Students Probe the Persian Gulf Crisis

Until this week, Kuwait was just a dot on the map for most Los Angeles students. But the escalating crisis sparked by Iraq’s invasion of the tiny, oil-rich Arab nation now dominates class discussion at a number of schools as teachers incorporate the news into courses ranging from English to economics.

“The teachers are having a field day,” said Allan Wexler, principal of Virgil Junior High, one of more than 100 schools in session this summer in Los Angeles. “They’ve got a tremendous opportunity. Lessons in geography, map-reading, history, economics . . . it’s all coming together vividly in front of us.”

Like other major news events, the Persian Gulf crisis is being discussed in the “current events” portion of most social studies classes. But students are also writing about it in English classes, analyzing the impact on gasoline prices as an economics lesson and looking for parallels in the past in history courses.

“We talk about it every day,” said Bell High School history teacher Beverly Cook. “The students are very concerned because it’s close to home. They all have friends who are in the armed services. The young boys want to know what this means for them.”

Most high school students are too young to remember the days of mandatory military service, during the Vietnam War draft. “They don’t understand Selective Service (registration requirements) and what it means to them,” said Santa Monica teacher Randy Denis. “This is a steppingstone for us to explain that.”

Many students are concerned about the prospect of the country plunging into war “all over some stupid gas prices,” as Bell senior Diana Reyes put it.

With her classmates, Diana watched President Bush’s press conference in her English class Wednesday, and has an essay on it due today.

“The issue has more broad ramifications than I originally thought,” said the 17-year-old. “We talked about it at lunchtime and my friends made fun of it, but in class, they seemed worried.”

In Cook’s class, an informal poll showed students strongly against further U.S. military action. Said one student, “I would rather pay $2 or $3 (a gallon) for gas rather than go and fight and eventually get killed.”

And while Santa Monica’s Denis said that a “gung-ho, let’s-get-them” attitude generally prevails among his students on military issues, other teachers say they see caution and skepticism as the U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf increases.

“Some of my students are questioning the motivation for our involvement,” said Lew McCammon, a social studies teacher who coordinates an international relations academy at Belmont High School.

“One young man said he felt this might be a convenient way for Bush to divert attention from (domestic) issues, like the savings and loan scandal. Some of them think very deeply about this.”

Like so many youngsters in Los Angeles, most of McCammon’s students are foreign-born, coming from nations themselves wracked by war or internal strife. “These kids have been through a lot,” he said. “They’ve lost parents, they’ve been on buses burned by terrorists. . . . They don’t have the same feelings about this you’d get in a Midwestern American town.”

For them, said Belmont High teacher Phil Smith, the prospect of war “generates memories.”

“It’s kind of scary,” said Lourdes Siliezar, a native of El Salvador who recently graduated from Bell High School. “I just came from a war-stricken country two years ago to the United States looking for security, and now I’m faced with the possibility of another war . . . . I’m praying nothing will happen.”

Time staff writer Sandy Banks contributed to this story.