Oh, boy, is mama up in arms about the very brave principal of a school in Birmingham, England, who resigned under pressure from a Muslim-dominated school board when the board “pressed him to replace certain courses with Islamic and Arabic studies, segregate girls and boys and drop a citizenship class on tolerance and democracy in Britain.” (NYT, 12/8/2014, Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura)
Can you imagine such a thing happening in a SCHOOL, of all places?
I am putting in the link here because it is really unbelievable that this should happen, especially when, as the article states, there are 46 schools being scrutinized for Muslim influence to change curricula.
The one that really ticked off mama is that boys in one school are being given worksheets that say a wife has to obey her husband.
Oh, boy, you do not want to be around mama when she sees young kids being manipulated by adults who really ought to know better—are their kids in school to learn or what? To be taught to think for themselves or to bend to religious rules? To interact with kids of their age and find out how to fit into a social world where male, female, and anything else is what makes the world spin?
OH, man, (er..person), she is on the warpath!
But I am giving a big myow of hurrah to Mr. Balwant Bains, a Sikh and second-generation Briton, working for his country and for the young minds he seeks to broaden.
Please try to read the article and you will understand why mama is so disturbed. She has little respect for religions who seek to control with doctrinaire tenets.
But then, even I, a kitty, cannot think of one religion (maybe Unitarian?) that uses the ‘live and let live’ philosophy. A pity. So many human beings so afraid of others because their beliefs do not mesh. Schools are for universal teaching and should be non-denominational, in my book.
In bocca al lupo for Mr. Bains. May he find a fantastic job elsewhere in a place in which he does not have to be afraid of narrow-minded school boards or parents.
Heads in the covers, that’s where the school board heads are….
I, too, wish Mr. Bains well, wherever he lands, but I regret his departure. Those he has given up opposing will now have free rein to do everything he opposed. We are all the losers.
Don Carlos
Well, I think the Islamic knots will come to the comb one day and those kids will remember just who they lost and how much. Let’s hope.
And yes, he could have stayed and fought, but with his resignation, he drew attention to the school board controlling him and the kids.
It’s good to see that story getting some non UK coverage. When it broke, the way the media handled it ended up provoking some hard core racism, which added to the problem of course.
Mr Bain’s ex school isn’t the only one where these problems are happening. Censorship of learning is bad enough, but the way state education is now arranged in the UK, it’s also ripe for financial exploitation by the unethical.
Mr Bains must have gone through hell in that year, he is better out of it, somewhere where his talents, intelligence and humaneness is appreciated and can flourish.
As a kitty I think all religion needs to have a serious word with itself.
Miaow, peace, love, learning & mousies
Mungo xx
Well, as usual, you are a kind and dear friend and I appreciate your words, always. I hope, too, that that man has a good life somewhere with a great job that returns his kindness to his students.