Speakeasy forum: Does anyone besides me . . .

my head is nearly exploding over this insane crap........

hyper-conservative site which misrepresents the issue tangibly in the article, and with Todd Starnes who is as he proclaims a Bitter American. Not exactly unbiased sources.

Who exactly in the Texas School System ordered the schools to teach Islam and by what authority? It's a simple question not addressed in the article. They talk about CSCOPE, which is a programme put into place by a group of educators (I assume) and reviewed and approved by the Texas Department of Schools and Education and which I assume is to teach kids about how things are in other countries. We did it in Maryland in the 50's, my son did it here in Canada in the 90's. It wasn't indoctrination, it was just an explanation, information with which to begin to understand the world we live in.

It isn't the product of some great Islamic conspiracy which I find difficult to conceive of in the Texas of rewriting the schoolbooks to challenge Evolution and present Creationism. Who would promote Islam in Bible Belt Texas??

I doubt the teachers told the children that God is Allah, I'll bet anything you like that they taught them that Muslims call God Allah. The two ideas are light years apart. And what kid doesn't like dress up, but to turn this incident into some kind of deliberate assault on American Identity, or indoctrination of young impressionable minds is ludicrous.

Read a normal newspaper article like the Dallas Fort Worth newspaper and see if you're not vastly less angry about the issue, when it is explained properly, and without Mr Starnes twisted view.

Rob

Enlightenment doesn't come from teachers punishing a student for refusing to recite the Mexican pledge, Rob........this IS America.......you want to be forced to recite the pledge of another country, go live in THAT country instead.

This country has become so politically sensitive to Hispanic (especially) cultures that kids are allowed to wear t-shirts celebrating their holidays, but American kids aren't allowed to wear t-shirts that celebrate the US Flag or its mottos. Gimme a break on your so-called enlightenment crap.......when do THEY become enlightened to the fact that they left their OWN countries to live HERE?

This link suggests that the version you're reading may not be quite accurate:

http://news.msn.com/us/texas-school-comes-under-fire-after-students-wear-burqas-in-class

I wonder if the "freedom fighters" thing, if true, wasn't some kind of role-playing game? Some of the claims being made seem pretty hard to believe.

It also seems a bit curious that the type of lesson portrayed in your link would be taught by a teacher who happens to be Jewish. If it was, in fact, a culture/geography lesson then it would be impossible to discuss Islamic cultures without at least some background about the religion.

I think more information is needed on this one before forming an opinion about it.

I just prefer to have more information before ranting or flipping people the virtual bird. For the record, if the story, as reported in the original link, is 100% accurate, yes I would have a problem with it. OK?

But since (according to the MSN article) nobody was forced to put the burqas on, I don't see a First Amendment issue there.

Again -- wouldn't it be best to get the whole story before opining on it? A lot of what's in the original article just doesn't add up -- the fact that the teacher is Jewish, the fact that this took place in a very conservative state that wouldn't have something like this in any official curriculum, etc.

you weren't allowed to draw pics of Mohammed or be subject to a death sentence?

...then you would also, in good faith (no pun intended), have to talk about the Crusades as well. Now that was a merry bunch of men having quite the clusterfluff of a good time(!)

all Conservative rant sites. The Daily Caller Tucker Carlson's joke on the American public, World Net Daily (WND), and The Washington Times.

Here's what you get when you do a Google Search. Not a Main Stream site in the bunch.

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_rn=4&gs_ri=psy-ab&pq=lumberton%20tx%20school%20children&cp=31&gs_id=vt&xhr=t&q=Students%20forced%20to%20wear%20burquas&es_nrs=true&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=Students+forced+to+wear+burquas&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=305ed35bfb16290c&biw=1440&bih=712

Here's a slightly less rabid version of the story
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/texas-students-burqas-lumberton_n_2767109.html

And here's what the Lumberton Independent School district said about the lesson plan

"The lesson that was offered focused on exposing students to world cultures, religions, customs, and belief systems. A description on the whiteboard behind the students show the splits in religions: Islam (Sunni and Shia), Judaism (Reform, Conservatives, and Orthodox), and Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant). Clothing expresses the individual culture. The lesson is not teaching a specific religion, and the students volunteered to wear the clothing." Emphasis added, RTB.

Now how many classes were offered to try to help the kids understand that not all Muslims are terrorists and that Islam is a religion related to both Christianity and Judaism and revering the same God I don't know. All three religions' adherents are referred to as The People of the Book. I doubt Islam took up more than the one lesson. What the controversy ensures is that any religion not already covered won't be, which may have been the point of the Conservative attacks all along.

Rob

Rob

Rob

.......this did not happen the way that one writer claims it did.

The "liberal rags" don't have time to shoot down every single wacky thing someone claims happened.

You can Google and find all kinds of crazy s***. The New York Times doesn't need to give these stories even more visibility by refuting them.

blog bombing, blog burst, or blog blasting that happens when they send the command out.

(which I doubt), the article is troubling. I do not and cannot have an issue with teaching something about the various world religions when done so in the context of geography and culture. A brief sketch of origin and basic beliefs if presented in a non-judgmental fashion is perfectly fine with me. We can include identifying dress, ceremonies, holidays, etc. What we cannot do is get into discussions as to why one of the other is right or wrong in its beliefs or its positive or negative impact on the rest of the world...at least not in a public school environment. That should be reserved for whatever and by whom the students are being taught at home or there own places of worship if they have one. A child's knowing that they will encounter other children who came from different backgrounds and beliefs can and should be a good thing. We give them just enough to not be surprised and let them learn the rest as needed or as curiosity takes over.

It's not balanced and seems to gone off track.

Freedom fighters, nope if they kill others then that's terrorist in our eyes. maybe not to them but it is from anyone else's POV. Further, to go so far into the details of so-called culutal learning and then parents find out about it and in TEXAS! Not a good sign at all.... How can you defend something like that when not offering the culture but flat out showing what seems like a one sided view if anything else. Badly, thought out.. -----Willy