School Climate & Safety

Pen Pal Effort With Muslim Children Overseas Takes Off

By Lisa Fine — December 12, 2001 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The 6th graders at a New York City elementary school, children who had a firsthand view of the dust and smoke rising from the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center, have been talking in class about questions they have for their counterparts in Muslim nations.

Find out more about the Friendship Through Education Initiative.

Read more about America’s Fund for Afghan Children.

The pupils at Mott Hall Elementary School in Harlem wonder whether their overseas peers might hate them just because they are American. Others want to know how the daily lives of students in the Islamic world differ from their own.

Now, to find out the answers, all they have to do is ask their electronic pen pals in Egypt.

About 100 members of the 6th grade at Mott Hall are e-mailing youngsters at two schools in Cairo through President Bush’s Friendship Through Education initiative, which connects American students with students in predominantly Muslim countries. The program is part of a campaign by the Bush administration to hammer home its oft-stated point that the U.S.- led war on terrorism, launched in response to the September attacks in this country, is not a war with Muslims or the people of Afghanistan.

Friendship Through Education program coordinators say the e-mails allow the students to get to know one another as individuals and replace stereotypes with nuance.

“Before we start talking, I would like to say I have no grudge against you for the incident on September 11,” wrote one of the New York 6th graders to a student at the Nefertari Language School in Cairo. “One question I want to ask you is do you hold a grudge against me? I don’t want to bring this up anymore but just in case you hold a grudge, then we can talk it over and maybe help you through it.”

This introduction came from that Cairo school: “I am Amr from Egypt. ... I want to change the ideas of many people who think that Arabs and Muslims are terrorists,” the student wrote. “I think that’s all for now and I hope to hear from you very soon.”

Teachers and students are coming up with other projects for the students involved in Friendship Through Education. Some students are putting together Web pages to build links with their partner schools; others are making “friendship quilts” to exchange with the overseas schools. Program coordinators are even trying to set up online chess matches.

Marc Briller, a coordinator at Mott Hall Elementary School, said the 6th graders there would be preparing a package of descriptions and diagrams of New York City street games, like stickball, to send to their Egyptian pen pals. The New York students hope the Egyptian students, in return, will send an explanation of games they like to play, Mr. Briller said.

Rising Interest

Since the Friendship Through Education program was announced on Oct. 25, American schools have shown increasing interest in participating, organizers say. The program is being run by a consortium of international organizations that are working with the White House and the U.S. Department of Education. At first, primarily schools in the areas most directly affected by the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks signed up. Now, about 350 schools around the country are in the process of establishing relationships with corresponding schools overseas.

Meanwhile, interest in America’s Fund for Afghan Children, another administration goodwill initiative that enlists U.S. students, has also held steady in recent weeks.

President Bush on Oct. 12 asked American children to each stuff a dollar in an envelope and send it to Washington to augment taxpayer-financed relief aid to Afghanistan. Donations had reached $1.53 million as of Dec. 4. So far, the Red Cross has processed 242,000 letters to the fund. That number has not increased in several weeks, however, because of mail holdups caused by anthrax contamination at the White House’s off-site postal facility. (“Relief Donations Languish at Contaminated Facility,” Nov. 14, 2001.)

In addition to the mailed donations, the Red Cross has collected $47,727 through online donations, and $14,000 from Coinstar machines.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the December 12, 2001 edition of Education Week as Pen Pal Effort With Muslim Children Overseas Takes Off

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Climate & Safety Opinion What Do Restorative Practices Look Like in Schools?
Such practices teach students how to resolve disputes amicably, own their actions, and be empathetic and forgiving.
9 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety School Dress Codes Often Target Girls. What Happens When Male Teachers Have to Enforce Them?
Male teachers say the task can put them in a risky and uncomfortable position.
11 min read
Image of articles of clothing on a coat hook outside a school entrance.
Laura Baker/Education Week via Canva
School Climate & Safety Are School Buses Safe? An Expert Explains
A perennial concern is getting new attention.
4 min read
Photo of rescue workers and turned over school bus.
Brandy Taylor / iStock / Getty Images Plus
School Climate & Safety A School Removed Bathroom Mirrors to Keep Students From Making TikToks. Will It Work?
The desperate strategy for keeping students in class illuminates the challenge schools face in competing with social media.
5 min read
Empty blue school bathroom showing the bathroom sinks without mirrors.
iStock/Getty