Discovering MENA and other thoughts

Months ago, I wrote about how the Lebanese school curricula were designed not to influence the pupil's own identity, with the very particular aim of leaving the interpretation of the country's recent History into the hands of each community. Now I bump into this article on the NYT  about how Hamas has decided to change the curriculum in the Gaza Strip having the exact opposite objective in mind, that is, looking forward to infusing the next generations with its militant ideology (maybe as a consequence of it's being shunned both at home and abroad). Coming from a country in which political ideology, more than class, culture or genetics, remains the main root of polarization between what people call "the two Spains", I am appalled by this kind of gestures, which only teach children to be as narrow-minded as their parents often are. Israel is often criticized for adopting the same stance towards education. If Palestinians want to show they are more qualified than...

I guess this question can be raised when it comes to every country in the world, but it started playing in my mind while reading about Lebanon, an incredibly heterogeneous country that has been under construction for several decades. And what is one of the most important elements when creating a national identity, notably according to the German doctrine? Exactly, History! Indeed, the state's authorities have been struggling to create a unified History since the end of the bloody Civil War that ravaged the country and left many psychological scars behind (some of them are opened from time to time, like, for instance, weeks ago ). The hallmark 1989 Taif Accords that put an end to the conflict called for a civic education to be uniform across the territory, in order to promote a (still fragile) national unity. This consensus was however ignored, leading to considerable void in the subsequent generations' education, or at lest general knowledge (I am talking about public e...