Parents Voice Concerns about a Middle School History Assignment

[Jaxb]

Tennessee parents are voicing their concerns about a middle school history assignment in which students were asked to write "Allah is the only God."

Here is the link to the article:
http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/09/0...-history-class

What do you think about this?

I think that the students should have been allowed to write something like this:
"I don't believe this, but Muslims believes..."
"According to the teachings of Islam, the Shahada is..."
"Muslims believe that Allah is the only God, but I don't believe that."

If they were allowed to write the above, then the reader would not have the impression that the writer believes in Islam.

[Cow Poke]

This truly confounds me... I did some substitute teaching about 20 years ago in a Junior High, and there was a lot of emphasis on Islam, at the same time Christianity was being muzzled. In the same week, I dealt with a student who was subject to being expelled because she kept a Bible on her desk, while the entire student body was invited to visit a specially prepared classroom to experience "Islamic Culture", including prayer rugs oriented in the proper direction, and instructions for praying to Allah.

There's this part from that cite that quotes the Maury County Director of Schools, Chris Marczak:

Our teachers work together to make sure that our students are learning what is expected through the Tennessee academic standards. For this last section on the Islamic World this past week, our educators had students complete an assignment that had an emphasis on Islamic Faith. The assignment covered some sensitive topics that are of importance to Islamic religion and caused some confusion around whether we are asking students to believe in or simply understand the religion.

Can anybody imagine replacing the word "Islamic" with "Christian", and expecting that to fly?

[37818]

If as in Arabic Bibles Allah is used for the word we translate God. Then without compromise any Christian should be allowed to write "The God is the only God." Being that the United States motto is. "In God we trust." I'm just saying.

[Teallaura]

The statement is in violation of the Court's rulings regarding religion in the classroom. The school is subject to lawsuit.

This is a no brainer.

[Jaxb]

This truly confounds me... I did some substitute teaching about 20 years ago in a Junior High, and there was a lot of emphasis on Islam, at the same time Christianity was being muzzled. In the same week, I dealt with a student who was subject to being expelled because she kept a Bible on her desk, while the entire student body was invited to visit a specially prepared classroom to experience "Islamic Culture", including prayer rugs oriented in the proper direction, and instructions for praying to Allah.

There's this part from that cite that quotes the Maury County Director of Schools, Chris Marczak:

Our teachers work together to make sure that our students are learning what is expected through the Tennessee academic standards. For this last section on the Islamic World this past week, our educators had students complete an assignment that had an emphasis on Islamic Faith. The assignment covered some sensitive topics that are of importance to Islamic religion and caused some confusion around whether we are asking students to believe in or simply understand the religion.

Can anybody imagine replacing the word "Islamic" with "Christian", and expecting that to fly?

Giving instructions for praying to the god of Islam in a public school is going to far. This goes beyond giving information about different religions. Giving information about a religion is one thing. Give instructions on how to practice it is another thing.