Paris attacks spark discussion in IB French class

Junior Issiah Amla said he felt very sad to hear the news of the Paris attack because of his family connection to the country.

“In my family, we have some relatives in France. Personally, my dad was worried about their safety,” Amla said. “One of the families we know said that they were at the place but then they left like an hour before the event occurred. It was very interesting, but good to know that they were safe.”

According to French teacher Kyle Sweeney, her International Baccalaureate (IB) French students talked about the situation in class. She said she decided to talk about it in class because the attacks created an elephant in the room.

“For me, this is what school is for. It’s like this forum where ideas can be shared. A lot of what we do in the IB class with the seniors is current events and current issues in France,” Sweeney said. “This was the thing on everyone’s mind.”

Amla said students should know ISIS does not only affect France.

“There’s a lot of other countries that go unnoticed because they’re not as popular,” Amla said.  “Like Nigeria, they barely covered it as much as they do with France.”

According to Sweeney, the situation has a strong presence in the school setting.

“I think it’s important to talk about, and it’s hard to talk about because we don’t even really know a lot yet,” Sweeney said. “There’s misinformation coming out and we don’t know what’s going to happen, but I think it’s on everybody’s mind.”

Sweeney said she doesn’t directly know anyone who was in or near the attacks, but feels personally connected.

“It kind of hits close to home,” Sweeney said. “It’s just shocking and terrible. I have a lot of grief.”

Sweeney said she believes that students should learn multiple perspectives on how to progress from the current situation.

“There’s a lot of different things that a lot of different people are saying about like ‘should we bomb Syria, shouldn’t we bomb Syria or should we accept refugees,’” Sweeney said. “If you only get your point of view from a (single) news source or one place, and then you’re voicing your opinion, it’s not really an opinion — you’re just repeating what someone else said.”

Sweeney said, in general, students feel obliged to help out in the face of crises through acts like giving blood or donating money. She told her students they can also simply show kindness and compassion.

“Don’t be a jerk in your regular life. If we’re all nice to everyone, regardless of where they come from, then our community will be strong,” Sweeney said.