What were you taught in High School about the Middle East.?

[SoCalDem]

I must say, I am embarrassed at what I remember being taught about it.

I know that in grade school when we learned about Egypt and the pyramids, our books were filled with pictures of Happy Egyptians all dressed in clean white robes, busily building those pyramids.. They also told about the agriculture os the ancients..but that's about IT.
fast forward to the middle east..

We learned about Mesopotamia and how it was the fertile crescent and about the rivers and mountains and how they all traded with each other..

They taught us the names of the people who had lived there, but NEVER ever was there even a mention of the issues of the people who lived there.. We were just told that these were "nomadic people" who grazed their sheep and camels, and traded with each other... and that in times past, the crusades had "civilized" them and taken back bits of their "cultures" to Europe..

They were just referred to as "arabs"..

I graduated from high school in 1967, so Israel was not that old of a country, and I distinctly recall that a lot of African nations were "changing names and ownership" at the same time, and THOSE countries were of MORE focus to our teachers, than the middle east's fractious boundary lines..

I am now wondering if the powers that be (school boards, state governments, etc) were actively censoring what was taught to kids about it because Viet Nam was raging, the Cold War was going on full bore, The Cuban Missile Crisis was fresh in everyone's minds, and of course nuclear tests were going on all the time.. Maybe they made a conscious decision to "keep us in the dark" about things that might be "controversial"..

All I remember being taught about Israel and its formation was that after the war, the jews were given empty land to form a homeland where they would be safe.. I don't recall much more than that..

Exodus the movie was made in 1960 and starred Paul Newman.. Paul Newman was the Brad Pitt of his day..only BIGGER, so I am wondering now about this movie too.. I remember seeing it and that movie was practically my entire "knowledge" of Israel.. Otto Preminger directed the film.. Looking back with grown-up (jaded) eyes, I now wonder if that movie was the "Fahrenheit 9-11" of its era, and we just didn't realize it..

this is what wikipedia has to say about Preminger:

"Otto Ludwig Preminger (December 5, 1906 – April 23, 1986) was a film director.

Born in Vienna, of assimilated Jewish ancestry, he worked with Max Reinhardt before emigrating to America. At first he directed and acted for 20th Century Fox, his Austrian accent typecasting him as a screen Nazi, despite his Jewish background.

After the war, he became well known as a Hollywood director in the 1950s and early 1960s — delivering films that were well received by critics such as Andrew Sarris.

The bald-headed Preminger was known to fulfill the stereotype of the demanding Teutonic terror, in the vein of directors such as Erich von Stroheim and Fritz Lang. He was well-respected by some, but was often antagonistic towards his actors: Dyan Cannon once commented that she didn't think "he was capable of directing his nephew to the bathroom.""

Perhaps a whole generation "learned" about a complex issue such as this, from a movie.. (not really much different from the way we "learn" things today)..:(
............................................................................

Of course, in college, people are free to delve deeper into subjects and specialize in areas that interest them. but I fear that even today most people leave school without knowing much of anything about the rest of the world..

It's no wonder that we are so easily swayed to this opinion or that.. We are taught BLAND-GENERIC-GENERAL (if anything at all) and yet the important things that happen to us or are made to happen BY us, require SPECIFIC-NUANCED-STUDIED...

.................................................

For the foreign DUers, ...what were YOU taught about the middle east??

Most of what I know, I have had to find out on my own..:(

[EFerrari]

1. Nada. Nothing. Apart from the "cradle of civilization" unit,

zip.

What I learned was on my own, when I had a job that was boring. I read everything I could find on the founding of Israel for about 6 months during my commute. Even to the point of trying to pick up a bit of Hebrew. My reading list was not filtered by anyone so I read some really careful works and some real cR2P.

[conflictgirl]

5. Same here

Cradle of civilization was about the extent of it.

We definitely weren't taught anything about the Israel/Palestine issue. I knew that the two sides were fighting with each other and that most people thought the Palestinians were the "bad guys", but had absolutely no idea why. My husband had studied it on his own, so when I met him he started to tell me about some of it. I then started reading some stuff on the subject and was quite surprised by what was really going on.

I wonder how many people who have strong opinions for/against either side have actually educated themselves on what's really happening?

[SoCalDem]

7. I'm guessing that the Boomers' views on Israel were formed

by what their churches told them or the movie "Exodus"... and that's it.. (Unless they chose to study more in college)..

[EFerrari]

9. That's a very, very important question.

:)

[SoCalDem]

11. We pretty much "know" the answer, though, don't we?

:(

People who learned in their churches or religious schools, got "their" version, people who sought out answers were the ones who probably got multiple "takes" on the history, and the ones who got neither?...well they always have FoxNews/CNN/MSRNC/Limbaugh/Savage/Hannity/Ingraham/O'Reilly etc.

Complex issues require complex learning.. people don't "have the time-take the time" to learn much as adults.. What they learned in school is about IT for most people..:(

[EFerrari]

16. I remember that about 8 of us kids walked home from school

but 2 days a week, we went to Catechism while our dear friend Kerry walked home alone. He was the Jewish kid in our brand new Lockheed suburb. We never talked about this, but I remember even at that age wondering why we could go and he couldn't go. It seemed wrong.

I agree with you, SoCalDem, for most of us, that was IT!

But, it's never to late . . .

:hug:

[SoCalDem]

18. Here's a funny "jewish kid story" from my childhood

When we lived at FrancesEWarren base in Cheyenne, the bus stopped in front of my house, so the kids on the block would gather inside my house (It was about 9000 below zero)..my Mom would always cook a BIG breakfast and all the kids would nibble while we waited for the often-late bus (snowdrifts, y'know)..

anyway.. months go by, and spring arrives..


My Mom is casually talking to Brandon's Mom at the clothesline one day, and his Mom comments about how his appetite is back (he has had the flu).. My Mom says how she misses the kids hanging out at our house since the cold weather is past...she casually comments about what a chowhound Brandon was and how he enjoyed the BACON and eggs every morning.. Brandon's Mom's face turned as white as her sheets she was hanging on the line..

We were 9 or 10 if I recall.. :)

[EFerrari]

24. Oh no! Lol! I'm remembering about the same age.

Silicon Valley was still housing for Lockheed and NASA and my fair skinned but Latino family was the colored folk in that neighborhood.

I wonder if it's any different today -- except I know there has been a large influx of immigrants from Asia.

We were so young, we didn't push things very hard. Probably couldn't wait to go home, too, as Catechism was an extra homework thing put on us Catholics and near Catholics.

I listened to a BookTV segment on "sundown" towns that argued that most suburbs were planned WHITE communities. He didn't say, "Christian" communities -- but what are the odds?

The Right Wingery took up "diversity" before there was much to take up, I'm afraid.

[liberalpragmatist]

2. I'm a recent grad and we were taught Mid-East pretty extensively

With a big focus on the modern era.

How representative, I don't know. I graduated from high school 3 years ago. My history teacher was also probably atypical - she was VERY interested in the Israeli-Arab conflict and had traveled to the Middle East several times.

My sophomore year of history was history of Asia and the Middle East (generally focusing on the last century and a half, with previous history as background) and we spent about 1/4 of the year on the Middle East. Our speakers included an Israeli and a Palestinian; we also covered the Iranian revolution and approached a lot of the history of the region anthropologically.

I don't know how well this compares to most students' experience. I went to a private high school and this was part of a required course, plus our teachers were wonderful. My guess, however, is that Middle Eastern history in most high schools, as taught in World History, is a little bit more balanced now than before.

I'll also add that at my college, Mid-East history courses fill up very quickly and are very popular.

[SoCalDem]

4. It's gratifying to hear that you were taught more than I expected

I am wondering though, if it's because you went to a private school.. I wonder if a puclic school teacher would have been allowed to set his/her own curriculum when it comes to teaching about specific events..

My American History teacher got a one week suspension for showing up films that his brother (who was IN viet nam) had sent him.. His theory was that since the boys in his classes were 17, and there was a draft, he wanted them to hear about the war 1st hand.. Needless to say he was a cool teacher ..loved by all the students.. and not-so-much by the admin :evilgrin:

[rosesaylavee]

3. Raised in Illinois and taught in the

RC parochial school system in the western suburbs. I learned only that Israel was the Holy Land and that Jews lived there. Basically all I was taught was related to biblical history. So nothing more new than about 100 AD. I was a child during the 6-day war and only read about it decades after. My parents weren't big on exposing me to violence on TV. And it sure wasn't covered by our Scholastic Weekly Reader paper...

Didn't find out until I was an adult, that 'Palestine' was not synonymous with Israel and that more than two religious peoples lived there. I think Jimmy Carter's peace work in the ME began to enlighten me - its been a long process of discovery and I am still learning.

[Lars39]

6. I had a series of about 6 substitute teachers in my history class.

Didn't learn jack,and probably could've taught the classer better than the subs.
Everything I've learned about history I've learned by reading on my own, starting with National Geographics. Loved the advanced history classes in college. :)

[Sapphocrat]

8. This will probably come as a surprise...

...but we actually learned a lot at my Catholic elementary school. At least the history and geography of the ME -- because it was imperative we knew where "we" (Catholics) came from in the first place. (Of course, any discussion of the people of the region was colored by the understanding that everyone except the Israelis were "pagans." LOL)

We also spent two full years covering the entire history of the Jewish people -- also imperative to our religious roots.

I complain (a LOT) about how badly the nuns treated us, but I won't deny we received a really solid education.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. I had two great history teachers in high school, but we were taught

American history and the Middle East was not mentioned even tangentially. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I graduated pronouncing the names, Eye-ran and Eye-rack.

However, I went to Sunday School where I learned a one-sided version of the Middle East. Israel was a place full of orange groves and kibbutzs. We collected money in our blue milk boxes to plant trees in Israel. Nasser was a "bad" man. You could go from Israel to Egypt but you couldn't go from Egypt to Israel. Finally, impromptu boycott of Pepsi because it sold to the P.L.O. or an equivalent group that hated Jews in Israel.

So, not a helluva lot.

[liberalpragmatist]

14. Jewish or Christian Sunday School?

Just curious, that's all.

[no_hypocrisy]

30. Reform Judaism.

I forgot to mention before that my teachers also told me that Jews and other residents of the Middle East had "always" been at war and probably always would be.

Believe it or not, my first real exposure to Middle East history and politics came in the form of an extensive article in Rolling Stone Magazine sometime during May 1983.

[Spazito]

12. From what I recall, it is very much as you described

I must also comment on your point re Exodus, it is still one of my favorite movies. I believe it was incredibly balanced for the time, showing the complexities of the relationships on all sides. How the fight for and against partition affected long-held friendships between Jewish and Arab families. I honestly believe in watching that movie, I first came to understand and have compassion for both.

It is a movie I have recommended to both my adult children if they want to begin to understand at least a part of why the Middle East is unable to find peace.

[SoCalDem]

15. Don't get me wrong. I LOVED the movie...BUT

did I see it three times because it had Paul Newman:loveya:

at the time it seemed balanced, but I wonder if the romantization of a "gallant struggle by a downtrodden people" may have clouded what came later..:shrug:

[Spazito]

17. LOL, it was BECAUSE of Paul Newman

that I first watched it at all but I kept watching it again and again when it came back on television even after my very big crush on him had passed. Why I felt it was very balanced for time is that, before seeing the movie, all I knew about the struggle was solely from the Jewish perspective and had no knowledge or understanding of how those who's land was being taken felt, even worse, before the movie, I didn't even think about that aspect at all.

It wasn't the movie that finally made me do some homework, it was Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount causing the second Intifada that caused me to want to learn more.

[dipsydoodle]

13. I have not got the link

but do recall reading here on DU that late '40s a decision was made to restrict what was taught in current affairs within your education system. Anyone remember that ?

It wasn't this book http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index.htm although that may also make some mention of the subject.

[malaise]

19. The same crap we were taught about

the Native Americans.

[SoCalDem]

20. The "friendly Indians" like Squanto & Pocahontas or

the EVIL Indians who had it in for the poor settlers who just wanted to be "left alone"... (hmmmm has anything really changed?..does it ever?)

[malaise]

25. Except this time

we can show our children UTube and a variety of non-mainstream propaganda.

[SoCalDem]

26. The web and cell phones MAY end up actually changing policy

in times-past we had to rely on a few snippets of film,days-old, on the news or a dry piece written in a weekly magazine or daily newspaper.. but NO MORE..

of course the "warriors" know this too, so they will be ever vigilant in destroying the infrastructure that allows this technology to work..

laptops, cellphones,etc are great, but without access to power sources and access to the web, we are back to square one..

Information is vital, and hopefully we will always be able to find out what really happened..

This is why our government HATES alJazeera.. They SHOW the bodies.. It;s hard to run a "sanitized" war when the other side is showing the actual bodies of people your side claims never died...

[malaise]

28. They can't block everything

because they'll also cut off their own comunications. I am very grateful to AlJazeera. It's hard to watch and I often cry but it is important for the world to see the evil within it.

[oneold1-4u]

21. Palestine

If one's life was in palestine, an area of the MI, and not a country or nation, an Egyptian might refer to them as a palestinian, whether Jew or Arab.
Israel was born out of the millions of displaced Jewish people from all of Europe that had lost all but their lives. The many countries that possessed all of the Jewish real properties, gold, art, and other valuables are only beginning to admit that they have had it and sold much since the fall of Hitler!
They were not a country or nationality, and had NO government willing to help them!
The land given them for Israel was not important to any peoples until the citizenry proved that it could be a self sustaining area with government, growth and prosperity. Suddenly all backward islamic countries who had never known citizen prosperity, decided that Israel was bad for their programs of one ultra rich, educated, for every 3 million ignorant poor.
Someday the educated islamic may understand their own slavery, held by a few who use religion as power whip. No religion can be freedom.

PS Not Jewish, and don't believe I have even known five people who were/are. Have read everything from comics to milk cartons and still learning.

[Karenina]

31. In 1967 we had a big 'ol map

on the wall of the AV room that got a pushpin stuck in it for every Arab target struck.

Oneold1-4u, I know that you don't realize how racist your education about Israel has been.

"The land given them for Israel was not important to any peoples until the citizenry proved that it could be a self sustaining area with government, growth and prosperity. Suddenly all backward islamic countries who had never known citizen prosperity, decided that Israel was bad for their programs of one ultra rich, educated, for every 3 million ignorant poor."

Anyone remember Popeye? Remember Brutus/Bluto was often cast as the big, bad, evil Arab fiend that Popye had to beat to shit after his spinach infusion?

22. I don't remember being taught anything about it in high school

We learned a lot about different wars and their dates, and about the holocaust.

I had heard of things going on in middle east and bought the book The Haj, and it seemed to me that women had it very tough, and people lived by a code from long long ago.

My sister went to live on a kibbutz in Israel and married a Jewish man from South Africa who was living in Israel. He was serving a stint in the army and slept with a rifle at night. I had an activist friend who was Jewish, and he pointed out how Israel was acting in a fascist manner at times, with how they treated the Palestinians. Overall I have gathered my knowledge piecemeal.

I grew up around many Jewish people, who had direct experience with the holocaust, and that impressed me deeply.

[DireStrike]

23. No history class I've ever taken has gone past WWII

Beginning of civilization to 1945. All's well that ends well.

I graduated from what is considered probably the best HS in new york, 4 years ago. I didn't take any AP history classes, granted, but....

My JHS definitely wasn't any better, and I'm pretty sure we only studied American history in elementary school.

[oneold1-4u]

29. Taught to read

Any American, taught to read, has the tools to learn, create, invent, and become a bearer of the "best of humanity". It is all there in history, and all should know that without the Old Testament teachings, there would have been no NEW, no Christ, no Rome!
The few histories before the Old Testament,(which gave man some good laws) was generally worse life than most places or people on earth today. In most cases the bad overpowered the good and then destroyed themselves.
Now ask where the OT was originated and kept safe!

[Odin2005]

27. World history classes negected non-Western areas unill recently.

Untill the 70's history classes, even in college, were generally West-centric

[Ghost in the Machine]

32. not one thing that I can remember... not one...

but then again, history, geography and civics weren't my best subjects

[fujiyama]

33. Nothing in school I remember

The second intifada started in '00 and that got me into learning about ME history. After that I read a lot of news articles and tried to read the about the history of the region. Later I borrowed a few books in the library.

Most schools in the US do a terrible job of teaching history, and especially world history.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

34. Honestly?

1. Land where Jesus was born.
2. Comprised of a series of countries that have never gotten along and we will never be able to "get" them because they "measure life with a different yardstick than people from the western world." Example given: They will kill people over a goat.
3. Strange food that smells like burnt rubber.

This "education" came mostly from public schooling, although the birthplace of Jesus was a church/common-Christmas-knowledge thing.

[SoCalDem]

35. Be sure and take the History Pop Quiz.. Lots of fun

and a nice way to take a breather

[Cleita]

36. A whole lot about the Crusades in Catholic school and very

little of it the truth and mostly from the European POV. Other than that, it didn't exist. I think the only reason we actually knew there was such a place was because of the Arabian nights stories that made it into our childrens books like Sinbad the sailor, Ali Baba, and so on. Funny how so many of those stories revolved around Baghdad which seemed as remote back then as Middle Earth.