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Free to hate?
Can we tolerate schools teaching religious propaganda?
I'm entirely in favour of the idea that schools should have more independence from central government, and should be able to set more of their own curriculum and lesson structure, but this idea can have a dark side. As this case shows, some schools may abuse the freedoms they already have:
The principal of an Islamic school has admitted that it uses textbooks which describe Jews as "apes" and Christians as "pigs" and has refused to withdraw them.
Dr Sumaya Alyusuf confirmed that the offending books exist after former teacher Colin Cook, 57, alleged that children as young as five are taught from racist materials at the King Fahd Academy in Acton.
This is plainly, simply and unequivocally wrong. There is not really any need for a debate on the subject; it can be taken as read that such material has no place in a school in Britain. The case raises no greater question than 'why was this not brought to light sooner?'.
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I am not sure it is so clear Rob; should an otherwise useful text book be withdrawn on the basis of one chapter that is not used in the classroom? I think there is certainly room for a debate on the issue.
It might be possible to defend the school on the grounds that they simply ignore the offensive material in their textbooks, but can we be sure that this is happening?
But, in all seriousness, can we be happy with a situation where children are being taught from textbooks which contain such views? I am wary of blanket condemnation of the school or its textbooks, but the very presence of such a racially-charged view must raise questions about the rest of the material. And, from the comments made by the sacked teacher, there may be reason to doubt that this material is being properly excluded.
I think it comes down to this: racism is wrong, and books which unequivocally promote racist views should not be used in an educational setting. For adults, the matter is different and I think adults are capable of making their own minds up about racism that they encounter, but in the case of children, particularly in schools, it is important that we condemn racism in no uncertain terms. I can't see how a school can do that when their own textbooks promote racism.
Much of the really important education in relation to values and attitudes like these goes on in the home and there is nothing we can realistically do about it. But of course once you decide that people must receive an adequate education between the ages of five and eighteen you have to set minimum standards for the hours during which they receive that education. How high you set those standards is a moot point but this is so clearly so far below any reasonable standards that it is beyond debate.
In relation to Chrisco's point, as I understand it the school is funded by the Saudi Government. You have to send a very clear message to people that if they want to fund education of the required minimum standard in the UK then we welcome your investment - but if it falls below the minimum standards required then it is positively damaging. That means we will come down on you like a tonne of bricks if you fail to self-regulate effectively. That should not discourage private money going in - it is not particularly onerous to require investors not to distribute racist material. So send the books back and require all such material from the Saudis to be vetted until such time as we are content that they can be trusted to self-regulate.