Posted on 08/19/2007 12:56:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
Abraham Lincoln once famously observed, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation is the philosophy of government in the next."
The truth of Lincoln's observation is, no doubt, at the core of the apprehensions that New Yorkers have expressed about the Khalil Gibran International Academy scheduled to open next month in Brooklyn. Adding to their apprehensions is the fact that KGIA is just three blocks from a mosque which has a history of employing radical imams and which was frequented by one of the terrorists implicated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
It takes a lot to rankle Gotham City dwellers, but, given their experience with radical Islam, one can sympathize with their angst. Mind you, KGIA is a public school and will be funded with public tax dollars, some of which will come from families of the victims of 9/11. World Net Daily reports that the school's curriculum "will integrate intensive Arabic language instruction and the study of Middle Eastern history and historical figures," including the life and teachings of the prophet Muhammad. WND also explains that field trips will include destinations in the Middle East and that "teacher materials will be adapted from publications supplied by the Council on Islamic Education." New York City school officials have tried to assure the public that the school will be "non-religious" and will not promote a political or religious ideology, but skepticism abounds.
Two thoughts come to mind as I reflect on this story. The first deals with the notion of the "double standard"; the second, with "duplicity."
Our current climate of political correctness in this country has produced a dizzying double standard as it relates to Christianity and its competing world views—including Islam. Can you imagine the response of New York City educrats to school organizers who would have the temerity to advocate public funding of a school that would focus on the life and teachings of Jesus, promote the virtues of Western Civilization, and offer field trips to the holy city of Jerusalem (complete with side trips to Bethlehem and the Sea of Galilee)? Why, those "constitutional Neanderthals" would be thrown out on their ear! Their proposal wouldn't even pass the laugh test at the NYC DOE. Before you could say "ACLU," there would be a federal lawsuit to enjoin public funding of the proposed "inherently religious" enterprise. Not so, however, with Kahlil Gibran International Academy. In post-modern New York City, all religions may be equal, but some are more equal than others.
Second, it is duplicitous to suggest that one can separate Arabic culture from the religion of Islam. That's like trying to square a circle. It can't be done. In Islam, there is no separation of church and state. Islamic fundamentalists do not draw a distinction between religion, culture and politics. The three are united under Sharia law. These religious zealots see the state as a primary vehicle for advancing Islam. Indeed, the coercive power of the state is essential to spreading the teachings of the Koran. The words, "religious liberty," are not in the lexicon of these fundamentalists. "Convert or die!" is their mantra. Will citizens of the Empire State be funding the education of the next generation of suicide bombers who are committed to the expansion of a worldwide Islamic state? Inquiring minds in the Big Apple want to know.
One would hope that these concerns would be self-evident to school officials charged with the responsibility of educating New York City's schoolchildren, but apparently they are not. Sadly, those who dare to voice their concerns are branded "intolerant bigots" by the NYC educational elites. For the elites, to be deemed "intolerant" or "bigoted" is a fate worse than death in the Age of Tolerance and Moral Relativism.
The fact that the school officials do not credit even facial legitimacy to the concerns being raised by ordinary citizens speaks volumes about the critical thinking skills of New York's educational establishment, many of whom are products of New York City schools. One can only conclude, therefore, that the NYC public school system is, in fact, in dire need of radical reform—just not the kind that radical Islamists have in mind.
Islam is a plague and liberalism just feeds it.
I, as an educator, can’t fathom what they expect to achieve-—just what aptitude test is THIS school going to help their students pass?
And the ACLU is where on this...?
Turns out they have lots of schools in NYC that teach in foreign languages etc. The school system that assimilated the immigrants of the last century has gone multicultural, instead.
Madrassas are the flip side of charter schools.
Like the street vendors who throw down the rug and face Mecca in the middle of a sidewalk less than a block from what used to be The Twin Towers.
History Lesson from KGIA Advisory Imam - Muslims Discovered America!
August 18th, 2007 — stopthemadrassa
New York Post: PRINCIPAL NOT KOSHER: MUSLIM
August 16th, 2007 — stopthemadrassa
PRINCIPAL NOT KOSHER: MUSLIM By CHUCK BENNETT
August 16, 2007 — The Department of Education “spit” in the face of Arabs with the appointment of a Jewish woman as principal of the city’s new Arabic-themed school, a Muslim activist said yesterday.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Zein Rimawi said of the appointment of Danielle Salzberg.
“It’s like somebody spit in our face as Arabs,” said Rimawi, a founder of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and an organizer with the Arab Muslim American Federation.
From the “Stop the Madrassa” website: http://stopthemadrassa.wordpress.com/
“But wait. Salzberg has direct responsibility for much more, found in the KGIA Executive Summary (pg 8 of 29) for the school here.
“Salzberg made sure that Columbia University’s teacher training in fact teaches about one religion and one only - Islam. Oh, there’s “Israeli Culture” and a general nod to Middle East history, but she only recognizes the teaching of a single religion in this ostensibly public school”
(page 8):
“In addition, ITS will sponsor teacher professional development workshops in Arabic literature, the Arab Diaspora, art and music, education, economy/oil, Islam, Israeli Culture, Middle East history, political systems and reform, and women.”
Teacher development workshops in ISLAM!!!!!
I encourage everyone to visit the above website for further info.
“the school’s curriculum “will integrate intensive Arabic language instruction and the study of Middle Eastern history and historical figures,” including the life and teachings of the prophet Muhammad. WND also explains that field trips will include destinations in the Middle East and that “teacher materials will be adapted from publications supplied by the Council on Islamic Education.”
Everyone likes a good, scary horror story. However, liberals and Freepers have different tastes in them. Liberals watch slasher movies, and Freepers read stories about public education. Perhaps this Halloween, FR should devote all threads to stories about public education. Because the state of American public schools is far more terifying than Jason Vorhees and Freddy Kureger.
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This isn’t liberal insanity or hypocrisy. It makes sense when the goal is the slow destruction of American and Western culture. Teach kids about the Middle East and Islam at one school, and hopefully some of them will shuck their Western values and begin thinking of themselves as Islamic instead. The rest will be confused or empty, without any attachment at all. Into that void and infighting between groups, the socialists and communists who masquerade as liberals have a ready-made pool of volunteers to create a new world free from capitalism and the cult of the individual.
A guy named Gramscii actually outlined the process in the mid-20th century. The prose is turgid but the ideas he proposed are coming along nicely. Look it up; his writings are out in the open, as are his ideas. You’ll see why there will be no Christian immersion schools, or why Western culture is now presented as just one of many different ways to live that are all valid.
Whoops! Misspelled Antonio Gramsci. Sorry about that... need coffee... Sunday morning...
Government schools are the biggest threat to our nation than any other single issue. I really mean this.
The Marxists and their useful idiots, the liberals, work day and night to indoctrinate the next generation of voters.
Our nation´s experiment in constitutional self-rule will not survive.
Solution:
1) Remove your own children from the government school cesspools.
2) Join with your neighbors to elect representative who will close these government schools DOWN.
3) Then start working on reforming, closing down, or building entirely new universities and colleges.
Marxism is the threat, and it can´t survive without government K-12 schools and our universities and colleges.
“Marxism is the threat, and it can´t survive without government K-12 schools and our universities and colleges.”
Actually, the public schools are of fascist origin, not Marxist.
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Call them what they are! They are Marxists and communists. Even the word socialist is too mild.
Actually, the public schools are of fascist origin, not Marxist.
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Both are iron fisted.
And,,,while I agree with you that government schools have their foundation in fascism, it is the Marxists who have thoroughly infiltrated and are running them now.
I still hold the opinion that government schools are our nation´s biggest single threat to its existence. Our nation can survive almost anything, but it will not survive if the Marxist continue to indoctrinate another generation of voters.
And yet the NYC City Council is about to start ticketing smokers who who in their vehicle with children in said vehicle........
I think NYC has a few more important problems on their hands.........
And folks wonder why I’ve only visited my hometown once in the past 10+ years.........
While those of us in other states are appalled at what goes on in public, charter, and private schools in our more liberal communities, there are numerous parents in those schools that welcome and encourage activities that would get them arrested where Gabz and I live. The private school that had their kids march in a gay pride parade? Think that could happen on the Eastern Shore Gabz? The teaching of anything but abstinence in my county? Anyone wonder how quick a teacher could be fired for even suggesting something different? Actually, I have an answer on that from my own school. Pretty damn quick. In my case, a smart-aleck 8th grader asked a teacher if he had had sex before he was married since the curriculum was about abstinence. Instead of telling the young man to zip it or take his act on the road to the office, the teacher (who was quite young himself) shared that yes in college he had had sex. The 8th grader asked another leading question about frequency, the teacher chuckled and changed the subject. There was NO other discussion, just an acknowledgment of sex before marriage and a laugh/chuckle when asked about frequency. That's it. He was fired in 3 days. It would have been 2 but the superintendent was out of town. In San Fransisco, it would have been a different story - probably one that included slides....and there would have been parents who would have applauded the presentation.
Lesson? Do what you can to make your local area as conservative as possible with your elected officials, whether or not you have children in schools or even if you have kids. Conservatism at the top shows up throughout governmental services from education to police to firemen to honesty in City Hall.
I would be screaming! PTL my kids are homeschooled!! Unbelieveable. Happening on our own soil. May I ask a STUPID question! Are we all so stupid or dead to the world that we don't remember 911 ? Some one pinch me please, this has got to be a nightmare!!
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