Reply With QuoteI haven't seen the curricula either, but i'll be more interested now in exactly what DS is taught in RE.
They shouldn't be taught this in any school including islamic schools. I don't want my DS to be raised as a racist or a bigot.
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
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I haven't seen the curricula either, but i'll be more interested now in exactly what DS is taught in RE.
They shouldn't be taught this in any school including islamic schools. I don't want my DS to be raised as a racist or a bigot.
I would have thought that a better way to explain racism to primary students would be that people are afraid of groups that are "different" to them (whether that's skin colour, religious beliefs, the kinds of food they eat etc) because they don't know enough about them to see the similarities between the two groups.
Or is that a little too hard to grasp too for primary aged kids?
I would assume at the age of seven that is alot to expect them to grasp. I didnt start doing "history" until I was like grade 6 for crying out loud. And it was more just the "basics" which war started when etc etc
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Since your little fella is of the bright type, I think he may even be interested in the history of religion from a historical standpoint? Maybe later dunno - I find it really facinating myself.
xoxo
It IS really fascinating. If it's taught appropriately I guess. I am looking forward to seeing how this all pans out though.
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It's good you're getting to the bottom of it. Hopefully the school can use it as an opportunity to talk about discrimination and racism and educate about equality. One very powerful tool that can be used in schools is "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes". I've seen a doco on it and it's truly extraordinary. Here's some links:
http://www.positiveschools.com.au/Fo...%20Elliott.pdf
A DAY WITH JANE ELLIOTT
Jane Elliott - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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totally agree kirsty. History was more like high school stuff if the muslim-jew r'ship was given as an historical example.
Lulu - i am sometimes amazed at the things he thinks about and tells me at dinner or some other quiet time. So wouldn't be suprised if he wants to learn about the history of religion. I don't push him to read anything he doesn't what.
Plus, he said that he learn this last term! It's not a recent learning. So, his brain is still working on things he learnt sometime ago. I guess he fully wants to understand stuff if he's thinking about things he learnt last term.
He never ceases to amaze me.
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Good on you for standing up to this TD
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It definitely sounds strange. But it is possible that there is some mix up.
A bit OT but last night in the bath my 2 yo DS was asking me if I have a penis. I said no because I am a girl and only boys and men have penises. He then said - "do you have a taco?". LOL. ummmm sorry? Turns out he had totally switched topics to food but you can imagine I was a bit taken aback!
Anyway I think you are absolutely right to follow it up and hope you can get it all sorted.
hahah LOL @ Taco. I would of been like WTF
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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
You can buy the video/DVD from ABC shops if you are interested in showing your kids....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]
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Thats interesting, thanks Rory.
I vaguely recall hearing of this before... I might have a look for that DVD.
TD when are you likely to hear back from the school?
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I've read about this Rory, so thanks. I was told about it this morning when i was discussing it with a fellow colleague at work. Very interesting indeed research indeed.
Krys - Even if DS did switch topics from discrimination and its meaning to muslim-jew r'ship without me noticing, i still find it odd that he knew what he knew and that he was taught this at school in RE.
But that is so cute Krys - tacos
Hopefully today jasp, but they are slack. I will call them again in the morning if i don't hear from them today.
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Perhaps the teacher didn't bring it up. You can't control what kids are taught in their own homes - one of the kids could have said "jews hate muslims" and the teacher may have responded even with something like "in some parts of the world it is sad that there have been fights because of jews hating muslims or muslims hating jews but that is not the way it should be - we are all equal" KWIM.
Just saying it might not have MEANT to be racist - my parents were always very open with me from a very young age about what racism is (including what was happening in Rwanda at the time) and how I might come across discrimination against certain races (yes they gave specifics) and how it was not on and God was impartial. It was just as well as from Kindy there were derogatory terms etc used by certain classmates against those of certain backgrounds - racism is one of those things which is usually picked up on from parents so kids will reflect it from a VERY young age if they've been exposed. Guess it's a bit off point because that's home education which obviously you teach your kids yourself and don't want teachers doing for you - but just saying, perhaps the teacher had good intentions?
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This makes me so sad.
I was always taught never to blame a race for their individual's actions and I've never disliked anyone based on race (I'm probably the only Jew in a reasonably Moslem area)
I hate the idea of perpetuating such unnecessary and futile hatred.
So glad you're challenging what ds is being taught, I think a lot of people would just shrug it off, especially since it sounds like it happened a while ago. I'll be interested to hear how it pans out x
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I really find it hard to comprehend that kids that age would be speaking about world politics to one another in the playground.
He specifically said that his teacher said that to him and the class.
DS came home from school today and i grilled him. I asked if he was pulled up by any teacher asking him about the complaint i had made today. The school's psych had asked him if he believed what he had heard from the teacher, that the jews hate the muslims and vice versa and DS replied that no he didn't it. No he didn't because mummy explained to him that there are the good and bad in all races and religions and not to stereotype. He was also asked which teacher told the class this.
i haven't heard from the school as yet, but i will call in the morning.
My DH tells me to get over it and that i was taking it overboard
Wow, your son's school has a psych on board? That is bloody awesome!
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