Rant about Deal and their religious field trip

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have her wear a hooded jacket or sweatshirt (it is winter, after all), and she can simply pull the hood over her hair in the mosque. That way it feels less like covering her hair for religious reasons.

Yea do that. Just lie to her and say she has to keep the hood on for non-religious reasons.

Huh?

[Anonymous]

OP, kindly, you are overreacting. This is a way for students to explore and understand different religions. You may not agree with it, but it is helpful for all children to be exposed to cultures that aren’t their own. This is how we can better understand each other.

[Anonymous]

The only thing I see wrong here is that all the places are representative of Abrahamic religions only.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’ll tell you this much, OP: all this does is teach your kid to hate. Not good.

OP here. Honest question. Why does it teach my kids to hate?

Your unwillingness even to tolerate a dress code so that your kid can learn about a mosque strictly as an academic subject sends a message of intolerance, inflexibility, and hate.

Her kid can learn about the academic subject in class. I hope you stretched before that massive reach you just made.

Not a massive reach. She’s basically saying she refuses to let her kid enter a mosque. It’s hate, pure and simple.

OP here. Nah, I don't hate muslims, catholics, jews, buddhists, mormons, scientologists, or any other person following any religion. And I wouldn't dare visiting a temple of any denomination and not follow their rules. That's why I have no interest in visiting any religious site. What I don't like is a public school "forcing" religious rules on my kids. And if you don't think the school is forcing them, I'd argue that the school is in a position of power. You might argue they might opt out but kids that age usually want to do whatever the other kids their age do.

What? That's your reason for being upset about this? Why do you give a crap about following the crowd? If that's so important, then go to church lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wtf op? You’re weird. The point is to learn about other cultures and religions and the mosque has a rule that the women have to wear head scarves. That’s part of the learning experience.

I would use this as an opportunity to talk to your daughter about the whole head scarf question, including the recent protests in Iran.

And FWIW, all places of worship have some level of requirement about what people can wear inside. You wouldn't let your son walk in topless to a cathedral, right?

[Anonymous]

Will the boys and girls have to enter though different entrances too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wtf op? You’re weird. The point is to learn about other cultures and religions and the mosque has a rule that the women have to wear head scarves. That’s part of the learning experience.

I would use this as an opportunity to talk to your daughter about the whole head scarf question, including the recent protests in Iran.

And FWIW, all places of worship have some level of requirement about what people can wear inside. You wouldn't let your son walk in topless to a cathedral, right?

Yeah. Let your daughter experience being subjected to that kind of control and understand first-hand why she dislikes it. This is a nice, small way to get a glimpse of how many people live every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have her wear a hooded jacket or sweatshirt (it is winter, after all), and she can simply pull the hood over her hair in the mosque. That way it feels less like covering her hair for religious reasons.

Yea do that. Just lie to her and say she has to keep the hood on for non-religious reasons.

Huh?

Where in my post did I say lie to her? I was saying if the daughter wears a piece of clothing she already owns that has a head covering, it won't feel so "different" and out of place.

[Anonymous]

What a great field trip idea. Way to teach tolerance!

[Anonymous]

I didn't go to Deal, but my DCPS sixth grade class went on a similar trip back in the 90s.

Some of the parents were in an uproar about it at the time. We had a few kids who didn't go on the trip. That only made me more curious about what we were going to experience.

The people at the mosque were nicer to me than the people at my church. We weren't prepped about covering up or removing our shoes, but they had scarves available. The thing I remember most is them being really nice and really patient as they explained why it was important to THEM. I put that in caps, because my parents acted like they were going to indoctrinate us into radical Islam or something, but they seemed respectful of those of us who didn't share their beliefs.

Years later when 9/11 happened and all of the anti-Muslim rhetoric popped up, I thought back to that trip and how nice the people were to us. I think having those experiences is important to understanding people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you go to someone’s home, you respect their customs such as shoe wearing or not. When you enter a public building you respect cultural norms such as wearing a shirt. Why make such a big deal about respecting the customs of a mosque?

It’s not your culture. You aren’t some enlightened feminist because you refuse to let your daughter show respect to another culture and cover her hair for an hour. Do you actually know any Muslim women who cover their hair and how they feel about it? To presume it’s bad, backwards, anti-feminist, etc. is just centering yourself and your culture.

I think you are missing the whole point of the class and the field trips.

You do realize that there's a difference between being invited into someone's home and doing something required as part of a public-school-sponsored activity, right?

[Anonymous]

This does sound like a very educational opportunity. I have an idea - could your daughter's dad attend and cover his head, too, in solidarity?

[Anonymous]

The school should make the boys cover their hair as well. That keeps the school from enforcing the gender discrimination at while still following the rules of the mosque.

[Anonymous]

OP you can do what you want, but if you insist on being so rigid you have to be willing to make some sacrifices. I would be forcing my kid to have a lot of conversations about head coverings and religious dress codes, but that’s not the same as banning them from going.

This isn’t that different from a restaurant that requires a tie. She’s not attending a religious service.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’ll tell you this much, OP: all this does is teach your kid to hate. Not good.

OP here. Honest question. Why does it teach my kids to hate?

Your unwillingness even to tolerate a dress code so that your kid can learn about a mosque strictly as an academic subject sends a message of intolerance, inflexibility, and hate.

Her kid can learn about the academic subject in class. I hope you stretched before that massive reach you just made.

Not a massive reach. She’s basically saying she refuses to let her kid enter a mosque. It’s hate, pure and simple.

OP here. Nah, I don't hate muslims, catholics, jews, buddhists, mormons, scientologists, or any other person following any religion. And I wouldn't dare visiting a temple of any denomination and not follow their rules. That's why I have no interest in visiting any religious site. What I don't like is a public school "forcing" religious rules on my kids. And if you don't think the school is forcing them, I'd argue that the school is in a position of power. You might argue they might opt out but kids that age usually want to do whatever the other kids their age do.

NP. OP, it does appear to me that you’re acting out of intolerance and, frankly, selfishness. This world needs more love, more understanding, and more support for other cultures and belief systems. Requesting that your child follow the norms of another culture is part of showing respect for that culture. The school isn’t “forcing them.” As you already stated, you can opt out. This seems like an unusual fight to pick. Instead of arguing that the school is somehow using its power to abuse you, what if you reframe your thinking to seeing this as an opportunity for education and an opportunity to show respect to another culture?