Should politics be discussed in the

classroom in Israel?

 

The Jewish\ Arab divide remains perhaps the most potentially explosive conflict in Israel. The national ethnic conflict between Jewish and Arab Israeli citizens state a major challenge to the Israeli educational system in particular. I will discuss the answer to the

question posted in the title and present solutions for dealing with politics in the classroom.

The relations between Israeli Jews and the Arab Israeli citizens and Palestinians will not change until those societies go through major

socio-psychological transformation. This is because they have developed a socio-psychological infrastructure that stands as a major obstacle to the peace process and

constitutes the corner stone of the culture of conflict.

Teaching controversial issues in classroom through discussion strengthens democracy because of the causal relationship between discussion and the enlightenment of tolerance. When we use the word tolerance, we are specifically referring to political tolerance, or the ability to extend basic rights to those who are different from oneself.  Fostering political tolerance is important for all democracies.

This is where the role of the regular curriculum (like history classes, civic education) comes in.it must deliver information: Facts about the history of both peoples and of the conflict in order ‘to deal with the situation in a rational way’. the need for the curriculum to provide ‘reliable and alternative information from various angles. Another framework suggest that teachers could discuss topics related to the conflict of ‘current issues’ class/a compulsory yet rather informal 15-minute slot at the start of each day.