This sad, but inspiring story in the Los Angeles Times talks about one Iraqi ballet and music school’s struggle to stay open despite five years of war and over a decade of threats from Muslim extremists who “consider music sacrilegious and kill for much less than dancing in public in a form-revealing tutu.”
In that same vein, Education Week‘s Mary Ann Zehr has recently returned from a trip to the Middle East, and has a number of stories up about the effects of five years of war on Iraqi schoolchildren. For many of those students, finding the motivation to succeed in school after months or even years of being prevented from going to class, is extremely difficult.
These issues are definitely worth your attention, so check them out if you get the chance.