Teach Your Children Well

In an interview Ezra Klein did with some creep in the Israeli government, the creep said the key to peace in the region was re-education camps for Palestinian children. If only they would learn the correct facts and history (that of the victors), they would then abandon the ideology which prevents everyone from getting along. Ezra might have said something about Israeli education but didn't. Today there is an article about the 50th anniversary of the death of Generalismo Franco. In the piece, the author says "we must outline an educational curriculum to teach young people about both Franco and the terror of Francoism. It is the only way to challenge the power of deceitful social media." On a recent trip to Mexico City, our guide informed us that in his opinion, Profirio Diaz was the greatest president Mexico has ever had. He ruled as a murderous dictator for 35 years but hey, he got shit done. I was taught all kinds of bullshit in my own schooling and lots of important imformation was simply skipped over. Remember the Alamo! The Open Door policy in China. Invading the Philippines: "The American use of torture, then called the “water cure,” in the Philippines during the war of 1899–1902 shocked some Americans of the day." Naomi Klein asks: " What were all those museums and lesson plans and documentaries about the Holocaust for, if not to prevent a moment such as this? And what about all those books with checklists on how to spot your country sliding into fascism? Why did so many of the people who read them – and even some of the people who wrote them – falter when a genocide was unfolding on their screens, a genocide that has blown a hole in the moral universe and decimated the shaky edifice of international humanitarian law, making any further depravity now feel entirely possible?" My point (and hers) is that education and curriculum must be approached critically. Super critically."Teaching" is a powerful entry into young, susceptible minds and this doesn't only apply to "decieitful social media". Although the internet has exponentially increased the threat. There are no easy answers about establishing boundaries between propoganda and information, but self-reflection is a start.