When teachers go wrong!

Playing the "Arab-Jewish game". PHOTO: AFP

He wrote, "Children don't "always" learn from psychological association." If they don't "always" learn from association, then what happens at other times? Don't we see that ad-runners on TV believe if you like your star, you don't know when you fall in love with the product as well?

That children learn from psychological association is not a misconception. I first learnt about Israel in school in England. Israel was mentioned in the contexts of military power and agriculture in particular (the way Israel is mentioned in the British School in Dhaka). As a direct result, to my naive mind, Israel and its governments were a great example of patriotism and national endeavour. In contrast, although my teachers never told me anything about the Palestinians, my impression about the Palestinians was very bad.

My impression about Israel changed, however, when, after passing school, I took interest in world politics and began to know about the Arab-Israel conflict. Today I understand that my teachers at school deliberately deprived me of some vital information relating to Israel with which it has been hitting the headlines all over the world for the last 50 years or so: Its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and killings of thousands of innocent people.