Skip to content
CAM-logo-2x
  • About
  • News
    • JAHM: Jewish American Heritage Month
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
    • Donate
Menu
  • About
  • News
    • JAHM: Jewish American Heritage Month
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
    • Donate

Personal Stories

  • All
  • U.S.
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • JAHM
  • Interviews
  • MORE
    • Analysis
    • Government
    • Humanity
    • Online
    • Spotlight
    • Videos
Menu
  • All
  • U.S.
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • JAHM
  • Interviews
  • MORE
    • Analysis
    • Government
    • Humanity
    • Online
    • Spotlight
    • Videos

Making the Counterargument: Boris B

  • June 24, 2020
Share Tweet Share Follow Follow Email Print

By Lauren Weiner

Boris, a 17-year-old rising high school senior, says that the topic of Israel is sometimes handled unfairly at the public high school he attends in Palo Alto, California. He speaks up to try to correct the record.

During his sophomore history class, they began a unit on the Middle East, and things went off the rails on the subject of Arabs and Jews. “Our teacher had a presentation on the Middle East conflict from the early 2000s to today—and it wasn’t his presentation, he’d gotten it off the Internet,” said Boris. Much of what the teacher offered was accurate “but it was misleading,” especially when deaths on the Palestinian side versus the Israeli side were compared. A lot of kids at this high school (including its significant portion of Jewish students) don’t know much about Israel or display an interest in it. That makes them susceptible to context-less statistics like a high number of deaths of Palestinians compared to a much lower number of deaths of Israelis.

Those who reacted to the teacher’s presentation in class jumped to a conclusion: “Oh, I guess the Palestinians were being mercilessly killed. But the presentation wouldn’t say that 50 percent of those Palestinian deaths were suicide bombers or terrorists. So it would just be really misleading.” Boris and a friend of his would challenge the teacher on points like this, “and he really wouldn’t have an answer.”

Was it a purposeful slant on the teacher’s part? Boris doesn’t think so. “But it was clear that he didn’t know enough of the facts to really be able to teach that class.” To the teacher’s credit, he invited Boris to stay on afterward and critique his Middle East presentation. He seemed to know his lesson had been inadequate. Boris called it a “rare case,” this teacher’s being open to new information. “A lot of teachers like to push their own agenda.“

Boris expressed frustration that high schoolers are being offered misinformation on this topic, year after year. An ethnic studies curriculum being considered in California’s legislature has him even more worried. He’s read the bill language. As currently drafted, this prospective required curriculum for high schoolers delves into many kinds of bigotry and discrimination but omits anti-Semitism.

Will this issue affect his choice of college? “Definitely. I’m not applying to UC Berkeley because of the blatantly anti-Semitic stuff that goes on there. . .  They don’t allow people to speak, so if I have an opposing viewpoint . . . it is not going to be valued or taken into consideration.” He has heard that it’s like this at Ivy League schools, too. “Israel is definitely a part of it, but also just the intolerance of other viewpoints is very prominent on those campuses, and I think that affects the Israel conversation.”

read more

Holocaust Survivor Walter Bingham Shares Firsthand Kristallnacht Experience

November 13, 2022

Zvi Cohen, The Boy With the Harmonica in Theresienstadt

August 18, 2022

We Are All Jews: The Story of the US Soldier who Saved Hundreds of Jewish American POWs During WWII

November 19, 2021

More News

CAM Appreciates White House Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, Says ‘IHRA Definition Must Be Sole and Exclusive Global Standard for Defining Antisemitism’

May 25, 2023

Mayor Eric Adams Decries Rising Jew-Hatred at CAM’s ‘New York Symposium Against Antisemitism’

May 24, 2023

Latin American Parliament Adopts IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism

May 23, 2023

New Report by British Parliament Taskforce Details Jewish Experiences of Antisemitism at UK Universities

May 22, 2023

In Response to Report That White House Faces Pressure to Reject Mainstream Antisemitism Definition, CAM Highlights 1,160 IHRA Adoptions Worldwide

May 20, 2023

Through April, CAM Tracks Daily Average of 4.7 Antisemitic Incidents in 2023

May 16, 2023

‘You Will Be My Witnesses’: Toby Levy Tells Her Holocaust Survival Story to Matterkind Employees

May 16, 2023

City of Palm Springs, California, Officially Recognizes Jewish American Heritage Month

May 14, 2023

2023 European Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism to Be Hosted by City of Dortmund, Germany

May 10, 2023

Alarming Study Finds Direct Correlation Between Online Incitement and Physical Attacks Against Synagogues

May 10, 2023
CAM-logo-2x
  • About
  • News
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
  • About
  • News
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
  • About
  • News
  • Coalition
  • Research
  • Contact
  • Take Action
Facebook-f Instagram Twitter Linkedin-in Youtube Tiktok
PRIVACY POLICY
X