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Attacks on educating girls | Top |
Two teenage girls were being treated in hospital after battery acid was thrown in their faces as they walked to school in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. They were the most badly injured of a group of young women who were attacked by two unidentified men on motorbikes.
Education for Afghan girls has improved considerably in recent years. Yet there are now concerns about the rising number of attacks on schools, teachers and students, says the United Nations Children’s Fund. So far this year there have been 256 violent school incidents, resulting in some 58 deaths and 46 injuries. In 2007, arsonists were to blame for a total of 236 school incidents.
Discussion ideas
> One of two sisters who were hospitalised after the attack told a reporter: "We will go to school and fight. All we want from this government is security". Discuss what makes people so committed to learn. Talk about the problems of learning when teachers and students don't feel safe. The right to education is regarded as one of children's fundamental rights. Why do students think that it is so important?
> Talk about other attacks on schools and students around the world. Shootings on campus in the US have led to deaths. There are also many arson incidents in schools in the UK. What is similar, what is different, about the attacks in Afghanistan?
Body rejects organ donor plan | Top |
A scheme to allow doctors to remove organs for transplant from any adult who dies – unless they have registered to opt out – has been rejected by a taskforce of advisers. Such a system, known as presumed consent, was thought to risk undermining the concept of organ donation as a gift. It could also erode trust in NHS professionals, says the taskforce.
The organ donation taskforce was set up to find ways to save lives by increasing the number of organs available for transplant operations. Currently 8,000 patients in the UK need a transplant, but only 3,000 operations were carried out last year. The taskforce found that an "opt out" system would be difficult and expensive to administer and could actually reduce the numbers of organs donated. It suggested other ways to boost the numbers, including improving structures and an awareness campaign.
Discussion ideas
> Families of organ donors say that the concept of a gift is very important to them. Discuss why. Talk about how bereaved families might feel after their loved-one chose to help save another person's life. How might they feel differently if the government passed a law allowing doctors to take organs without asking?
> Invite students to say why relatively few people register to donate organs. The taskforce gives reasons including lack of awareness, laziness and unwillingness to think about death. Other barriers were fears that you might not actually be dead when organs were removed, or that there would be less effort to keep you alive if you were known to be a potential donor. Do students share such worries? Would they value information from doctors showing them to be myths?
Earthquake dress rehearsal | Top |
The largest-ever earthquake drill was held in southern California last week. It was intended to test how governments, emergency services and residents would respond to a massive quake that destroyed buildings and disrupted services. Around five million people signed up to take part, including school students who had gruesome injuries painted on their bodies as they lay in buildings waiting for firefighters or ambulance crews.
The exercise was based on an imagined magnitude-7.8 event on the southern San Andreas Fault. Experts say such a quake, known as "the big one" is likely to happen in reality some time over coming decades. If such a quake did occur, estimates suggest it would kill 1,800 people and cause severe damage to high buildings, roads and gas and water pipes.
Discussion ideas
> Would students volunteer to take part in such an exercise? Talk about how they might feel if they waited for hours, bandaged or "bleeding", to be stretchered to hospital. Would they think it exciting and different – or quite scary? If indoors when an earthquake hits, people are told to stay inside, and follow the drill – drop, cover, and hold on. Talk about the reason for this advice. How difficult do students think it would be to follow?
> Talk about school fire drills that students are familiar with. Would they be taken more seriously if there were props – such as smoke and simulated injuries? Would it focus people's minds on the reality, or cause unnecessary panic? Discuss ways to practise emergency procedures which are realistic. What useful information would students think could be obtained?
More than half the UK population think British children are beginning to behave like animals, according to a poll carried out on behalf of the charity Barnado's. The survey also found just under half (49 per cent) the 2,000 adults questioned agreed that children are increasingly a danger to each other and to adults.
Martin Narey, chief executive of Barnardo’s, said it was appalling that words like “animal”, “feral” and “vermin” were widely used to describe children. The charity also points to the British Crime Survey which indicates that the public felt young people committed up to half of all crime. In reality, young people are responsible for only 12% of crime.
Discussion ideas
> Talk about the general public's intolerance of children. Can students give examples from their own experiences? Where do negative views come from? Discuss language such as vermin and feral. Do young people ever use disrespectful words to refer to older people? Talk about what makes adults overestimate young people's responsibility for criminal acts. Is it sheer prejudice or media influence?
> Discuss the finding that 43 per cent agree that something has to be done to protect society from children. Do students agree? Politicians and media also often stress that children are in need of protection. Discuss why children are seen as a threat and also in need of protection. What arguments would they use to show that the vast majority of children make positive contributions to their communities?
News think! is one of a number of free educational services produced by the British Red Cross. You can find more resources at www.redcross.org.uk/education
Have you used these topics to raise discussions or plan classroom work? Let us know your experiences or thoughts by emailing us at reducation@redcross.org.uk | 
