6th grade feild trip to a Mosque

[meesterperfect]

In Buffalo, NY yesterday a 6th grade class in a public school went on a field trip to a Mosque Premium Link Upgrade .
During the field trip the students listened to readings from the Qur'an.
Now I'm all for enlightenment, but in this particular school you can not mention or celebrate Christmas, Easter or Halloween, or any Jewish holidays also.
So what was the reason and the motivation for this field trip?
Any opinions on this?

 

[Televangelist]

I think it works, IF AND ONLY IF there aren't really any Muslims in the school, and so it's a learning experience about a culture they might otherwise not have exposure to.

I went to a public school with a large Asian-American population, and thus a lot of **** who were (nominally) Buddhist. In that context, a field trip to a Buddhist temple shouldn't be on the schedule. But if there weren't really any buddhists in my school, a field trip might make more sense - introduce **** to something that's outside what they already know.

That said, this sounds like a tricky issue and one that raises a ton of thorny issues - if I were a school administrator, I'd say "Fuck it, that's way too risky" and probably wouldn't do it.

 

[KingShlong1757680925]

I'm sure more than a few parents were upset about that field trip.

I wouldn't mind going when I was ***...or my **** going if I had any.

 

[squallumz]

So what was the reason and the motivation for this field trip?

id probably guess to undo the ************ thats happening. i cant stand it. everyone has been conditioned to **** the middle eastern people. it really pisses me off.

but yes, there is a double standard of sorts. no christmas, no easter, etc. but its just a tiny bit different. still, i hear you.

 

[member006]

I would have loved to have seen a article on the trip itself. In my area nothing of religion in any form is allowed in the schools. Not talk, t shirts (ex. "What would Jesus Do"), bracelets not anything. I certainly can't even imagine a trip to any place of worship.

LL

 

[blakey]

id probably guess to undo the ************ thats happening. i cant stand it. everyone has been conditioned to **** the middle eastern people. it really pisses me off.
QUOTE]

well said
i can't see the problem here (aside from the issue of bringing one religion into schools without teaching/talking about others- or the banning of anything religious as LL refers to)

i think it would be a good thing for **** of all faiths & backgrounds got a little direct experience of other faiths
i've got a lot of muslim friends, have stayed at their homes & gone to their weddings, likewise people from different christian denominations from my own background etc

meeting other folks who are different from you is <in my experience> good, as you discover no matter where they are from, what colour they are or what faith they have people are people & there are plenty of good ones, and a few bad ones

- so i think, in the middle of the war on ****** when there are apparently plenty of people who think there's a lot of bad / evil in islam and / or the middle east, it's good that some ******** get the opportunity to meet muslims, have a look at how they worship, and see they're just regular joes, or mustaphas, like everyone else

 

[member006]

I would have loved to have seen a article on the trip itself. In my area nothing of religion in any form is allowed in the schools. Not talk, t shirts (ex. "What would Jesus Do"), bracelets not anything. I certainly can't even imagine a trip to any place of worship.

LL

For those interested, I went and found this. All other links I found were making what I feel to big of a deal out of the place and trying to spew "ulterior motives" not what I feel is the real issue. That being, no religion in school means no religion in school, period. IMHO of course.

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LL

 

[squallumz]

another point too. you cant go on a field trip without your parents written permission. the parent(s) of whoever went must have agreed to it, so good for them!

also, theres more than religion here. i think they are looking at culture rather than religion. religious principles are usually what shapes a lot of the cultures out there so its pretty much unavoidable.

i rememeber having to learn all about the spanish settlers and the catholic friars, el camino real, etc. also, i rememeber the pilgrims and having to hear about religious differences and refuge, and the queens and kings of europe, all sorts of things. i am not catholic but i learned about it. i know about daosim because of learning about chinese culture, i could go on forever.

i went on a couple of great field trips to roman and greek museums. mythology was a huge part of their cultures too.

dont tell me none of this is touched on in schools anymore. people are not going to know whats going on in the real world if they dont learn and gain some insight to other cultures. if the ******** dont get exposed to it in positive ways, we are just going to have worse and worse relations with other cultures as time goes on. i really hope that people become more tolerant of each other.

 

[holdol]

And to think we used to go to museums, parks, etc. on field trips. :nanner:

Poor **** must have been bored out of their minds. :*****:

Again as LL said....religon (any) doesn't belong in public schools.

 

[dave_rhino]

They are just trying to expand their minds.

Young **** will grow up watching TV believing that the guys in the Mosques are the "bad guys". They are obviously trying to stop that.

Still, religion should not mix with schools.

 

[squallumz]

They are just trying to expand their minds.

Young **** will grow up watching TV believing that the guys in the Mosques are the "bad guys". They are obviously trying to stop that.

Still, religion should not mix with schools.

yes! but like i said, its going to be impossible to not touch on it since religion is the biggest part of the development of cultures hands down. try talking about world war 2 without mentioning religion, or the greek or roman culture, or the byzantine empire, the list goes on.

 

[meesterperfect]

Ok, most agree religion does not belong in school. I think it does to an extent as some of you point out. but thats not really the issue. Also I found no article on this I heard a parent of one of the students call a radio show.
I don't mind too much, about this field trip, however I would like to see what would happen if a mostly muslim class were asked to go on a field trip to a Synagogue or a Catholic Church.........I already know pretty much. Rage, anger, public outcries, ACLU, We demand an apology, front page news, our top story tonight, we interrupt this program, ect. Hek, perhaps a riot or 2 or a few *******. Remember the Cartoon in the Dutch newspaper.
I think we all know this is true.
In a way its no big deal, but in a way it is.

 

[meesterperfect]

I found a transcript of the phone call. I know, Rush Limbuagh OOOOOOOOhhh.
But its just the words of the call, unedited.
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[meesterperfect]

id probably guess to undo the ************ thats happening. i cant stand it. everyone has been conditioned to **** the middle eastern people. it really pisses me off.
QUOTE]



blakey- so i think, in the middle of the war on ****** when there are apparently plenty of people who think there's a lot of bad / evil in islam and / or the middle east, it's good that some ******** get the opportunity to meet muslims, have a look at how they worship, and see they're just regular joes, or mustaphas, like everyone else

Sorry to triple post.

Don't you think alot, actually more Muslums and people in the middle east feel the same about Christians and people in the U.S. and Europe?
To say no is just denial.

 

[blakey]

Sorry to triple post.

Don't you think alot, actually more Muslums and people in the middle east feel the same about Christians and people in the U.S. and Europe?
To say no is just denial.

well i reckon there's a portion of those people **** america and the uk, and some definately **** jews and probably christians too
- but i don't think the west's policy should be "some of them **** us - so we should **** them too"

part of the point of my post was that i know personally, and have for many years, plenty of good muslim people - i'm not ready to start equating being muslim or middle eastern with being bad, evil, misguided or any other negative thing
- that doesn't mean i'm in denial - i'm talking from personal experience

but i don't deny there are plenty of problems in the islamic world - trying to use religion as a justification of terrorism and the treatment of women being two

with respect to a previous post I would like to see mostly muslim classes <and those of every other religion too i guess> were asked to go on a field trip to a Synagogue or a Catholic Church
- this could help to resolve any issues in the muslim community where there are problems with thinking about other religions

i see ignorance as probably the major problem - and it applies, to a greater or lesser extent, on every side
:2 cents:
peace

 

[bodie54]

Dave wrote: Young **** will grow up watching TV

...or listening to Rush Limbaugh...

believing that the guys in the Mosques are the "bad guys". They are obviously trying to stop that.

Exactly.

Good posts by squallumz, LL & blakey too.

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Rush's caller (who wasn't present): "They actually asked the girls to wear head scarves, by the way."

LadyLove's link: WBEN's Kathy Weppner was allowed into the mosque as a parent in the Williamsville School District. She says one thing parents feared about, the requirement of girls to wear headscarves, did not happen.

----------

from the transcript:

RUSH: Yeah, this is a huge, huge problem.


:rofl2:

 

[D-rock]

I would like to see more information about the field trip. Is this something after school, that all the parents agreed to, that people had the opportunity to opt out of it with no punishment to themselves and only people that directly expressed a desire to go went, had absolutely no public funding or equipment used in the field trip, and it wasn't organized on school time or using any public property? If all those conditions were not met then I have a problem with it. That isn't something a public school should be doing. If it was basically just a bunch of students and teachers independently getting together to do this on their own time with their own money then that's all right, but a public school shouldn’t do this as part of it's regular curriculum.

 

[YMIHERE]

It just not true that Christianity and Judaism are not allowed to be mentioned in public school. There are course on world religions, world cultures and comparative religions. It is entirely appropriate subject matter in that context. What’s not allowed is religion in course such as biology, physics and geology. Otherwise the science would all be answered “God did it”. God is also not allowed in official public school activities such as assemblies and other gatherings. As far as class trips are concerned I believe the parents have to give permission for their ***** to go no matter were it is.

This nonsense about Christians being prosecuted in the USA is crazy. I believe its 43 Christians presidents in a row and no other religion has a chance in hell of being elected. Rx Limbuagh is, like other members of the extreme right wing, trying to start a religious world war between the West and Middle Eastern Muslims. A new crusade as Bush said.

 

[Clarkie25]

Eh no big deal. It's better than some other field trips. Would you rather be taken on a field trip to a fire and police station when you're in kindergarten? Sure they're going to show you all the cool trucks, let you hear all the cool sirens,and show ya how sweet it is to slide down the fire pole. The future strippers find the fire pole demonstration useful. What they don't tell you is that when they're showing you how they fingerprint people they're actually getting your prints too for future reference. "We've already gotten your prints on file" Fuck I knew I shouldn't have let *** sign my permission slip that day!

 

[hotlikecandy]

Coming from a Filipino POV, and I also graduated from a Catholic University (ever since preschool actually), I agree that public schools cannot teach religion under any circumstances. Although, here in the Philippines, they do teach it sometimes because we are a predominantly Christian nation and it is just another one of those things that get out of hand. I agree that ******** need exposure to these things, they should not grow up hating people of other religions and cultural backgrounds (same for homosexuals). Where I am from, Muslims run the ******* trades - guns, *****, Jenna Jameson DVDs, among others. ******** see them on TV as bad people and the schools are doing the right thing if they are countering this.