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 Four Years Today 
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Well, today, March 19, 2007 marks the fourth year of our war in Iraq that began way back in 2003. I remember dorm life in my first two years at this school. I remember being glued to C-SPAN and other news outlets as I watched the media trumpet the bold attitude of W's administration and our path to war. I remember SHOCK and AWE. It is something powerful and moving to watch destructive forces topple a nation's government. The impression that you are a witness to history is proufound and life altering. These memories are unsettling for me, because not many were discussing the consequences and ramifications that would result from our nation's hubris.

Today is a day to reflect, grieve, and hope for a peaceful solution in this awful quagmire. I, personally, wonder how we, as educators, are going to convey the division and pain that this war has created to our children, especially if we are still embedded in the middle east years from now, which we almost certainly will be.


Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:51 am
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Good point. How will we discuss this issue? Unfortunately bias will be a concern here. My fear is that students will only get one side of the issue. But then again what are the facts????
A whole semester can be taught just on the Middle East and US involvement.


Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:34 pm
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I can say I am little one sided in my views of everything going in the middle east because of personal reasons. My father, my boyfriends father and several of the people I've grown up with are overseas in Iraq or Afghanistan right now. I know that this is a very prevalent issue in my hometown, which is also where I plan on teaching after graduation. I know it would be very difficult to try and teach a two-sided argument to a classroom full of children who's parents are fighting in a war more and more people are turning their backs upon.

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Chelsie Alfaro


Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:54 pm
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I think this issue is going to be very hard to present to children because we have lived through it and have our own opinions on the issue. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I too am afriad that it will be completely one-sided. History books tend to portray things the way they want to and try to paint a rosey picture. I think our generation will need to portray things as they actually are and how they happend. I know all of us have connections to the war and will be able to discuss that with future generations.

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Alyse A. Bowden


Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:17 pm
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I would hope that as future educators we can step away from the issue and our personal bias to give as many facts in the matter as possible. I think that we all have different opinions but I urge all of us to be responsible in how we present those opinions. I had many teachers would taught with an agenda and truly ruined some of my learning experiences. Let us educate our students so that they may be respectful and value each other, remembering that they are the most important element in education.

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Erin Nevitt


Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:46 pm
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After taking a whole semester course on the Vietnam War, and realizing just in that semester I only skimmed the surface of understanding that war, I know we will never understand all the in's and outs of our involvement in the middle east. I do know that we have not learned from the past and are continuing to repeat history. So as a history teacher, my goal on this subject would be to lead up to this with lots of historical parallels, and then pose the question to my students of how does our involvement in the middle east parallel to the past? has history repeated itself?

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"When I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist"
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Wed Mar 28, 2007 9:16 pm
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