Should they be teaching racism at school??

[Visitor6]

Maybe clarify what was actually taught before unleashing on the school......

Perhaps they were describing what discrimination was; the radical view was given as an example. Perhaps it was lost in the teaching and explanation to the kids.

[murraysmum]

i went to a small country school and the racsim was bad as me and about 10 others were the only white ausies we coped alott of flack same with the aborignal students and when we asked the teachers why we were singled out so much the reply was u arnt ittalian

when did that matter its australia isnt it

with the jew thing i dunno why ppl hate them so much it seems to be a global thing same with iraq ppl listen to the media and blow it out of proportion

teachers should be teaching history not changing it to suit there views

[HotI]

It may not be the school policy, but one teacher's views. I had some way out there teacher's who weren't adhering to the stated principle's of the school/religion. Good idea to clarify what was said, and in what context, first.

[Fleur]

Maybe clarify what was actually taught before unleashing on the school......

Perhaps they were describing what discrimination was; the radical view was given as an example. Perhaps it was lost in the teaching and explanation to the kids.

I would hope that it was something like this... but still if they are broaching the subject at all, then they need to be very clear about the message they are putting across. I know my own get the wrong idea about things all the time, but teachers should be aware of this & be a bit careful ...
Will be interesting to see what the school has to say today.

[Turkish Delight]

Maybe clarify what was actually taught before unleashing on the school......

Perhaps they were describing what discrimination was; the radical view was given as an example. Perhaps it was lost in the teaching and explanation to the kids.

Even so, don't you think there would be a more suitable explanation of discrimination? Rather than saying that the Jews hated the muslims and vice versa?

For example - the blonde headed people not liking the red heads or something to that effect??

[Tinks]

Using that as an example is a little too much for a 7 year old to comprehend. Good luck with the school TD. Have you drafted a letter yet?

[Turkish Delight]

Nope. But i will be this morning.

[Trillian]

I would be calling and using a nice voice to ask in exactly what context this was talked about because like you said, he's only 7 and that's a pretty huge concept to be talking about with kids that age and I think it would have been too heavy a subject for them to fully understand anything but the very very basic concept of muslims hate jews and visa versa. Then if you find out that it was something not nice, then let her rip.

[kirsty_lee]

Even so, don't you think there would be a more suitable explanation of discrimination? Rather than saying that the Jews hated the muslims and vice versa?

For example - the blonde headed people not liking the red heads or something to that effect??

:yeahthat: and it's obviously not been discussed in an age appropriate manner because it's quite clear that the 7 year old mind has taken that away from it kwim? I just don't think it's absolutely necessary and I hope it is rectified this morning.

[Turkish Delight]

Ok. i called the school as i first wanted to find out the context in which it was said in before i wrote my letter.

The receptionist was just as shocked as i was when i told her what DS had told me. She said it was totally wrong in whatever context it was told in.

I said that the teacher may have said that the muslims hate the jews and this is totally not on but what my DS has taken out of it is that the muslims hate the jews and vice versa.

The receptionist will speak to the primary co-ordinator and then get back to me.

[kirsty_lee]

Glad to see that they are shocked so far. And I certainly hope that it is taken care of. Not only just to you but the teacher needs to sit the class down and explain himself/herself. I didnt even know they taught that sort of stuff in school, but I havent' been to a muslim school, so im unsure of the curriculum. I would imagine that they would teach alot of history from their own background/culture

[Roryrory]

Its a bit off topic but if you google Jane Elliot's "blue eyes brown eyes" experiment you will find out about a primary teacher in the 1960s who was appalled at Martin Luther King's assaination and decided to teach her class about the effects of racism. She has the brown eyed kids discriminate against the blue eyed ones. This is from Wikipedia

Whether she planned the exercise previous to April 5, 1968 or not, on that day she implemented the exercise (also called an ?experiment?) for the first time. Steven Armstrong was the first child to arrive to Elliot?s classroom on that day, asking why King was murdered the day before. After the rest of the class arrived, Elliot asked them what they knew about Negros. The children responded with various racial stereotypes such as Negros were dumb or could not hold jobs. She then asked these children if they would like to find out what it was like to be a Negro child and they agreed.[2]

On that day, a Tuesday, she decided to make the blue-eyed children the superior first, giving them extra privileges like second helpings at lunch, access to the new jungle gym and five minutes extra at recess.[2] She would not allow blue-eyed and brown-eyed children to drink from the same water fountain.[4] She would offer them praise for being hard-working and intelligent. The ?brownies? on the other hand, would be disparaged. She even made the brown-eyed children wear ribbons around their neck.[2]

At first, there was resistance to the idea that brown-eyed children were not the equals of blue-eyed children. To counter this, she used a pseudo-scientific explanation for her actions by stating that the melanin responsible for making brown-eyed children? also was linked to intelligence and ability, therefore the ?brownies? pigmentation would result in lack of these qualities.[2] Shortly thereafter, this initial resistance fell away. Those who were deemed ?superior? became arrogant, bossy and otherwise unpleasant to their ?inferior? classmates. Their grades also improved, doing mathematical and reading tasks that seemed outside their ability before. The ?inferior? classmates also transformed ? into timid and subservient children, including those who had previously been dominant in the class. These children?s academic performance suffered, even with tasks that had been simple before.[4]

The following day, Elliott reversed the exercise, making the brown-eyed children superior. While the brown-eyed children did taunt the blue-eyed in ways similar to what had occurred the previous day, Elliott reports it was much less intense. At 2:30 on that Wednesday, Elliott told the blue-eyed children to take off their collars and the children cried and hugged each other. To reflect on the experience, she had the children write letters to Coretta Scott King and write compositions about the experience.[2]

This exercise changed her life, both as a teacher and personally. Her reflections on what she had witnessed would influence how she would approach race relations and teaching. ?She had not told her pupils to treat each other differently, only that they were different; and yet they developed the characteristic responses of discrimination. Jane Elliott felt that they did this because they had already absorbed discriminatory behavior from their parents and other adults.?[4] Their willingness to accept the inferiority of a group of people was no small part due to the fact that children believe what adults, including teachers, tell them and follow their example. However, the brown-eyed students who had experienced discrimination on the previous Friday, seemed to modify their behavior when it was their turn to be ?superior? on Monday. While they did exhibit some of the same discriminatory behaviors, they were much less intense supposedly because they already knew what it was like.[2] The exercise seemed to suggest that black underachievement was a product of ?white-dominated constructions of reality?. [1] She believes that what has been taught in schools (1968 to the present) conditions students that whiteness is the objective. Schools teach virtually nothing of what people of color have contributed to humankind while most people would have little trouble naming 10 white males who have done so. ?That?s called racism, people,? according to Elliott, as she believes it is racism to deny or ignore what other people contribute. Elliott believes that teachers perpetuate racism by how they interact with their students. Teachers will call on white boys first, then white girls. They also establish a hierarchy based on who they pay attention to, where students are seated and how groups are formed.[3]

You can buy the video/DVD from ABC shops if you are interested in showing your kids....

[Macca79]

I haven't had time to read all the posts but hopefully Im not repeating anyone, sorry if I am.

As a teacher I can tell you that as a parent you have a right to have access to the curriculum your son is being taught from. As part of your complaint ask the principal to provide you with information on exactly what subjects are being taught in religious studies, how they are being taught and by whom. Not all parents know/feel comfortable doing this but schools are accountable and it is your right to know this information.

Good luck I hope it all turns out ok.