Words and actions can both have positive and
negative repercussions. Just as one can be scarred by physical acts, words can
also pierce through your soul and create an emotional wound that seems
impossible to repair. But while words and action can easily destroy, they also
have an astonishing ability to create and repair. This has been one of the most
important things I have learned as a social change activist.
Before I began my time on Yahel, I didn't see
myself as someone who could influence significant social change. I simply saw
myself as having some skills and knowledge to share, and having the potential
to use these tools to help others in need. However, after observing some of the
biggest problems facing the communities of Lod, I have realized that sharing my
core values not only has the potential to assist populations in the short
term, but can also fundamentally transform the way these communities operate in
the future. I have learned this particularly through my work with the Arab
population of Lod, in my effort to promote nonviolence among Arab children.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time teaching
English at the Elrazi school, and I truly cherish the bonds I have made with my
pupils and other staff members. However, even though the adults and kids at
school are genuinely friendly, I am truly astounded by the violence I witness
from both groups on a daily basis. It is a common occurrence for me to see
fights breaking out among kids in the middle of hallways and classrooms,
involving hitting and throwing objects like pencil cases and chairs.
It is nearly impossible for the teachers to control their classes once fights
emerge within them. In fact, the teachers deem it necessary to discipline troublemaking kids with more aggressive action, forcibly dragging the students and even spanking and
slapping them in extreme cases. When their methods are ineffective and they
feel they have no other option, the teachers send kids outside the classroom
where they roam around the halls and disrupt lessons going on in other areas of
the school.
It was especially hard to respond during one instance two months ago that was very traumatic for me. It was the beginning of November, when the stabbing attacks here started to really escalate. As I was leaving one of my fifth grade classes, I was walking down the stairs with two of my kids who were playing with plastic knives. Out of nowhere, one of the kids pointed the knife right on my stomach. I became overwhelmed with many feelings after that, and I quickly ran to the teacher's room to get some privacy and refuge. The possibility definitely occurred to me that this was just an innocent game with no relation to the context of what was going on in Israel at the time. However, I understandably could not help but think that these kids were aware of all the stabbings and took advantage of this opportunity because they thought it would be a fun game to stab a Jew. Before this moment, I never once questioned my safety when going to work. After this moment, I was so afraid that any kid I see could see a reason to attack me.
It was this moment and others I witnessed that
convinced me that the violent status quo in this school is dangerous and
unacceptable. Not only does this violence affect me, but also the teachers who
are unable to teach their lessons effectively and the high-performing students
who are forced to be held back. And, of course, the students who actually
receive the abuse. I had an incident last week in which two students were
fighting in my private lesson and they refused to apologize to one another.
Instead, one was crying by the window for most of the lesson and the other was
making noise and disturbing the two others who were trying to learn. This incident has significant repercussions
to this day, with one of the kids refusing to join my group in order to avoid
the girl he was fighting with. This is not the type of situation that I want
for my classes, and I am determined to make it stop.
Unwilling to allow violence to continue to
disturb the educational setting of the bubbly kids I have grown so attached to,
I have set my top long-term Yahel initiative to be reducing violence at Elrazi
by educating about its negative repercussions and teaching alternative ways to
settle differences. I started the process by talking to Zaher, the principal,
about what she is doing to reduce violence at the school. I was pleased to hear that after the knife incident, Zaher went to extreme
measures to educate the entire school about the dangers involved. She organized
assemblies for both individual homerooms and the entire school about how
violence is wrong and unacceptable. She also reached out to both the kids
involved and their parents, saying she will not tolerate violence in any
capacity even if she needs to go to the Prime Minister's office to enact
consequences. From this response, I could tell she understood the severity of
the situation and we were on the same page. I also appreciated how she had the kids apologize to me in person, which showed me that it was truly an innocent act and they did not intend to cause me any emotional pain.
I was also interested in learning about additional consequences that have been introduced in response to violence. I talked to
Adel, Elrazi's English teacher, who remarked that the incentive to behave
properly relies mostly on a plus-minus system. When students behave well the
teachers give them pluses, and when they behave poorly they receive minuses.
At the end of each month, the kid with the most pluses gets to go on a trip to
a place of his or her choosing. This seems promising, but Adel revealed its
implementation is very flawed because only the "good kids" abide by
it. The "bad kids," as she explained, don't care and are glad to receive
punishment when it involves them getting released from classes. Also, the
parents of these kids are usually not in the picture and do not care about
their kids' education, which deprives the kids of role models for positive
behavior.
As one who is new to the culture here as
well as teaching in general, finding a way to introduce nonviolence to the
school has been a monumental task. After doing some research on what other
teachers have done, I thought it would be effective to conduct an activity
regarding "I" sentences. I found an exercise online that involved
forming sentences that personally express one's feelings about an incident,
such as "I feel angry when you hit me because it hurts, and I would like
you to stop." The kids then write letters to specific classmates who they
feel have mistreated them in some way. I feel that this is a great way to get
kids to express their feelings in words rather than violent acts, and I would
like to try it in a class Adel thinks will be cooperative and responsive. With
Adel translating my instructions into Arabic and the kids communicating with
one another in Arabic, I believe there is potential for this to work and for
there to finally be an educational initiative in place to train the kids to
act nonviolently. However, since I have absolutely no experience with this type
of training, I am reluctant to attempt an exercise until I am more familiar
with the process and I know it will be effective.
Luckily, along with my fellow Yahelnik Jodie,
I am going to be receiving training of my own to develop my role as a
nonviolence advocate. Dana, Yahel's Executive Director, recently got us in
touch with an organization called עיר ללא אלימות (Ir L'lo Alimut, City Without Violence), which
works with governments and schools to encourage violence prevention methods. Hopefully
next week, Jodie and I are going to meet with representatives from the
organization and Elrazi's principal Zaher to go over Elrazi's specific
situation regarding violence and which methods would work best for us to apply.
I am excited for this meeting and I am confident that these representatives will
greatly increase my ability to make my kids more peaceful and harmless toward
one another. I also have a meeting arranged with Lod's Education Minister
Shalom Azran in two weeks, and hopefully he can provide insight on how to
improve the situation at Elrazi.
All in all, I am still dealing with this
unacceptable violence on a daily basis. However, by taking initiative to solve
this problem and organizing meetings with people who have much more knowledge
than me on this issue, I feel confident that soon I will receive the tools
necessary to make a significant improvement in how this problem is dealt with.
I know that I will be leaving Lod in five months and it easy for me to do some
nonviolence activities that kids may learn from in the short term but not implement
into the rest of their lives. However, this is an issue that I know the kids
will face for the long haul, and I think that is the school is very active we
can really create a more positive and peaceful future for our kids. I don't
want any more kids hurting and crying in my classes, and I don't want them to
feel unsafe in the environment that should be stimulating them to learn and
mature. But even more so, I don't want any more kids to feel they are of low
worth and the only way to get what they need in life is through physical force.
This may be a larger societal issue that I cannot eradicate simply by conducting
activities at a school. However, it is my hope that the exposure I provide to
this ideal path of behavior will motivate my kids to think about the benefits
it can include in the short term and the rest of their lives. Most importantly,
when I leave Lod in five months, I want to be able to look at the results of
this project and say that I truly made a positive impact on this community.
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