Children and sex education

Sat, 06/27/2009 11:13 AM  |  Reader's Forum

 

Muslim parents teach their children to respect their teachers. From a very young age, we are taught that Islam teaches us that after our parents, our teachers are most deserving of respect.

 

It must be an extremely confusing time for the Muslim parent in Leytonstone, London. For up to 30 parents may face prosecution for withdrawing their children from school, disobeying the teachers in the school, simply to secure a decent moral upbringing for their children. The school had decided to have a week of lessons about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. Part of this was a special adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet retitled Romeo and Julian as well as fairytales and stories changed to show men falling in love with men.

 

Rather than filling the heads of impressionable boys and girls with fatuous drivel about gay penguins, schools should be ashamed of the fact that they are sending children out into the world barely able to read, write and add up properly. Muslim children are leaving schools without learning their cultural roots and linguistic skills. The action was being taken against the parents as part of a policy of "promoting tolerance". So why not tolerate parents, who, for sincerely-held reasons, consider their children too young to be taught about gay relationships? This isn't education, its cultural fascism.

 

A record numbers of pupils persistently played truant in 2006-07, with around 272,950 pupils persistently absent in 2007, missing more than 20 percent of school. We rarely see councils prosecute the parents of these persistent truants. Yet, the parents who removed their children as a one-off to protect their morality may be prosecuted!

 

If the local council does decide to go through with a prosecution, it would be in line with the government's approach to the Muslim community. Muslims who believe homosexuality is a sin would be labeled as extremists. Liberal totalitarianism is a growing phenomenon in Britain and the west in general but many people will be shocked that the school can override a parent's view of what's appropriate or inappropriate to teach their children.

 

This latest episode should be a wakeup call for Muslim parents. Muslim parents must explain our moral standards to schools and be prepared to take steps to protect our children's morals and values from a growing agenda to impose liberal values upon them. This is an eye opening for those Muslim parents who keep on sending their children to state schools to be mis-educated and de-educated by non-Muslim monolingual teachers.

 

The solution of all the problems facing Muslim children is state-funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers. Those state schools where Muslim children are in majority may be designated as Muslim community schools. Bilingual Muslim children need state-funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods.

 

Iftikhar Ahmad

London

 

Comments (1)  |   Post comment A  |   A  |   A  |     |   |    |    |    |     |     Gene Netto (not verified) — Sun, 06/28/2009 - 9:50am

 

I find this letter very interesting and feel very sorry for those Muslim parents who are forced to watch their children being taught such concepts in a public school (which their taxes pay for). I think it is unbelievable that the local council would even consider legal action against the parents for not wanting their children to be indoctrinated with such cultural beliefs about homosexuality, which clearly go against the religious beliefs of the parents in question.

 

I wonder what would happen if those 30 Muslim parents wanted to make another “cultural event” themselves, and sought permission to hold it at the same school. One idea would be to hold a “Truth About Christmas” event, where the Muslim parents could make presentations and read books about how Santa Claus is not real and it is actually the parents who buy all the presents. So, parents who tell their kids about Santa coming down the chimney and leaving presents for good little boys and girls are actually liars. And the letters that the kids write to Santa are all thrown away by the postal service. Also, the Santas at the shopping malls are all big fakes as well, and they have no ability whatsoever to provide the presents that the kids ask for when sitting on Santa’s lap. It’s all a big lie. Isn’t the real truth about Santa more important than gay penguins? The children are being deceived every year and they have the right to know about it!

 

Then those Muslim parents could also teach the kids that Jesus was not born on the 25th of December and that the whole idea behind Christmas as a festival comes from a pagan celebration that was incorporated into Christianity in approximately the 4th Century AD. Most historians are quite certain that Jesus was not born on the 25th of December, and so the whole reason for having Christmas on that day has nothing to do with Jesus. Yet another big lie by the parents, but this time including the Church as well as.

 

So, if the Muslim parents wanted to put on that “cultural event”, to help those innocent little children understand what big liars their parents are, and what a big scam Christmas is, would the school show the same amount of support as they did for gay penguins or Romeo and Julian? And if the school refused permission for those Muslim parents to hold their special “Truth About Christmas” event, would those parents also be allowed to sue the school and the local council for bigotry or intolerance?

 

Or is it only called bigotry and intolerance when you try to follow your own religious beliefs even though they are not the same as the beliefs held by the members of the local council or the school board?

 

Gene Netto, Jakarta, Indonesia

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/06/27/letters-children-and-sex-education.html