Reading the comments on the Toronto Sun website I came across this very interesting post by a Mississauga school teacher of 15 years. This is a first hand account behind the trenches. He/she makes the distinction between secular Muslims and traditional Muslims and notes that increasingly his/her students are traditional Muslims. The picture he/she paints is not a pretty one. A teacher in a common-law relationship was run out of school by a backlash from Muslim parents and students when he revealed his partner was having a baby. He did not receive any support from the school board. Jewish teachers are afraid to reveal their religion to the students for fear of a backlash. Antisemitic remarks by students go unpunished.
Posted by "alittleworried" on the Toronto Sun website
I'm so glad to hear Tarek Fatah is healthy and active in public life again.
I do agree that this is a symptom of white guilt. We of the mixed Anglo/European heritage are so afraid of being labelled racist if we criticize the practices of others. I'm over that now, as criticizing a belief system is merited. All belief systems are open to debate. If you believe it then you should be able to justify it. I left the Catholic Church because I didn't like the unequal treatment of women and men, especially in the Orders (Nuns' servitude compared with Priests' privileges). It is not critical of race. If we want to be completely accurate, Arab peoples (where Islam began, but certainly not limited to now) are Caucasian. Since Sharia was proposed in 2005, I've been saying "Where are the feminists?". How can we accept treatment of women under Sharia when we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
Thankfully it didn't pass, but I have seen a lot as a teacher in Mississauga for 15+ years, and the issue of gender equity is getting worse. Most of my students are Muslim and new arrivals to Canada, and while some are secular Muslims, more and more are increasingly traditional. I hear boys tell girls that they can't play sports, because they are girls, boys (some, not all) will refuse to sit in table groups with girls. When a boy had a disagreement with a girl, he screamed at her "There is room for you in the hellfire." (I recalled when he said this, that Mohamed proclaimed to women, most of the room in hell is reserved for women because they are gossips and not thankful - but I can't remember if it is in the Koran or the Hadith). I was informed by at least half of my class that the Japanese earthquake was sent by Allah because the Japanese aren't Muslim. I teach grade 2 and part of the curriculum is Celebrations around the world, so we learn about Ramadan, Diwali, Chinese New Year, but when we got to Easter, students (some, not all) refused to participate. One of my students said to me this year "You Christians, you'll eat anything. You don't even know what you are eating. You'll even eat a pig." I didn't inform him that I am not a Christian, but an atheist (It is better to be viewed as "One who has gone astray" than one who is a Kaffir).
Don't even get me started on anti-Semitism. The boys use "Jew" as a insult akin to "idiot", but some go further and tell me about how the Jews are awful people. I always respond to these comments and tell the children they are wrong. Other teachers are surprised I will do this, not because they are not in agreement with me, but because they are afraid of a backlash from parents if they dispute what the parents are teaching their children. When I sought advice from the principal over an especially extreme anti-Semitic student, he told me his father had expressed the same views to him, but the principal didn't call the father on it. It has truly worried me that this 7 year old boy, who has a generous and loving nature, has become more and more vocal and virulent in his expression of hatred towards Jews.
Interestingly, my female Muslim students are completely a-political. They are hard working, inclusive, and free from the social conflicts that affect the boys. I don't know if it is a greater maturity on the girls part or a gentler nature, or different indoctrination in the home.
Just as I don't let the kids know I am an atheist,(even though I have been asked many times what religion I am and I don't answer, I just tell them it is personal, because I'm not going to lie - I took heat from my family because I left the Church and my mother still believes I am the only person in the world who doesn't believe in God...so if I wasn't going to call myself a Christian for my mother, I won't do it for my students) there are 2 Jewish teachers at the school who won't let their religion be identified.
Some may think this is cowardice on our part, but we like the school we teach in. In a similar school, with a similar religious diversification, a male teacher, whom had been living common law for years was about to have a child with his common law wife. I don't know how the students came to know this, but perhaps the teacher was naive enough to think in a socially liberal country, you can be candid about such things. The Muslim community protested the teacher's employment, sent threatening letters to him, and his Muslim students became so abusive, he could no longer effectively teach. According to a friend at my school, who knows him, he reported that he felt the principal did nothing to support him. He chose to leave the school to end the controversy.
In case you think I am anti-Muslim, I am not. I was born, raised and still live in Mississauga. Multi-culturalism is as natural to me as mother's milk. I went to UTM, where religion was not an issue, but if I had to count, I certainly had more Muslim friends than Christian friends. I learned about the great contributions of the Persians from my many Iraqi friends who came to Canada before the take over in 1979. They rejected arranged marriages, embraced education and expected full gender equity.
I don't see the same opportunities for the Muslim girls I teach, and it is not just me. My lunch room supervisor (a lady from the community who looks after the students while the teachers have lunch) is an observant Muslim, and wears the Hajib, who came to Canada from Palestine in 1969. She also has seen a change in her 22 years at our school and thinks so many new arrivals are radicals. She told me they think too much about Islam and not enough about being happy to be Canadians.
BTW, I have no problem with Muslim kids praying. We allow the same opportunity in our school.
When the kids come back from summer vacation they are in the habit of doing the noon day prayer, and we provide room for them to do so and for years I supervised this (on my own lunch time) without an Iman. It was short (about 10 minutes), Now I don't know if the kids skipped a lot to make sure they got recess time or if the real prayer is as short, but when I hear that at Valley Park it is 30-40 minutes, I question is it more than prayer or is a Sermon as well? To me that is a huge difference. One is giving time for the children to pray, the other is listening to a sermon that may or not be within our Charter of Rights and Freedoms and our Educational Act. I know most Mosques start and end their prayers with a short recitation "Give me victory over those who have betrayed (Jews) and those whom have gone astray (Christians). I would like to know if the students at Valley Park recite this or not. However since the teachers and principal are not allowed in to supervise we do not know.
