Summary:
A world geography teacher from a school called Riverheads High School in Virginia shuts down after a homework assignment that caused controversy over religion and education. The assignment was for the students to copy a complex arabic phrase, to get a sense of how intricate the language is. The phrase itself said, “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah.” It was said that when students brought the assignment home, parents believed that this was a way of the school attempting to convert the students to Islam. The parents voiced their strong concerns, and wished for the teacher to be fired, even though the assignment was not made to influence the students’ religious beliefs. The school county was affected by the incident, and decided to remove Shahada from the course. Such a nasty backlash was coming from families through calls and emails to the school, that security was sent to the schools in the county. Eventually, several people kept their children out of the schools, which lead to the decision to close the schools down.
Questions: Do you believe the teacher’s intentions were to expose the students to the Islamic religion by having them copy the phrase, or was it randomly chosen? Are the parents prohibiting the teacher’s right of freedom of speech? How would you react to receiving the same assignment?
The teacher was not mean to influence student to belive in Islamic religion. It just a part of education of learning different cultural. I thinl parents are not prohibiting teacher's right of freedom of speech because they are just unhappy about the way teacher teach their children. I will complete the assignment but not going to belive in the Islamic religion because it just coping a phrase, no one is asking me to memorize it or believe in it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the parents' reaction, as well as the community's, was somewhat overblown and ridiculous. Additionally, it is my belief that the teacher chose the phrase at random without thinking in order to demonstrate to his students the complexity penmanship needed to create calligraphic texts. However, in hindsight, he should have probably researched what the text meant before putting it in as part of his assignment. I don't believe that the parents of these students are prohibiting the teacher's right to free speech but are simply voicing their concerns (by overreacting). If I was to receive the same assignment, I probably wouldn't have thought much of it other than the fact that it was simply another assignment.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is ridiculous that the teacher assigned this assignment. The United States is very sensitive right now about religion in schools and the fact that the teacher assigned this homework is appalling. If the teacher wanted to teach arabic, he/she could have used a different phrase. The teacher deliberately used a religious phrase that is obviously not appropriate at a public school. It would have been acceptable if the teacher used a different phrase. Freedom of speech is different from "forcing" students to write religious phrases for a homework assignment. I would be furious if I was assigned this homework assignment.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is ridiculous that the teacher assigned this assignment. The United States is very sensitive right now about religion in schools and the fact that the teacher assigned this homework is appalling. If the teacher wanted to teach arabic, he/she could have used a different phrase. The teacher deliberately used a religious phrase that is obviously not appropriate at a public school. It would have been acceptable if the teacher used a different phrase. Freedom of speech is different from "forcing" students to write religious phrases for a homework assignment. I would be furious if I was assigned this homework assignment.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't believe it was the teacher's intention to try and influence the children in any way, the phrase that they were meant to copy was poorly chosen. I don't believe that this homework assignment was a matter of speech, it was just the teacher's attempt to try and teach the students something. However, it would be vastly different if something like this was assigned to an easily impressionable demographic like preschoolers, where outrage might be understandable. Honestly, I wouldn't care if something like this was assigned for homework in high school.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher's actions were not the best for a public school and he/she should have chosen a different phrase. Although the phrase choice might have been a mistake, the teacher should follow the consequences. I believe that the parents did the right thing and were correctly using their rights because the school was public and thus has to be secular. If I had received the same assignment I would refuse to complete it and go to the teacher with my opinion. I wouldn't take it as far as to cause the closure of the whole school, but I would voice my concerns.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do not believe that it was the teacher's intention to influence the students, I do believe that the teacher could have chosen a less controversial phrase. I think the parents were right to voice their opinions if the teacher was trying to convert the students because then that would go against the Establishment Clause.
ReplyDeleteI agree with some of the students above, and think that the reaction was overblown. In my opinion, if the language was something like Japanese or chances, and they were given the same assignment the outcome would be drastically different. This outrage was a result of insensitive Americans that are over afraid of a stereotypical Islamic Terrorist threat. However, on the other side, I can also see why they gave them such a religious statement to copy, rather than another, but that should not matter. It was a traditional statement and copying that statement definitely got the point that the teacher was trying to relay. On the topic of free speech, I think that it is a limiting of free speech in the sense, that teachers are given free reign when teaching a subject, so they are allowed to teach what they see fit.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that the teacher who assigned this homework was trying to influence the students' religious views, but I can understand why the parents and students reacted the way they did. I think the reaction to close the school was a little intense, but the phrase the teacher chose to make the students copy was unacceptable.
ReplyDelete