Seems Like "Stealth Jihad" To Me
At least CAIR's support of it, that is.
A teacher in Virginia didn't have students do calligraphied letters home to practice their penmanship; no, she had them write out the Shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, in Arabic, by hand.
From CNN:
Cheryl LaPorte had not designed the assignment herself, but took it from a standard workbook on world religions, local newspaper The News Leader reported.
Moriah Balingit and Emma Brown write in the WaPo:
The controversy started when teacher Cheryl LaPorte gave students a work sheet that instructed them to try their hand at writing the shahada. Reached Friday, LaPorte declined to comment.Kimberly Herndon, whose son is in the class, posted a photo of the work sheet to her Facebook page this week. Under the heading "practicing calligraphy," the work sheet says: "Here is the shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, written in Arabic. In the space below, try copying it by hand. This should give you an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy."
The shahada translates to: "There is no god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." Some translations start with: "There is no god but Allah."
...The superintendent said that students tried on head scarves in another lesson that taught them about the modest dress many Muslims adopt. Students will continue learning about world religions as required by Virginia's statewide academic standards, school officials said. But in the future, students will practice calligraphy using a different sample that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith.
...Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the controversy in Augusta County is "symptomatic of the hysterical anti-Muslim bigotry that we're seeing in America at this current time.
"Anything to do with Islam or Muslims somehow becomes controversial, and you get this knee-jerk reaction based on misinformation, stereotypes, bias, and it's really reaching frightening proportions," Hooper said, adding that the lesson in Augusta was appropriate. "The shahada, the declaration of faith, is the foundation of Islam. You can't learn about Islam without learning about the shahada."
Actually, I'd say you can't learn about Islam without learning about how it commands the death or conversion of, well, you, if you're non-Muslim, and how it commands the stoning of gays for being gay and of women for adultery, and how women are valued at half the value of a man.
It's ok to not have a nativity but you have to allow the Koran or you are a bigot.
Bob in texas at December 19, 2015 4:46 AM
Did they have them try on suicide vests? maybe shouting "allahu akbar"? attacking people with knives?
I R A Darth Aggie at December 19, 2015 7:31 AM
This seems okay. No one would be upset about students having to write out The Apostle's Creed in Spanish...
Red at December 19, 2015 7:31 AM
The problem isn't just that the teacher assigned this lesson in her class; the bigger problem is that this was a lesson from a standard workbook.
Whoever designed that workbook didn't think things through - that's seem standard for primary and secondary educators in the US these days.
And no, Red, writing the Apostle's Creed in Spanish class for a US public school assignment would NOT be okay. We have separation of Church and State. The ACLU and others would be on that case in a heartbeat.
I agree with Amy; they also need to include in the lesson how Islam doesn't allow other religions; how Islam kills followers of that religion if they choose to convert to something else; some of the basic beliefs of Islam that are incompatible with a secular society. That would be the real lesson I would want these students to learn. And, that isn't bigotry, it is just reality.
charles at December 19, 2015 9:31 AM
Charles,
A trigger warning next time you explain "facts" please.
Oh, and CAIR wants to 'talk'.
Bob in Texas at December 19, 2015 9:58 AM
What happened to Crid?
Stinky the Clown at December 19, 2015 12:50 PM
Why are public schools wasting time teaching caligraphy and penmanship?
Caligraphy doesn't improve penmanship, and penmanship is almost useless in a world of keyboards.
If you are tempted or forced to write something on paper, I recommend printing, if you want the official at the other end to be able to read it.
The three R's would be nice, plus the principles of logic and math estimation.
Andrew_M_Garland at December 19, 2015 12:51 PM
"Why are public schools wasting time teaching caligraphy and penmanship?"
The way to teach penmanship, or my preference, legible hand printing, is in the context of subject area instruction.
Insisting that written assignments be layed out in a certain way, with certain margins, certain spacing, and in a legible way, teaches two or three useful skills at once.
Forget cursive, in the computer age, it is dead. The typewriter started the extinction, and the PC killed it off entirely.
I agree calligraphy is pretty useless, unless it is an art class. There it might have a place.
What these bone heads were trying to achieve with these *instruction* materials was to tick off all the relevant boxes of the culturally sensitive/ SJW criteria, that another bunch of morons were using when selecting what text books/ materials to buy.
Isab at December 19, 2015 5:49 PM
I am guessing the calligraphy assignment was part of a history of Islam unit, not a penmanship one. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, including art projects, is pretty standard this past century or so.
Trying on the costumes of the people you are studying makes sense, as would tasting the food, etc.
Discussing slaughter and bloodshed is something that would depend on the age group. Just as we don't talk about smallpox blankets with little kids when we tell the Thanksgiving story, so you only teach the basics about other cultures.
My question is, if you say it out loud you are considered converted, right (that is my understanding)? Is this true if you write it? If so, whoever wrote the textbook needs to be fired. If not, it is inappropriate but not national news worthy.
I remember our Islam unit in World Religions class, and learning about the five pillars in World History in the context of the occupation of Iberia and Charles Martel. (We also discussed other religions.) It was the 90s so in High School a lot of us had read "Not Without My Daughter" and signed petitions on behalf of Afghani women... our teacher challenged us by stating the women in the Muslim country he had lived in for a bit (he was not Muslim, he was a white guy) he felt did not feel oppressed... were they? And then we had to debate it.
NicoleK at December 19, 2015 8:34 PM
Having American students write out the Shahada is an ideological invasion of our country and should be a firing offense.
Allahu fubar.
mpetrie98 at December 19, 2015 9:09 PM
There's a difference between learning ABOUT a statement of faith and having kids write it. The later might just go against the children's religions, while the former is simply learning about something.
Shannon at December 20, 2015 10:34 AM
Coupla issues:
Is the school system so efficient that the students are ourperforming pretty much all other public schools in VA? If so, I suppose they have some time and money to go into calligraphy. In the context of a GEOGRAPHY class. Most GEOGRAPHY classes can easily morph into social studies, as in what difference does it make if you stole Iowa farmland from the Native Americans or if you stole the Mohave Desert from whoever was unlucky enough to live there? Okay. No surprise there. But to go on to CALLIGRAPHY?
Then there's what was picked. There's an awful lot written in Arabic, including last week's soap opera rundown. To pick this is a deliberate attempt to get somebody upset.
The Book of Kells can give you enough calligraphy to make you seasick. Japanese and Chinese writing can exercise the wrist.
Is this moron teacher trying to be the next Scopes?
Now we have an entire classroom of apostates.
She went looking for trouble. Nobody knows at this point if this is the trouble she wanted. Dollars to donuts, it is.
Richard Aubrey at December 20, 2015 11:08 AM
I would absolutely have the same problem with writing the Apostle's Creed in Spanish, or any other faith statement. Why? Because a statement of faith is just that. My kids should not feel coerced to say "I believe..." something or "This is the Truth..." (about something religious) if it doesn't coincide with our values/religion.
So, if the statement was, "I believe Princess Twilight Sparkle will save me if I learn about friendship," that'd be equally problematic.
For that matter, this applies to things beyond religion. They shouldn't be compelled to say "I believe" about anything they do NOT believe. Why? Because that's not how a free society works and by raising kids in a society where they are coerced to say they believe things they don't, we are training them how NOT to be free.
So, if I don't believe in, say, recycling, should I be forced to say I do? What if I think the evidence is against recycling of some materials? Just for example.
Shannon at December 20, 2015 12:30 PM
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