Virginia School System closes for the day over threats bc of Islam homework

[BmorePat87]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/us/virginia-school-shut-islam-homework/index.html

So in a World Geography class, a teacher covers religions of the world. In the Islam lesson, there is an assignment from a third party test book. It has students attempt to copy some arabic calligraphy to see how complicated it is. The phrase was the Muslim statement of faith ("There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.").

Side note: as a teacher, I would not have had them write this, but rather some random phrase instead. That's actually what the principal said they will change this assignment to in the future.

Anyways, parents believed this was an attempt to convert their kids to Islam. There were a lot of angry parents demanding that the teacher be fired. Then the calls and emails came in... many from outside the area and many targeting the class. Law enforcement and the school system took these threats and decided they needed to close school for the day.

What makes people so irrational when it comes to religion? The school board's solution was absolutely reasonable, yet the threats come in?

[Au165]

(12-18-2015, 04:16 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/us/virginia-school-shut-islam-homework/index.html

So in a World Geography class, a teacher covers religions of the world. In the Islam lesson, there is an assignment from a third party test book. It has students attempt to copy some arabic calligraphy to see how complicated it is. The phrase was the Muslim statement of faith ("There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.").

Side note: as a teacher, I would not have had them write this, but rather some random phrase instead. That's actually what the principal said they will change this assignment to in the future.

Anyways, parents believed this was an attempt to convert their kids to Islam. There were a lot of angry parents demanding that the teacher be fired. Then the calls and emails came in... many from outside the area and many targeting the class. Law enforcement and the school system took these threats and decided they needed to close school for the day.

What makes people so irrational when it comes to religion? The school board's solution was absolutely reasonable, yet the threats come in?

I am not religious, my family has never been religious, yet I have never freaked out when religion was around in school. The pledge of allegiance references god, I didn't run around screaming the school is trying to force religion on me, I simply stood there and did it. When I was in HS the wrestling coach used to huddle everyone up and do a prayer before a match, I didn't freak out I simply stood there silently then went about my business. People for some reason act like when it comes to religion, simply uttering something they don't believe in is a push to brain wash them or their children.

The teacher pulled something out of a book, they said they wouldn't do it anymore. No harm no foul move on people.

[XenoMorph]

(12-18-2015, 04:16 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: What makes people so irrational when it comes to religion? The school board's solution was absolutely reasonable, yet the threats come in?

Nothing about religion seems rational...

[Benton]

(12-18-2015, 04:16 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/us/virginia-school-shut-islam-homework/index.html

So in a World Geography class, a teacher covers religions of the world. In the Islam lesson, there is an assignment from a third party test book. It has students attempt to copy some arabic calligraphy to see how complicated it is. The phrase was the Muslim statement of faith ("There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.").

Side note: as a teacher, I would not have had them write this, but rather some random phrase instead. That's actually what the principal said they will change this assignment to in the future.

Anyways, parents believed this was an attempt to convert their kids to Islam. There were a lot of angry parents demanding that the teacher be fired. Then the calls and emails came in... many from outside the area and many targeting the class. Law enforcement and the school system took these threats and decided they needed to close school for the day.

What makes people so irrational when it comes to religion? The school board's solution was absolutely reasonable, yet the threats come in?

The phrase was a poor choice. It wouldn't matter what religion, it's easy to take that the wrong way.

To the bold, I think it's just our times. People are overly irrational about everything. I merged in a merge lane yesterday — with about a car length between me and the car behind me — and I thought the guy was going to plow into me, he just started screaming and waiving his hands like an idiot.

[*Nately120*]

Islam is like crack...just one taste and you'll be a devoted follower FOR LIFE* They should probably close and demolish this school just to play it safe.




* life meaning 2 weeks because lord knows no Muslim can go longer than that without blowing himself up

[Mike M (the other one)]

(12-18-2015, 04:16 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/us/virginia-school-shut-islam-homework/index.html

So in a World Geography class, a teacher covers religions of the world. In the Islam lesson, there is an assignment from a third party test book. It has students attempt to copy some arabic calligraphy to see how complicated it is. The phrase was the Muslim statement of faith ("There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.").

Side note: as a teacher, I would not have had them write this, but rather some random phrase instead. That's actually what the principal said they will change this assignment to in the future.

Anyways, parents believed this was an attempt to convert their kids to Islam. There were a lot of angry parents demanding that the teacher be fired. Then the calls and emails came in... many from outside the area and many targeting the class. Law enforcement and the school system took these threats and decided they needed to close school for the day.

What makes people so irrational when it comes to religion? The school board's solution was absolutely reasonable, yet the threats come in?

Because those children just uttered a phrase that renounces their current faith and accepted Islam? Zona and some of the others will have to chime in on it.

It would be no different than if the teacher had them write a phrase that denounced all other faiths and welcomed Christ as their savior. The Muslims would be throwing as big a fit about it as the Christians are with this one.

The Solution was an acceptable one. Religion in school HAS TO remain as neutrally biased as possible.

[JustWinBaby]

(12-18-2015, 04:35 PM)Benton Wrote: The phrase was a poor choice. It wouldn't matter what religion, it's easy to take that the wrong way.

Taken out of a third party book...but what an odd choice for an example.  I don't know what it's supposed to accomplish, but certainly seem like it would have been a deliberate choice (of the third party/editor, not the teacher).

People of all faith's will take advantage of an opportunity like that, but it should never get past an editor to be allowed.  Bizarre, really.

[*bfine32*]

I would have to know the nature of the "threats" before I would call the reaction "irrational".

Matter of fact after glancing at the article it stated there were no threats.

[CKwi88]

Definitely one of those times that you look at it and think "did someone really think that that phrase was the best choice of material to copy?" Doesn't justify the absurd responses alleging that the teacher is trying to convert them, but come on, someone thought that it was a good idea? Really?

[GMDino]

(12-18-2015, 04:55 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: Because those children just uttered a phrase that renounces their current faith and accepted Islam? Zona and some of the others will have to chime in on it.

It would be no different than if the teacher had them write a phrase that denounced all other faiths and welcomed Christ as their savior. The Muslims would be throwing as big a fit about it as the Christians are with this one.

The Solution was an acceptable one. Religion in school HAS TO remain as neutrally biased as possible.

Is that like when the Mormons retroactively baptize dead people into their faith?

[StLucieBengal]

The teacher is an idiot. Why would you even attempt that lesson. Just asking for trouble.

Which begs the question .... Why is all religion in school bad Except when it's talking about Islam.

If you are going to force kids to write out there is no God but allah and Mohammed is the messenger of Allan. .... Then you should also be forcing them to write out christian phrases or any other relgion.

And when did writing in Arabic become a world history lesson? That sounds like the job of an intro to Arabic class. I don't seem to remember my foreign language being taught by the social studies department.

[Westwood Bengal]

The hypocrisy of christians is just stunning. And I love seeing them get their panties in a wad like this, since it shows exactly how tenuous their grip on reality is. Just a few words from a competing heap of dung, and they start crying like little girls.

If they are so confident in their faith, I would think this shouldn't be a problem.

[Belsnickel]

A few things about this that are being misrepresented in all of this:

First, the assignment was about the calligraphy art of Islam. Having them write a random phrase wouldn't fit the unit because this was about the religious art as a part of the culture. The students were not given a translation, nor were they asked to translate it. It was only for the artistic aspects of it. Claims that this was indoctrination are far fetched to say the least.

Next up, the reason this became a public matter is because this mother saw the assignment and flipped (the student had no problem with it) and called for a meeting with the superintendent. She met with the superintendent and the teacher, but after doing nothing but verbally attacking/berating the teacher the superintendent asked the teacher to leave. The mother in question has said, and is quoted in the local paper as saying, if the teacher had only stayed in the room they could have resolved the problem. I don't know about any of you, but if someone is doing nothing but attacking me that is not a conversation I'm going to have, and apparently the superintendent did not see the mother's actions as productive to problem solving. Because this woman did not get her way, she called the community meeting that started the ruckus and has stated the teacher was trying to indoctrinate the students.

Because of this, the school system received a number of communications. The ones of most concern were the ones threatening the life of the teacher. Of course, some of the more heinous threats involved rape, public beheading, torture, things like that. A lot of the threats were also contained in communications proclaiming the Christian faith. Many churches in the area, mine included, have signed a document of support for the teacher. This is the county south of where I live. I know residents there, I know alumni of the school this happened at, and teachers there. All of this is quite concerning to everyone there and the vast majority of folks I have heard from have shown support for the teacher and the school and have been very upset with what the mother has done. Everyone is just hoping that things will calm down over the holidays to they can get back to things in January.

I am in agreement that something else would have been a better choice, but since this was about Islamic calligraphy there wouldn't have been anything non0religious to choose. Poor choice to start with, completely overblown reactions to it all. The worst part, to me, is that the mother that started this ball rolling has said she has no regrets after the schools had to close because of death threats.

[masterpanthera_t]

Maybe calling for death threats etc., was over the line, but I don' t have a problem with opposing the content of what was being asked to be written. If the idea was to show that the calligraphy was difficult, well there needs to be a different way to do so than to ask people to write another religion's beliefs. And if no such way exists, then it's either stricken from the curriculum or simply a "this is considered to be difficult and we'll leave it at that" should suffice. In the same way one doesn't need to live the life of a monk (for a day or two or for a week), in order to understand the difficulty or any other aspect of a monk's life as a lesson in public school. If one chose this voluntarily, that's a different story.

[GMDino]

(12-18-2015, 07:26 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: The teacher is an idiot.  Why would you even attempt that lesson.  Just asking for trouble.    

Which begs the question .... Why is all religion in school bad Except when it's talking about Islam.  

If you are going to force kids to write out there is no God but allah and Mohammed is the messenger of Allan. ....   Then you should also be forcing them to write out christian phrases or any other relgion.    

And when did writing in Arabic become a world history lesson?   That sounds like the job of an intro to Arabic class.   I don't seem to remember my foreign language being taught by the social studies department.

You didn't read the original post...but please read Matt's post below yours.

Then try and come back and have a rational conversation.

[StLucieBengal]

(12-18-2015, 07:49 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: A few things about this that are being misrepresented in all of this:

First, the assignment was about the calligraphy art of Islam. Having them write a random phrase wouldn't fit the unit because this was about the religious art as a part of the culture. The students were not given a translation, nor were they asked to translate it. It was only for the artistic aspects of it. Claims that this was indoctrination are far fetched to say the least.

Next up, the reason this became a public matter is because this mother saw the assignment and flipped (the student had no problem with it) and called for a meeting with the superintendent. She met with the superintendent and the teacher, but after doing nothing but verbally attacking/berating the teacher the superintendent asked the teacher to leave. The mother in question has said, and is quoted in the local paper as saying, if the teacher had only stayed in the room they could have resolved the problem. I don't know about any of you, but if someone is doing nothing but attacking me that is not a conversation I'm going to have, and apparently the superintendent did not see the mother's actions as productive to problem solving. Because this woman did not get her way, she called the community meeting that started the ruckus and has stated the teacher was trying to indoctrinate the students.

Because of this, the school system received a number of communications. The ones of most concern were the ones threatening the life of the teacher. Of course, some of the more heinous threats involved rape, public beheading, torture, things like that. A lot of the threats were also contained in communications proclaiming the Christian faith. Many churches in the area, mine included, have signed a document of support for the teacher. This is the county south of where I live. I know residents there, I know alumni of the school this happened at, and teachers there. All of this is quite concerning to everyone there and the vast majority of folks I have heard from have shown support for the teacher and the school and have been very upset with what the mother has done. Everyone is just hoping that things will calm down over the holidays to they can get back to things in January.

I am in agreement that something else would have been a better choice, but since this was about Islamic calligraphy there wouldn't have been anything non0religious to choose. Poor choice to start with, completely overblown reactions to it all. The worst part, to me, is that the mother that started this ball rolling has said she has no regrets after the schools had to close because of death threats.

So when did the social studies department start teaching calligraphy skills?   I haven't been in a classroom for a few years but maybe Pat can let me know when the last time he taught any calligraphy.

The other stuff I can agree with you on.   This whole lesson just seems out of place and unnecessary.

[Rotobeast]

(12-18-2015, 10:57 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: So when did the social studies department start teaching writing skills?  

The other stuff I can agree with you on.   This whole lesson just seems out of place and unnecessary.

It's considered art, but same point none the less.

It's funny they are taking cursive writing out of studies, but this is deemed necessary.

[StLucieBengal]

(12-18-2015, 11:00 PM)Rotobeast Wrote: It's considered art, but same point none the less.

It's funny they are taking cursive writing out of studies, but this is deemed necessary.

Exactly. A ridiculous waste of time and resources.

[Belsnickel]

(12-18-2015, 10:57 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: So when did the social studies department start teaching calligraphy skills?   I haven't been in a classroom for a few years but maybe Pat can let me know when the last time he taught any calligraphy.

The other stuff I can agree with you on.   This whole lesson just seems out of place and unnecessary.

Social Studies involves the teaching of different cultures. Religion, art, these things are a part of that. I remember learning about these things in my SS classes in HS. It is a part of our SOLs.

[GMDino]

(12-18-2015, 11:03 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Social Studies involves the teaching of different cultures. Religion, art, these things are a part of that. I remember learning about these things in my SS classes in HS. It is a part of our SOLs.

"Yes, but Muslims.  And when Muslims Muslim then Muslim." ~ Lucy