Sunday, March 16, 2014
Congressional A (Omni Shoreham)
How do different educational experiences shape students’ attitudes? This paper addresses this question through 491 survey responses from high school juniors and seniors from two Bosnian cities: Brčko, administrative seat of multiethnic Brčko District, and Žepče, a mid-size town in central BiH that segregates Bosniak and Croat students at school, using a small hallway to divide the school building into ethnic halves. In March-April 2013, I administered an original survey to students in both cities, asking for opinions on their education and about members of their own and other ethnic groups in BiH. In this paper I analyze these surveys, determining what variations exist in students’ attitudes based on whether their educational experience was ethnically integrated or ethnically segregated. The role of the school is important in that often, public schools are neutral, shared spaces where students of differing ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds can come together to achieve a sense of mutual understanding—even when the surrounding community is otherwise stratified. Excepting Brčko, this is not the case in BiH.
This research occurs at a critical juncture in BiH’s post-conflict trajectory as it is now 18 years since the war ended. As the first generation of post-war Bosnians graduates from high school and transitions to full citizens of their country, it is important to understand how this generation perceives their country and their fellow citizens. This will allow us to better understand the effectiveness of peacebuilding strategies as well as to ascertain the role of education in that process.
