When significant global events occur, teachers are often faced with the decision of how to address such topics in class — if they are mentioned at all. The United States and Israel launched major military strikes against Iran in late February 2026, targeting nuclear and military infrastructure. In a video posted on Truth Social, President Donald Trump explained the goal of the attacks as being to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime,” and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The attacks prompted Iranian drone and missile retaliation across the Middle East, targeting U.S. military bases. The attacks have raised fears of a wider regional war breaking out.
Addressing global events in class can result in mixed reactions from students, especially when it isn’t part of most curricula. Berkeley High School teachers approached this topic in different ways, with varying degrees of mention.
Entire class period spent discussing:
BHS teachers who spent an entire class period talking about the U.S. and Israel’s attack on Iran have used different methods to teach the issue. Marvin Nagel, a BHS sophomore, explained, “In my CAS (Communication Arts and Sciences) world history class, we covered the attack on Iran by filling out a packet on what’s happening. I thought it was a good way to learn it, although it was hard because the teacher wasn’t there that day to teach it first hand.”
Some teachers find it challenging to work around preexisting lesson plans when considering spending an entire class period on an unplanned subject. Alex Day, a BHS Universal Ninth Grade ethnic studies teacher, spent an entire class period talking about the U.S. and Israel’s military strikes on Iran. “I used two videos from different news outlets that summarized the most recent events,” Day wrote in an email to the Jacket. “This was a teacher-led part of a current events procedure that students do periodically in my class,” he said. He explained that his students had a variety of reactions to the lesson, ranging from “indifference to mild interest to outrage to support for the attacks,” he wrote.
Partial discussion during class:
Some teachers combined a lecture-style lesson with group and class discussions. This method “kept students engaged and allowed more ideas to form in students’ heads,” BHS sophomore Mera Alnawashi said. Alnawashi’s world history class covers current events once a week and had a 20-minute lesson on the U.S. and Israel’s attack on Iran. Her class practiced relating the new material back to World War I — the current topic in her class.
She wished the lesson could have been longer, however, saying, “I think if we spent the whole day talking about it, it would benefit our learning more because then we get the full picture, not just the main points of the situation. I also think that my teacher would have talked about Iran for longer if the curriculum allowed her more time.”
In some BHS classrooms, students are the ones who brought up the situation. Iain Agrell, a BHS sophomore, explained that after students brought it up in his history class, the teacher briefly spoke about it before returning to the lesson. “Given how early we are into the conflict, it is hard to say anything meaningful … Because of how brief the discussion was there wasn’t a distinct enough conversation about it to leave a lasting impact on me,” Agrell said.
Zero discussion during class:
In some BHS classrooms, the topic was not being mentioned at all, leaving some students wanting more information on the ongoing event. Bija Basu-Shein, a BHS freshman, explained that in middle school, her teachers talked about current events more. “Now in high school we are centered around a curriculum where there’s not much freedom for teachers to talk about other things,” Basu-Shein said.
Many students are sympathetic with teachers, understand that school curriculums often don’t allow the time to address these topics. “It’s an important current event, but I understand that teachers are busy and that they have their own agendas,” Henry Spencer-Mork, a BHS sophomore, said.
Another reason why some teachers avoid talking about global issues in classroom settings is because they may risk leading to in-class controversies. The attack on Iran can be seen as an especially controversial topic due to it’s involvement with Israel, which has a history as a controversial topic.
John Tobias, a BHS U.S. and World History teacher recognized the potential fear some teachers might have in addressing this particular event. “There’s forces in this community who are concerned about how Israel and Palestine is taught and so some teachers hesitate to teach Israel or Palestine at all or to even mention Israel,” he said.