Looking back at the nearly six weeks of missile alerts, sleepless nights, and bomb shelters in Israel, the greatest visible anxiety many of our students displayed this spring was not over the war. It was over AP exams.

High school students, mostly from American public schools in cities and towns across the US had made the lifechanging decision to enroll in a study abroad experience at our Alexander Muss High School in Israel.

These same teenagers had calmly slept in reinforced shelters, checked missile alert apps in the middle of the night, and listened to the distant booms of interceptions overhead. Yet weeks later, many appeared more distressed over AP exams than incoming missiles.

At first, I laughed at the irony. Then I realized what I was watching revealed far more about the culture that shaped these students than the students themselves. The missiles taught them perspective. The AP exam schedule revealed the culture they came from.

As Head of School at The Alexander Muss High School in Israel (Muss), I spent much of this spring watching sixty-seven American teenagers adapt to wartime reality with striking composure. When the latest fighting with Iran began, we moved students into protected shelters overnight, making it easier to manage their whereabouts. It was less disruptive than forcing teenagers to stumble half-awake from their rooms every time sirens shattered the calm of night.

From February 28 through the ceasefire on April 8, as Israel and........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)