This article includes both aspects. “Authority” in case that the teacher took things in her hands like, forced female student Laurel Truxell to wear scarf even though she was not comfortable doing it. But it seems more authoritarianism to me because Virginia School district has to change their curriculum from beginning which led to these circumstances. According to my opinion, it should not be ignored that this is just education and giving such education in schools does not mean to force you to adopt another religion. Parents should understand this. And as mentioned in text “Neither these lessons, nor any other lesson in the world geography course, are an attempt at indoctrination to Islam or any other religion.” concludes that it was not done on purpose. However, teachers action must be taken into consideration as there was no need to force any student.
Hamza Khokhar
I agree that Cheryl LaPorte was wrong in forcing her students to participate in lessons they didn’t feel comfortable in. Her actions were a show of authority rather than authoritarianism as well because the curriculum is handed down by the school to be taught but her actions to enforce the lesson plan beyond the consent of the students is something she chose to do. She didn’t choose to do that for the purpose of order and control however.
I agree that the teacher, Cheryl LaPorte, tried to use the authority that her position afforded her over the students by pushing them to do things that made them uncomfortable. However, I believe that because she is the teacher she should be able to teach students about a variety of subjects especially those they are not familiar with which could make them feel uncomfortable. Her use of authority in this situation was semi-justified in that students may not always agree with what she teaches but they still must learn these things, she wasn’t justified in the way that she tried to make students experience the religion rather than just learning about it.
Elviris Rodriguez
I agree that perhaps the teacher did tried to use her authority to get the students to try on the head scarf. However, I feel that the people that demonstrate the power of authority and authoritarianism is not the teacher but the angry parents and the school board. Yes, the teacher was said to have force a student to wear the head scarf but I felt the parents were the one that over step their boundaries. It is understandable why they would feel angry but to threaten the school and create a sense of fear leading the school to shut down is an example of being oppressive. Using people’s fear to control the situation.
Wenne Zheng