Current Affairs Must Join the Classroom

Clara Janzen, Co-Editor-in-Chief

We don’t learn history to quench curiosity. We learn history to gain understanding of the past to aid us in the present. The importance of history is enveloped in a few simple questions that revolve around the now: Why are things this way now? What went wrong? Are we repeating mistakes?

Yet throughout high school, students learn the basics of US and portions of world history with no major underlying understanding of how it relates to the present. There is a huge and unacceptable lack of emphasis on vital current affairs topics that students must understand to be responsible modern citizens.

Such topics – the turmoil of the Middle East, global warming and clean energy, the role of China, global poverty and war – need to emerge out of the sidelines of history curricula and be incorporated into core classes, taught in both their historical and modern significance.

One example I noticed recently was the misuse of the term “jihadists” as if it signified a cohesive terrorist organization. (“Jihadist” means one who wages “jihad,” a struggle for a greater, good purpose. It doesn’t necessarily have to be religious struggle, and it definitely doesn’t have to involve terrorism.)

The misuse of the term alarmed me, especially later that week when I attended a talk on Islamophobia by radio host and religious scholar Maureen Fiedler. There, participants engaged in a discussion about manifestations of Islamophobia and misconceptions of Islam and Muslims, including the use of the term “jihad.” As the talk progressed, I found it increasingly obvious that much of the problem stems from lack of education on the topic.

The remedy for this is just as obvious as the cause – make our curricula incorporate these topics.

The proper use of the term “jihad” could and should have been addressed in a social studies class, in a unit on the Middle East that takes a look at the history of the region, the religious conflicts in the region, US involvement in the region, and terrorism as a whole.

Most students live in a political cloud of their parents’ and community’s views, not learning the facts behind issues such as these, and it’s the school system’s responsibility to teach students the facts of the matter. We want US citizens to vote responsibly, and that starts with giving students vital, factual information on relevant topics like the Middle East.

Another branch of the problem involves language electives, which usually also include lessons in the culture(s) associated with the countries that speak that language. For schools like ERHS, where the language offerings (Spanish, French, Latin, Italian, Japanese, ASL) are largely Eurocentric, students fail to learn about the cultures of other regions of the world, such as China, Russia, Brazil, India, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Iran. At the very least, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic must be added to the list of language electives to teach students about a broader swath of the world.

The evolving nature of current events introduces difficulty into forming a standard curriculum. However, such a roadblock should not prevent students from learning it either, since it’s just as important as their other core English, history, math, and science courses. An adjustable curriculum framework could include units on topics such as wars of the 21st century, current American politics, and the Asian economic transformation of recent decades.

Continuing to ignore these topics in our curriculums breeds ignorance, the kind that Americans are stereotypically infamous for in the rest of the world.

Education policy and curriculum makers: don’t turn a blind eye to the fallacies in our high school curricula, and let us live up to that reputation.

Current affairs must join the classroom.