All schools in Augusta County, Virgina closed due to homework assignment about Islam.
74 replies, posted
Americans are so fucking dumb it's honestly stopped being funny and now it's just deppressing
[QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;49349130]how fucking idiotic do you have to be to come up with making kids write out the shahada
what the fuck do you expect to happen[/QUOTE]
"World Geography" class is not strictly limited to studying the locations of countries, but their cultures as well. I simply don't agree that there is a problem with having students study the significant contributions of differing belief systems. The assignment is asking them to try to replicate and appreciate the the artistic intricacy of the calligraphy of the shahada, not confirm their belief in its sentiment.
[quote]"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.[/quote]
It's completely harmless.
[QUOTE=Lium;49347385]Yeah, but I don't think we ever had to do arabic writing though. Plus, y'know, we aren't Americans. And I'm assuming that was a while ago, and if you factor in recent events...[/QUOTE]
Their home assignment was not really to do any arabic writing though, or to even understand what they're writing exactly.
Merely to replicate a calligraphy-thingy, which if you ask me sounds kinda fun. And definitely harmless.
[editline]20th December 2015[/editline]
Also the odds are that it was the least important / stressful home assignment they received that day.
[QUOTE=GordonZombie;49348667]Why would there be a need to close the schools as a safety precution? Just because a few moronic parents got butthurt that their kids were briefly shown writing from another culture? I hope the teacher doesn't face disciplinary action for this, it's fairly bullshit as it is.[/QUOTE]
They did not close the school because parents were butthurt, they had to close the schools because of all of the hate emails and threats the district received from said parents.
Welp, no homework for 2 days
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49351515]The assignment is asking them to try to replicate and appreciate the the artistic intricacy of the calligraphy of the shahada, not confirm their belief in its sentiment.
It's completely harmless.[/QUOTE]
They could have picked another intricate Arabic phrase, instead of "There's no god but Allah, Muhammad is his prophet". Flipping enough shit to close down all the schools in the county is a bit silly yes, but imagine what would happen if you tried to teach Arab kids how to write John 14:6
There are kids at my school taking German, I think we should close down the school, remember the Nazis? They spoke german!
Why the fuck would we allow kids to learn German!?
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;49356539]There are kids at my school taking German, I think we should close down the school, remember the Nazis? They spoke german!
Why the fuck would we allow kids to learn German!?[/QUOTE]
I don't think many German classes make their students recite phrases along the line of [I]Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, daß ich dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes Adolf Hitler[/I], especially without even telling them what that means.
Ahhh America*, you can't surprise me anymore
*South-East US
[QUOTE=jimhowl33t;49356538]They could have picked another intricate Arabic phrase, instead of "There's no god but Allah, Muhammad is his prophet". Flipping enough shit to close down all the schools in the county is a bit silly yes, but imagine what would happen if you tried to teach Arab kids how to write John 14:6[/QUOTE]
A key phrase from the religion seems like a pretty good place to start when trying to appreciate the intricacies of the text itself.
After all, it's not like it actually means anything to write that phrase out, especially if you have no actual idea what it translates to. It's not some written agreement that you are now a Muslim. Even if it does hold a fair bit of weight in Islam.
A totally undeserved kneejerk reaction to a harmless assignment.
[QUOTE=Ta16;49347310]Maybe a Christian here can correct me but isn't 'Jesus' the son of God, not God itself? I'm sad that the irony of that statement in this context is lost to that person.[/QUOTE]
jesus is the human incarnation of God in many variations of christianity
fucking hell if I had to do that assignment I'd have wanted to close the school. What an effort to copy that, seriously.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49351515]
It's completely harmless.[/QUOTE]
Its like having people practice the lords prayer in writing class. People shouldn't be forced to make affirmations of another faith.
Its harmless but in really bad taste, kinda spitting on the whole secularism thing a bit.
Next everyone will need to write "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" in Hebrew.
Lol imagine the insane backlash if they tried this. All the Muslim families would be beyond outraged and a ton of anti-Israel people would by crying as well.
[QUOTE=Antlerp;49360704]fucking hell if I had to do that assignment I'd have wanted to close the school. What an effort to copy that, seriously.[/QUOTE]
exactly the point of the assignment was to try to copy it and then realize or understand the intricacy and importance of Islamic calligraphy
To me I totally understand why you would want to learn how to recognize the shahada, considering it is widely used and easily displays the beauty of Islamic calligraphy
Also I see zero problems with asking students to write this out. It's not affirming anyone into anything when the task of the assignment is honest what they are supposed to do, just try copy the shahada and nothing else. Students who can't read arabic won't even know what it says?
But I suppose the assignment could have used more honesty, writing out exactly what it says and more information about it so it's not interpreted as "secrecy indoctrination"
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.