Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Under the Persimmon Tree Continues

This was a book written for a teen audience but what specific age and is the book able to be taught in school. I think the book could be compared to teaching Anne Frank but there comes several problems with this comparison. Anne Frank is taught sometimes in High school but most often in junior high, perhaps at 13, 14, 0r 15. This book could also appeal to that age group but in this book the Americans not a foreign country bombs Afghanistan and "accidentally" kills innocent people. I do not think the US malicioulsy intended to kill innocent civilians but they knew the cost of war and bombing a city. It take great care on the part of the teacher to teach a class of younger teenagers without insulting a student or having the student carry a message to their parents about the class. It is easier to teach about the Holocaust as it is now in the past and was a foreign country and ruler who was the enemy. In this situation one can see that the Taliban is the enemy but the US does not exactly look good in the book. I know that in Germany it is illegal to deny that the Holocaust happened. Perhaps following their example as to how they taught about he Holocaust could help teach about the "War on Terror." However, the Holocaust and all of Hitler's actions have been condemned and deemed wrong. Not everyone believes that the what the US is doing in the middle east is wrong. The subject is delicate and the book brings the most delicate subjects to the surface but does not explain them or really give an opinion about them. On the whole there is a sense of relief that the Taliban are gone but the cost of their removal and the ideas about women are not fully developed nor does the author really put forth her opinion. The book seems very americanized and a little to hollywoodish for me. The chance of the events in the book happening are slim to none. However the universal suffering that comes with war as well as realizing that their are innocent people on both sides of war help remind the reader that everyone is human no matter where they come from. It shows that the lines between good and evil right and wrong are not as cut and dry or black and white as the media tends to make them. The book introduces many ideas teachers could use in a classroom but they are delicate issues that may have limits to the extent they can be explained and discussed in a public school.

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