A Soldiers Tale, Weapons of Mass Destruction
Where is Iraq and what are American Troops doing there?
I recently posed questions to a small group of students elementary though high school. The questions I asked are as follows:
Do you know where Iraq is located and why did Americans go to war against Iraq?
Who did the US military fight against in Iraq?
What was the outcome of the US military mission in Iraq?
What happened to the weapons of mass destruction?
The responses are as follow:
Out of twenty elementary students male and female between the ages 8-10
Five students were perplexed and completely dumbfounded when confronted with theses questions.Three students heard of Iraq but were not sure where it was, and when pushed they associated Iraq with war.The remaining twelve students had heard about Iraq and the war, but where confused as to the purpose of the war. They were also unsure about the enemy Saddam Hussein . A few of these students belonged to the Military Club in their elementary school. Much of the information they had attained about the Iraqi war was through the Military Club program. Others had family members who served in the Iraqi war. They associated the subject of Iraq with fear and apprehension. Some of the children gave me simple answers such as "we went to war to get more gas", "all Iraqi's are terrorist and that's why we went to war". The students were unclear as to the meaning of weapons of mass destruction, many of the male students thought I was referring to a video game.
The middle school students that I polled included 15 boys and girls from the age 12-14
The boys seemed to know more about the Iraqi conflict then the, girls which did not surprise me. When I asked the questions above it was clear most of these students knew where Iraq was located. When asked why we invade Iraq, I received a variety of answers such as, (listed from the most popular to the least popular) because they are terrorist, they had WMD, because they are Muslim, to help them win the religious war in their country. What struck me about these answers was that the students knew about the religious aspects of Iraq. When asked, Who did we do battle against? Who were are allies? and Who is Tony Blair? a received a lot of blank stares and lip biting uhm's. In the case of the causes sighted for war the basic answer terrorism and nuclear weapons. All had heard the term "weapons of mass destruction" and knew what the term meant. When asked about the out come of the Iraqi war some replied their wasn't an out come and other replied they did not find any weapons. All knew there were troops still in Iraq, as to why they were there, again various answers, to make peace, still fighting a war and protecting the people. When asked what the word democracy meant I received answers such as traitors, government, and rights. When asked how they obtained their information about the Iraqi war some stated school, others responded that their parents told them or they found information on the internet or saw it on T.V.
The high school students I polled consisted of 18 boys and girl, the majority being girls. Most of the students were aware of what was going on Iraq. The only gray area seemed to be the British allies and Tony Blair. Many of the high school students had a tough time describing democracy and what it meant. The answers varied, references were made to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, government and the way its run to serve the people and people being involved with making decisions related to government. When asked how they obtained the information about the Iraqi war they responded, at school, through their parents and or the news and internet.
I was not surprised that the middle school and high school students knew about the Iraq war, do to the fact that this age range had more media exposure then the elementary students. As I was preparing this section of my site I was reminded of the events that had occurred while I was and elementary and secondary student. I do remember the Nixon/Watergate, Iran hostage crisis, and Iran Contra affair. But I don't recall that I actually understood the relevance or impact of theses events on their current context or the future outcomes.
What I found most peculiar was that none of the students mentioned oil or Saddam Hussien. These two aspects were very much a part of the Iraqi war. When having a conversation or educating a student about the Iraqi war it is very hard not to include oil or Saddam Hussien. Therefore the questions I posed to these students became simple response questions. The high school students seemed to want to engage in conversation about Iraq and wanted to understand what democracy meant. My conversations with the high school students brought about deep thoughts about democracy.
Do you know where Iraq is located and why did Americans go to war against Iraq?
Who did the US military fight against in Iraq?
What was the outcome of the US military mission in Iraq?
What happened to the weapons of mass destruction?
The responses are as follow:
Out of twenty elementary students male and female between the ages 8-10
Five students were perplexed and completely dumbfounded when confronted with theses questions.Three students heard of Iraq but were not sure where it was, and when pushed they associated Iraq with war.The remaining twelve students had heard about Iraq and the war, but where confused as to the purpose of the war. They were also unsure about the enemy Saddam Hussein . A few of these students belonged to the Military Club in their elementary school. Much of the information they had attained about the Iraqi war was through the Military Club program. Others had family members who served in the Iraqi war. They associated the subject of Iraq with fear and apprehension. Some of the children gave me simple answers such as "we went to war to get more gas", "all Iraqi's are terrorist and that's why we went to war". The students were unclear as to the meaning of weapons of mass destruction, many of the male students thought I was referring to a video game.
The middle school students that I polled included 15 boys and girls from the age 12-14
The boys seemed to know more about the Iraqi conflict then the, girls which did not surprise me. When I asked the questions above it was clear most of these students knew where Iraq was located. When asked why we invade Iraq, I received a variety of answers such as, (listed from the most popular to the least popular) because they are terrorist, they had WMD, because they are Muslim, to help them win the religious war in their country. What struck me about these answers was that the students knew about the religious aspects of Iraq. When asked, Who did we do battle against? Who were are allies? and Who is Tony Blair? a received a lot of blank stares and lip biting uhm's. In the case of the causes sighted for war the basic answer terrorism and nuclear weapons. All had heard the term "weapons of mass destruction" and knew what the term meant. When asked about the out come of the Iraqi war some replied their wasn't an out come and other replied they did not find any weapons. All knew there were troops still in Iraq, as to why they were there, again various answers, to make peace, still fighting a war and protecting the people. When asked what the word democracy meant I received answers such as traitors, government, and rights. When asked how they obtained their information about the Iraqi war some stated school, others responded that their parents told them or they found information on the internet or saw it on T.V.
The high school students I polled consisted of 18 boys and girl, the majority being girls. Most of the students were aware of what was going on Iraq. The only gray area seemed to be the British allies and Tony Blair. Many of the high school students had a tough time describing democracy and what it meant. The answers varied, references were made to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, government and the way its run to serve the people and people being involved with making decisions related to government. When asked how they obtained the information about the Iraqi war they responded, at school, through their parents and or the news and internet.
I was not surprised that the middle school and high school students knew about the Iraq war, do to the fact that this age range had more media exposure then the elementary students. As I was preparing this section of my site I was reminded of the events that had occurred while I was and elementary and secondary student. I do remember the Nixon/Watergate, Iran hostage crisis, and Iran Contra affair. But I don't recall that I actually understood the relevance or impact of theses events on their current context or the future outcomes.
What I found most peculiar was that none of the students mentioned oil or Saddam Hussien. These two aspects were very much a part of the Iraqi war. When having a conversation or educating a student about the Iraqi war it is very hard not to include oil or Saddam Hussien. Therefore the questions I posed to these students became simple response questions. The high school students seemed to want to engage in conversation about Iraq and wanted to understand what democracy meant. My conversations with the high school students brought about deep thoughts about democracy.