The limitations of inter-group learning in confessional school systems: the case of Lebanon.

INTRODUCTION

CONCERN WITH THE NATIONAL ROLE of education in Lebanon has been a roller coaster phenomenon over the last few decades of the country's political history, rising and falling with political changes and power-sharing formulas of multi-communal coexistence. The various political power-sharing formulas--defined by informal or formal pacts, (1) and acknowledged by the country's politically influential leaders and confessional communities (2) -- have exerted considerable influence over the role of education as a potential agent of national political socialization. More recently, the Ta'if agreement in 1989 called for the re-socialization of schoolchildren along national unitary lines within the framework of "Lebanon is a final homeland for all its sons" and "Arab in its affiliation and identity." At the curricula level, the Ta'if agreement stipulated categorically the need to standardize textbooks in history as well as civics in such a way that they promote national integration.

After more than one decade of the signing of the Ta'if agreement, Lebanon's educational system is flawed by two immediately discernible shortcomings. First, the failure of the Ministry of Education to develop a standardized history textbook attests to the difficulties educational decision-makers face in achieving consensus as to how Lebanon's history and political system should be interpreted and taught. (3) Secondly, awareness of and sensitivity to teaching religion in Lebanon is evident in the government's reluctance to introduce religion courses in the new curriculum. Against this backdrop, many private-run confessional schools continue to teach religion as they see fit with no clear directions from the Ministry of Education about the content and the way in which these courses should be taught. In addition, Lebanon's disputatious political culture, (4) which is mirrored, partly at least, in a scattered nugget of history textbooks, (5) invites speculations about the capability of schools' policies and pract ices to promote inter-group learning through the history curriculum. The scantiness of data on how private-run confessional school policies and practices respond to pluralism through inter-group learning in the history and religion curricula, indicate the need for systematic research on the effectiveness of these schools in preparing students for life in plural Lebanon.

Pluralism in Lebanon requires more than acknowledging or celebrating diversity. It requires bringing about mutual respect and empathy through accentuating and teaching about commonality as well as differences among students, through an inter-group learning process. Studies on inter-group learning have shown that the more children learn about each other religious and cultural differences, the less negativism they will have toward other groups. (6) Studies have also shown that by exposing students to knowledge about diversity and the contributions of various groups to culture and civilization, educators in the social studies such as history, religion and civics may change negative group stereotypes, reduce intolerance, and enhance cooperation for the common good. (7) Experience in Lebanon pressures for history and religion curricula capable of promoting mutual understanding among students from different backgrounds.

This study examines the extent to which confessional school policies and practices foster inter-group learning among students through history teaching and religious instruction. However, it would be impossible to understand the policies and practices of confessional schools without a reference to the broader historical context of Lebanon's educational system.

THE SURVIVING LEGACY OF THE PAST: FREEDOM OF EDUCATION

The most obvious surviving legacy of the past that pertains to Lebanon's present educational system is freedom of education. Under the Ottoman-French Concordat of 1516, Suleiman the Magnificent granted France a Capitulation Right in cultural and economic affairs that allowed it to introduce the early foundations of Western philosophies of education in the Levant. Later on, the benign mle of Ibrahim Pasha (1831-1840) created favorable political conditions that facilitated the establishment of private schools in Mount Lebanon by both Jesuit and Protestant missionaries. (8) Encouraged by the vigorous efforts of Anglo-French missionaries to spread education in Mount Lebanon, Christian Maronites moved toward establishing their own schools.

Under the Ottoman administrative reforms known as al-Tanzimat 1839-1876), (9) which took place under the subsequent reigns of both Rashid Pasha and All Pasha, Christian communities were accorded substantial citizenship rights that placed them on a par with Muslims. (10) These rights allowed Christian communities in Mount Lebanon to establish educational institutions. Challenged by the proliferation of both foreign and Christian schools in Mount Lebanon, and in an attempt to ward off the possibility of a perceived Western cultural encroachment on Muslims, the Sunni and Druze founded their own schools. (11) The Shi'i remained the only confessional community that took no central part in the educational movement of the time. (12)

Political developments under the French Mandate of Lebanon accentuated the process of broadening the power-base of confessional communities in educational affairs. Ironically, when France declared Greater Lebanon as a potentially viable state in 1920, its mandatory authorities organized education along particularistic confessional lines and ignored its national secular role. (13) Article 10 of Lebanese Constitution of May 23, 1926 echoed Article 8 of the French Mandate by according confessional communities the right to run their own private schools, provided they did not infringe on public order. (14)

The stipulation of Article 10 of the Constitution reflected the desire of leading political and confessional circles to put the socialization process of schoolchildren in "private hands" with minimal state authority over private schools.

With the establishment of the government-run public schools, however, Lebanon's school system became complete, though diversified since it accommodated private schools. It was in that atmosphere of diversified school sub-systems that the first post-independence government appeared as a potential definer of the national role of education. Consequently, the national political objective of the first Lebanese government after independence in 1943 was to obliterate the educational and cultural imprints of the French Mandate. In tandem with this objective, the government sought to expunge the French supervision and inspection scheme of private schools, both confessional and foreign. Section 18 of Decree 1436 dated 23 March 1950 requested that all private schools be subject to the supervision of the Ministry of Education without stating what to supervise or how to supervise them. Overall, political disagreements among confessional communities over issues of national identity and foreign policy culminating into a ful l-fledged civil war in 1958 that prevented the Ministry of Education from realizing its post-independence attempts to nationalize education.

On 16 January 1959, one year after the conclusion of the 1958 civil war, the Lebanese government relinquished its supervision and inspection policies that were promulgated shortly after independence. Private school inspection was no longer the direct responsibility of the Ministry of Education. Section 40 of Decree number 2869 accorded the right to the Governors (Muhafizeen) of Lebanon's six Governorates (Muhafazat) the right to inspect public schools and supervise the private ones. Under this arrangement, the government entertained only a nominal administrative authority over private schools. As a result, the role of education entered into a state of political moratorium within the boundaries of the 1946 National Pact (15) which accentuated consociationalism as a "fair weather model" (16) of political settlement or a sort of "live and let live" pattern of multi-communal coexistence.

Perplexed by the politics of consociationalism, the Ministry of Education failed to express or even to maintain a consistent educational policy. For instance, Section 13 of Decree number 1436 of March 1950 stipulated that "...the curriculum in the private, national, and foreign schools should be the national one." However, it added "...directors of these schools can choose techniques of teaching and add subject matters not included in the national curriculum as they see fit." Private schools were thus able substantially to decide on what is taught and how. More interestingly, the fact that section 13 of Decree 1436 required that only approved books by the Minister of Education be used to teach Lebanese history, textbooks on the history of countries other than Lebanon did not require the consent of the Minister of Education. This situation served to expose students in private schools to conflicting patterns of political socialization. (17)

On the eve of the protracted 1975-90 war, and for the first time in Lebanon's modem political history, confessional communities explicitly expressed their desire to alter the state of oblivion circumscribing the role of education. The Permanent Congress of Superiors General of the Lebanese Monastic Maronite Orders, for instance, released a communique to the public pronouncing a new liberal educational model in Lebanon that purported to support cultural pluralism. It stated that Lebanon's educational system should arm the citizen with the possibility of connecting history with world cultures. (18) On the other hand, the working paper of the Supreme Muslim Shi'i Council called for a standardized educational system emphasizing the national Arab heritage and culture. (19) A similar position was endorsed by the Sunni Muslim paper, which requested that Arabism in Lebanon be established once for all.

A close examination into the various communiques articulated by the confessional communities revealed three salient features underlining the role of education. First, the insistence of Muslim Shi'i and Sunni on the 'ultra Arabic' political character of Lebanon as opposed to the Christian Maronite 'plural model' of education, reflected two traditionally opposed ideological stances: Muslims calling for cultural homogeneity, while Christians championing cultural heterogeneity. (20) Second, the various confessional communities stripped legitimacy from the government's educational mandate by warding off its role in considering their communiques. Third, and foremost, the various communiques reflected a collective political desire that aimed to explore viable alternative solutions to the indecisive role of education. Unfortunately, Lebanon's protracted 1975-90 war thwarted the various attempts to define the role of education.

EDUCATIONAL TRANSFORMATIONS UNDER THE TA'IF AGREEMENT

Tormented by a devastating war, which brought about the near collapse of the state, Lebanon's educational system became a "mirror of a fractured national image." (21) With the official conclusion of the civil war by the Ta'if agreement in 1989, Lebanon's 1968 educational system was placed under a comprehensive reform plan. The initial educational reform, known as the Educational Development Plan (Khutat Al-Nuhood Al-Tarbawi), was approved by the Chamber of Ministers by decision number 26, dated 10 November 1993. On 8 May 1994, the Minister of Education and Sports enunciated both the objectives and content of the plan.

The preamble of the Educational Development Plan accented a number of key political issues. More specifically, it laid emphasis on national upbringing through breeding of essential values like democracy, tolerance and elimination of violence. Furthermore, it called for national integration through three main objectives: (i) to standardize history and civics textbooks and make their teaching mandatory in all schools; (ii) to protect private education; (iii) to reinforce the public sector of education. (22)

Many confessional orders and educational policymakers opposed the objectives of the Educational Development Plan on the grounds that it was unrealistic and was a replica of the Jordanian curriculum. The Coordinator of the Catholic Schools in Lebanon said:

"The plan came from above. It was driven from the Jordanian educational system, embellished and then introduced into Lebanon. They allocated for it a huge budget, which supercedes the capacity of great countries. How can Lebanon with its economic problems secure such an enormous budget? Such a plan aimed to limit the role of private sector and control it. It was a replica of the Syrian educational system." (23)

The policymaker added: "...for the first time ever in Lebanon all educational institutions were united against the plan....Muslims, Christians, all." (24) Under increasing pressure from confessional communities to abdicate the plan, the Lebanese Parliament disapproved the Educational Development Plan in 1994 and on 25 October 1995, the Chamber of Ministers replaced it by the New Framework of Education in Lebanon (Al-Haikaliah Al-Jadida Li Al-Taleem Fi Lubnan).

The New Framework for Education in Lebanon represented a tectonic shifting from the political objectives accented by the Education Development Plan to the recognition of the structure, content and styles of pedagogy of Lebanon's curriculum. In particular, it saw that the static educational curricula in Lebanon since 1968 had to be revised. More specifically, it stated that Decrees 9099 and 9100 dated 8 January 1968 besides Decree 2150 and 2151 dated 6 November 1971 did not have clear educational objectives of each educational cycle. In addition, it regarded that Lebanon's 1968 curriculum was informative rather than formative since it did not promote group-work and discovery learning. (25) More importantly was that the government enunciated that "Participation in the social and political life within the spectrum of the Lebanese democratic and parliamentary system is a right and duty of all people." (26) As a result, a joint committee comprising university professors, policymakers from private and public school s, and education policymakers from the Center for Educational Research and Development (CERD) developed the New Framework for Education in Lebanon, which was officially endorsed by virtue of Legislative Decree 12227, dated May 1997.

Undoubtedly, educational reforms in Lebanon have made important strides by capitalizing the curriculum on technology, setting up new public schools, initiating teacher-training sessions, building up a new educational ladder and changing both the content and styles of pedagogy of the 1968 curriculum. Despite these developments, the New Framework for Education in Lebanon did not produce a standardized history textbook accepted by confessional communities in Lebanon. In addition, as alluded to earlier, religion courses were not embedded in the New Framework for Education. Hence, Lebanon is still in need of history and religion curricula capable of addressing Lebanon's plural needs. Recent research has convinced educationalists that the Social Sciences curricula in schools occupy a central position in the socialization process of schoolchildren. (27) Consistent with this finding, the history curriculum and religious instruction in Lebanon remain potential media for fostering mutual understanding among students fr om different backgrounds.

From the personal experience of one of the researchers of the present study, we believe that religious instruction is a pedagogical priority, particularly when it exposes students to multi-faith knowledge. (28) In addition, writing a history textbook relevant to Lebanon's cultural, social, and political needs is still possible. (29) However, it would seem impossible to yield positive examples as to how history and religion courses help promote inter-group understanding among students without appraising school policies and practices regarding these subject matters.

In concert with the objectives of the present study, the researchers seek to answer two questions:

1. To what extent do the policies and practices of individual confessional schools foster multi-faith and multi-cultural understand among students?

2. How much do students think they know about the beliefs and cultures of other people who belong to communities or religious groups different from their own?

METHOD

Background of the Research Project

The stimulus of the present study came from our desire to understand the policies and practices of confessional schools in the areas of history and religion and consequently, to bring forward the idea of multicultural education to the agenda of the educational policymaking process. (30) In addition, after reviewing the extant literature on education in Lebanon, we did not find any study conducted to-date that concerned itself with the analyses of the policies and practices of confessional schools in the areas of history teaching and religious instruction.

The present study was conducted in seven private-run confessional schools during the school year 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 respectively. The first part of the study aimed to update previous studies on history teaching that were conducted before the introduction of the new curriculum (31) In the second phase of data collection, which is the concern of the current investigation, we expanded our research to analyze whether the school policies and practices pertaining to religious instruction and history teaching were conducive to the fostering of multi-faith and inter-group understanding among schoolchildren. Furthermore, we verified our analyses of school policies and practices by examining student attitudes to knowledge about others.

Criteria for Selecting Schools

Seven private-run confessional schools were selected for the study. As Smith and Tomlinson observe, there is a great deal of difficulty in matching schools in a sample of this kind.32 However, such matching is important when comparability is a central objective of the study. The present study required that all schools in the sample should belong to and run by different confessional communities. Before data collection, the principal investigator requested educational decision-makers to identify which schools would respond to the challenge of religious instruction and history teaching. After having schools identified, the directors of these schools were approached and accessibility obtained.

To preserve anonymity, the names of different trees were given to the participating schools. The school sample fell into two major categories: Christian and Muslim.

Four of the seven schools (Cedar, Pine, Elm, and Beech) are run and administered by Christian sects. Cedar School is a K-12 co-educational Catholic diocesan school The school is affiliated to a large chain of ecclesiastical private schools supervised and administered by a Maronite religious board known as the Block of Catholic Schools in Lebanon. It was founded on 23 September 1963, by the Archbishop of the Maronite diocese with the help of Jesuit missionaries in Ohio, the United States. The school is situated in a predominantly Christian Maronite area to the northeast of the capital Beirut. According to the registrar's office, Cedar School housed 2,183 students during the academic year 2000/2001, of whom 12 (0.5%) students were Sunni, 1,823 (83.5%) Maronites, 347 (15.9%) Greek Orthodox, and 1 Latin.

American Protestant missionaries to Syria and Lebanon established Pine School in 1928. However, 1935 marked the year of the official foundation of the school. The Board of the National Synod of Syria and Lebanon has governed the school since October, 1959. The school is situated in a predominantly Christian area. In the academic year 2000/2001, the school housed 1,094 students, of whom 432 (39.5%) were Maronites, 381 (34.5%) were Greek Orthodox, 256 (23.4%) Evangelical Protestants, and 25 (2.3%) Muslim Sunni.

The third Christian school in the sample is Beech School, which belongs to the Greek Orthodox Bishopric of Beirut. Historically, the establishment of the Greek Orthodox schools in Lebanon began in the 19th century for the education of the Greek Orthodox community. At that time, the Catholic and Protestant missionaries' educational activities had been soliciting Greek Orthodox Christians to join their schools. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch complained to the Pope about the activities of the Catholic missionaries in proselytizing Greek Orthodox students to Catholicism. (33) Consequently, the establishment of Beech School aimed to circumvent proselytizing Greek Orthodox students into Catholicism. The school is situated in a predominantly Christian district in Beirut and mostly serves the Greek Orthodox community. During the academic year 2000/200 1 the school housed 1,450 students, of whom 1,410 (97.2%) were Christians and 40 (2.76%) Muslims.

The establishment of the fourth school, Elm School, aimed at raising Armenian children along Armenian national and cultural lines. The school was founded in 1960 for intermediate classes. In 1964 secondary classes were added to accommodate for the needs emerging from the additional influx of Armenians from the economically deprived areas of Lebanon and the Beirut suburbs. According to the registrar's office, during the academic year 2000/2001, Elm School housed 310 students all of whom were Armenian Orthodox.

In the Muslim school category, three schools participated: Ash, Yew, and Oak. Ash School was founded on 16 July 1887, by a group of philanthropic citizens to provide education to the Sunni and to counter Western models of education, as cited in the school's prospectus. Its immediate target area is mainly middle class Sunni. According to the registrar's office, during the school year 2000/2001, Ash School housed 411(98.3%) Sunni students, 2 (0.5%) Druze, and 5 (1.2%) Shi'i.

Yew School was established to serve what Theroux (34) described as the largest and poorest confessional community of Lebanon, the Shi'i. The Shi'i social and political demands for equality have been ignored by Lebanon's political system since the inception of the Lebanese Republic in 1926. The Shi'i community has attempted to eradicate its "second class" standing by founding its own schools and capitalizing on the cultural and social accomplishments contrived by other confessional communities in Lebanon. Eventually, the Shi'i community founded the Amelia Charitable Organization, which has administered Yew School since its establishment on 24 April 1941. During the school year 2000/2001, of the students enrolled in the school, only 28 were Sunni and the rest were Shi'i. Finally, the Druze Charitable Organization, Irfan, founded Oak School in 1973 to provide social and educational services to the Druze community of Mount Lebanon. In the school year 2000/2001, the school housed 723 Druze students.

Participants

This study attempted to survey the perceptions and experiences of educational decision-makers, history teachers and students. Fourteen educational decision-makers of confessional schools were interviewed, 5 decision-makers from the Center of Educational Research and Development (CERD), 7 history teachers, and 236 students enrolled in the secondary cycle. Our student sample composed of 111(47%) males and 125 (53%) females. Forty-eight (20.3%) students were Christian Maronites, 58 (24.6%) Greek Orthodox, 17 (7.2%) Armenian Orthodox, 50 (21.2%) Muslim Sunni, 40 (16.9%) Muslim Shi'i, and 23 (9.7%) Druze. The purpose behind interviewing such a variety of respondents was to facilitate the collection of a wide range of views on history teaching and religious instruction in confessional schools.

The sampling process for this study was an admixture of the controlled and the opportunistic techniques. (35) The study required that all educational decision-makers of confessional schools were involved in the policymaking and educational planning processes, besides being committee members engaged in the writing of the New Framework for Education in Lebanon. The selection of educational decision-makers of confessional schools was based on the controlled sampling technique. In addition, suitable respondents have conditioned our sampling selection process of education decision-makers from the Center for Educational Research and Development (CERD) by availability. Five out of eight educational decision-makers were available for the interview. Those five were members in an educational committee formed by the CERD in 1995 to design the new national curriculum. In addition, the researchers interviewed 26 students from the seven schools participating in the study.

Interviews

Individual interviews were chosen as one of the most important sources of case study information. (36) The need to allow respondents to express their views freely, and occasionally in detail, while maintaining direction and time-management, necessitated the adoption of a semi-structured interview.

Three main perspectives shaped the interviews: the perspective of history and religion teachers, the student perspective, and the views of educational decision-makers. Three interview schedules were laid out, one for each sample in the study. In addition, three sources were brought together to construct the interview items: the opinion of colleagues on the subject, guidance from school prospectuses and policy papers, and the literature pertaining to political and social fragmentation in Lebanon. (37)

Before collecting the data, pilot runs were conducted with 7 respondents outside the main sample frame to establish the reliability of the interviewing schedules and to ensure the clarity of the items and their usefulness in gathering relevant information. The fact that the protracted 1975-90 war has left its distinctive marks on the quality of inter-group relations in Lebanon, questions that may rekindle war-related memories were avoided. For example, to a question on the problems of confessionalism in Lebanon, an interviewee said "It's a shame to ask this question after more sixteen years of war." In order to avoid sensitive questions, the researchers asked respondents about their views on pluralist experiences in other countries and requested them to relate their views to the Lebanese context afterwards. Because interview items were carefully and tactfully designed, the data generated from them were more likely to be meaningful to the study.

The interview items sought to obtain information related to the policies of confessional schools towards mutual learning and multi-faith understanding. In addition, history teachers were invited to report on the time they spent on the lessons, the various interpretations they gave to historical events, and their attitudes to multi-faith and multicultural learning. The information received from history and religion teachers were verified and supplemented by students' attitudes towards the content of their history textbooks and their perceptions on how they thought religion and history subjects helped them understand others' religions and cultures. The interviewing questions for the educational decision-makers sought to understand their views on school educational policies regarding multicultural and multi-faith learning.

Questionnaire

In addition to interviews, a questionnaire was administered to 236 students. The questionnaire was adapted from a study on ethnic relations in schools (38) and from pertinent literature on inter-group relationships in Lebanon. (39) The first part of the questionnaire recorded students' background information such as religion, parents' educational level, and gender. The second part invited students to say how much they thought they knew about the beliefs and life styles of people who belonged to religious groups different from their own; and how much other students knew about them.

Procedure

The researchers conducted interviews with schoolteachers, education policymakers, school directors, and students in a mood of strict confidentiality. In addition, the researchers anonymously administered the questionnaire to students during class-time.

LIMITATIONS

Due to the sensitive nature of history teaching and religious instruction in Lebanon, we felt that our study was digging up something that many schoolteachers and policymakers preferred to remain buried. Therefore, the researchers were not free to obtain a random sample of schools. Instead, we had to ask influential policymakers to suggest to us which schools they felt were ready to participate in the study. In addition, during interviews, many students were more likely to give poetic and absurd answers rather than answering the questions directly. For example, to a question on how much students thought the history textbook helped them understand the history of the various Lebanese communities, a student said, "Lebanon is in the sky and its history is everywhere."

From another perspective, our analyses of religious instruction in the research schools were limited to Ash, Yew, Cedar, and Pine. Two schools (Beech and Elm) did not provide religious instruction since their affiliate churches offered Christian Education sessions to students on optional bases. In addition, we were not able to study religious instruction at Oak School owing to the secretive nature of the Druze faith. Furthermore, the fact that our student sample (n=236) was small and non-representative of the whole Lebanese student body, precluded us from making generalizations. Despite these limitations, the texture of data obtained from students, teachers, directors, and policymakers were useful in providing a picture about the state of history teaching and religious instruction in confessional schools in Lebanon.

DATA ANALYSIS

Interview data were tape-recorded and transcribed and then entered into the Ethnograph computer package for qualitative analyses. All the transcribed interviews were assorted into thematic units, each corresponding to a set of data obtained from interviewees. In addition, a chi-square [chi square] aimed to test for significant differences in student beliefs regarding their knowledge of life styles of people who belonged to religious groups different from their own and how much other students knew about them.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

History Teaching

The former General Director of the Ministry of Education gave a concise description of the state of history teaching in Lebanon. In his words:

History teaching in Lebanon is a malady. During the Ottoman rule history put emphasis on the Ottoman Empire. During the French mandate, it emphasized the history of France. It patterns [history teaching] after political domination.

Although Legislative Decree 1436 accords the right to the Ministry of Education to evaluate and approve history textbooks used by private schools, this procedure, however, has never been enforced. A decision-maker from the Center of Educational Research and Development said to the researchers that the Ministry of Education did not even have any information of the various history textbook content used by private schools. The result, he added, "has been a lack of uniformity in history teaching among the schools." However, our research schools used different textbooks, which were approved by the Ministry of Education (See Table 1).

Content analyses of history textbooks used by our research schools are not reported in the present study. (40)

Our interview data obtained from history teachers across our school sample identified a number of noticeable conflicting interpretations as to the historical leaders of Lebanon and the creation of Greater Lebanon by the French Mandate in 1920. Regarding the formation of Greater Lebanon, the history teachers at Cedar (Maronite) and Pine (Protestant) tended to be favorable to the French Mandate and inclined to perceive Greater Lebanon as having historical roots laid down by Fakhreddine. On the contrary, history teachers at Oak (Druze), Ash (Sunni), and Yew (Shi'i) considered Greater Lebanon as a scrambled French fabrication detached from the Arab hinterland. In describing the resistance against the Ottomans in Lebanon, the history teacher at Yew (Shi'i) School said:

Although it is not mentioned in the book for certain political reasons, it is common knowledge in history that some Muslims preferred the Ottoman rule to the French. This is attributed to religious factors. Some groups in Lebanon view the martyrs who faced the Ottomans as traitors while others see them as heroes.

The Maronite history teacher of Cedar School lamented the view which considered the martyrs as traitors who colluded against the Ottoman Empire. To him, the martyrs were national heroes. Besides the lack of uniformity in interpreting historical symbols among history teachers, there seemed to be additional factors that prevented the majority of schools from fostering inter-group learning through the history curriculum.

Although there was near-unanimity among history teachers across schools on the potential of history teaching for fostering inter-group knowledge, practical implementation of that potential was hindered by the overloaded national curriculum and the firm requirements of the national examinations. The history teacher at Ash (Sunni) School, for instance, said to the researchers: "The official history curriculum is demanding and we cannot teach our students everything. We have to be selective at times." Moreover, history teachers at Yew and Oak felt that the Ministry of Education together with their schools should play a role in contributing to students' understanding of histories and cultures other than their own. However, the recognition of history teachers to the imperative of inter-group learning, possibly genuine in itself, was also limited by the ideological background of Muslim schools, which were remote from the notion of pluralism articulated by the Phalange Party and the Congress of Superiors General of the Lebanese Monastic Orders. (41) By contrast, proponents of pluralism in Lebanon, mainly Maronites, endorsed the idea of cultural diversity in their schools. The Maronite educational decision-maker said to one of the researchers, "encouraging students to learn from each others' religious and historical backgrounds is at the heart of our educational objective." Cedar's history teacher professed his school's commitment to inter-group learning:

Though we are Maronites we do not teach the history of the Maronites because we are not an isolated community. Although each sect has its own version of history, our school offers cultural studies courses in order to give students an idea of how the confessional amalgam works in Lebanon.

Other school history teachers in the sample were supportive to inter-group learning carried out through the history curriculum, yet they tended to take a rather skeptical view about what their schools would do to transmit historical knowledge that promote inter-group learning among students. The history teacher of Beech School (Greek Orthodox) said to one of the researchers: "If the communal objectives in the country are not clear, what do you want me to teach my students whether they were Christians or Muslims?"

The wealth of material from interviews with history teachers, of which a small amount is reported here, was confirmed by data obtained from students. Students' perceptions of events were undoubtedly affected by the impact of the history curriculum. Interview data show that students at Elm School (Armenian orthodox) expressed little interest in Lebanese historical leaders and seemed to be more interested in the history of their lost homeland, Armenia. Another student in the school lamented what she regarded as the "bias in the official textbook, which neglected the Armenian Diaspora." In addition, interview data show that the majority of students at Cedar School (Maronite) considered the official textbook biased since it ignored the history of the Maronites. A student said, "the contribution of the Maronites to build up a citadel of freedom [Lebanon] in the region was overlooked by the book." To a question about students' understanding of the historical leader Fahkreddine, a Sunni student at Ash School said to one of the researchers: "I do not understand why we should study about dead people who did little to solve our problems." Other students at Cedar (Maronite) and Pine (Protestant) said to one of the researchers that the book used by their schools did not give enough information on Lebanese historical leaders and events.

In probing further students' attitudes to history textbooks used by their schools, students at Ash School (Sunni) leveled resentment against the overloaded nature of the curriculum not the textbook's content. Armenian students at Elm School who complained about memorizing dates and events that were presented in the official text shared this view. An Armenian student said, "Sometimes I have difficulties with history because it is in Arabic but I should memorize it to pass." Students at Oak (Druze) and Pine (Protestant) said that they were stressed by the bookish nature of the course. A student at Pine School described the history teaching as "bookish" and another student added, "We have to memorize everything even the silly details." With the exception of Armenian students, most of students in the sample showed more interest in the history of Lebanon than in other units and subjects in the book. When probed further, a student at Ash School (Sunni) said, "The history of Lebanon gives us grades more the other le ssons of the book." The history teacher at Ash School who said, "Students focus on chapters on Lebanon because they generate 60 percent of history grades in the official examinations" provided a good illustration on students' interest in Lebanese history. Furthermore, he bluntly added, "Students are interested in grades only."

The variations in students' perceptions to historical leaders and events cannot be attributed only to the history curriculum but to other factors that tend to intervene in their socialization process such as the role of the family. This view was shared by the Shi'i educational decision-maker who said to one of the researchers:

I do not think that we should blame lack of national consciousness among our students on education. I think that the family plays a greater role in their socialization than schools do.

Religious Instruction

The second area of investigation in the present study centered on the available policies and practices of religious instruction as pursued by confessional schools. Teaching religion in Lebanon remains largely the function of Sunday schools, churches, the family, and confessional schools. In the past, religious instruction was a component of the civics curriculum. In 1971, textbooks on civics laid emphases on aspects of citizenship such as the noble character of man, virtue, and respect of parental authority, and governmental institutions, while teaching religion remained the prerogative of confessional schools by virtue of Legislative Decree 1436.

In our school sample, analyses of religious instruction were limited to four schools, namely, Ash, Yew, Cedar, and Pine (See Limitations Section). The provision of religious instruction differs from one school to another, depending on their educational philosophies and the religious creeds. The establishment of Ash Schools (Sunni) in Lebanon falls in line with the attempts of the Sunni community to offer Islamic religion to students. The same is true for Yew School (Shi'i). By contrast, in Cedar (Maronite) and Pine (Protestant), no attempt is made to enforce the teaching of the Bible upon non-Christian students, despite the teaching of materials, which were fashioned after Christian traditions and teachings. Pine and Cedar were more likely to adopt an attitude of liberal education towards religion, while Muslim policymakers, who insisted on compulsory religious instruction, said that Quranic teachings should be introduced to all students since the Quran emphasizes moral attitudes, the Arabic language, and Ara b heritage.

Reviews of available handouts used in religion courses in our school sample (except Oak, Beech and Elm) show that Yew School (Shi'i) emphasizes the historical aspects of Shi'i and their ordeals. The text used was historical more than it was religious. On the other hand, teaching religion at Ash School (Sunni) emphasizes aspects of Islam from a Sunni perspective and calls, among other things, for tolerance and mutual acceptance of Christians, without introducing the Bible to students.

Religious instruction at Pine and Cedar did not follow a uniform practice. For example, religion courses at Cedar (Maronite) and Pine (Protestant) focused on ethical issues at the heart of the Christian faith. The Greek Orthodox Priest and director of Beech School (Greek Orthodox) did not welcome teaching the Christian ethics at Pine and Cedar schools since "it empties the message of salvation from the essence of Christian faith." To him, "ethical issues are something and religion is something else." Beech School (Greek Orthodox) did not provide religion courses to students; instead, students interested in religion were able to attend Christian education sessions in the Greek Orthodox Church on an optional basis.

From another perspective, school directors at Pine and Cedar were most willing to allow Muslim students to attend religion sessions; however, they were most unwilling to allow either parents or students to express the need to have Muslim practices in the school premises such as having a room for prayer. The director of Cedar School (Maronite) said to one of the researchers:

When Muslim parents come to us we tell them to remember where they are. I cannot deny my religion. This is a Maronite school. If they want Islamic education they can attend Muslim schools.

It became apparent from a variety of sources (mainly interview and school teachers and documentation) that the four schools lacked multi-faith understanding policies. None of the schools visited gave prayer facilities to students from other religious backgrounds, although religious festivals such as Christmas and Eid al-Fitr were acknowledged and activities for students arranged.

At the teaching level, schoolteachers spoke about the importance of respecting religious beliefs and practices. However, interview data obtained from school directors showed that their schools lacked policies dealing with the religious needs of students from different religions. In Cedar School, teachers felt that lack of multi-faith courses in their school was a measure for what he described as "conflict avoidance," despite their declared policies of promoting inter-group learning as enunciated by the school director--a virtual divorce between policies and practices. In addition, teachers at Ash School (Sunni) reported that their school was least likely to provide multi-faith courses because their school did not house Christian students. While our research schools did not provide multi-faith instruction, students documented a great eagerness to learn about each others' religion.

Student Attitudes

A questionnaire survey aimed to understand how students thought they knew about the beliefs and life styles of other students who belonged to religious groups different from their own; and how much other students knew about them. Table 2 shows the students' level of claimed knowledge about others' religious beliefs and life styles was modest with significant variations at (p < 0.001), leaning towards the do not know responses. No significant differences were found between student attitudes and their religions.

Students' responses towards knowledge about others were verified by interview data. To a question on why students did not think they knew much about others' religious beliefs and life styles, a number of students attributed their lack of knowledge about others to the failure of their schools to promote mutual learning. In addition, other students laid blame on the overloaded curriculum of their schools which prevented them from discussing issues outside the immediate scope of the curriculum.

Despite their little claimed knowledge about others, the majority of students showed a penchant towards knowing the beliefs of others with (p < 0.00 1), slanting toward the items that reflected their interest in learning from others and giving their opinions despite the presence of diversified ideas (See Table 3).

CONCLUSION

This study has provided a many-sided portrayal of confessional school practices towards history teaching and religious instruction as perceived by teachers, policymakers, directors, and students. Schools' preparedness to implement a curriculum for multi-faith understanding was limited, in particular, in the light of the distinct paucity of multi-faith or multicultural policies. Having wallowed in a continuous ideological quagmire since independence in 1943, Lebanon's confessional communities are still unprepared to deal with the challenges of pluralism through their educational practices, at least, in the areas of history teaching and religious instruction.

As reported by many schoolteachers, the lack of multi-faith policies in their schools was based on grounds of "conflict avoidance." Schools and policymakers should be aware of the fact that the opportunities for imparting students with non-conflict provoking multi-faith courses are plentiful. (42) Confessional schools, which failed to be cognizant of the tolerant behavior that students displayed (See Table 3), are perpetuating a negative attitude to religions and cultures, which students thought they did not understand (See Table 2).

Turning to history teaching, interview data, which portrayed students' complaints about the content of their history textbooks, reflected the failure of education in creating a collective national consciousness among schoolchildren. The new educational reforms initiated by the Ta'if agreement may have reduced the freedom on the part of schools to determine the content of history lessons. Surely, history lessons are learnt not only through formal teaching and the formal curriculum, but also implicitly in the way confessional schools are organized, and explicitly in the policies and priorities which each school adopts. The mentioning of many school directors that the requirements of the official curriculum blight the life chances of teaching aspects of multiculturalism is not a justifiable excuse. Schools can still seek opportunities available for extracurricular activities, especially those in which all students can learn from others' faiths, traditions, life styles, and histories.

A student in one of the research schools said to one of the researchers: "I enjoy getting to know people who tell me about themselves, what they do in church, at home, and what they know about us."

The above comment, which was typical in the research schools, gives us some encouragement in calling for the fostering of multi-faith and multicultural understanding among students. We suggest that, for any school in Lebanon to strive to embrace a comment of that sort and provide students with the opportunity to learn from each others' religions and beliefs, would be a worthy objective.

Table 1

Officially Approved History Books Used By The Seven Schools In The
Secondary Cycles

SCHOOL NAME              APPROVED BOOKS

Cedars (Maronite)        The Pictured Histoty
Beech (Greek Orthodox)   Modern Scientific History
Elm (Armenian orthodox)  The Complete in History
Ash (Sunni)              The Pictured History
Yew (Shi'i)              The Enlightening History
Oak (Druze)              Pictured History
Pine Protestant)         The Complete in History

Table 2

Frequency Distribution on Students Reporting Knowledge About Others

                                               Know a lot  Know little
                                               about some  about each
                                   Know a lot  of them     of them

How much do you think you know     30          57
 about others' religious beliefs   (12.7%)     (24.2%)     83
                                                           (35.2%)
Knowledge about life styles of     33          52          75
 different areas of Lebanon        (14%)       (22%)       (31.8%)

How much do you think others know  16          33          73
 about your religious beliefs      (6.8%)      (14.0%)     (30.9%)


                                   Do not     Know     [chi square]
                                   know much  Nothing  (df)

How much do you think you know
 about others' religious beliefs   44         22       49.13
                                   (18.6%)    (9.3%)   (4) **
Knowledge about life styles of     63         13       51.20
 different areas of Lebanon        (26.7%)    (5.5%)   (4) **

How much do you think others know  91         21       156.54
 about your religious beliefs      (38.6%)    (9.3%)   (4) **

** Significant at the 0.001 level

Table 3

Frequency Distribution of Learning About Others Items

                         Get To Know          Try To Convince
                         His/Her Beliefs And  Him/Her Of My
                         Acquaint Him/Her     Own Beliefs And
                         With Those Of        Life Style Because
                         Mine                 They Are Better
                                              Than His/Her


You have a               188                  13
discussion with an       (79.7%)              (5.5%)
Indian visiting Lebanon
about life styles and
beliefs: how do you
behave

                         My Blood Boils       I Prefer Not To
                         When Others Do       Participate In The
                         Not Admit That       Discussion And
                         They Are Wrong       Keep Ideas For
                                              Myself





A discussion about       43                   30
philosophical topic      (18.2%)              (18.2%)
took place in the
classroom: How do
your behave

                         Not Interested  [chi square](df)
                         Because
                         He/She Belongs
                         To A Different
                         Culture



You have a               31              382.5
discussion with an       (5.5%)          (3)
Indian visiting Lebanon
about life styles and
beliefs: how do you
behave

                         I Give My
                         Opinion
                         Despite The
                         Presence Of
                         Many
                         Diversified
                         Ideas Which I
                         Might Not
                         Approve Of

A discussion about       162             255.4
philosophical topic      (68.6%)         (3)
took place in the
classroom: How do
your behave

** Significant at the 0.001 level

ENDNOTES

(1.) These include the 1926 constitution, the Franco-Lebanese treaty of 1936, the National Pact of 1946.

(2.) Throughout this paper the authors use the term confessional communities rather than religious or sectarian ones. According to the New Penguin English Dictionary (1986, p. 190) a confessional community is an organized religious body that has a common creed.

(3.) The removal of a history textbook published by the CERD, by the Minister of Education Abdel Rahim Mrad on grounds that part of it detracts from national unity attests to the difficulties educational decision-makers face in agreeing on the course and direction of history teaching.

(4.) For a description about Lebanon's disputatious political culture, see Hilal Khashan, Inside the Lebanese Confessional Mind (Boston: University Press of America, 1992).

(5.) For content analyses data of history textbooks used by Lebanese schools, see Kamal Abouchedid and Ramzi Nasser, "The State of History Teaching in Private-run Confessional Schools in Lebanon: Implications for National Integration," Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies, 5 (2002):57-82.

(6.) Gajendra K. Verma, P. Zec, and G.D. Skinner, The Ethnic Crucible: Harmony and Hostility in Multi-Ethnic Schools (London: The Falmer Press, 1994). G. Nathan and R, Ueda, Ethnic groups in history textbooks (Washington, DC: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1983). J. Higham, Send These to Me: Immigrants in Urban America (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984). Gary Howard, "Multiethnic Education in Monocultural Schools," Education in the 1980s: Multi-ethnic Education, Edited by J. Banks (Washington, DC: National Education Association, 1981).

(7.) Edith King, Teaching Ethnic Awareness: Methods and Materials for the Elementary School (Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear Publishing Company, Inc., 1980). See also David Martin, "Ethnocentrism Revisited: Another Look at a Persistent Problem," Social Education 49 (1985): 604-609.

(8.) We have avoided a detailed description of the historical development of missionary schools in Mount Lebanon since these have been tackled by previous studies on politics in Lebanon. See Kamal Salibi, The Modem History of Lebanon (London: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1965).

(9.) The Tanzimat are administrative reforms that aimed to organize various aspects of Ottoman social and political life. For more reading on the subject, see Kamal Salibi, The Modern History of Lebanon (London: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1965).

(10.) The Hatti Humayan decree enacted in 1856 extended substantial citizenship rights to Christians in the Ottoman Empire. For more reading see Hilal Khashan, Arabs at the Crossroads: Political Identity and Nationalism (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000).

(11.) Archive material obtained by the principal researcher of the present study from Makassed Abdel Kader Kabbani School in 1996.

(12.) See Philip Hitti, Lebanon in History: From the Earliest Times to the Present (London: Saint Martin's Press, 1957).

(13.) Quoted by Muhammad Khalil, The Arab States and the Arab League: A Documentary. Record No.1. Constitutional Developments (Beirut: Khayat. 1962), p. 96. Article 8 of the French Mandate guaranteed the right of each community to maintain its own schools for the instruction of its own members in its own language, while conforming to general educational requirements imposed by the administration shall not be denied or impaired.

(14.) This article of the Constitution obfuscated definition of the phrase "Public Order;" hence it remained open to debate.

(15.) The National Pact is an unwritten agreement between Muslim Sunnis and Christian Maronites. This document accentuated the Arab face (Wajh Arabi) of Lebanon with a foreign policy of "neither east nor west" i.e., neither an alliance with a Western power, nor a union with the Arab hinterland.

(16.) For good a discussion on Lebanon's consociational political model, see Theoder Hanf, Coexistence in Wartime Lebanon: Decline of a State and the Rise of a Nation (London: I. B. Touris and Co. Ltd. Publishers, 1993).

(17.) Kamal Abouchedid and Ramzi Nasser. "The State of History Teaching in Private-rim Confessional Schools in Lebanon: Implications for National Integration," Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies, 5 (2002):57-82.

(18.) CEMAMA Reports, Religion, State, and Ideology (Center for the study of the Modern Arab World, 1975).

(19.) Al-Safir Daily Newspaper, 5 March 1975.

(20.) See Moshe Ma'oz. "Islamic-Arabism versus Pluralism." in N. Rhoodi (ed.). Inter-Group Accommodation in Plural Societies (London: Macmillan, 1978).

(21.) Munir Bashshur described the role of education in Lebanon as a Mirror of a Fractured National Image when Lebanese institutions bordered on complete disintegration. See M. Bashshur, "The Role of Education: A Mirror of a Fractured National Image" in Halim Barakat (ed.), Toward a Viable Lebanon (London: Croom Helm, 1988).

(22.) Section E of the Educational Development Plan, cited in Center for Educational Research and Development, Education Plan book, 1994.

(23.) Cited in Kamal Abouched, "Confessional Pluralism and Education Policies and Practices: Themes from the Lebanese Experience," 1997, p.242. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Manchester, UK.

(24.) Ibid

(25.) Center for Educational Research and Development, 1995.

(26.) The New Framework for Education in Lebanon, 1997, pp.34-35.

(27.) See Shrikant Dash and Richard G. Niemi, "Democratic Attitudes in Multicultural Settings: A Cross National Assessment of Political Socialization," Youth and Society, 23 (1992): 313-334.

(28.) One of the researchers of the present study has been teaching an undergraduate course on religion and social issues for the last three years at a private university in Lebanon. This course attracts Christian and Muslim students alike. At the beginning of the semester, Christian and Muslim students tend to cluster in a particular area in the classroom, separating themselves from each other. When the course instructor engaged his students in discussions on aspects of Christianity and Islam, they became increasingly interested in explaining their own religions and seemed to be eager to admit differences and explore similarities between them. As part of their evaluation of the course, many students reported that the course helped them challenge religious stereotypes and better understand notions of religious pluralism.

(29.) Many Lebanese politicians such as Walid Junblatt, Nasib Lahoud, and religious leaders such the Maronite Patriarch Nassrallah Sfeir are voicing the fact that the survivability of their country hinges upon tolerating pluralism.

(30.) While the term "multiculturalism" is regarded by many Lebanese enthusiastic proponents of "one state, one nation" as most unsatisfactory, as it encompasses the recognition of heterogeneity in Lebanese social fabric, in this study, multicultural education refers to students' understanding of each others' faiths, cultures, and histories.

(31.) See David Smock, and Ann Smock, The Politics of Pluralism. A Comparative Study of Lebanon and Ghana (New York: Elsevier Scientific Publishing, Inc., 1975).

(32.) D. J. Smith and Sally Tomlinson, The School Effect--A Study of Multi-racial Comprehensives (London: Policy Studies Institute, 1989).

(33.) Archives cited by N. Nawar, Wathaek Mm Tarikh Lubnan Al Hadith (Documents from the Modem History of Lebanon). (Beirut: Arab University, 1974).

(34.) Peter Theroux, The Strange Disappearance of Imam Moussa Al Sadr (London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1987).

(35.) Lewis Cohen and Lawrence Manion, Research Methods in Education, 2nd Edition (London: Croom Helm, 1994).

(36.) R. Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods (Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage Publications, 1994).

(37.) Hilal Khashan, Inside the Lebanese Confessional Mind (Boston: University Press of America, 1992).

(38.) G. K. Verma, P. Zec, and G. Skinner, The Ethnic Crucible: Harmony and Hostility in Multi-Ethnic Schools (London: The Falmer Press, 1994).

(39.) See endnote 29 above.

(40.) For detailed analyses on how the content of history textbooks differ from school to school, refer to endnote 17.

(41.) See the Shi'i and Sunni working papers on education in Lebanon as presented by CEMEM Reports in 1975, which utilized excerpts and quotes from an-Nahar and as-Safir newspapers.

(42.) See Richard Wiley, "Policy Responses in Education," in Maurice Craft, (ed.) Education and Cultural Plural ism (London: Falmer Press, 1984).

Kamal Abouchedid is Director of the Office of Tests, Measurements, and Evaluation, Notre Dame University, Lebanon; Ramzi Nasser is Assistant Professor at Bishop's University, Quebec, Canada Jeremy Van Blommestein is Assistant Professor of Sociology, Midwestern University, Wichita Falls, Texas.