[Student Reporters] Gaza Crisis is Foreign News to Students

by Eric Do <10th, King Drew Magnet High School>

Recently, a ceasefire has been declared between the Israelis and the Palestinian group Hamas, but the high school students of Southern California could care less. Over the past few decades, Israelis have been at war with Hamas for control of the Gaza strip, but are students aware of it? When asked whether they knew anything about the conflict in Gaza, the responses from students were absurd.

“What‘s Gaza? Is it in Africa?” responded an anonymous sophomore from Los Angeles High School. Currently many high school students have no idea about the conflict occurring in Gaza. They haven’t even heard of it although it has been a major story in recent news. Recently, I have done a survey and asked high school students if they knew anything about Gaza. The result was preposterous. Out of 113 high school students, only about 38 percent of them knew about the conflict. The rest have never even heard of the place. After this survey I finally realized how little high school students cared about the current events

The problem with the younger generation is that they do not read and watch what is necessary. Students spend most of their time either watching useless reality shows on television or are on their computer checking their myspace, facebook, or chatting on instant messenger. Teens these days have no sense of increasing their knowledge by watching or reading the news.

When asked about current events, most students knew the general information about the inauguration of our new president and the economic status of the US. What they did not know were the details. Younger generations must begin to read the paper or watch the news in order to see what is happening outside of their homes and schools.

Currently, every country in the world is experiencing some sort of crisis. Hopefully the conflict between Israel and Hamas will be solved, but more importantly teens must begin to inform themselves and increase their knowledge on current events.