This is an archived blog post of mine following my visit to Israel in June, 2008.--M.Kl
6.23.08
The Bat-Yam Conference
I’m normally a cautiously optimistic and hopeful guy, especially now that the Obama campaign is gaining strength and Bush’s Ownership Society regime appears to be on its last legs.
My trip to Israel to keynote the International Education Conference in Bat-Yam was enlightening and inspiring. I went there looking to learn, looking for for some hope—a sign that peace was somehow possible and that Jerusalem, where three of the worlds great religions were born, wouldn’t soon become the epicenter of a nuclear winter.
Meeting hundreds of democratic spirited educators and visiting some of their schools gave me that hope. More good news followed the conference. Israel negotiated a ceasefire with the Hamas-led Palestinians in Gaza (are you listening McCain & Obama?) and relented on allowing Palestinian students to study abroad.
But now, returning home, it’s become clear that the two corrupt, crumbling governments of Bush/Olmert are preparing the unthinkable--another preemptive shock & awe strike, this time against Iran, as their regimes’ final legacies.
The question facing educators is, where does school reform, democratic education and small schools fit into this picture?
