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Transnational Learning Network

       Thirty one students answered the questions asked by the teachers and the delegates at the planning conference in Montargis. This study aims at confronting young people’s opinion on one subject in the six countries of the Comenius project. Here are the results of one class of the French school.  

      To the question:“ Do you think that Iraq is dangerous?”, we can observe that almost the majority of people are not sure whether Iraq is dangerous. In fact, 43% of the students chose this answer. There are as many people who agree as people who disagree (27% of the students of the class). Finally, only one person claims that Iraq is not dangerous at all. Nobody believes that Iraq is definitely dangerous.

In general, the danger that should represent Iraq is totally unknown by people, in fact we can understand that they are not well-informed. We could also conclude that in the whole, people have a tendency to think that Iraq is not really dangerous.

     To the question:” Is war against Iraq a necessity?”, nobody  answered that they strongly agree. Only one person claims war against Iraq is a necessity.10% of the students say they have no opinion about it. The majority of people disagree (47%) and it is fact that  40% of the students asked asserted their disagreement.

Contrary to the first question answers, people generally claim that that a war against Iraq will not be a necessity at all. It is clear that nobody except a minority of persons want a war.

     To the last question:” If there is a war against Iraq, which of  the following consequences are likely?”, we have the following results: Nobody thinks it will increase respect for the United Nations. Then, 23% of the students think it would bring a more human regime in Iraq. 58% of them argue it would cause oil shortage and increased economic crisis. 64% are convinced by the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons; 84% fear an extension of the conflict to other parts of the Middle East. To finish, around the whole class (93.5%) claim terrorist acts of reprisal would be a consequence.

      All things considered, most people have no opinion about the idea that Iraq is dangerous. We also distinguish two main opinions on “is was against Iraq a necessity?”: either people disagree with it, or they disagree strongly.

We can conclude that most people stand against Bush’s idea on war. Thanks to these results we can notice people have a pacifist attitude.

     Secondly, all the persons asked think terrorist acts of reprisal might happen, but also, they are afraid by an extension of the conflict to other parts of the Middle East. The majority of persons asked consider the use of nuclear chemical or biological weapons as a consequence that might happen. The oil shortage and the increased economic crisis would be the main fact resulting from war against Iraq.

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