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Pluto
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
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 Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:49 am Post subject: Religion in Charter Schools....? |
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Yes, that is right folks. Islamic charter schools being paid for by taxpayer dollars, but don't worry because such schools are "religiously sensitive." The Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota is a full on Islamic academy run by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. This society has featured such prominent Islamic superstars such as Shaykh Khalid Yasin who preach that it is just and good to beat women, and that jihad and martyrdom should be the goal of every muslim.
Katherine Kersten, a reporter from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, was the one who broke this story. Not to worry though, the white-guilt laden multicult have their people in the MN legislature. State Rep. Greiling sought to use state power to have Ms. Kersten sacked for having the gall to use printed real-estate to make her case.
The charter school has been investigated, but it is still running as it always has with daily prayers and Friday 'meetings.' This is a publicly financed charter school.
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Middle East studies in the News
Charter Schools Shouldn't Promote Islam [on Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy]
by Katherine Kersten
The Wall Street Journal
June 14, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121339952713673705.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
At what point does a publicly funded charter school with strong Islamic ties cross the line and inappropriately promote religion?
That's a question now facing us in Minnesota. For the past five years, the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., has operated in close connection with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. The school accepts public funds, and thus the broader constitutional requirements placed on all public schools. Nonetheless, in many ways it behaves like a religious school.
The school is named for the Muslim general who conquered Spain in the eighth century. It shares a building with a mosque and the headquarters of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. The cafeteria serves Halal food. Arabic is a required subject. There is a break for midday prayers.
On Fridays, many students join with Muslim teachers and attend religious services in the school's gym. There are voluntary Islamic Studies classes held "after" school, but before the buses leave to take the school's 400 students home. Most of the students are the children of low-income Muslim immigrants.
In March, substitute teacher Amanda Getz happened to be at the school on a Friday. She has said publicly that she was instructed to take her fifth-grade students to the bathroom for "ritual washing" and then to the gym for a prayer service. In the classroom where she assisted, an Islamic Studies assignment was written on the blackboard. Students were told to copy it into their planners. "That gave me the impression that Islamic Studies was a subject like any other," she said afterward.
Since starting the school five years ago, Asad Zaman and co-founder Hesham Hussein � both imams � have held top positions with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, and also with the school. The Muslim American Society, as reported by the Chicago Tribune, is the American branch of the international Muslim Brotherhood, "the world's most influential Islamic fundamentalist group."
Mr. Zaman is the school's principal, and Mr. Hussein was chairman of its governing board until he was killed in a car crash in Saudi Arabia in January. In 2004, Mr. Zaman told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that when students have family problems, he can call on a "network" of imams for help. "Children feel comfortable here asking questions about their own religion," a teacher told a reporter at the time.
If the school is promoting Islam, it would be in keeping with the mission of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. Last year, the society featured Shaykh Khalid Yasin at its annual convention. Mr. Yasin is well-known for preaching that husbands can beat disobedient wives, among other inflammatory messages. When he spoke at the society's convention, his topic was "Building a Successful Muslim Community in Minnesota." And until I wrote about the issue in my column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune in March and April, the society also had "beneficial and enlightening information" about Islam on its Web site, including "Regularly make the intention to go on jihad with the ambition to die as a martyr."
I've written just two columns critical of the school for the Star Tribune. But that was enough for State Rep. Mindy Greiling, the chairman of the Minnesota House of Representatives' K-12 Finance Committee, to publicly call for me to be fired from the newspaper.
After my columns appeared, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union began an investigation, which is still underway. The Minnesota Department of Education also investigated. Its report, released last month, concluded that the school is breaking the law by holding Friday religious services on school grounds; that it should stop Muslim teachers' practice of praying with students at that service; and that it must provide bus transportation home before Islamic Studies classes let out.
But the report was flawed in important respects. Most significantly, it was silent about the school's close entanglement with the religious organization with which it is affiliated.
It's a safe bet that if the school in question here were essentially a Catholic school, this wouldn't be a debate. Imagine a public charter located in the headquarters building of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Its principal is a priest and its board chairman is the archbishop. Catholic students there "are comfortable asking questions about their own religion." Latin is required, and the cafeteria serves fish during Lent. Students break for prayer and attend Mass during the school day, and buses leave only when after-school Catholic Catechism classes are over. Such a school would never open.
But with Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy we have something different. It's held up as a model, "religiously sensitive" public school. It is justified in terms of culture and "religious accommodation."
Minnesota education officials need both the backbone and the oversight tools necessary to prevent the blurring of lines between Islam and the public schools. If they continue their tepid response, a separate system of taxpayer-financed education for Muslims may take root here. Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy could be the first of many.
Ms. Kersten is a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Note: Articles listed under "Middle East studies in the News" provide information on current developments concerning Middle East studies on North American campuses. These reports do not necessarily reflect the views of Campus Watch and do not necessarily correspond to Campus Watch's critique. |
LINK
Question: How would you like to see your tax dollars be used for 'religiously sensitive' Islamic grades K-12 education? |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:42 pm Post subject: |
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I'd reckon this is a bad idea. islamic schools will teach islam.
Check out this school in Virginia:
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Review: Troubling passages in texts at Va. school
By MATTHEW BARAKAT � 2 days ago
McLEAN, Va. (AP) � Textbooks at a private Islamic school in northern Virginia teach students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.
Other passages in the school's textbooks state that "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people" and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed "polytheists."
The passages were found in selected textbooks used during the 2007-08 school year by the Islamic Saudi Academy, which teaches 900 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax and receives much of its funding from the Saudi government.
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But not all. The American government is supporting it too:
Cinnamon Stillwell recently noted an article in the Mount Vernon Gazette that reported 22 soldiers from Ft. Belvoir had recently graduated from the Islamic Saudi Academy�s �Arabic as a Second Language� program. This means that the school is not only being funded by the Saudi government, but also our own government.
http://pajamasmedia.com
Back to the article:
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_ The authors of a 12th-grade text on Koranic interpretation state that apostates (those who convert from Islam), adulterers and people who murder Muslims can be permissibly killed.
_ The authors of a 12th-grade text on monotheism write that "(m)ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible," meaning that a Muslim can take with impunity the life and property of someone believed guilty of polytheism. According to the panel, the strict Saudi interpretation of polytheism includes Shiite and Sufi Muslims as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.
_ A social studies text offers the view that Jews were responsible for the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims: "The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its people. A sly, wicked person who sinfully and deceitfully professed Islam infiltrated (the Muslims)."
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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5igZiBbZdKa9Gvx8uwXlsIOxoBQ5wD91859CG0 |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:31 pm Post subject: |
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There's a Charter school run by a rabbi in Florida (and there's one run by Hare Krishnas there also.
My understanding is that free expression of religion at charter schools is permitted as long as it's not required and the school is open to everyone (including faithless infidels...)
Of course, if hate and intolerance of other religions is taught it should not be publicly funded (and should be closely monitored by "Homeland Security" and government intelligence agencies - which is probably the case anyway...)
Here's the response to this survey question on an education website:
"Do religious-leaning charter schools violate the separation of church and state?"
Yes. Public money should not be used to finance schools that have potentially religious curricula. 42% (59 votes)
No. These charter schools are simply offering a culturally sensitive education. They represent the diverse array of school-choice options that should be made available to all students regardless of income. 23% (32 votes)
It depends. As long as their curricula remain strictly ethical, historical, and cultural, allowing for the free expression of religion without teaching or requiring the practice of it, such schools should be allowed to apply for public funding. 31% (43 votes)
None of the above. 4% (6 votes)
Total votes: 140
http://www.edutopia.org/node/4515/results |
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Pluto
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Rteacher wrote: |
My understanding is that free expression of religion at charter schools is permitted as long as it's not required and the school is open to everyone (including faithless infidels...)
Of course, if hate and intolerance of other religions is taught it should not be publicly funded (and should be closely monitored by "Homeland Security" and government intelligence agencies - which is probably the case anyway...) |
Generally speaking, I've got no problem with religious schools. Private schools, whether for profit or not for profit can teach whatever they please. The problem is that charter schools accept taxpayer money. As for the Islamic schools, they are teaching that polytheists, such as yourself, must die. In my opinion, this is a sickening use of taxpayer funds. |
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