Posted on 06/10/2007 4:52:45 PM PDT by Alien Syndrome
LONDON, June 9 A British teaching assistant is suing an elementary school in London after being disciplined for refusing to listen to a child read a "Harry Potter" book. Sariya Allen told a tribunal she resigned from her post at Durand Primary School after being suspended for "her obstructive conduct over time," the Daily Mail reported Saturday. Allen claims she was "harassed, humiliated and discriminated" against because of her religious beliefs. Her last alleged act of "obstructive conduct" before resigning in 2006 was refusing to listen to a 7-year-old girl read a "Harry Potter" book because she said it was against her Christian faith. Her employers disciplined her after she told the girl "I don't do witchcraft in any form" and said she would be "cursed" by hearing the novel. She is seeking about $100,000 in damages from her former school for religious discrimination.
"I admit I said to the child that I don't do witchcraft in any form," she said. "I was put in the position that listening to the child reading this book would compromise my religious beliefs."
In other words, act like the adult instead of the dictator and you’ll receive more trust and confidence from the children and they will be more likely to follow your lead.
You aren't trying to bring reason to this thread, are you???
I would be much more critical.
At its worst Harry Potter is pretty benign.
Compare the wizarding world to anywhere sharia law is in force!
I also remember the total sh!t storm she found herself in when she confiscated my personal copy that my mom bought me that very night.
Odd that harsh discipline, bad grades and sh!t assignments for yours truly started as soon as that meeting was over. Very subtle, though, nothing one could definitively point to and call her on...
I personally loathe the entire series from what I’ve been able to see about it. But I plan to teach in the public school system and they are hot right now. Before I teach, I plan to read the entire series. If you teach in the public school, you have to choose your battles very carefully. I want to be informed about this popular series before I’m in the classroom and I know that I need to proceed carefully. While I think this woman is right about the series, I don’t think she chose the right way to handle this incident. Maybe she’d do better teaching in a Christian school.
My favorite story of people freaking out about Harry Potter was the one about the female guard at Gitmo “torturing” the prisoners by reading HBP out loud.
I just pictured them all with their hands over their ears going, “Lalalalala I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you! {pause} Snape did WHAT????”
Come to San Fransisco...
That's quite alright. I've heard stories about what they do there on a boat with a goat!!
Dang. Where were you when I was in school?
Dr. Seuss started me reading! My grandma gave me “Hop on Pop” (no, I didn’t jump on my dad) and since I loved it so much my mom bought me a bunch of the other books. I read them each until they practically fell apart.
“Go, Dog, Go!” was my absolute favorite! Surprisingly, I never let the dog drive the car. ;-)
LOL!
I would be willing to bet that the woman has never read Harry Potter.
These are fictional books, meant merely to be good stories. They are not to be taken seriously.
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences. Telling a child that she will be cursed for reading a book is not OK.
My nine year old has read them all - twice.
Don’t get me started on prisoner “torture.” I joined a college fraternity in 1968. What I had to endure didn’t fit my definition of torture but the media would scream bloody murder if it were inflicted on prisoners. In short, it was much more humiliating than having to wear women’s underwear on my head.
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this one.
The Harry Potter series are the only wildly popular children's books that cover the battle between Good and Evil, from the side favoring Good!
You said: The Harry Potter books are not “children’s books”. They are studies in the occult.
***
I disgree. They are children’s books (I read some of the first one, but I am not big on fiction— and no one contends that these are non-fiction books.). They are not “studies” in anything. They are fantasy stories about made up witches. If, however, you wish to buy into them being advocacy books on the occult, you will need to put aside a number of other books and stories:
— Little Red Riding Hood (Really! A talking wolf? Who would teach us that animals can talk?)
— Cinderella (A good fairy turning a pumpkin into a carriage and mice into horses. How much more occult can one get?)
— Jack and the Bean Stalk (Come on, magic beans? A plant that grows tall and strong enough overnight to climb into the sky to encouner a giant, with a goose that lays golden eggs? This is over the top!)
I think you get the idea. I know a lot of kids who have read these books, and none of them for a minute think it represents a true story or that witchcraft is real, or even advocated in these books.
It’s really just a preference. I have another sister who hates all Chinese food. I think she’s nuts! And my baby sister has always been an acid rock fan. Go figure.
Please see #59
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