Is It a Crime to Be At War?

Curriculum vs Critical Thinking

9th. Grade Assignment: “War is a crime, no matter how necessary, no matter how justified.”

Okay, I am probably going to piss off a lot of people, however I am speaking from the perspective of a having been a teacher for over thirty years. And frankly, you couldn’t be more pissed off at the moment than I am.

Compelling children to comply with the constraints of curricula, when a more nuanced understanding begs expression, is fundamentally wrong.

Students of any age are vulnerable.

That’s one of the reasons we must teach them to think. For themselves. To look at ideas with a critical mind and form reasoned opinions.

My grandson, Z., is in Year 9. He has been studying an English unit called War Experience, since the beginning of the year. From what I had seen so far it’s a good learning tool, promoting thought and debate about war through poetry, literature, and film.

That is what good curriculum should do.

It should develop the kinds of analytical and reasoning skills so poorly lacking in many adults today.

It’s not okay to raise children in blind compliance of our own views.

Even if their understanding develops differently from ours, we owe it to them to teach fully and honestly.

A very complex topic.

The assessment task in question is to write a persuasive text, a speech. The proposition:

“War is a crime, no matter how necessary, no matter how justified.”

I was enthusiastic to discuss Z.’s impressions and understanding about war. And about the thesis. I did what I had always done with my students, challenging their ideas and playing devil’s advocate. Making them think harder.

We had a fascinating discussion, focusing on a variety of wars from recent history, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which it seems, the boys have been discussing among themselves, if not in class.

I asked Z. what position he would take for his speech.

He hadn’t yet decided how he felt.

He asked me for my thoughts, and I said I believed sometimes fighting a war is ultimately necessary, and can be justified. That not every person fighting a war is committing a crime. That defending is different from starting.

I am a baby boomer whose father fought in the Pacific and in Europe, whose mother and grandmother survived the London Blitz, whose best friends are children of both holocaust victims and survivors. I have a complex and fixed view of the proposition my grandson was asked to write about.

We discussed my views and he understood what I was saying. I suggested a modified thesis that:

“ Although war is sometimes necessary or justifiable, it is always evil.”

No, he told me, we can’t change it, we have to support the original statement.

The guidelines for the Assessment Task said:

Use key ideas /points for discussion as exemplified in Sam Mendes’ film 1917. You should provide at least three examples from the film.

I suggested to Z. to ask the teacher.

He did, and the reply was a definite No. To pass the assessment, he would have to support the proposition as is. And back it up with examples from the movie.

There was no allowance for dissent.

My grandson, between his OCD, autism and anxiety, was becoming distressed about “failing” the assignment and I respected his concerns. I helped him to cobble together a generic set of key ideas, dialogue and filmic techniques that would support the given statement about war being a crime. But it felt like dumbing down, and selling out.

I researched everything I could about 1917 and Sam Mendes’ viewpoint.

Nowhere did it suggest that Mendes, co-writer, producer and director of the film, set out to make a political statement about war. It is a brilliant movie, expertly written and constructed to create empathy, showing the horrific realities of war from the soldier’s viewpoint.

It is its disentanglement from themes of causation, necessity or justification that make it so very compelling. It is, unlike many war movies made to date, fundamentally about individual human morality and human tragedy.

Conclusion

Z. came away from the War Experience unit and the movie 1917, with an opinion that war is evil.

He has seen the footage of Ukrainians defending their country. He has seen the Russian people being gaslighted by propaganda, and their young soldiers shattered by fear and confusion.

I am not saying my opinion about anything is the right or only way for my children or grandchildren to think. It is blatantly wrong to impose singular world views on developing minds. I am an atheist; Z. attends a private Catholic boys’ high school. His beliefs are his business.

Young people must form their own opinions about the big ticket issues of society, culture, politics, religion, ethics and morality, and they need to develop the critical thinking skills to do so. That cannot happen without the freedom to explore, and to disagree without penalty.