Some of the anti-Israel activists causing so much disorder on American college campuses picked up their ideas from their professors, others from friends. But some students likely arrive as freshman already firm in their hostility toward the Jewish state—quite possibly because of what they’ve learned in high school, or even earlier. Hannah Meyers describes a “Curriculum Share for Palestine” in which teachers at New York City public middle schools explained how “to teach students to despise Zionism.” The organizers’ opening statement made their agenda clear:
“As educators committed to doing our part in the fight for Palestinian liberation,” [they explained], “let’s remember struggles are interconnected.” Then, participants received a list of acceptable emotions for engaging in the discussion. You can only ask questions that “come from” the right place and you must “understand that anti-Zionism is NOT anti-Semitism.” As it unfolded, the meeting’s brainstorming was not actually about curricula in the traditional sense; rather, participating teachers strategized on how to connect children’s feelings to ordained feelings about Zionism.
One teacher, Meyers reports, proudly explained that she sees it as her duty “to help the twelve-year-old boy who’s an amazing kid, whose parents identify as strongly Zionist, to understand why the ideology is both harmful and offensive to others.” Meyers also notes another tendency evident in addition to the naked politicization of teaching, namely the emphasis on emotion, a broader trend that is creating “a generation of young people who cannot reason from data” and who are “taught that to do so is racist and lacks empathy.”
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