Youth voices matter

Commentary

This was a top scorer in the practicality category for a teen essay contest for Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians that was sponsored by Heart of a Nation. The essay prompt was “What do you most want to improve about your own society and how?” Scoring was done by the organization; the Monitor supported this cross-cultural program by agreeing to publish the top essays. Views are those of the writer, who lives in Deerfield, Illinois.

I strive to counteract the troubling and consistent unwillingness to listen to youth; I want to formulate solutions toward a brighter future for our global society. At the start of quarantine, I witnessed unfounded hatred and blame toward people of Chinese descent about COVID – despite the fact that they had no connection with the outbreak. This reminded me of a similar cycle of hatred I had been exposed to as a Jew: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I was inspired to embark on personal research. I asked 32 Israeli and Palestinian teenagers what they believed caused the perpetual nature of the conflict. I heard strikingly similar responses from different backgrounds, upbringings, and perspectives: They felt they had been conditioned to hate and to avoid interaction with people who don’t look like them. There were a shocking number of factors that reinforced hatred of the “other,” serving only to worsen tensions and direct aggression toward an entire group. School curricula, media bias, and intergenerational misconceptions promote separation in their societies. And yet, when these teenagers interact with people of different backgrounds, the experience is eye-opening. They never expected to have so many ideas in common with someone they were conditioned to hate.

Many ideas my interviewees proposed to alleviate this impasse are worth exploring. For example, both Israelis and Palestinians alike told me that the halfhearted, two-year Arabic education in Israeli public schools is not sufficient to engage in meaningful conversation with those who speak Arabic. Communication is often the difference between a broad understanding of others and a dynamic interaction with them. Using language, young people can cultivate a more meaningful attempt at reconciliations of differences. Some teenagers proposed an overhaul of school curricula to better exemplify history from several perspectives; validating the histories of all backgrounds would open minds.

Pluralism would benefit us all. Each year that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains unresolved, both economies lose a RAND-estimated $58.4 billion. But the ideas on sustainable peace from the teens who actually live in the conflict-ridden climate aren’t heard or respected. It’s time to trust young people, and to recognize the value of minds that have not yet been hardened by a lifetime of bombardment of a single narrative. It is time to include everyone in conversations about societies’ problems.

Centuries-long conflicts are unnecessary and avoidable – if only we could truly see the people on the other side, as young people try to do. In a world steeped in diverse ideologies and ethnic histories, coexisting will always remain a challenge. However, our global society can progress if we listen to each other with open minds.

Outside of the classroom, Max, who lives in Deerfield, Illinois, is the captain of his congressional debate and Model United Nations teams and runs Teens for Peace, an organization he started to amplify teen voices in political conversations.

To see other Heart of a Nation Teen Essay Competition entries, visit Teens Share Solutions to Global Issues.