nfitz
Superstar
Agreed ... but how do you deal with the problem that you are asking one religion to go to school on their holy day, and not others?
Easy solution ... give us all Friday off. I won't complain ...
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Allowing Prayer sessions during school time
- Thread starter js97
- Start date
Easy solution ... give us all Friday off. I won't complain ...
Ak2809
Active Member
We can accommodate muslim students by giving them friday afternoon off, and they can make up the credit(s) lost some other way.
We've accommodated other religious groups in the past by allowing their children to opt out of sex education, right?
We've accommodated other religious groups in the past by allowing their children to opt out of sex education, right?
adeel
Active Member
Sounds simple in practice, but how would such an idea be implemented? If you just give them the entire Friday afternoon off, then that takes away 2-3 solid hours of learning per week. Are they going to get make up classes on weekends? Tutoring? If not, and its take it or leave it, then while it is an accomodation, it doesnt really make it equivalent to christian/jewish students who dont have to worry about missing class...
Nfitzs idea would be more practical. Perhaps give all students Friday off, and shift to 9-5 class schedules for Mon-Thurs..has the added benefit of training the students to get comfortable with the 9-5 grind, and I imagine it might help a number of parents from a daycare perspective?
I also support 4 longer work days with Friday off for all (students and employees etc)
tkip
Active Member
Why is this such a big deal with some people? Just allow religious students a quick, quiet prayer and back to class. Maybe I'm missing something here. This wasn't a big deal when I was young....
spider
Senior Member
If this practice is unavoidable then a fee should be charged such as when the use of school property is rented to other groups.
Ak2809
Active Member
Not bad, but at what age do these kids need the time off? Is this a highschool thing only, or does it apply to lower grades?
jeff316
Active Member
Sorry, my point wasn't clear. I was being a little obtuse just for the fun of it and it rightfully went wooosh!
I just think it is funny for us to criticize people for coming here with a set of values they don't want to change. Because that is the history of 'western' civilization in this part of the world.
Last I checked, white Euro-oriented Anglo Saxon society, social structure, institutions and values weren't here when the first of us arrived. That means that...wait for it...the history of Canada was built by people coming over and not changing their beliefs, their practices and their norms and imposing them on others. Call me when we're having this discussion in Ouendat.
Yes, and having these kids in public school learning the curriculum is what will help them assimilate.
Being so inflexible that we can't let them out for an hour (or less) to pray on a Friday will drive many of them into a religious-oriented education outside of the system where they will do exactly what you don't want them to do - not learn the curriculum, and not integrate into society.
How many Muslim friends do you have? Then compare them to how many Amish friends you have. Then you'll get it. Which path do you want Canadian Muslims to take?
Not espousing a single religion isn't much of an accommodation for those that practice another. Last I checked, we still don't have school on Xmas and Good Friday and Easters, but not Yom Kippur or Ramadan.
(PS - Religious education wasn't soundly rejected considering that 32 percent of voters voted for the party espousing religious education in public schools and more than 90 percent of voters voted for a party that supported some form of religious education in schools. FYI I'm not in favour of it at all, just correcting your assumption.)
The system isn't taking in religion in any way. Nothing is being done within the school system. This is a complete red herring.
The school is letting a group of students out of class on Friday to pray and facilitating it by giving them a place to do it in the school so they can return to class as soon as possible. Just like they would do for drama, hockey, music, family matters, and any other aspect of student life.
No one is getting religion in the curriculum, no one is asking that something being taught be changed, the board isn't espousing any religious viewpoints yay or nay, the teachers aren't teaching anything, no one who is Muslim or is not into praying is being asked to do it. Nothing religious is going on here within the system.
The board is simply recognizing a need for accommodation and doing it in such a way as to keep these religious kids within the system. Just like we do for countless other kids for countless other reasons. Isn't that what we all want? Isn't that the end goal?
If this were a bunch of Dutch Calvinists in Flamborough or Jews in Thornhill or Mormons in wherever we wouldn't even be discussing it.
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Admiral Beez
Superstar
That's because Islam is not the same as these or any other widespread religion.
Ak2809
Active Member
Absolutely not true.
nfitz
Superstar
Cause Christians have never killed anyone?
No religion is the same as the other - but that doesn't justify anyone failing to treat Islam the same as Christianity or any other religion.
jeff316
Active Member
No, sorry but it is.
It's been a good 15-plus years since I was in school but in my public high school there were a boatload of accommodations for numerous groups, including the religious. Our Christian association held separate morning prayers (for which all of the participants were late to their first class) and were often afforded a bit time to have their own Xmas/Easter celebrations, separate from the rest of the school.) (PS - Our Muslisms also got time off to pray too.)
The Calvinists in my area were let out of drug/sex ed (some of them got a whole period off once per week to attend religious classes in the community), while the Mormons were given a room to off and pray before/after the school dances (although most didn't attend til they were 14 anyway.)
You don't have to agree with any of it, but yeah these types of accommodations are common and they aren't burning up the chatboards or the papers.
jeff316
Active Member
I personally think all religions are nuts but if you think Islam is bad you ain't heard nothin' yet, go check out the Mormons. Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes
Ak2809
Active Member
Not complaining about accomodation, my complaint is with the use of facilities. This program ran for quite a while before it was reported, no? Things like this do tend to go under the radar.
jeff316
Active Member
Yup, that's exactly my point. This is the only one the media is talking about, when they could easily find many many other instances of the use of school facilities for religious accommodation.
Ak2809
Active Member
In all my years in school I have never seen any school facilities used for prayer.