Should they be teaching racism at school??

[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.

[HotI]

In my memory, I still recall my prep teacher telling me that the kids in Ethiopia get big tummys because they don't have enough to eat, and if they still don't get enough food then their tummy's pop and the kid dies.

I went home and told Mum, who said i must have got it mixed up, but one part of my brain still reckons it happens.

[Turkish Delight]

Kate - see, just what i mean. You have learnt something in prep and still remember to this day. I'm just afraid that DS will take this in and remember until he becomes an adult and doesn't want to interact with Jews.

My DS is a funny character as he also has a social problem too, not being able to make new friends etc, believes in EVERYTHING, doesn't really get it when he is picked on (he thinks the kids are tyring to be his friend).

Kirsty - yeah the school has a psych a good for nothing lady. I question what she does. My DS is in a year above his normal grade and has socialising probs. I would have thought that she'd help us on this one. I have asked her numerous times to speak to him when she does see him in the yard and to ask him if he's having any probs as DS doesn't tell us much as to what may be bothering him. Don't think she's asked ever.

Still waiting for a phone call....

[sas85]

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.

My DH tells me to get over it and that i was taking it overboard

I don't think you're taking it overboard by following it up - because if the teacher has those beliefs and was trying to impart them - then you are looking out for the welfare of his other classmates whose parents may not have imparted the values you have and could be influenced into cultivating a prejudice themselves based on what this teacher said. And if it was a case of the teacher just misguidedly and inappropriately trying to explain existing prejudices as part of say teaching tolerance of other religions etc - than at least the school will council the teacher on being more careful in what he says realizing he is talking to little kids so it doesn't happen again.

[Turkish Delight]

I just phoned the school wanting an update to the matter and i spoke to the Librarian, who answered the phone as she was helping out the office people. So i had to briefly explain the situation to her and she said...

"So you have a problem with your son learning this?"

WTF.

I said "Yes i do"

I couldn't believe it. I sent an email with the comment i got from the librarian, wanting somebody to call me back urgently regarding this matter.

[YoYo]

Good on you I say for going to the lengths to find out what's actually being taught.

My son has a Jewish surname (as do I, but I married it) and i would hate for someone to think they had to 'hate' him or not be his friend at school because of it IYKWIM. We are not even slightly jewish, just carry a name.

I don't have a clue about Muslim or Jewish religion, but think it's great that you are trying to stop a teacher from using religious hatred to teach discrimination.

[littlelara]

I don't think you were overreacting either, I would have jumped on it straight away too, or anything that got me twitchy, really.
I really think this stuff is important.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

I just phoned the school wanting an update to the matter and i spoke to the Librarian, who answered the phone as she was helping out the office people. So i had to briefly explain the situation to her and she said...

"So you have a problem with your son learning this?"

WTF.

I said "Yes i do"

I couldn't believe it. I sent an email with the comment i got from the librarian, wanting somebody to call me back urgently regarding this matter.

Far out! I'm sure that instilled you with a whole lot of faith in getting a resolution, not. There are so many other ways to explain racism/discrimination in an age appropriate way. Just like you don't explain violence to a group of 7 year olds by talking about rape.

[Turkish Delight]

My son has a Jewish surname (as do I, but I married it) and i would hate for someone to think they had to 'hate' him or not be his friend at school because of it IYKWIM. We are not even slightly jewish, just carry a name.

Minimax- exactly as you say. I wouldn't like my child be known to be a terrorist just because he's islamic.

We'll the school psych called me yesterday to clarify a few things, which really hasn't helped as i'm still worried about that teacher being there at that school.

The school had known that this RE teacher told the kids this in class, so she was warned and stopped from teaching my son's RE class last term. She was surprised that the matter came up some weeks later.

I told her, that her questioning DS whether or not he believed what was said was not right as this may have instilled in him the belief of not believing in what his teachers teach him in the future.

The psych told me that this particular teacher is now teaching high school students. Great. She really now will be sharing her beliefs and views with the older kids too.

She told me that librarian who answered the phone, and said what she said to be about it being a problem, didn't really think before she spoke and that she was apologetic of she said.



I give up. I've got more probs with the school. That's in another post!

I've just left it at that.

[saslia]

I think maybe it is time to look for a different school...

[Smoke Jaguar]

I think you already agree with the last post about changing schools
I don't think this school gels with your values at all, apart from the umbrella interest in teaching in an Islamic environment.
I also think your DS would get a far more impartial view of the world even in a Catholic school, where I found going to school with kids from other religious backgrounds to be of great benefit to both parties (ETA: should probably mention that I wasn't Catholic, either!).
I don't think they're committed to teaching acceptance. Real concern would have seen some sort of satisfactory show of action well before now, instead of reaction by moving the teacher onto other students
Your DS is pretty special - the other kids will have absorbed this information and adopted it as their own, and your son has questioned it...this bodes well! Yes, it may make a long-term impression on him, and I am thinking that it will be one that keeps reminding him of why NOT to think that way because it has violated his own logic.
This reflects on you, too. What is demonstrated and modelled in the home at this age is a lot more powerful than what a teacher or curriculum can impart. For the other kids to take this away and not question it means they're not getting a lot of a different message at home, which is a real shame and happens in all walks of life about all sorts of values.
I don't think that teaching kids about 'difference' helps, and I think that kids that age CAN learn about how people use 'difference' to keep themselves above someone else, even if it means making up a difference, or making a kind of difference mean something more than what it is. In the case of Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes (classic social psych undergrad stuff!) a 'difference' such a eye colour meant nothing significant before it was MADE to be significant for the experiment's aims. What actually made no difference before suddenly did. Kids DO grasp these concepts and it's how the the perceived difference is manipulated we need to be making kids aware of, and why it's 'bad', rather than saying "well, discrimination is when this group doesn't like this group", which then acts to naturalise the discrimination as if it's a 'natural reaction' to difference. Kids need to learn there's nothing 'natural' about it and it's learned and encouraged, depending on which side of privilege you are sitting on!
Sorry, my Honours thesis was about racism, and though I've grown up being the quintessential 'different' person (of mixed cultural background - I refuse to use the term 'race' because it has no real meaning, though the myths about it create racisms) in just about every situation (including either of my parents' original countries!), my thesis challenged me in what I thought I knew about discrimination, racism, difference and how young these ideas are instilled in us. It's never too early to erode ideas of perceived difference! My DS, when referring to me in third person, still says 'him' - most kids his age have been taught already to staunchly identify their gender, and though he'll learn to do this eventually (I suppose!), the delayed perceived importance of gender is quite ok with me! Slightly OT, but related

[SallyJ]

I think you already agree with the last post about changing schools
I don't think this school gels with your values at all, apart from the umbrella interest in teaching in an Islamic environment.
I also think your DS would get a far more impartial view of the world even in a Catholic school, where I found going to school with kids from other religious backgrounds to be of great benefit to both parties (ETA: should probably mention that I wasn't Catholic, either!).

The most impartial view of the world you will get is in a public school, all religious schools have some kind of link (and I have taught in catholic and anglican schools as well as public schools). The curriculum is the same no matter what kind of school you attend.