STORIES OF PEACEBUILDERS
Ignorance is bliss?
by Sophie de Rijk, participant of the YPAN study session on ‘Peace Advocacy’
What happens if you educate children, that are normally divided by persistent conflict, together in the same class? And what happens to the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that they formed in these so-called ‘integrated schools’ after they graduate and return to the divided society? In my research on the role of integrated education in the process of building peace, I investigated the latter question.
Transformative potential integrated education in Israel
In my research, I investigated the potential of the only integrated Arab/Jewish high school in Israel to contribute to promoting peace and mutual understanding. This school aims to do so by desegregating Jewish and Arab children and their families. Based in Jerusalem, the school goes from pre-school up until grade 12 and ideally, both groups equally represented in each class. Moreover, different backgrounds, in terms of language, culture, religion and national narratives, have equal status. In practice, this means for example that the school teaches both in Arabic and in Hebrew, history is taught from different perspectives and national and religious days of both communities are commemorated or celebrated. In addition, identity education, values education and intercultural dialogues are part of the curriculum.
My focus: does integrated education have a lasting impact on alumni?
Much research regarding this type of education in Israel has focused on why parents send their children to integrated schools, as well as on teachers’ motivation to work in these schools. In addition, many studies have investigated the effects of attending an integrated school on children’s attitudes and behaviors regarding ‘the other’ while they are in school. Outcomes show that the schools can play a role in alleviating conflict and reduce mutual prejudice.
Hence, I found it very interesting and valuable to investigate whether these more peaceful and open attitudes and behaviors of the children in this school are lasting and thus sustained in life after graduating. I chose to focus on this aspect, because I was interested in knowing more about the perspectives of alumni a few years after they joined ‘mainstream’ educational or professional tracks, which are usually very segregated in Israel. To do so, I interviewed alumni, both Jews and Arabs, as well as some teachers and parents involved in the school.
Lasting impacts on alumni
A very important finding is that research participants feel that attending this school has lasting impacts on alumni in several ways. Below, I briefly outline some of these ways.
More empathic, tolerant, open-minded
One of the ways that attending the integrated school affects alumni today is in the way that they deal with the divided society. They seem to be more emphatic, tolerant or open-minded towards people with different backgrounds, opinions or beliefs. To quote some of the research participants:
‘That’s what [the school] told us, you don’t have to have presumptuous thoughts about other people, you have to come open minded… I realised that it really helped me, kind of the way I think. Because it always taught us to listen to other people, to the other side. … So once going to university, this kind of allowed me to be more open.’
‘So, I think the most important thing is that you learn how to accept it and see that there is a different side to the story about everything. Not just about politics or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But you just like, you learn those lessons and those tools that we get in school and you can implement them in different aspects. So even if I just go to the supermarket and get into a fight with someone, I can understand that there’s a different side here. I can see it; I can think about it. I don’t just dismiss it and say: ‘no, it doesn’t matter’. That’s what I think. And that’s the only thing that matters. And I think it relates to every different aspect in your life.’
‘Even if it’s not just like Jews and Arabs or Jews and Muslims and Christians, just about anything like we have a lot of different communities in Israel and different conflicts here. So you just get to learn that in every conflict there is another side, even like religious and secular in Jerusalem we have a big problem. So you can just see that there’s a different side and stop and think for a second like how they see things and understand it better.’
‘I think it’s the understanding that like, a true deep understanding that, that I can endure other perspectives, like I can be patient and tolerant. Again, like in front of other opinions and lifestyles and I understand that I can live a good life, side to side with people who are, not necessarily from my culture and not necessarily within my political and social ideas. But the fact that I know that it can happen, like I think it’s it’s a really important education, you know.’
Inspired to make a change
Another important aspect in which research participants feel the school still affects alumni is in the way they act in the divided society. Findings show that the school has inspired alumni to contribute to positive change in their society. Although this can be done in multiple ways, most of the alumni seem to be very aware of their ability to contribute to spreading a culture of peace and mutual understanding. Some quotes exemplify this outcome:
‘We were taught to not accept when something’s bad. Don’t just accept it and be OK with it. Try to make small differences and changes. And even if you won’t be like the prime minister and change the whole laws and everything but make small changes. Even if you make one person feel better about it, then it’s worth it.’
‘So, I think they have a wider perspective. And also, a different alumnus that I know, she was talking about being a bridge. Like how she can be friends with the Jewish girls in the university and be friends with the Palestinian girls in university, and she can be like the bridge to different groups.’
Remaining emphatic, tolerant and open-minded in a divided society
Despite the valuable and important lessons that the school teaches, all participants acknowledged that sometimes it is hard to deal with the difference between the environment within the school and outside the school. Most difficulties relate to living in and dealing with a society in which most people are less-open minded and tolerant to people with different views, ethnicities or religions. For example, targeting the school’s efforts at coexistence, arsonists set fire to the school in a hate crime in November 2014 and ‘Death to Arabs’ has been scrawled on the walls several times, which had a big impact on the school’s community.
However, none of the participants consider the transition to be an impossible task and they feel that the school mitigates the scope of this transition very well. Important in this regard is that the school makes their pupils very well aware of the events, injustices and tendencies in the ‘outside world’. Moreover, the school prepares them for dealing with the world outside by equipping them with the right tools, such as critical thinking and recognizing injustices. Teachers play an important role in this process too, encouraging discussions, assisting in personal struggles and are often being considered as a role model.
Thus, although it is often difficult to be taught in a different way than the majority of Israel, it is not perceived to be a problem to have to deal with this difference. Rather, it is an opportunity to know that there is an alternative to the hostile and divided society. The school is perceived to be a very important and powerful initiative which adds a lot of value to the lives of the school’s community as well as to making Israeli society more equal and just. As one participant said, ‘it would be easier to be ignorant, but it is an opportunity to be aware of these things.’ The following quote also speaks to this:
‘So, I have a tattoo here called ‘ignorance is bliss’. If I was blessed with ignorance, that’ll be so easy. That is something that I wish myself and I wish everyone around me. Have some ignorance, because life is: ‘the more you know, the more difficult it gets’. But no, of course I would not change a thing about my past, it made me stronger and more competent than others. But in an ideal world, where national conflicts would not have given birth to personal struggles, I’d wish ignorance upon us all.’
Learnings for peacebuilders
Some implications of this specific format of education for peace can be very useful for policymakers, practitioners and activists. Firstly, it is important to highlight the importance of intergroup contact in an equal and open environment with room for dialogue and discussion in which teachers allow multiple perspectives to equip students with the necessary tools to contribute to positive change.
Secondly, integrated schools in conflict-affected contexts are probably imperfect given the reality in which they operate, and challenges related to the re-entry problem need serious attention. Hence, they can be (partly) overcome by designing a curriculum that prepares students to deal with these challenges.
However, to conclude, it is important to emphasise that the existence of an educational alternative to conflict, inequality and hostility in many contexts is very valuable in transforming society. Although these schools might not result in great change tomorrow, long-term conflicts need long-term solutions and integrated education is surely one of these. It is important to make adolescents aware of different approaches to conflict, peace and coexistence to enable them to contribute to positive change. Clearly, ignorance is not bliss.
About Sophie — the Author of this article
My name is Sophie de Rijk and I am currently living in Amsterdam. In light of my master degree at the Institute of Education at University College London (UCL), I conducted research on peacebuilding & integrated education in Israel. Feel free to contact me if you want to read the full research article or if you have any questions or comments (sophie.rijk.19@ucl.ac.uk).
This article was written as part of “Stories of Peacebuilders” activity within an Operating Grant of the Youth Peace Ambassadors Network project financed by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme.
The content of page represents the views of the author only and is their sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.
