How Schools Can Strengthen Trust and Solidarity

Last week, we witnessed a disturbing attack on the IDF’s judicial system during the hearing of soldiers suspected of raping a Nukhba terrorist. Shockingly, several Knesset members supported the attackers. This was not a political protest. The assailants were not challenging some courtroom decision or demanding a retrial. They were violently attacking the IDF’s courtroom for simply doing its job. The military’s judicial system is tasked with ensuring that the army operates within legal and ethical boundaries, serving the nation’s interests while upholding democratic principles and human rights. Safeguarding the rule of law amidst war is one of the most challenging charges for any lawyer or judge in Israel, requiring them to rise above spontaneous feelings of hatred or revenge toward those who have committed heinous crimes against our nation. And yet, unlike terrorist organizations, democracies are dedicated to the rule of law and the protection of human rights. This is non-negotiable. There is no small print. A democracy cannot simply decide that it is sometimes okay to rape. To preserve our social norms and rules, we must make sure that the democratic institutions protecting us have the authority and public trust to do so. We must trust our protectors to allow them to protect us.

This attack symbolizes the deep fracture and division within Israeli society. It represents a lack of trust between civilians and the military, between civilians and the judicial system, and between the attackers and the IDF court members trying to safeguard our ethical and moral standards. When Knesset members backed the assailants, their actions revealed a dangerous, self-destructive trend in our democracy, shattering the majority’s sense of trust and solidarity. But our democracy does not end here.

Trust and solidarity are the twin pillars upon which democracy is built. Our trust in the government and the national institutions (including parliament, courts, the government, and the army) is what allows those institutions to function. This trust protects us from one person or institution gaining excessive power and creates the delicate balance upon which democracy relies. But what does this trust mean in practice?

In a democratic state, citizens are required to know the system’s general framework: the rules and their own civic obligations. In return, they know they have the right to live in a community that is committed to their freedom and their well-being. In a healthy democracy, citizens should be able to trust the state to protect human rights, ensure equal civic rights, and safeguard their well-being regardless of gender, race, or political circumstances.

Solidarity is the idea of mutual support within a group: a bond that holds society together, making sense of our will to share resources. It means that we have each other’s backs. Solidarity is the understanding that even though we are different, our lives and our fates are intertwined.

Trust and solidarity often seem unrelated to the day-to-day practice of public institutions. But, in fact, public institutions and policies can either build or erode trust and solidarity; they can repair or deepen social divides. Therefore, we must proactively promote policies and practices that strive to repair social division and reduce political extremism. We should all be part of this social healing, and there are many ways to do so.

The example of schools is a good demonstration of the ways we can all be proactively involved. When we send our children to school for the first time, we trust that the educational system will be responsible for their safety and well-being. We trust the system to do everything possible to equip our children with the knowledge they need to develop and become active and productive citizens. As a democratic society, we also trust that the educational system will instill in our children the ethos that defines us as a nation. In Israel, this ethos is that Israel is the national home for the Jewish people, founded on democratic values that ​​uphold freedom, equality, and the sanctity of life. If we cannot trust the government to run the educational system in a way that protects our children’s well-being, development, and national values, it would be extremely difficult for us to send them to school. The feeling of exclusion and discrimination can become unbearable when we see other communities or sectors receiving more resources or choices. If we feel the system favors one sector over another – allocating more money, emphasizing certain values, or granting more freedom to educate according to certain beliefs and wishes while restricting others – distrust will spiral between the citizens and the government, communities, and individuals.

What does solidarity have to do with our children’s schools? As parents, many of us know how central our children’s school community becomes: the families of our children’s friends become our immediate community. In times of need, we turn to the school community for help. When our child has a fever, and we need a babysitter ASAP – who can we call? And when the school closes due to a dangerous virus or enemy, we lean on each other, not only for technical matters but also for advice, knowledge, and comfort. And when we feel that our children are not receiving what we expect from our school – we seek partners within the school community to help us address the gaps and needs. We find ourselves active on parent boards, creating our own ‘governance system’ to define the challenges and demand them from the ‘system.’ We do not just commiserate; we work to make sure our needs are addressed and our concerns are resolved, for “If democracy is about more people being able to realize their dreams, solidarity is about more people seeing each other’s dreams as part of their own.”[1]

You might say, “Great! If I ever find myself in government, I will make sure teachers instill trust and solidarity in all schools. But what can I do about this now?” Well, if we appreciate the importance of trust and solidarity in a democracy, we must be deliberate about nurturing them. We all play a role in sustaining or eroding our democracy, whether we realize it or not. There is no neutral ground in this matter.

Civil society is the public space where we ensure that our interests are protected. It is where we all participate in forming our nation and practice freedom and equality. In Israel, schools are often perceived as separate from civil society, as if they are institutions that should be isolated from the ‘public agora.’ This is especially the case for the public “Mamlachti” branch – the largest school branch in Israel (compared to the religious branch or the Arabic-speaking branch) – which is perceived to be ‘neutral.’

But can a school truly be neutral? What are we telling our children if we do not teach, learn, and discuss our moral and ethical principles in a democratic state? Religious schools openly commit to discussing current issues and teaching moral, ethical, and political ideas. So, what does it mean that in secular schools, these discussions are regarded as ‘dangerous’ or, at the very least, ‘outside of the authority of schools’? What kind of ‘neutrality’ is this, really?

The perception of schools as ‘neutral spaces’ isolated from the social or political sphere is not only wrong but dangerous. Keeping schools out of civic engagement cannot be an option in a democratic society. Like any other public institution, public schools must be explicitly designed to foster social connection, involvement, and solidarity. The fundamental ideas of our democracy must be addressed openly and continuously in schools. As members of civil society, we must actively ensure this.

Schools are a critical sphere of civic engagement. It is our responsibility to guarantee that schools discuss the ethos of the Declaration of Independence, practice equality, and protect the ideals of freedom and choice. We must ensure that schools engage our children in open and critical discussions about every aspect of their lives and that they understand and embrace the importance of upholding the rule of law as the foundation of trust in the state. The school community also has a responsibility to practice solidarity within the school: to ensure that the human rights of all students are protected, to actively seek ways to support the needs of all students and families, and to support teachers in their right and obligation to facilitate open and respectful discussions of social and democratic norms, cultural differences, and political dilemmas.

I use the education system as an ‘easy’ way to become civically involved. The tragic effects of our failure to proactively democratize this and other public systems are what we see today: a weakened society run by extremists, susceptible to misinformation, and pitted against each other. We must tirelessly seek ways to use public resources and infrastructure to foster social trust and solidarity. Schools are a good place to start.

[1] Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix, The One Idea That Could Save American Democracy, NYTimes, March 21, 2024