In response, some students expressed how violence was wrong
in any context and only intensified the problems rather than
solved them. They also felt that religions clashing with one
another also contributed to a vast majority of the world's problems.
One student however spoke up and expressed her unique opinion.
"I think, more than religion, it's oppression that
drives people to violence. We, living in Canada can hardly relate
to the immense oppression and violence that is a part of some
people's everyday lives. I mean, imagine seeing your mother or
father getting shot, imagine that someone in your family dying,
or someone you know getting killed is an everyday event in your
life. These people, witnessing this everyday, don't just use
violence because it's supposedly easy; they resort to violence
because they feel all other attempts at their freedom have failed.
They feel that violence is the only way to release them from
such oppression."
Students agreed how it was very difficult to relate their
lives, which are relatively free and peaceful, to the lives of
so many others that are witness to intense violent wars and cruelty
everyday. Almost on the verge of resorting to a pessimistic conclusion,
where no solution to the world's problems seemed possible, the
students reluctantly continued dialoguing and realized that they
were living a potential solution.
"Education, I believe," the course instructor
began, "is a huge part of finding solutions to many of
the world's problems. Presenting facts in an unbiased matter
and discussing them like we are in this class is the first step
to solving these problems."
Needless to say, the OAC World Issues course has literally
opened up a world for students to discover. Discussions, debates
and the expression of opinions is indeed the first step down
the path to building a bridge of understanding and perhaps a
bridge of hope for peace, in the many war-torn countries that
sometimes seem so far away.
Related Links:
Kashmir
WWW Virtual Library
Behind
the mask: The IRA and Sinn Fein (PBS and Frontline website)
CRITIQUES OF ARTICLE BY
PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS
- An interesting article on an interesting topic. Good writing,
strong ideas.
- Very well done. might have benefited from a lead out of the
actual school conversation to grab the reader faster but overall,
well organized and thoughtful..
- This is an article I dearly wanted to mark higher, but a
key ingredient was left out of the story.....at what school
did this class discussion take place? If you weren't permitted
to name the school specifically, perhaps naming the city where
the school is would have covered it off. By including a location,
it brings your reader to where the event is happening. However,
there are still many positives here. You provided a lot of good
ideas, which would invoke a lot of discussion with your readers.
Your examples of the Northern Ireland conflict and Kashmir are
good choices; ones we have heard in the news. You provided additional
insight behind the headlines which opened my eyes to these issues.
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