Althouse: "Refusal to allow your child to attend this trip will result in a Racial Discrimination note being attached to your child’s education record..."

November 23, 2013

"Refusal to allow your child to attend this trip will result in a Racial Discrimination note being attached to your child’s education record..."

"...which will remain on this file throughout their school career," says a letter to parents of 8-year-olds who might consider opting them out of the National Religious Education Curriculum field trip to learn about Islam.

Among the many problems with this, it's racist to call Islam a race.

59 comments:

david7134 said...: This seems like a no brainer for a lawyer. People have been sued for less and with this happening to a child, the potential for life time injury is enormous. So, I would imagine that this policy will make the fortune of an number of attorneys.

One note, for those who want the teaching of religion in school, this is what you get. Maybe it is best to have the government without religion.; 11/23/13, 12:23 PM
rhhardin said...: Britain is just entertainment at the moment.

Imagine that PC takes over.

Derbyshire reports this week a child's black doll depicted in a school mural painted in the 30s was reported to the police by a concerned women. The police are investigating, as they are required to do for any hate crime.; 11/23/13, 12:27 PM
Rob said...: Coming soon to an elementary school near you.

BTW, what kind of officious fool closes her letter "Mrs. L. Small"?; 11/23/13, 12:29 PM
Anonymous said...: Trigger warning: Blasphemy; 11/23/13, 12:36 PM
PB said...: nothing must get in the way of the government's indoctrination of the young.; 11/23/13, 12:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Wait till parents see the political indoctrination explicit in the new "Common Core"; 11/23/13, 12:48 PM
Wince said...: Western society should be put on suicide watch.; 11/23/13, 1:23 PM
MadisonMan said...: Good to see the principal backtracked.

Some sober reflection is due on her part to understand what drove her to writing the letter in the first place.

My diagnosis: Control Freak.; 11/23/13, 1:29 PM
rhhardin said...: The chief government categories are hysterics, hand-wringers and busybodies.; 11/23/13, 1:42 PM
Hal Duston said...: BTW, what kind of officious fool closes her letter "Mrs. L. Small"?
One from the same country as C.S.Lewis, J.R.R.Tolkien, P.G.Wodehouse and J.K.Rowling.

Using first (and middle) initial with last name was pretty common in the UK until recently, I think.; 11/23/13, 1:48 PM
Anonymous said...: One more reason to keep government and religion seperate.; 11/23/13, 1:53 PM
Alex said...: Why did Winston Churchill bother saving Britain.; 11/23/13, 2:04 PM
Alex said...: One wonder if they have equivalent field trips to Christian churches, synagogues, Hindu temples and atheist groups.

Err no?; 11/23/13, 2:08 PM
mccullough said...: As long as Salman Rushdie chaperones, this is a worthwhile field trip.; 11/23/13, 2:09 PM
sean said...: "it's racist to call Islam a race"

Of course, the letter didn't do that, it merely said that failure to attend the trip would be "racial discrimination." As Prof. Althouse has argued convincingly, the concept of discrimination, like most legal concepts, has no fixed meaning. If feminists can convince the courts that pornography is sex discrimination, then it is. If Muslims can convince the courts that defaming the Prophet Muhammed is religious (or racial) discrimination, then it is.; 11/23/13, 2:13 PM
The Godfather said...: I infer that the school authorities knew there'd be parental resistance to the field trip, and that they ascribed the resistance to the parents' anti-Muslim prejudice; so they thought a heavy-handed threat would force the parents to get their minds straight. In Britain, even more than in the US, it's getting to be really important to make the government workers know who they work for.

By the way, as described, I would have no objection to the field trip as such.; 11/23/13, 2:17 PM
Sorun said...: "Some sober reflection is due on her part to understand what drove her to writing the letter in the first place."

My ex-wife is on her company's cultural diversity committee. Not her choice. She jokes that she'd get fired if she laughed at some of the stupid stuff people come up with. But I think that's why these things get as far as they do - into the media. Useful internal sanity checks are squelched by PC fear.

Another one is the racist PB&J sandwich that Drudge linked to recently. What teacher is going to tell the Latina principle that she's gone too far?; 11/23/13, 2:27 PM
Illuninati said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/23/13, 2:31 PM
Illuninati said...: Inga said:
"One more reason to keep government and religion seperate."

That attitude is exactly why Islam is taking over England. The people pushing England towards Islam are secularists who have vanquished Christianity from the public square.; 11/23/13, 2:32 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Bossy.; 11/23/13, 2:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Inga said:
"One more reason to keep government and religion seperate."
-------------------------------
That attitude is exactly why Islam is taking over England. The people pushing England towards Islam are secularists who have vanquished Christianity from the public square.

11/23/13, 2:32 PM
--------------------------------
Illuninati, a secularist by definition would not be in favor of pushing any religion. Keeping all religion out of public education would solve the problem of choosing which religion to favor over another when deciding the curriculum. If one wants their child to learn about religion they can send the child to a religious school, home school, or send their child to extra cirricular lessons somewhere of their choosing.; 11/23/13, 2:58 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Who likes to be bossed around? No one. Not bossing people around works for most things. It makes for happy marriages, for example.; 11/23/13, 3:01 PM
Hyphenated American said...: "One more reason to keep government and religion seperate."

Inga, this is one more reason to keep government and liberalism separate.; 11/23/13, 3:01 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: (Well, that is unless you're married to a jerk. In that case, bossing isn't going to make it better though.); 11/23/13, 3:02 PM
Hyphenated American said...: Inga, liberal fascination with islamism is not an accident.; 11/23/13, 3:03 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I think bossy people are sometimes attracted to education because it allows maximum bossiness. All these young people with almost no rights who must do as one says.; 11/23/13, 3:11 PM
Illuninati said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/23/13, 3:17 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Inga,

Illuninati, a secularist by definition would not be in favor of pushing any religion. Keeping all religion out of public education would solve the problem of choosing which religion to favor over another when deciding the curriculum. If one wants their child to learn about religion they can send the child to a religious school, home school, or send their child to extra cirricular lessons somewhere of their choosing.

Have you ever studied history? Have you ever taught history? Have you considered what an enormous amount of what has happened in human history and human societies you would have to leave out if you weren't allowed to mention religion?

All human culture is suffused with religion. All the arts are permeated by it. All history is animated by it. There simply is no way to ignore it and teach anything outside the sciences. If you propose to have children taught only STEM, make your case. If you want them to learn anything else, including the English language and English literature, you'll eventually run across that Jesus chap sooner or later, along with Moses and Mohammed and their pals in the pantheon. Sorry, but that's life.; 11/23/13, 3:19 PM
Rob said...: BTW, what kind of officious fool closes her letter "Mrs. L. Small"?
One from the same country as C.S.Lewis, J.R.R.Tolkien, P.G.Wodehouse and J.K.Rowling.

Using first (and middle) initial with last name was pretty common in the UK until recently, I think.

==========

You miss my point. The offensive part isn't the initial, it's the Mrs.; 11/23/13, 3:19 PM
Illuninati said...: Inga said:
"Illuninati, a secularist by definition would not be in favor of pushing any religion. Keeping all religion out of public education would solve the problem of choosing which religion to favor over another when deciding the curriculum."

That is not how things work. Islamists already have their own readymade culture which does not have any tradition of separation of church and state like Christians. Islamists believe in violent jihad if it enhances the cause of Islam.

Secularists are hell bent on destroying Western traditions and morays which have united and protected the culture for generations and to throw the door open to an alien culture. The Islamists have been trying to overthrow Western culture ever since Muhammad rode out of the desert. Because of the cooperation of secularists, they are now closer to their goal than ever before.

By blinding yourselves to the differences between religions, the secularists have torn down the immune system. Since they refuse to take differences in culture and religion into consideration in decisions about the make up of immigrants, the secularists have opened the door to an Islamic invasion. England especially but to a lesser extent the rest of Europe are inundated with people from countries whose culture background includes Sharia law. Someday, probably sooner than later, the secularists will bow to Sharia.; 11/23/13, 3:21 PM
JPS said...: So basically the school was using the old Permanent Record threat, but against the parents?; 11/23/13, 3:27 PM
Anonymous said...: Michelle, mentioning religion in the context of history is one thing, teaching religion is another. Surely you can recognize the difference?; 11/23/13, 3:37 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Inga, schools don't. The way history is taught, you'd think no one ever mentioned God after the Middle Ages.; 11/23/13, 3:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Michelle, also add that it is obviously correct mentioning religion in the context of the arts and literature, as well as history. We can all recognize the difference in teaching religion as a subject and incorporating it into the teaching the of others, no?; 11/23/13, 3:42 PM
wildswan said...: The school has been criticized so I think the principal was responding to the criticism. Probably she was criticized for being "too Christian" - it was a Christian school. Probably there was going to be a permanent note in her file - "ran a racially discriminatory school" so she passed the heavy handedness on to the parents. In other words, what had the principal been criticized for?
Think of it this way. It has been agreed that religion is an ideology. Hence really all ideology should be excluded from the schools if the Christian ideology is excluded - no left propaganda, no atheist propaganda, no Jewish, Christian or Muslim propaganda, no Buddhism, no vegetarian, no climate change - no education. Not to worry though - before then, we will have reached home schooling for all.; 11/23/13, 3:58 PM
Illuninati said...: Secularists are all too happy to "mention religion" in history art literature etc. in the same sense as we talk about the slave trade or Western imperialism. In science classes the secularists are very happy to talk about religion especially Christianity as the enemy of science. To replace this religious ignorance they offer their shiny new secular religion which is based on tolerance and reason complete with their new improved morality. Secularists have not driven religion out of the schools, they have replaced it.; 11/23/13, 4:02 PM
Anonymous said...: National Religious Education Cirriculum. Why is there such a thing? THAT is the problem.; 11/23/13, 4:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Illuninati, I think you see things that are not there. I'm not in any way saying you are insane, no at all. But I think you are projecting your own biases and fears onto non religious people. I've heard you describe liberals as pagans., really, whats up with that? You make generalities and appear to project in almost every comment. I find it odd, but wouldn't dream of saying you shouldn't express your beliefs on this forum.; 11/23/13, 4:12 PM
chickelit said...: Enjoy the decline, Britain!

You were Great once, but no longer.; 11/23/13, 4:13 PM
Illuninati said...: Inga said:
" I've heard you describe liberals as pagans., really, whats up with that?"

I can understand why you would think I said that, but I didn't. I believe that the group which most closely correlates to classical liberalism are the libertarians. I do not see libertarians as a group at war with our traditional culture. Leftism/Marxism is different. It is a totalitarian ideology which presents itself as a replacement for our Judeo-Christian culture and which serves as a secular religion.; 11/23/13, 4:30 PM
Dr Hubert Jackson said...: Makes me racist against the nanny state.; 11/23/13, 4:32 PM
Renee said...: Religious/cultural diversity shouldn't be taught until middle school. You need the historical perspective on it.; 11/23/13, 4:50 PM
The Godfather said...: I'm a Christian, and because of that I don't want public schools to promote the Christian religion. Look at the British experience. The Anglican Church has been the established, government supported, national church since Elizabeth I, with the result that nobody goes to church, except to be married and buried. (I exaggerate for emphasis, but only slightly.)

Obviously there is a risk that under certain circumstances, a non-partisan position toward Christianity in public schools can evolve into an anti-Christian position. The best solution to that problem is diversity in education, so that parents have opportunities to choose non-threatening environments for their children.; 11/23/13, 5:06 PM
n.n said...: david7134:

Religion is a philosophy of morality. Its removal from the government's jurisdiction would eviscerate the liberal/progressive movement. They built their infrastructure inside public institutions in an effort to displace the predominant Christian religion.; 11/23/13, 5:15 PM
n.n said...: Illuninati:

That's right. Libertarianism is classical liberalism, while American conservatism is a hybrid of classical liberalism and Judeo-Christian philosophy.

This is why I like Americans. They have identified a reasonable compromise between individual and general Welfare, with an emphasis on the former. A compromise capable of respecting individual dignity, preserving the intrinsic value of human life, and constraining corruption, which requires an equitable balance between central and distributed organization.; 11/23/13, 5:24 PM
Kirk Parker said...: MDT,

"Have you ever studied history? Have you ever taught history? Have you considered..."

All rhetorical questions, I presume.

"All human culture is suffused with religion. All the arts are permeated by it. All history is animated by it. There simply is no way to ignore it and teach anything outside the sciences."

And of course you can't begin to teach the history of science without it.; 11/23/13, 5:28 PM
Kirk Parker said...: n.n,

"This is why I like Americans..."

Yeah, except for that abortion holocaust/genocide thing...; 11/23/13, 5:43 PM
MaxedOutMama said...: The parents had to pay for the trip, so what if they were short of money? Was the threat really to extort the money?; 11/23/13, 6:15 PM
Drago said...: Inga: "Illuninati, a secularist by definition would not be in favor of pushing any religion."

LOL

Western liberal/leftist secularists only have issues with the non-negative exposure of Christianity.

The left has no problem whatsoever with the happy talk discussions regarding non-western religions, particularly islam.

So, in summary, western lefty secularists are not really "secularists".

They are simply anti-western and anti-Christianity.

Fen's Law again.

And again....; 11/23/13, 6:20 PM
Drago said...: Examples:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/us_public_schools_teaching_chi_1.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/25/texas-students-dress-burqas-taught-call-muslim-ter/

http://www.wnd.com/2003/12/22289/

Who is pushing these Islam friendly policies in public schools?

Inga's pals.

Every one.; 11/23/13, 6:28 PM
Joe said...: The motivation for the principal is simple: she had power and wanted to show it.; 11/23/13, 8:09 PM
30yearProf said...: There is no freedom of thought in the UK just as there is no freedom of speech. BTW, there is no Constitution either; Parliament (a ship of fools) is supreme.

It makes me happy to run my American mouth in London restaurants. I know the worst they'll do about my free speech is invite me to take the next plane home.

Home to the land of liberty.; 11/23/13, 8:15 PM
30yearProf said...: There is no freedom of thought in the UK just as there is no freedom of speech. BTW, there is no Constitution either; Parliament (a ship of fools) is supreme.

It makes me happy to run my American mouth in London restaurants. I know the worst they'll do about my free speech is invite me to take the next plane home.

Home to the land of liberty.; 11/23/13, 8:18 PM
Paul said...: Maybe she is a closet Muslim.; 11/23/13, 9:16 PM
ndspinelli said...: Inga lecturing on history is like Rob Ford lecturing on food, alcohol and drug abstinence.; 11/23/13, 11:03 PM
Deb said...: My response: bite me.; 11/24/13, 5:34 AM
Gahrie said...: there is no Constitution either;

Well...yes and no. It is true that they have no single document creating their government and protecting rights. However they do have a series of documents and laws that have created a Constitutional Monarchy. Oc ourse, the Political Left in that country has pretty much destroyed it the last twenty five years.; 11/24/13, 8:29 AM
Theranter said...: Inga at 4:12
Projection beats the hell out of brainwashed. At least he's capable of projection, which requires a complex set of intellectual and subconscious cross-firing.

Unlike a mind that is brainwashed and fueled from anger, not from inquisitiveness. Just spouting the sos, deficient of thought any shred of reason, fueled by a permanent pms-ish anger, gives women a bad name.

Why you people think you have the agency to help lil along baffles me. You are true sports to even try reasoning with her. But kudos for trying.; 11/24/13, 2:10 PM
damikesc said...: My, and people worldwide are holding teachers in lower and lower regard. God only knows why.

Illuninati, a secularist by definition would not be in favor of pushing any religion.

...except secularists are far, far, FAR less diligent at keeping non-Christian faiths out of the public square.; 11/24/13, 5:45 PM