BAUXITE, Ark. — Bauxite’s Pine Haven Elementary social studies teacher Caty Douglas said her college degree comes down to making sure her kids know what's going on around them, teaching them the facts.
A sense of anxiety filled Douglas’ classroom Thursday after kids learned of the Iranian attack on Americans in Iraq this week following a U.S. airstrike killing a top Iranian general.
"I want them to have facts about what's really going on,” said Douglas.
Kids went to class with a lot of questions, mostly in fear.
So, Douglas gave them a rundown of what's going on between our nation and Iran by using class time to have Q&A’s.
“I've had a couple say, 'is World War 3 over?' I was like, 'that never happened,'” said Douglas. “I had one that said, 'so when I was on YouTube, it said this, this, and this.' I said, 'consider the source.'"
Her students mostly went into class with misinformation from social media.
"I thought there was just going to be another big war, and I’m nervous just thinking about it,” said Zoe Guillory, a 5th grader.
"I know at home they hear a lot of opinions, and that is fine,” said Douglas. “Their parents can have opinions, but I want them to know facts about what's going on. As long as we keep their trust, they'll come and ask us questions and we can give them the factual answers. And if we don’t know them, we can find it together.”