November 4, 2020. Do you remember what you were doing that day? A parent working, a student fulfilling at least a little bit of their academic duties behind the computer screen. To most, the day holds no major significance, no real importance, no clear memory or distinction from any other day of the lockdown period.
However, in East Africa, Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, declared a state of emergency and launched a military offensive against Tigray, a region which is actually a part of Ethiopia. Accusations of attacking federal groups were launched against the paramilitary group of the Tigray region, known as the TPLF, and a violent conflict would ravage Ethiopia and have significant impacts felt across the world to this day.
This conflict is something that happened so recently, and yet it can teach us so many lessons that relate to problems we have faced in the past, face currently, and will face in the future. A Nobel Peace Prize winner leading what was characterized by the US Department of State as ethnic cleansing is not only surprising, jarring, and devastating, but surely something that has application in many social studies classes in our school. In AP Government and Politics, this could be taught to show the implications of leaders overstepping their executive powers and how the American Constitution prevents this. In AP Human Geography, it could be taught to show interconnected relations between politics and trade. In AP World History, it could be used to show how past struggles have shaped future conflicts.
These are only a handful of classes this example is applicable to but it clearly emphasizes how paying attention to situations like these could further enhance the learning experience. This example, in and of itself, is not anything clearly special compared to the hundreds of other modern and current-day examples that could be used to help show students more tangible approaches to history and politics. Students often find it difficult to conceptualize how ideas and historical events from hundreds of years ago can even apply today. However understanding both the past and its tie to current events is incredibly important.
In English II Honors we discuss the Holocaust, along with the effect and context around it. However the Holocaust, which happened a little over 75 years ago, is consistently being disregarded and seen as something that could never happen again. And while something on such a large scale has not happened yet, we can show more recent examples of other genocides around the world to illustrate that what we discuss in class, the brutality, hatred, and other dangerous group-think, is not over, and that it is an issue still present today.
Teachers finding and mentioning current-day applicable examples to mention in class doesn’t need to take long, and it is important educators start to build this habit in the academic setting now. Doing so helps promote intellectual caution over events that may happen today and in the future. It helps encourage students to compare and contrast past events with current events in order to make important decisions that shape their lives—whether that be in choosing a job, a voting candidate, or something else.Â
It is difficult to change a national institution’s views, such as the College Board, on their curriculum. However, one teacher at a time can make a difference, shaping the next WHS generation in ways that impact the school and students for a lifetime.Â
Citations
- https://2021-2025.state.gov/reports-of-mass-atrocities-in-western-tigray/Â
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/10/two-years-of-ethiopias-tigray-conflict-a-timelineÂ
- https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ethiopiaÂ
