We, the parents and students of Williamson County, Tennessee public schools, representing many and varied faiths and creeds, including some faiths and creeds that may conflict with the tenets of the religion of Islam, do nevertheless hereby express our support for the teaching of the beliefs, practices and other salient aspects of Islam in our social studies and/or world history classrooms.
We are confident that our teachers and school administrations will be fully responsive to any concerns we and others might have regarding the educational materials used in the course of said teaching, including but not limited to the reasonable provision of any such materials for parental review upon due and proper request.
To that end, we strongly oppose any attempts to harass, browbeat or otherwise intimidate our teachers, administrators and our system at large in a manner that hinders their efforts to educate students with regard to the teaching of Islam as it pertains to the study of social studies and the history of our world.
We therefore hereby declare our support for Williamson County Schools with regard to any efforts it undertakes consistent with the foregoing principles, including but not limited to standing firm against attempted abuses of the Tennessee Open Records Act by any person who or entity that is not a "citizen of this state." T.C.A. § 10-7-503(2)(A).
Updates
October 2, 2015
Seeing this grow is honestly a bit surreal because I honestly thought I was just throwing an idea into the wind but here we are and people are actually engaging with the core of this which is just about letting our kids learn. It really feels like the conversation is shifting toward something more reasonable and thoughtful and seriously thank you for being part of this shift because I know how loud the other side has been lately.
15 Comments
I don't understand the level of fear that some have of learning about various faiths. I attended Catholic school as a child and at university and learning about other faiths was a normal part of the curriculum. Nobody was "converted" by this.
TIme to just let the teachers teach! How can it be a bad thing for our not so very diverse county's children to learn a little about others so that they might understand people that they meet or hear of in the future?
I am confident kids aren't being indoctrinated into Islam in our schools. This whole recent hubbub is utterly ridiculous. If anything, the schools sway more towards Christianity. My kids enjoyed the study of various religions and their influence on history.
I am a pastor of a Christian church in Franklin and fully support this petition. We support our schools in the task of teaching our children about the full range of religious life in a neutral fashion. This is what they are doing.
As my nine year old said, we send our children to school to learn, so let the teachers teach. I want my daughters to understand the world around them, and to possess a desire to learn...not a fear of it.
Fear and bigotry stem from ignorance, and will always prevail if we allow the fear to curtail our kids' education and knowledge.
Love WCS. Let the teachers teach!
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We, the parents and students of Williamson County, Tennessee public schools, representing many and varied faiths and creeds, including some faiths and creeds that may conflict with the tenets of the religion of Islam, do nevertheless hereby express our support for the teaching of the beliefs, practices and other salient aspects of Islam in our social studies and/or world history classrooms.
We are confident that our teachers and school administrations will be fully responsive to any concerns we and others might have regarding the educational materials used in the course of said teaching, including but not limited to the reasonable provision of any such materials for parental review upon due and proper request.
To that end, we strongly oppose any attempts to harass, browbeat or otherwise intimidate our teachers, administrators and our system at large in a manner that hinders their efforts to educate students with regard to the teaching of Islam as it pertains to the study of social studies and the history of our world.
We therefore hereby declare our support for Williamson County Schools with regard to any efforts it undertakes consistent with the foregoing principles, including but not limited to standing firm against attempted abuses of the Tennessee Open Records Act by any person who or entity that is not a "citizen of this state." T.C.A. § 10-7-503(2)(A).
Updates
October 2, 2015
Seeing this grow is honestly a bit surreal because I honestly thought I was just throwing an idea into the wind but here we are and people are actually engaging with the core of this which is just about letting our kids learn. It really feels like the conversation is shifting toward something more reasonable and thoughtful and seriously thank you for being part of this shift because I know how loud the other side has been lately.
15 Comments
I want the best possible education for my children and that includes learning about other people and their culture and religion. We live in a global society and to deny this would stunt our children's chances to advance in the real world.
I don't understand the level of fear that some have of learning about various faiths. I attended Catholic school as a child and at university and learning about other faiths was a normal part of the curriculum. Nobody was "converted" by this.
TIme to just let the teachers teach! How can it be a bad thing for our not so very diverse county's children to learn a little about others so that they might understand people that they meet or hear of in the future?
I am confident kids aren't being indoctrinated into Islam in our schools. This whole recent hubbub is utterly ridiculous. If anything, the schools sway more towards Christianity. My kids enjoyed the study of various religions and their influence on history.
I am a pastor of a Christian church in Franklin and fully support this petition. We support our schools in the task of teaching our children about the full range of religious life in a neutral fashion. This is what they are doing.
As my nine year old said, we send our children to school to learn, so let the teachers teach. I want my daughters to understand the world around them, and to possess a desire to learn...not a fear of it.
Fear and bigotry stem from ignorance, and will always prevail if we allow the fear to curtail our kids' education and knowledge.
Love WCS. Let the teachers teach!
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I want the best possible education for my children and that includes learning about other people and their culture and religion. We live in a global society and to deny this would stunt our children's chances to advance in the real world.