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The Nugget Newspaper
Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

Schools tackle controversial issues with care
By Jim Cornelius

Teachers in Sisters don't shy away from controversial issues. In fact, they encourage their students to face the complicated and difficult questions of war and peace that face the whole nation.

Students are vulnerable, though, and teachers have to be careful that they don't impose their own views or allow a student's views to be suppressed.

And sometimes when world events are at a fever pitch, it's hard to keep students focused on school work. That could be a real problem with budget constraints shortening already precious class time.

"You can't ignore the teachable moment," said Sisters Middle School Principal Lora Nordquist. "I think if something is burning on people's minds, you really have to address it -- even if it's in biology class."

However, Nordquist noted, if middle school students get their questions and concerns addressed "they will usually move on fairly quickly to something else."

In classes where students are supposed to grapple with national and international events, the atmosphere can be a little volatile -- but it can also produce some serious learning opportunities.

Passions run pretty high at the high school level.

"Kids are really upset about the current war," said Sisters High School social studies teacher Jon Renner. "They're feeling pressures that they don't understand; feelings that they don't understand are washing over them.

"They're not (on) one side or another -- they're all over the map on these issues," Renner said.

Renner challenges students to back up their opinions with factual evidence. Internet technology allows students to check facts on the spot. For example, when one student made some strong assertions about the cost of the war in Iraq based on cruise missiles already fired on Baghdad, Renner's "Society" class was able to go to a government procurement website to verify the actual cost of a cruise missile.

When France challenged the U.S. at the United Nations, they learned quickly that France has billions of dollars at stake in oil development contracts in Iraq.

"The kids can very quickly connect the dots from French economic interests... and competitive interests from U.S. oil," Renner said. "I don't have to make these connections for the kids."

Renner's main concern is sparking interest in students and helping them discover the resources available to help them understand the world they will inherit.

Renner said that when debate arises, he generally takes the opposite view of whatever a student might present -- always pushing the student to back up opinion and argument with evidence from multiple, reliable sources.

Renner himself brings a multi-faceted background into the classroom; he served in the military as well as pursuing a quality liberal arts education. He lived for an extended period overseas (in Spain) and has wide-ranging interests and expertise to provide perspective.

Yet part of what the students learn is that everyone's perspective is created and defined by his or her upbringing, culture and experience.

That kind of intellectual challenge is found in many other classrooms -- from Rob Phelps' government class at Sisters High School to Rob Kurtz' middle school history classes.

Other teachers work "the teachable moment" as well.

The Sisters School District has a clear policy about teaching controversial issues: "To encourage students to search after truth and think for themselves, teachers should refrain from expressing personal views before and during the period of research and study... criticism and the promotion of a cause are inappropriate and unscholarly..."

There have been some inflammatory incidents in other Oregon school districts, but -- so far at least -- no problems in Sisters.

"I have a lot of trust in my teachers," Nordquist said.

It's hard when major events arise to turn students' attention back to other school work. That, too, requires discipline and a clear head from teachers.

"Part of a teacher's job is to get the kids on task with the curriculum they're studying," said School Superintendent Steve Swisher. "There are times when (an incident) does transcend just the subject area class."

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