this can lead to substandard materials or a shortage of learning materials. For example Palestinians schools often utilized outdated texts so that in order to get credit, a student would have to give an answer that was wrong in terms of reality, such as in the case of a question about a world leader or a nation that no longer exists (Alzaroo 2003). The issue of text material is only relevant when students in Palestine can get to school. School and check point closures and political unrest can make it very difficult to provide traumatized students with the kind of stable education environment necessary to minimize exhibition of symptoms in the classroom.
Research has also been done on Palestinian children to see if symptoms decreased over time and if there were factors that help to facilitate recovery from trauma. Mental flexibility, or the ability to continually reframe perception about the traumatic event in light of new information, is one factor that was found to be a common element in children who had lower symptoms and decreasing symptoms despite the ongoing nature of the traumatic stimulation (Punamaki, Qouta and El Sarraj, 2001). They found, however, that homelessness was one major factor leading to a slow recovery from trauma. Since the destruction of homes is a common element of war and natural disaster, the ability to provide some stability elsewhere, such as a school environment, is important so that citizens of ravaged areas can rebuild their lives with as many of their faculties in tact as possible. However, a study on school children after a hurricane in Hawaii ( Chemtob, Nakashima and Carlson, 2002) showed that though 44.4 % of the children affected by PTSD had suffered significant home damage and 18.5% of the PTSD children in the study suffered home destruction, all of the children in the study showed improvement of symptoms after treatment.
