It’s A Lot
TW: This articles raises some discussions about current events in Afghanistan.
By Lachlan McCracken
“Mr Mac, have you seen what’s going on in Afghanistan”?
“Could the Taliban come here? I don’t want to have to wear a burqa and not be able to go to school”
“Mr Mac, is what’s happening in the book, basically happening in real life too?”
“Did you guys see all the people running on to the planes?”
Usually, a real-life event connecting to the literary material I am teaching sounds like an opportune moment of rich discussion. Students applying their knowledge of a text to a real-life scenario and asking questions to further their thinking. This is different. This is very real.
I am teaching my students a text called Parvana. It is about a young woman living in Kabul and the sacrifices she has to make to help her family survive under the Taliban’s occupation. The notable sacrifice, being one where Parvana must disguise herself as a boy in order to support her family financially after her father is imprisoned for being educated in English.
Often when teaching a text, a challenge teachers encounter is how to connect the events that take place in the text with their students. Often students’ personal experience and interests can seem far fetched from the text and really trying to get them to understand the importance of the text can be challenging.
A text like Parvana is often one that can be used to highlight the importance of privilege checking in a society like Australia, where everyone is entitled to getting a world class education. However, in the current circumstances this text is far from abstract. In fact, my students have an overwhelmingly deep understanding of how important this text is.
Usually, as an English teacher I would be ecstatic about my students engaging at such a high level with a literary text I am teaching. But in the present context, conversations with my class have not instigated those feelings of excitement at their genuine interest in the content but instead, an urge to shut the conversation down, to move on to lighter topics.
This is because a significant proportion of my students come from refugee backgrounds. Many from the Middle East. And many with lived experiences of armed conflict and a real threat to their livelihoods.
You see, being a high schooler is A LOT right now. Of course, it has always been a period of great social, emotional, and developmental growth. But, throw in a global pandemic and the events that have transpired in Afghanistan and you have a developing brain trying to process overwhelming events and news every single day. Especially coupled with their traumatic experiences from their early childhood.
Let’s break down what my students are most likely processing during a regular day right now:
1. A social media space dominated by overwhelmingly negative stories, including further COVID cases and restrictions and the danger posed by the Taliban in Afghanistan
2. The uncertainty of being in a lockdown, unable to see friends, unable to play sports and engage in many other hobbies that they enjoy
3. Spending 9am to 3pm on a screen, struggling through content without the usual level of peer and professional support that they would receive in a classroom
Consider all of this and you can see that our next generation is experiencing the burn out epidemic much earlier.
An important thing to remember is that in Australia we do not live in a vacuum. Things that occur in places ‘far away’ impact us psychologically, physically and socially. When you break them down, they are a reflection on the world which we cannot escape completely. They reflect years of conflict, colonial and other interference and all forms of violence. We are all impacted by structural injustice in one way or another. Occurring here or not.
You see, being a teacher is a privilege. It is a nuanced and interesting position where you get to see how young minds think and grow. However, you are also put in some tricky situations, especially when you are trying to contain your own and your students’ burn out. When you are battling with processing worldly injustice and then helping your students to also do the same. Particularly when your students have been much closer to it than you.
We need to remember that the threat of having your freedom taken away from you is very real for many people that have experienced life outside our bubble of privilege. I am not talking about inconvenience; I am talking about a real threat. Not being able to access proper medical treatment, having no freedom of movement and not being able to access education. That being your permanent life.
So remember, there are people who really need our help. And there are many ways we can offer it. We can call our Local MP, to encourage better advocacy, we can check up on people and we can sign the following petition: https://www.monash.edu/arts/gender-peace-security/letters-supporting-women-in-afghanistan/.
