Examining -- and Shielding -- Current Events

Meanwhile, at least three teachers at a California school -- Villa Park High in Orange County, south of Los Angeles -- were placed on paid leave last week, allegedly for allowing students to watch the videotape of Berg's beheading, although not requiring them to do so, the Associated Press reported. A similar incident happened at a suburban San Diego high school.

Diamond Brooks, 12, a sixth-grader at Murray Hills Middle School in Howard County, said she appreciated the chance to express her opinions in class. "We need to know what is going on in Iraq and what they [the soldiers] are trying to accomplish there," she said. "We need to know when things are going wrong, too."

Her social studies teacher, Gonzalez, returned to teaching in November after serving for eight months in Iraq. He mentioned the events at Abu Ghraib prison during a portion of his class that he calls "Interesting Info," a time when he discusses topics including music, movies and current events.

He said he explained what happened without getting "too deep into it" and then let the students talk. "I always tell them to question what they see and read, because it is not always 100 percent accurate. . . . A lot of them were saying how wrong it was to degrade people and torture people. I talked a little bit about how it was kind of an information-getting technique and did that change their minds? And they said, 'No, it was still wrong.' "

Briar, who teaches at the private Norwood School in Bethesda, said his students voiced varied opinions. Some decried the abuse by American soldiers; others were concerned that an apology had not been issued by those responsible for the beheading of Berg.

Mary Ellen Dakin, a world literature and English composition teacher at Revere High School in Massachusetts, said she delved into the subject Friday in her sophomore classes by having students read about and discuss the concept of honor. Dakin said one student, Alicia Ago, wanted to know: "Who are these people? The people in the photos?"

When Dakin explained that they were detainees in Iraqi jails, Ago "wanted to know what they had done to be put into prison, and I said I wasn't sure; perhaps some had committed crimes," Dakin said. (A report by the International Committee for the Red Cross in February estimated that 70 to 90 percent of the detainees were arrested by mistake.)

"This seemed to reassure her that they deserved these punishments," Dakin said, "because she turned to a friend and said, 'So there. . . .' "

But Dakin recalled that Ago's friend, Kellyann Soye, said to the whole class: "I don't care what they did. We're supposed to be better than them, better than the people who hurt us, better than the people who cut off heads like that poor guy."

There was more discussion, plenty of additional questions. "None of us knew the answers," Dakin said.