IDEOLOGICAL DISSONANCE IN A LITERATURE TEACHING PROCESS Volume 13, Number 3 ISSN 1099-839X The Ideological Dilemma in Teaching Literature Moral Conflicts in a Diversified Society An Israeli Teacher Case Study Lea Baratz Achva-College of Education Roni Reingold Achva-College of Education Citation Baratz, L. & Reingold, R. (2010). The Ideological Dilemma in Teaching Literature Moral Conflicts in a Diversified Society An Israeli Teacher Case Study. Current Issues in Education, 13(3). Retrieved from http://cie.asu.edu/ Abstract The current study examines the implications of literary teaching material in a national diversified society in which the governmental educational policy separates between two national educational systems, and controls both of these separate systems. We set out to examine whether, in such realty, teachers are willing to teach texts, not formally included in the curriculum, that are replete with values and politics. In addition, we examine if they are willing to teach, whether they would introduce their ideological beliefs even if the teaching unit is incompatible with their ideological worldview. The teaching material comprises two poems about Jerusalem, one written by a Jewish poet and the other by an Israeli Palestinian poet. 26 Interviews were preformed with teachers: 13 Jews and 13 Palestinians. Their sayings were categorized into the following voices: The essence of the voice – a captured or liberated voice; Character of the voice – neutral or political; and Aim of the voice – socialization or individualization. C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 2 We did not find any differences in the voices among the Palestinian and the Jewish teachers. Categorically, the teachers attempted to silence any discussion that spilled over into political matters. The ideological dilemma made the teachers voice as hidden voice. Since, we do not believe that the governmental educational policy in Israel is going to become more democratic, we hope that our findings will encourage colleges of education in Israel and similar societies to encourage their students to develop liberated and political voices, and voices of individualization. Keywords: Literature teaching, Teachers' voices, Israel, ideological Dilemma, Moral conflict T he Ideological D ilem m a 3 About the Author(s) Author: Lea Baratz Affiliation: Achva-College of Education Email: lbaratz@netvision.net.il Biographical information: Lea BARATZ has a PhD in Hebrew literature from Bar Ilan University (Israel). She is chair of department of literature in Achva-College of Education (Israel). Her fields of research are Modern literature (mostly children literature), literature Teaching, Multicultural Education. She wrote several research books and in addition one poem book. Author: Roni Reingold Affiliation: Achva-College of Education Email: reingold@netvision.net.il Biographical information: Roni REINGOLD has a PhD in History and Philosophy of Education from Tel Aviv University (Israel). He is chair of department of Education in Achva- College of Education (Israel). His fields of research are Multicultural Education; Teacher Education and Online Learning. He is the organizer of the EARLI's 2nd SIG 13-Moral and Democratic Education symposium. C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 4 Jerusalem has been the focus of Jewish national being since ancient times and is the political and cultural center of modern Israel. Jerusalem is central to three faiths - Christianity, Islam and Judaism. In addition, Jerusalem remains a bone of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem (captured in the 1967 Six-Day War) is a particularly controversial issue. Israeli Palestinians view the eastern part of the city in which the Palestinian population resides as an occupied area and consider East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Possible descriptions of Jerusalem in literature are numerous and diverse. The images can change from realistic to abstract, from symbolic to representative. Each poet has his or her own personal point of view of Jerusalem: Jerusalem as a geographical point, a social or political location. In addition, Jerusalem is an archetypical symbol, standing for a vague heavenly sacredness. Jerusalem might also be a secular and private place to live in or a universal - religious essence1. Jerusalem creates a complex situation, not only politically. The issue of Jerusalem is not less complex when we deal with Jerusalem as an object of literature, and of course as a subject to be taught and as a pedagogical issue. Introducing such a theme in the classroom, raises the question of what political-ideological teaching direction would be suitable, knowing that the subject could be problematic. The major political problems implicated in the whole subject of Jerusalem generate a wide spectrum of firmly fixed concepts, which are almost impossible to change through analysis and estimation. The conflict is political by nature and therefore not given to be solved practically. Clark (2006) described a case study, which represents a poem that creates a Moral Conflict in the teaching process - teaching poems opposed to the war in Iraq. She noted the 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem T he Ideological D ilem m a 5 difficulties that the subject creates in the process of teaching. In her conclusion she writes: "Poets against War," offering students an opportunity to understand literary production - and the power of poetry – in the context of social change." (p. 11) her notes about poetry emphasize the following assumption: Literature mediates between politics and esthetics: "Doing literature" will never be equivalent to "doing politics" in the "real world" (Grobman, 2005). "Through experiencing art, we may potentially perceive that which binds us to the world as it is or should be and eradicates the violence at the heart of our society, where the powerlessness of the many sustains the power of few" (p.143). Hence, The current study examines the implications of literary material for the teaching process where the teaching unit not formally included in the curriculum, is replete with values, politics and beliefs, In some cases, such a teaching unit is incompatible with the teacher’s ideological worldview, thus creating an Ideological dissonance (Baratz, 2004). The teaching material used in the study comprises two poems written about Jerusalem by Jewish and Arab Israeli poets. The two poems are: "In the Holy Temple", by Nida’a Houry and "Eternal Jerusalem" by Uri Zvi Greenberg. Both poems were given to the teachers in Hebrew, even though Houry's poem was originally written in Arabic and was translated. It was done since, even though both Hebrew and Arabic are formal languages in Israel, Palestine students learn Hebrew since the second grade, so they read and write Hebrew almost as well as Arabic. Jewish students, on the other hand, learn Arabic only a few hours in junior high schools, so most of them do not know how to read Arabic. The two poems we choose are not included in the reading list of the official literature curriculum. Both of them were written by nationalist (or right-wing advocated). The Palestinian poet, Nidaa Khoury, is a Christian Palestinian woman (meaning member of several minority C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 6 groups). Her poetry has been the subject of studies at the University of Haifa and the Hebrew University and has been widely reviewed by the Arab press. The Jewish poet, Uri Zevi Greenberg, was a member of a right-wing party in the Israeli Parliament. He was awarded the Israel Prize in 1957 for his contribution to Hebrew literature. Following are the two poems: "You, the wedding of……… Dancing with the sun You, whispering Legend You, his vision is opened the world Till the wind calls our holly Till the wind calls our Via Dolorosa Till the wind calls' our blessings and our funerals And drops Till the wind will say That mother of earth gives birth to the truth's child To freedom and nation In front of the Sultan we are shooting our scream" (In the holy temple, Nida’a Houry) "….. Jerusalem was, is and will be. The gate to royalty and the gate to sky T he Ideological D ilem m a 7 At its entrance its enemies will kneel down" (Eternal Jerusalem, Uri Zvi Greenberg) We examined whether or not, teachers are willing to teach those texts that present the political complications, which exist regarding the question of Jerusalem? But, we also wanted to know what pedagogical approach will be chosen by the teachers that will agree to teach these poems. Choosing a particular technique of teaching is a means of self-expression! What sort of "voice" will the teacher wish the students to hear? Will the pedagogical voice sound like the formal voice of the state? Will it reflect personal beliefs and those of the collective group to which he belongs, or will it reflect the voices of students? In the process of teaching a poem, it is assumed that the role of art is to create an esthetic experience. In presenting the esthetic experience, the teacher is liable to confront a pedagogical method, which does not correspond to the ideological position. The teacher can respond in one of three possible ways: a. The teacher may ignore the subject because it does not match the perception of values (To ignore and repressing approach). b. The teacher may teach the material despite its incompatibility with his or her worldview, while distancing him or herself from the material and alienating it (a socialization approach). c. The teacher may teach it while presenting the full range of problems the poems arouse. One can also allow students to state their opinions (individualization approach). Exploration of teachers' individual response to governmental (Ministry of education) policy of suppression will enable us to indicate whether there are differences in the voices among the C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 8 Palestinian and the Jewish teachers. Moreover, it will provide us empirical basis for our recommendation to policy makers in colleges of education. Theoretical background The Ideological basis of literature curricula in Israel In Israel - The Ministry of Education – a political agency controls educational policy and practice throughout the country. The Ministry of Education is responsible for pre-academic education. The task of developing curricula is entrusted to teams of planners subordinated to a ministerial department, which also has the power to authorize textbooks for daily schoolwork. The ministry also controls the Matriculation examinations, which test the knowledge the students have acquired in the course of their studies. Israel differs from most countries in the world in setting educational goals and curricula in the various disciplines, as well as controlling and supervising textbooks. Curricula dealing with subject matter are drawn up by local, non-political professional teams or even by school teaching staffs. At times, syllabi are drawn up jointly by teachers and students (Alpert, 2002). This concentration of power in the Ministry enables control of the curricula (Hoffman and Schnell, 2002). This is particularly evident in the humanities and social sciences (see discussions by Al-Haj, 2002 on the history curricula, and that by Pedahtzur & Frlinger, 2004 on the civics curricula). Control and supervision of education in Israel also extend to teacher training. The Ministry of Education determines the structure of the curricula; the Ministry determines the number of students accepted into the colleges of education and also provides the resources for these colleges. T he Ideological D ilem m a 9 Control and supervision through shaping the body of knowledge are the foundation of the doctrine of Michel Foucault. According to Foucault, the absolute and brutal power of the sovereigns ruling before the 18th century has been replaced in the modern era by a hidden and sophisticated power system based on the politics of truth (Foucault, 1975, 1980). He claims that knowledge is that which governmental power creates and shapes, and in turn, shapes governmental power. Power and knowledge are actually two sides of the same coin (Foucault, 1972). Powerful individuals of high standing are those who determine and define truth, although there is no absolute truth, and use that definition of truth to promote their own interests (Back, 2005). In our era, social sciences or human science are the main theoretical fields for shaping truthfulness (Ball, 1990, Popkewitz, 1998), which enables building and preserving power systems, knowledge, supervision, control and exclusion. There should be a distinction between ideological education and political education. In the framework of ideological education, the educator endeavors to instill in his or her students a loyalty to political concepts, while in the framework of political education he or she endeavors to encourage them to develop capabilities to form personal opinions on all political issues (Lamm, 1991). In more recent works (2000, 2001, 2005) Lamm extended the distinction between educational ideologies and formulated a typology which is constructed of three educational ideologies: Socialization, Acculturation and Individualization As a socialization agent, teachers must guide the students to adopt a dictated world of values and norms. Those values and norms are dictated from the Ministry of Education, and teachers function as a connecting channel between the state and the students. Teachers are not authorized to make any personal decisions about those values and norms. C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 10 As acculturation agent, teachers are also dedicating to a world of values and norms, but they must represent cultural values they support and be the model for values their students should identify with. In the third typology, the individualization, the tasks of teachers are to help students grow and develop. In this framework, teachers help them to form value concepts and acquire skills for evaluating moral considerations by themselves. As already mentioned, humanities teachers in Israel, including literature teachers, are expected to be socialization agents of Zionist education. Since political thinking, ideological thinking, tolerance of minorities and support for freedom of expression are internalized by people during their childhood and adolescence, i.e. in the learning process at school, teaching literature to the young can turn the teacher into a very effective socialization agent. Voice and identity in the process of education A "voice" has social and political ramifications that cannot be ignored. From a psychological point of view, everyone can express himself in different voices or reveal different aspects of his personality at different moments according to a given situation, but it is also important to pay attention to the notion of "voice" from a social point of view. The location of a voice implies the right to speak, as well as speaking in a context, speaking to an audience and speaking to achieve a specific purpose (Boa, 1999). The social reality is constructed by human voices and not only examined and reflected through it. Thus, the teacher's voice is a means of both formulating world-view and expressing it. T he Ideological D ilem m a 11 Because of those assumptions, we decided to examine the teacher's voice in order to explore an educational reality. Since, every interaction between worldviews and political power is ideological (Eagelton, 1991, Back, 2005); we can identify the teacher's personal political and ideological beliefs by listening to his or her "voice.” Hence, a teacher’s voice is the measure for identifying the position in the educational system more than that the personal and social voice. Elbaz - Luvish (2005) examines the process teachers are experiencing while standing in front the class. She isolates the teacher's different "voices" while analyzing the narrative of the teacher's stories. Teachers are often "ambivalent" about their work. In a variety of cases, they show this ambivalence even in the course of telling one single story. Sometimes the analysis of the sub-text yields contradictory points of view. However, when it can be pointed out as a "moral voice"? It can be called "Moral voice" - when teaching merges evaluation with judgment and choices. In the process of teaching, teachers demonstrate authority and impose their status of authority on those under their supervision and influence. At the same time, teachers have a unique responsibility for the appropriate ethical development of their students (Elbaz, 1991). According to Bakhtin (1981), language cannot be disassociated from the social contexts in which it is used. Every utterance is a unique expression of socio-linguistic interaction in a specific social context: every utterance is dialogical, and it is therefore dependent on what precedes it and the way others interpret it. The dialogue takes place between "voices" likely to represent differences of social classes, ideologies, periods or genres. Consequently, contact of one utterance with another serves to give presence and a unique "voice" to each one of them. In addition Bakhtin claims that authoritative voice is bodiless, sounding reliable and objective. It expresses a rigid ideological position rejecting out of hand, by using various rhetorical devices, C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 12 all "strange speech," i.e. every "voice" that is not in harmony with the ruling official ideological opinion of the time. "It demands that we acknowledge it, to make it our own. It handcuffs us in a way that almost does not depend on its power to be able to persuade us; in a way … its authority has already been acknowledged in the past" (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 342). While listening to teachers' voices, one must pay attention to the voice speaking in a social, historical and cultural environment (Gudmundsdottir, 2001). Lensmire and Satanovsky (1988) developed their approach and commentary regarding "voices" following Bakhtin's assertions. They do not perceive voices as something given, expressed in speech in a natural, trouble-free manner, but as a 'project', something that students can develop through work and effort. In addition, they claim that voices do not indicate any essence in their content that finally attains expression, but indicate a continuous human effort that builds and rebuilds our self and our relationship with the world. They identified three dimensions in voices: appropriation, social struggle and creation. Appropriation is an activity emphasizing the "activity of the self vis-à-vis cultural resources." In developing a voice, the individual does not passively acquire knowledge. He also does not internalize cultural content as it presents itself, but he must make an effort in order to impart meaning to occurrences using language, that we share with others. In Bakhtin's (1981) concept, this is an activity involving our using and reprocessing other people's language. Social struggle is the use of our voice to express our ideas, some of which are new, in convincing ways. An additional aspect of this struggle is the fact that at times we must choose one voice among many others. We must take a stand on issues facing one audience or another, toward others or concerning others. T he Ideological D ilem m a 13 It is important to express the teacher voice who teaches according to the "critic pedagogy" as mentioned by Giroux (2000). It is insufficient to consider the politics of texts, the canon, or the curriculum without connecting issues of power in public spheres (75-76). By moving away from the text, Giroux argues, theorists will become more "politically responsible" in their approaches to literary texts and, in so doing, will "open . . . up possibilities for new approaches to social reform" (68), addressing issues such as civil rights for minorities and the poor, including immigrants; public school reform; racism in the criminal justice system; and welfare and workfare. Methodology The current research followed two empirical stages. First, 200 questionnaires were handed out to literature teachers. Since, many school principals (both Jewish and Palestinians) did not allow us to handed questionnaires to teachers in their schools, we handed the questionnaires to teachers that participated in professional development course in college. In consideration of the demographical structure of the Israeli society: 80% Jewish and 20% of the Palestinian, we handed out 159 questionnaires to teachers in secular Jewish high schools (i.e., not from religious schools and not from the occupied territories). Forty-one were handed out to teachers in regular Palestinian high schools (i.e., schools under the supervision of the Ministry of Education). All of the participants knew that both of the researchers are secular Jews. Teachers were asked to send back the questionnaires to the researchers, but only 91 of them (70 Jewish and 21 Palestinians) replied. The teachers were asked in the questionnaires C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 14 whether or not they would agree to teach one of two provocative poems, written about Jerusalem by Jewish and Palestinian- Israeli poets, and whether or not they would agree to be interviewed in that context. 45.5% of the 200 teachers that were asked to participate in the study agreed to participate - 51.2% of the Palestinians teachers and 43.4% of the Jewish teachers. Only 13 of the Palestinians teachers and 25 of the Jewish teachers accepted the challenge. We decided, as the second empirical stage of the current study, to conduct interviews with two groups of 13 teachers from the two national groups. Each teacher was asked to read a poem which he would be required to teach, and, after reading it, to relate to it. The data generated by the interviews was analyzed and divided into pre- defined categories. A method of qualitative research was chosen in order to locate the important, interesting, and repetitively appearing elements of the data. The findings were analyzed in a manner known as quantification, by open coding on one axis of the information yielded in the interviews (Ben-Yehoshua, 1990). The interviews were conducted discreetly, with no one else present. Complete confidentiality was guaranteed to the interviewees and even the teachers who expressed reservations about cooperating with the research agreed to speak candidly Results Ninety-two percent of the teachers that replied the questionnaires declared that they would teach any poem that they were asked to teach, and 97% said that while teaching they would deal with both the esthetic and the ideological aspects of the poems. We asked the T he Ideological D ilem m a 15 informators if they are willing to teach a provocative poem, written about Jerusalem by a poet from the opposing national group and participate in an interview which would deal with how they would teach that poem. Almost 65% of the Jewish teachers and 38% of the Palestinians teachers, who replied, did not agree to our request. During the interviews, the teachers explained how they prepared the poem to be taught in class. A distinction was made between the esthetic-poetic and the ethical-moral aspects, which stems from the poem, that is to say, deconstructing the text. Some of the teachers were dealing only with the text, avoiding the meaning in the sub text. A variety of teaching methods was used, each method depending on the teacher's world point of view. Categorically, the teachers attempted to silence any discussion that spilled over into political matters. There were no voice differences among the Palestinian and the Jewish teachers. Hence, we do not represent the findings according to national affiliation. Following the analysis of the teachers’ words and examination of the common threads observed in them we defined several voices as follows: The essence of the voice is divided into the flowing sub categories: a captured or liberated voice. A captured voice implies that a teacher cannot feel free to express his or her own beliefs, or to express non-formal and external ideology. A liberated voice implies that teachers express themselves freely according to their own beliefs and according to their moral courage or personal point of view. Captured Voice: (13 Palestinians teachers, 9 Jewish teachers) C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 16 "I’ll teach only poems which match my political opinions. If I am forced to teach a poem which does not match opinions, that will be the one which “I didn’t have time to get to.” "Students are liable to identify my political opinions" and "I’m liable to be perceived as being a "collaborator”.” "The school administration forbids the expression of political opinions.” "The proper place for discussions like this one is in Citizenship or History class.” "We should teach according to the values of the state.” "I teach according to the worldview acceptable to all the students.” Liberated Voice (2 Palestinians teachers, 4 Jewish teachers) "We are a heterogeneous people, so we must teach poems of different shades" "We must expose the student to the whole, wide world, including the world of The Other.” "A student should be permitted to express anger, criticism, and his feelings.” T he Ideological D ilem m a 17 "It’s important that students should express their feelings under the guidance of the teacher. The expression of personal opinions educates the student to be a good citizen in his country" "We will discuss things which characterize the three religions." "The lesson is interesting when many opinions are expressed" "We will discuss things which characterize the three religions" "A poem is a means of instilling an esthetic essence. There’s no alternative to explaining that we have to live together here.” Voice manner: Agitated speech or subdued speech - Agitated voice reflect the teacher’s voice, moving from the text to reality. In this case, teachers are not afraid to transmit a message through the text. In subdued speech - the voice remains very close to the poetic content, and there is hesitation to say something about reality especially not about politics. Agitated speech - an esthetic voice (5 Palestinian teachers, 6 Jewish teachers) "The poem is militant in its tone. It is therefore hard to appreciate its poetic strengths. Even if the poem is beautiful from an artistic point of view, its political stance neutralizes the artistic side.” "It is important to struggle with difficult texts, from both a poetic and an ideological point of view" C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 18 "It is important to struggle with difficult texts, from both a poetic and an ideological point of view" "Students shouldn’t be allowed to express their opinions, as they are still immature" Subdued speech - An ideology - poetic voice (8 Palestinians teachers, 7 Jewish teachers) "The poet’s sensitivity is helpful in exposing the political problem.” "I am a deprived citizen, and feel enchained. First, they should make amends for the Kfar Kassem massacre (an historical event l.b & r.r)" "Poems whose message is death should not be taught.” "The poem nurtures dangerous values.” Content of the voice – divided into a voice of socialization or a voice of individualization. In a socialized voice the teacher express just what is allowed to be expressed by the authority, but as one who holds an individual voice, one may allow students to express their personal opinions, even if the students’ voices oppose or coincide with the teacher’s personal opinion The socialized voice (9 Palestinians teachers, 8 Jewish teachers) "Every student will judge the issues (the political statements in the poem) by his own standards.” "The student must examine his worldview in relation to the world around him.” "One must distinguish between the political climate and the poetic process" "One must nurture the student’s emotional world, therefore he should be taught to struggle with painful problems as well.” T he Ideological D ilem m a 19 "One may teach non-violence with the help of a violent poem." "Violence is not the way to solve problems.” "I have no intention to influence my students, but I do intend to show the justice in the poet’s attitude.” "The student will not be able to separate the esthetic attitude from the political one.” Individual voice (4 Palestinians teachers, 5 Jewish teachers) "The text strengthens the student’s ability to cope with his feelings; including his negative ones.” "One mustn’t confuse adolescents with problems of this sort.” "These days we must not deal with these painful topics. Five years ago everything was different.” "The historical truth is what should be taught" "The historical axis should be built from scratch" "It’s difficult to accept poetic truth. Also, poetic truth has no meaning for the future of society.” "An experienced teacher is able to neutralize his opinion, and so is able to present an objective message.”" We should help the student to mature so that he is able to listen to a wide range of views, even if they are not always pleasant for him to hear.” "Poetic pathos won’t solve the conflict between two peoples.” "We should educate students to have a pluralistic view of the world.” C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 20 Diagram of result Discussion Our research was intended to examine how teachers deal with ideological dissonance and/or with the formal educational policy in Israel while teaching a poem about Jerusalem. We tried to isolate teachers' voices in order to discern whether it is possible to identify the voices and determine if they can overcome the ideological dilemma. Conclusions It was difficult to isolate just "one" voice in the teaching process. Participants from both of the national groups (Jewish and Palestinian) tried to appear consistent in their opinions or ideological point of view, as revealed in the interviews. A voice of socialization characterized most teachers’ voices. Moreover, since they were speaking in captive voice denotes that they hesitated to teach or to discuss matters arising from the text. In other words, they ignored the idea that emerges from the sub text and leads to political issues. The subdued speech reflects 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Captured Voice Liberated Voice Agitated speech Subdued speech socialized voice Individual voice Essence of the voice Voice manner Content of the voice Jews Arabs T he Ideological D ilem m a 21 their way of working – they remain at the esthetic level of the text. They do not transfer any message from the text to the socio-political context. In this situation, they prefer to relate to history because they could rely on a solid basic argument. Each teacher found his or her own interpretation of justice in order to justify his or her attitude to the subject matter. A common phrase was "We never expressed our opinions at any point in the interview. Nor were we judgmental about this sensitive issue." The teachers with subdued voices clung to the text. They refused to express their opinions, or as one of the teachers said: “When you’re sitting in a draft, get up, close the window, sit down and rest.” By means of that aphorism, he wished to state that he did not want to enter into an unhealthy situation. In instances of ideological dissonance, the head in the sand approach is not at all unpopular. Implications from the Findings The texts, which were presented to the teachers, revealed a process of emotional struggle with the text, which represents a worldview incompatible with the “official” ideology. The world of emotions makes it harder to maintain a rational struggle for understanding the meaning of a text. From studying the utterances, it is clear that most teachers cannot allow their voices any freedom. They explained that external factors were responsible for not allowing them to say what was really on their minds, or what they wished to say. Most teachers reflect the formal official format and their wish to neutralize all political affinity in it (a socialization process). They produced a 'broken monologue' according to Bakhtin's terminology. As a result, the learning process concentrates on the "poetic" side of teaching. Seemingly, there is a conscious effort on the part of the teachers to avoid 'appropriation of a voice'. In the process, the teachers remain faithful to the text according to Barthes' (1967) definition, that is to say their discussions revolve C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 22 around the personality of the writer, and around the presentation of the world as depicted in the poem. Khaled Abu‘Asbah (2001) provides an answer to what was revealed from our findings in the field. The Arab teacher is not willing to endanger his/her status as a teacher. For that reason, there is a gap between the educational process and his/her perception of his/her works as something merely technical and external to himself/herself. The writer lists the reasons, which emphasize That gap: the absence of internal democracy, and a lack of confidence in school administration, other teachers, and students. The system does not provide an inclusive educational experience. The bottom line is that the only benefits a student can expect to get out of school are information and technical skills. The ideological dilemma determined the teachers’ voice as a hidden voice. Teachers should teach by the perception of alienation. Alienation is responsible for a rational approach. People cannot be rational in their political or ideological decisions without liberating themselves from their emotional ties and obligations, which cause them to prefer one set of resources and goals to another, different set. The student develops an attitude of non-identity regarding his/her position, and regarding the extension of the cultural, political, and social code, which sets the existing limit of power, dependence, and possibility. According to his/her concept, pedagogy of this sort assimilates the asynchronous relationship between a given person’s social perception and the many ways in which culture is built on its patterns, and is read. In other words, there is not even one relationship between the cultural code and the position held by the subject, which is predetermined. An individual’s racial, social, sexual, or ethnic status may have influence, but it T he Ideological D ilem m a 23 does not have the kind of influence which dictates how the person chooses ideology for himself/herself, how he/she reads a certain text, or how he/she responds to a particular form of oppression. Pedagogy of limits recognizes that teachers and students read and write culture on varying levels. Recommendation Continuation of such an educational realty in which teachers, both in Jewish and Palestinian schools in Israel, prefer to act without moral courage whenever they have to deal with ideological dilemmas is very dangerous to the Israeli society. This is true not only in relation to the Jewish-Palestinians relationship, but, also to the sake of the possibility that Israel will be a true democratic society. How can there be a democratic society when teachers do not educate their students to do so? Since, we do not believe that the governmental educational policy in Israel is going to become more democratic and multicultural, we hope that our findings will encourage colleges of education in Israel and similar societies to encourage their students to develop liberated and political voices, and voices of individualization. The colleges of education, even though they are controlled and budget by the Ministry of Education, should encourage their students to develop moral courage attitude through complicated matters like those reflected in this issue. We strongly recommend focusing in future researches in finding the appropriate and effective ways of developing moral courage during teacher education programs. In addition, since the subject of teaching literature texts that arouse ideological dilemmas in a moral courage ways should not be dealt only regarding future teachers, we would like to C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 24 suggest another two theoretical anchors for in-service teachers that would like to build true dialogues in the classroom. The literary work itself is a broad field, full of meanings and facts. It is perceived not as a finished text, but as a production (Barthes, 1967). The textual analysis creates the space for understanding the text. Jacobson’s (1987) five elements of etymology can help to discuss the message of the poem: the addressor, the addressee, the code, the context, and the contact. A poetic message becomes understandable and meaningful only after the code and the context have been understood, especially regarding the principle functions of the poem’s language. Jacobson presents it: examination of the direct tie between the word and its meaning, the word as a representative of a certain thing. An additional way of dealing with a text is the way proposed by Scholes (1985, 1996), who speaks of reading within the text, about the text, and against the text. He maintains that in this way, one can learn about the "Other", and, thus, learn about oneself. Reading within the text means identifying the cultural codes, which build the work. Reading within the text means that the reader can retell the story, sum it up and expand upon it. A text seeks to develop a range of readings in the student. It seeks to create a situation in which the student can analyze the text in terms of that which is missing from it, so that he will be able to develop a position external to his opinions of the text. It seems, that taking into consideration the demographical structure and the political reality of Israeli society, has an added significant value with teachers exercising moral courage, while participating in initial teacher education programs and of course while servicing in their classes. T he Ideological D ilem m a 25 References Al-Haj, M. (2002). History Curricula in Jewish and Palestinian Schools: Ethnocentrism versus Controlled Multi-Cultureless, in A. Ben-Amos, (Ed.). History, Identity and Memory: Images of the Past in Israeli Education (137-154). Tel Aviv: Rmot (Hebrew). Alpert, B. (2002). Concepts and Ideas in Curricula as Leading Texts, in A. Hofman & I. Schnell (Eds.). Values and Goals in Israeli School Curricula (9-32). Even Yehuda: Rechasim. (Hebrew). American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author Baratz, L (2004). Ideological Dissonance in Teaching Process - Poems on the Eage, Dapin, 38, 30- 67. (Hebrew). Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination. Austin: University of Texas press. Ball, S. J. (1990). Introducing Monsier Foucault, in S. J. Ball (Ed.). Foucault and Education: Disciplines and Knowledge (pp. 1-8). London: Routledge. Barthes, R. (1967), Elements of Semiology, London: Jonathan Cape. Back, S. (2005). The Technical Rationality Vision: The Case of Teacher Education. Beer-Sheva: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press. Boa, F. (1999). The way of the dream: Conversation on Junian dream interpretation with Marie- Louise von Franz. Boston, Shsmbhala. Clark, E. (2006), Versus verse, poets against war, Radical teacher, 74, 6 – 11. Eagelton, T. (1991) Ideology: An Introduction, Published by Verso books. Elbaz, F. (1991), Research on Teacher’s Knowledge: The Evolution of a Discourse. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 23, 1-19. Elbaz -Lovich, F. (2005). The Teaching Narrative as a Dialogue, in M. Nisan & O. D. Schremer (Eds.). Educational Deliberations- Studies in Education Dedicated to Shlomo Fox (pp. 341- 358). Jerusalem: Mandel leadership institute & Bialick institute. Foucault, Michel (1972). The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language. New York: Pantheon Books. Foucault, M. (1975). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Random House. C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 26 Foucault, M. (1980) Power/Knowledge: selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977. Brighton: Harvester Press. Giroux, H. A. (2000).Impure Acts: The Practical Politics of Cultural Studies. New York :Routlage Grobman, L, (2005). "Mediating Politics and Aesthetics in Multiethnic Literary Pedagogy, Melus,.30 (2),.139 - 155. Gudmundsdottir, D. (2001). Narrative research on school practice, In V. Richarson (Ed.) Fourth handbook for research on teaching. New York: Macmillan. Hoffman, A. & Schnell I. (2002). Introduction, in A. Hofman & I. Schnell (Eds.). Values and Goals in Israeli School Curricula (7-8). Even Yehuda: Rechasim (Hebrew). Jacobson, R. (1987), Semiotics, Linguistics, and Poetry. Kibbutz Meuchad, Tel-Aviv. (Hebrew) Khaled Abu‘ Asbah. (2001).'Dilemmas And Issues In Education At The Arabic School In Israel' In Values And Education In The Israeli Society (Eds.) Iram, J. Et Al., Jerusalem, Education Ministry pp, 441 – 479. Lamm, Z. (1991) Political education versus ideological education, in R. Shapira & A. Kasher (Eds.), Reshafim (309-320). Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press. Lamm, Z. (2000). Pressure and Resistance in Education, essay and dialogue with zvi lamm about education, Ed. Y. Harpaz, Sifriat Hapoalim, Tel-Aviv. (Hebrew) Lamm. Z. (2001). Values and Education. In Y. Iram (Ed.), Chmatim: Values and Education in the Israeli Society (pp. 651-664). Jerusalem: Minestery of Education Press (Hebrew). Lamm, Z. (2005). Leadership and its Educational Contexts: Types and Levels, in M. Nisan & O. D. Schremer (Eds.). Educational Deliberations- Studies in Education Dedicated to Shlomo Fox (pp. 272-284). Jerusalem: Mandel leadership institute & Bialick institute. Lensmire, T. &. Satanovsky L, (1988). Defense of the romantic poet? Writing workshops and voice, Theory into Practice 37(4),.280 – 288. Pedahzur A. & Frenlinger, A. (2004). The in structured paradox of civic education in Israel. Megamot 43 (4), 64-83 (Hebrew). Popkewitz, T. S. & Brennan, M. (1998). Restructuring of social and political theory in education: Foucault and a social epistemology of school practices. In T. S. Popkewitz & M. Brennan (Eds.). Foucault’s Challenges: Discourse, Knowledge and Power in Education (3 – 35). New York: Teachers College Press. T he Ideological D ilem m a 27 Reingold, R. (2007). Promoting a True Pluralistic Dialogue- a Particularistic Multicultural Teacher Accreditation Program for Israeli Bedouins, International Journal of Multicultural Education 9 (1) http://journals.sfu.ca/ijme/index.php/ijme/article/view/6 Scholes, R. (1985).Textual Power. New Haven. Scholes, R (1996). The Pedagogy of Limits and the Politics of Modernism/Post- Modernism. In I. Gur-Zev (Ed.) Education In the Age of Post-Modern Discourse. Jerusalem: Magnes, (Hebrew) Zabar -Ben yehusuha, N. (1990), Qualitative Research in Teaching and Learning. Ramat-Gan: Masada (Hebre C urrent Issues in E ducation V ol. 14 N o. 1 28 Current Issues in Education http://cie.asu.edu Volume 14, Number 1 ISSN 1099-839X Authors hold the copyright to articles published in Current Issues in Education. Requests to reprint CIE articles in other journals should be addressed to the author. Reprints should credit CIE as the original publisher and include the URL of the CIE publication. Permission is hereby granted to copy any article, provided CIE is credited and copies are not sold. Editorial Team Executive Editors Lori Ellingford Andrew Darian Section Editors Krista Adams Hillary Andrelchik Meg Burke Douglas Deiss Miriam Emran Tracy Geiger Sarah Heaslip Melinda Hollis Afzal Hossain Jeffery Johnson Seong Hee Kim Younsu Kim Alaya Kuntz Angeles Maldonado Carol Masser John Michael William Mitchell Elizabeth Reyes Lindsay Richerson Rory Schmitt Tapati Sen Jennifer Shea Kara Sujansky Melissa Tarango Andrew Tesoro Jill Wendt Jennifer Wojtulewicz Copy Editor Lucinda Watson Faculty Advisers Gustavo E. Fischman Jeanne M. Powers Debby Zambo