The Education Trap: Educational Possibilities in Occupied East Jerusalem, 1977–1987 (Poster 29)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

"In 1967, Israel occupied and annexed East Jerusalem and took control of the Palestinian education sector. Palestinians spent years creating an alternative, private education system to escape Israel's control. But, starting in 1977, economic and political changes collided to place educational attainment for Palestinians at odds with local employment opportunities in Jerusalem. These pressures led to Palestinian brain drain at a time when Israeli settlement building and political repression in the city had increased. Palestinians faced an ""education trap"" that placed their educational and career success at odds with their indigenous rootedness on the land. Should Palestinian students forgo higher education and work as a blue-collar class for Israel within their own city or should they pursue higher education, even if it risked brain drain, unemployment, or underemployment in the hopes of a future where Palestinians were not dependent on the Israeli economy?

Using oral histories collected from former East Jerusalem teachers and students as well as historical foreign aid reports, newspapers, and school yearbook data, I outline the historical factors that created this education trap. I argue that, although the Palestinian community could not solve the underlying economic and political distortions that created the education trap, they relied on the concept of sumud, or steadfastness, to encourage students to both pursue education and remain connected to the land. The strengths and challenges of the Palestinian response to the education trap highlight the limitations of community-led education initiatives in situations of prolonged occupation and inequality."

Author

• Alyssa Bivins, The George Washington University