Overseas, but in the same classroom

While the Oceanside High School students were shaking off the drowsiness that comes with rising with the sun, the students in Kabul, Afghanistan, nine hours ahead, were winding down their day.

This was the third and final teleconference conversation between the two groups, taking place over a distance of 6,745 miles, and the connection was strong and clear.

The topics of the discussion, facilitated by the international non-profit Global Nomads Group, ranged from the casual (a lacrosse playoff update) to the more serious (gay marriage, the international presence in Afghanistan).

GNG’s stated mission is to “foster dialogue and understanding among the world’s youth,” said Hannah Weitzer, a project manager for the nonprofit organization and the moderator for the teleconference between OHS and Marefat High School. “They’re following a curriculum that [focuses on] civic engagement, conflict analysis and social change.”

Students made sure to respect cultural differences. Though many of the Marefat students were dressed in Western style, the Oceanside girls were politely covered up so as not to offend members of the all-male Afghan class.

The Afghans knew some English, but Shabana Basij-Rasikh, head of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan program and a program manager of Youth Links, translated the conversation between English and Dari, one of Afghanistan’s official languages. SOLA is a global education program for Afghans, and Youth Links is the joint operation between SOLA and GNG.

Anthony Yepez, an Oceanside student, introduced the class’s “conflict tree” on gay marriage, which spurred more than a half-hour’s worth of discourse with the Afghan students. A conflict tree is a visual tool used to better understand a conflict’s causes and impacts.

The Oceanside students were just as interested in hearing about the Afghans’ conflict tree, which focused, fairly positively, on the international and American presence in Afghanistan, and particularly the effect it has had on women’s rights.

“We had the impression from the news broadcasts in America that the Afghans were not happy to have America and the other nations within their nation,” said Catherine Valentino-Thurber, the global studies teacher who runs the Oceanside program. “They were expecting to hear the Afghans say, ‘We want you out, we don’t like you,’ and they were taken aback by the fact that the Afghans felt grateful to have the international presence and education.”

The Oceanside students were also surprised to learn how highly the Afghans value their education. Many of the Marefat students were refugees from the war in Afghanistan. They were forced to move frequently in order to pursue an education, and they spoke a variety of languages.

“We even complain about it, like ‘Oh my god, I don’t want to go to school today. I don’t want to do work,’” OHS student Kelsey Dass said after the teleconference. “But a boy said he was so excited that he got this backpack that in the middle of the night he got up, put on his backpack and started walking around his room.”

The importance of education to the Afghans was further evidenced by their plan for a final project for the Youth Links program, a video detailing the life of a 37-year-old Afghan man with a wife and children who has a desire to learn and is currently in the third grade. “The title of our final project is ‘Why the Afghan People are Interested in Education,’” Basij-Rasikh translated. “Our project is to get rid of the misunderstandings the American people might think. Especially it will focus on people who in the past were not able to receive an education due to the situation in Afghanistan but who are now trying to study.”

The 15 Oceanside students taking part in the program share a dedication to education with the Afghan students. The program was optional and on a volunteer basis. The students came to school early or stayed late four or five times to discuss what they had learned, in addition to participating in the three videoconferences.

While most American schools in this pilot program were able to set up five or six teleconferences, Oceanside was limited to three because the class began late. Valentino-Thurber, who has worked with GNG before, had signed Oceanside up but was placed on a waiting list. It wasn’t until December that another school dropped out, and because Afghan schools run from March to December, the teleconferences could not begin for three months.

The students were visibly sad when saying their goodbyes, and when the connection cut out unexpectedly near the end of the session, which ran 20 minutes over the allotted time, there were exclamations of dismay from the Oceanside students.

“They asked some thought-provoking questions and they were also very respectful,” Weitzer said afterward. “I think they learned a lot from one another.”

Many of the students from both classes said they would try to keep in touch through Youth Links social networking programs.

The OHS students said they appreciated the opportunity to get to know the Afghans and gain some new perspective. “Now that I’ve talked to them, you have more respect for them,” said Maureen Brady. “You understand them more, so that changes how you feel about them.”