Tuesday, May 07, 2019

Today in the Federalist Papers, a story about the Seattle [Washington] School District: "A Seattle area school district has sent a letter to staff asking them to wish Muslim students a happy Ramadan and bless them with a traditional greeting."  Evidently, this should be spoken in Arabic.  

CAIR guidelines also instruct teachers to monitor Muslim students fasting and suggests teachers not schedule any tests on the Islamic holidays of Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha.
  
Twitter and Facebook would not permit me to post the story or the link, except in my own words. 

Links:  https://www.seattleschools.org/; https://www.dailywire.com/news/46894/seattle-school-district-wants-teachers-bless-paul-bois

I have no problem with friends sharing a religious greeting on a personal level.  In or out of school.  But a school teacher is a representative of the public school system which  is a government establishment.  They should neither be instructed by the school district to single out a particular religion and/or students of a particular religion for promotional purposes.  Now, neither do I believe that teachers should be prohibited from free speech.  It's a fine line, but this particular instance is clearly inappropriate.  There is a time and a place for teachers who wish to participate in religious expression can do so, but it is not in the classroom and it should not be by instruction from the school board.


No comments: