Teachers at a primary school have been ordered to dress up as Muslims to promote multi-culturalism.
The West Midlands school is belatedly celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid and told its pupils and teachers to don traditional Muslim dress for the day.
All 257 pupils, most of whom are Christians, and 41 teachers - two of whom are Muslims - dressed up.
Muslim veil
Teachers were told to dress as Muslims to promote diversity at a primary school
A morning assembly was held to mark the event and an afternoon party was strictly for women only, because Muslim husbands object to wives mixing with other men.
Sally Bloomer, head of Rufford primary school in Lye, West Midlands, told The Sun: "I have not heard of any complaints. It's all part of a diversity project to promote multi-culturalism."
But a relative of one of the staff reportedly said: "Who would put their job on the line? They have been told they have to embrace the day to show their diversity. But they are not all happy."
I imagine what would happen if one day, as a part of the project, non-Christian children were told to celebrate Christmas.
Benjamin [inactive]
Re: Double standards?
KSa wrote:
Found on the Daily Mail website
In which case, I'd recommend taking this story with a pinch of salt this is the newspaper which claimed that the European Commission had banned curved bananas, afterall.
Quote:
Teachers at a primary school have been ordered to dress up as Muslims to promote multi-culturalism.
The West Midlands school is belatedly celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid and told its pupils and teachers to don traditional Muslim dress for the day.
I don't see what's supposed to be so shocking about this if it's supposed to be shocking at all. It's just clothes I regularly wear Nepalese shirts, for example.
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All 257 pupils, most of whom are Christians
I entirely doubt this. What the Daily Mail probably means is that most of the pupils are 'white' and are from nominally 'Christian' backgrounds.
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Teachers were told to dress as Muslims to promote diversity at a primary school
I've no objection to 'promoting diversity', though 'dressing up as Muslims' does seem like a rather eccentric idea (and one which admittedly could be offensive to some Muslims).
KSa wrote:
I imagine what would happen if one day, as a part of the project, non-Christian children were told to celebrate Christmas.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'non-Christian' in this context, but if I remember from when I was at primary school (which was only about 8 years ago), the virtually everyone did celebrate Christmas in some way, including Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs etc. I think the only person who didn't was a Jehovah's Witness, and that's a separate issue. Rightly or wrongly, Christmas isn't really associated very strongly with Christianity here anymore.
Ultimately, if parents object to their children celebrating Christmas, Eid, Diwali or whatever at school, or learning about religions, then they can be withdrawn from such activities.
KSa
Benjamin:
1. You live in the UK maybe you have any knowledge that would definetely deny this story - please give the link. That will end up the discussion. But supposing it was true:
2. I am not against promoting multiculturalism but it must not force anyone to do anything. That reminds me of the communist era in Poland and how we were forced to take part in the labour march on the 1st of May each year. Those who opposed underwent persecutions.
3. Once again: it is not shocking that they wore clothes - it is shocking they were forced to wear clothes.
Benjamin [inactive]
KSa wrote:
1. You live in the UK maybe you have any knowledge that would definetely deny this story - please give the link. That will end up the discussion.
I have no doubt that this story is true. I'm just saying that the Daily Mail approaches most things from a very conservative and reactionary viewpoint, which should be taken into account when reading anything in it. I'd say the same if this story has come from the Morning Star, even though its bias would be completely different (it's published by the Communist Party of Britain).
KSa wrote:
2. I am not against promoting multiculturalism but it must not force anyone to do anything. That reminds me of the communist era in Poland and how we were forced to take part in the labour march on the 1st of May each year. Those who opposed underwent persecutions.
3. Once again: it is not shocking that they wore clothes - it is shocking they were forced to wear clothes.
I'm not sure how you are inferring that they were 'forced' to do anything. As I said, parents can withdraw their children from these sorts of activities if they wish. I don't see how this is any different from how I 'had' to attend Christian assemblies (complete with Christian hymns and Christian prayers) every day at a state-run primary school for seven years, even though it wasn't even a Church school. But perhaps that sort of thing would remind you of the Communist era as well.
KSa
Benjamin wrote:
I'm not sure how you are inferring that they were 'forced' to do anything. As I said, parents can withdraw their children from these sorts of activities if they wish.
It is very unlikely that 100% of pupils and teachers willingly wear Muslim clothes without any pressure from the outside. I don't know what consequences might have been for the dissenters but the opinion "Who would put their jobs on the line" does not necessarily sound far-fetched in the light of the stories I have heard about what happens to those who don't comply with the political correctness rules.
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I don't see how this is any different from how I 'had' to attend Christian assemblies (complete with Christian hymns and Christian prayers) every day at a state-run primary school for seven years, even though it wasn't even a Church school. But perhaps that sort of thing would remind you of the Communist era as well.
Hymns, prayers, etc. are the remnants of the Christian tradition your country has experienced for centuries. I'm still surprised that it happens in the UK these days. I am almost sure that it's not very common. I am sure it does not do any harm either.
Benjamin [inactive]
KSa wrote:
It is very unlikely that 100% of pupils and teachers willingly wear Muslim clothes without any pressure from the outside.
I wouldn't know, as I don't know enough about the school in question. But rightly or wrongly, celebrating Eid in a state school is not illegal in the UK, though as I said, parents can withdraw their children from such activities if they wish.
KSa wrote:
I don't know what consequences might have been for the dissenters but the opinion "Who would put their jobs on the line" does not necessarily sound far-fetched in the light of the stories I have heard about what happens to those who don't comply with the political correctness rules.
If one of the members of staff had a rational objection to the activities then they should've voiced it. Seriously though, this article has not given enough information (deliberately, I'd imagine, considering the paper it's come from).
KSa wrote:
Hymns, prayers, etc. are the remnants of the Christian tradition your country has experienced for centuries.
That Christianity has existed in this region for longer than Islam does not, in my view, make it inherently more valuable. Besides, I grew up in Birmingham, where there are more practicing Muslims than practicing Christians anyway, not to mention Hindus, Sikhs and followers of other religions. If I'd grown up where I live now, for example, then I might have a different view of the importance of non-Christian religious traditions in the UK.
KSa wrote:
I'm still surprised that it happens in the UK these days.
It's actually the law. All state schools in England and Wales (at least; I don't think this law applies to Scotland* and I'm not sure about Northern Ireland) are theoretically obliged to have an act of worship every day 'primarily or broadly of a Christian nature', though schools can ask for permission to hold a different kind of worship if it would seem more appropriate in that particular school (there are some schools in Brighton where they regularly hold Buddhist meditation sessions, for example). However, in practice, this doesn't always happen, and the law tends not to be enforced probably most secondary schools do not meet this requirement. But I understand that it's still the norm in primary schools.
* Far more people in Scotland attend denominational schools (e.g. Church of Scotland or Roman Catholic) than in England and Wales which, in my view, does more harm than good.
KSa wrote:
I am sure it does not do any harm either.
No more or less so than celebrating Eid. As I suspected, you do support the imposition of religion in schools but only if the religion imposed is Christianity. Double standards?
greg in noord-frankrijk
Re: Double standards?
KSa wrote:
Found on the Daily Mail website
Quote:
Teachers at a primary school have been ordered to dress up as Muslims to promote multi-culturalism.
Quote:
Sally Bloomer, head of Rufford primary school in Lye, West Midlands, told The Sun: "I have not heard of any complaints. It's all part of a diversity project to promote multi-culturalism."
Would be interesting to learn how those enlightened people figured out what a "muslim dress" should be ...
And that Bloomer certainly mixed up "multiculturalism" with polystupidity : why didn't she go for circumcision or excision rather than fancy dress ? And while she's at it, is she considering any special dress-code for atheism ? She could also organise an orgy party because atheist debauchees love to watch their wives having intercourse with other men...
Cette histoire confine เ la d้bilit้ profonde !
Uriel
I think it's pretty odd that anyone would be asked to "dress up" as a member of a particular religion, as religion is such an individual matter. It's not like being asked to dress up as a fairy or a Lapplander, you know! I don't think that was a very good dispaly of judgment on the part of the school -- or, at least, it wouldn't be from an American perspective; Brits may be different in their views.
I can think of times when we had classroom exercises in other cultures and traditions, such as the time we were all divided up into Iroquois nations in 7th grade and given problems that we had to solve by consensus, or asked to bring food in wooden bowls to a big potluck. (Okay, the actual "potluck" was invented on the other side of the continent by the Northwest Indians -- let's call this a communal feast!) Other times in say, Spanish class, we did some Spanish cooking. We had to also pick historical figures, states, countries, and sometimes tribes and give reports on them, complete with visual aids and props; that was always fun. Those might be better ways to get into learning about diversity than playing dress-up.
Benjamin [inactive]
Re: Double standards?
greg in noord-frankrijk wrote:
She could also organise an orgy party because atheist debauchees love to watch their wives having intercourse with other men...
LOL. You're right though there would be major controversy if the teacher wanted their pupils to do a role play in order to learn about some much more minor 'religious' tradition. I'm thinking...
Good morning primary one. Today we're going to learn about Scientology by taking part in their religious practice of auditing, using an E-meter. This device sends an electric current through your body to measure its electrical resistance. This is because Scientologists believe that this measurement corresponds to our mind's mental mass and energy, which change when we think about something new or different. Now, get into pairs. One of you will hold the two metal cylinders, one in each hand, whilst the other of you will turn the E-meter on and look at the readings. If your partner has very irregular readings then, Scientologists believe, they are pre-clear. But if they have a very smooth reading, then they may have entered the Clear state, as it means that they must be in control of their thoughts.
