Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 January 2008
The last time members of the graduating class of 2008 lived in anation at peace, they were in the first month of their high schoolsophomore year. Because they are not subject to conscription;because the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being fought by aprofessional army that has separated itself in many respects fromcivil society; and because the government has asked little ofsociety in the way of sacrifice for the wars, today's undergraduateshave little direct experience of conflict, the armed forces, orthose people most affected by it. What do we teach students aboutthe war? Political scientists are often reluctant to teach currentevents—aside from the fact emotions can run high and classroomdiscussion can be hijacked by unproductive ideological debates, inreal-time we lack the kinds of patterned data that lend themselvesto systematic analysis and prediction.