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Open Discussion Topic:
Education Reform for a just Jerusalem

One area in which urban governance could use as a starting point towards a "just Jerusalem" is within the municipal schools. In addressing the youth of Jerusalem, municipal leaders could influence the perspectives of the youngest generation of inhabitants, catalyzing a social shift towards more accepting city. City leaders could address this issue from a combination of measures. The first of which would be electing a school board that would have Jewish, Muslim and Christian representatives. As the city is effectively divided by small pocket religiously homogeneous neighborhoods, it would be difficult for schools to become naturally "desegregated". I propose that a second measure to reform local schools be modelled after the United States busing measure (implemented after Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education decision) which enforced desegregation through planned integration. In a third measure, a new world culture or civilization course would be created, offering a history of world religions (not only those predominant in the area). Through these three measures, municipal leaders could inspire Jerusalem's youth to create their own 'just Jerusalem'.