Combating Antisemitic Propaganda in School

My letter to the high school principal about concerning curriculum content

Recently, my 9th-grade daughter texted me a concerning photo while she was at school. It was a slide featured in a Powerpoint presentation about the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict. The slide was so shocking I honestly thought there had to be a misunderstanding.

When she got home from school I read over the presentation. There was no other slide explaining this one as propaganda. In fact, this slide was the second slide in the history presentation immediately after the title slide. It was essentially used to introduce the history lesson.

Then she showed me an assignment she was asked to do in class.

At this point I was extremely angry, not only at the antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda, but also at the complete lack of academic value of this bizarre assignment. It’s utterly absurd.

After waiting a week to get more information from my daughter (I had her ask her teacher more questions about the slide), I felt it was time to write a letter to the high school principal.

I am sharing the text of this letter (omitting names and identifying information) as one example of a cool-headed, rational approach to addressing school curriculum concerns. I made sure to:

1. Explain the context of the problem

2. Describe why this part of the curriculum is inappropriate/wrong

3. Suggest points of action for the school to take to rectify the situation

Why did I frame the letter this way vs. raging and threatening them?

1. I didn’t want to put the school administration on defense or put a target on my child’s back, which would be unfruitful.

2. I wanted to soothe their “pain points”—letting them know I sympathize with the difficulty of teaching complex hot-button issues—to foster trust.

3. I felt that sending a rage email with no direction for them to take or ways to right the wrong would not give me the results I wanted.

Asking for reasonable action following a rational argument puts the school administration in a good position to implement solutions.

As we deal with a steady stream of academic nonsense in public schools across the nation, I would encourage parents to be level-headed and very strategic about how they address their concerns. I have a multi-step plan that includes increasing levels of pressure, but I didn’t want to pull out the “big guns” unless absolutely necessary.

I am sure some people will disagree with my approach.

Since sending the letter, I have spoken with the Vice Principal who thanked me repeatedly for my “rational arguments” and also for the points of action that I included. He told me the school will be looking into the incident this week, speaking to the teacher, and finding ways to resolve this issue. He will be getting back to me next week.

If I don’t hear back or feel the solutions they offer are still not enough, I will use a firmer hand and implement the next steps of my strategy. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that—I don’t think anyone wants a battle.

Below is the text of my letter.

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Good afternoon,

I am writing to discuss a disturbing slide my daughter shared with me that was part of the curriculum recently taught in her freshman World Geography class. The slide (image attached at end of email) was the second slide (following the title slide) in a brief overview of the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict that was on a class Powerpoint presentation.

My daughter texted me about this slide on January 23 because she felt extremely uncomfortable with it, writing, “They’re definitely trying to make us think Palestine is who we should support.” My initial response, without having much context, was to wait and see if the teacher addressed that slide with the class. The teacher did not, according to my daughter. I also don’t know if the slide was added by the teacher, or if it’s part of the district curriculum that all World Geo teachers have.

That being said, I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt. I figured there must be a slide right before this slide describing war-time propaganda, using this slide as the example. Unfortunately, when I looked through the presentation, there was no explanation that this cartoon was propaganda. I told my daughter to ask the teacher about the purpose of the slide, to which the teacher responded to her: “It’s about the Israel/Hamas war,” and the class has now “moved on from that unit.”

Now, I understand this topic is one of the most divisive and heated topics we are grappling with right now as a nation. I can’t imagine being in the shoes of a teacher trying to objectively teach a class full of students of varying backgrounds, faiths, and family histories when even our most erudite intellectuals can’t come to agreement. My daughter did say the teacher did a decent job remaining mostly objective. I am not out to get the teacher in trouble; I am only addressing the curriculum content.

The slide at the beginning of this overview presentation includes two extraordinary examples of antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda. We recently observed Holocaust Remembrance Day. October 7 was the worst atrocity perpetrated against Jews since the Holocaust. It is quite frankly shocking and disturbing that such blatant terrorist propaganda (Hamas being the terrorist organization that murdered and kidnapped 1,200+ Israeli men, women, and children on Oct. 7) would be used to introduce this extremely complex conflict. It erases the atrocity completely and then mocks Israel for the audacity of self-defense. These students likely have very little to no knowledge about this issue and I’m disturbed and disappointed that the school district would include something so irresponsible in their curriculum.

In addition to the slide, the students were asked to do a bizarre assignment (also attached) to help them understand the conflict. Once they wrote their responses, the teacher said, “Mark is Israel and Sarah is Palestine.” My daughter felt like she was being tricked. Not to mention, that assignment holds no academic value, nor is it grounded in any reality related to the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Points of action

1.      First, I am asking that the teacher explain to the students that the slide is an example of propaganda and discuss why it’s important to question what you see and how to identify propaganda, particularly in the fog of war (also a great opportunity to explain what is meant by “fog of war”).

2.      Second, I am asking that either the slide be completely removed from the curriculum or that the text on the slide is changed to focus on learning how to identify propaganda, while including other examples. Right now, the slide asks students to make decisions about who started the war and to critique US support of Israel while using illustrations that will certainly lead them to have no sympathy for Israel, no support for the US, and no understanding of the October 7 atrocities. It’s with that propaganda that the history presentation is introduced.

3.      Third, I am asking that the absurd assignment about Mark and Sarah be removed from the curriculum completely. It is extremely shallow in its “description” of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and also cheapens what is a very complex, painful, and violent history. It’s completely inappropriate and academically insulting.

I appreciate your time in reading through this email. Please let me know what the plan is on addressing these concerns.

Thank you.