- The article I chose to write about was Lesson On Islam Shuts Down Virginia School District. The Sherriff, who saw what was happening for what it was, which he described as “hateful”, exemplified helpful authority. In response, he increased patrols around the area of the school. This characteristic also came from the school administration because they stood behind their teacher who assigned the work and also made sure that the exercise would stay in the curriculum, but the words that where to be written would change. The “Christian” parents who threatened the school and its administration exaggerated what the true purpose of this assignment was. It shows just how biased and controlling the parents are. This group of people exemplified authoritarianism. They chose to threaten and harass other citizens of their community. Their positions as parents who are indicated to be devout Christians, as well as the selection of what was supposed to copied in calligraphy (the Shahada), gave them a platform to attempt to manipulate the school system to begin to do as they say regardless of whether their children become well rounded students or not. In addition, the administration no longer had the privilege to peacefully be employed without threat of harm.
- Karia Hill
Response to Lesson On Islam Shuts Down School District
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2 Responses to Response to Lesson On Islam Shuts Down School District
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I think the teacher genuinely wanted to expose the students to Islamic culture so that the students could see the origin of some of the things they use in their courses in school; she had a good purpose for her lesson plan. I do agree that parent exaggerated the situation and that they highly doubted the curriculum. Yes, the teacher might have went too far by making her female students wear an hijab but on the other hand, the parents did use their authority by making threats to people who like was stated were also “citizens of the community.”
It is completely absurd how the parents of the students reacted to what their children were being taught. Due to the lesson being about Islam and learning about it’s history and partaking in it, this caused disapproval of the parents towards the school’s faculty and administration. I agree that the authoritarianism was displayed by the “Christian” parents. Since they felt threatened that their offsprings were being converted to Islam, they themselves decided to threaten others. This event has caused a disruption to the Riverheads High School staff. The simple lesson of a teacher sadly led to a school closing down.