Eton College is to offer more courses in Islamic culture and language, its headmaster has said. The move is to help students at the prestigious public school in Berkshire gain a better understanding of Islam. That’s necessary in order to be “effective citizens,” headmaster Tony Little said.
A Muslim tutor will also be hired to look after the spiritual needs of the school’s Muslim students, and a course in Arabic will be added.
He explained the move in a letter to parents. “The relationship between the West and the Islamic world is likely to be one of the dominant issues for our boys for the years to come,” the letter said. “To be effective citizens they will need a sound understanding of Islamic culture.”
The school already employs four Anglican priests, a Roman Catholic chaplain and Jewish tutor to look after the nearly 1,300 students.
The £21,000-a-year school has educated 18 British prime ministers as well as many members of the Royal Family.
i wish RE teachers in schools here were a bit more informed about Islam. They tend to teach biased jargon. I have a friend who attends one of the best private schools in Melbourne, and she’s always coming home upset cus the teacher teaches rubbish about Islam…
That reminds me... i had one of my profs, whom i really respected, say something negative about Islam twice in my classes. i'm the shyest person on earth and speaking infront of a class of 100+ students frankly freaks the daylights out of me. But what could you do - when even the teachers spout garbage, you have to set them right otherwise the rest of the students leave the class with the impression that Islam is oppressive, jihad = holy war, blah blah blah.
Sucks when even the teachers themselves possess inaccurate information and don't seem inclined to educate themselves properly.
oh yeah and he got the shock of his life when he realized he had a Muslim female student in the class :D haha... guess he wasn't expecting one of the "oppressed" Muslim females to speak out against him. Moron.
^exactly. What sucks even more is when you try to tell them whats right (well in your view), they laff of it saying ur only a kid. I personally believe, that RE teachers need to educate themselves about a topic before spreading misguiding information
it may have been ok a decade ago, but right now, you really need a non-biased teacher
my friend whose only 15, she usually debates with the teacher as well and im so happy she does. The cute thing is, she's always like "baji sadia.. my teacher said bla bla bla and i said this this this... am i wrong?". Like, i'd know any better
In my case, he didn't outright laugh it off.... probably afraid i would sue him or something. He kindof brushed my comment towards the side. oh well - whole class of 100+ students was quiet, and i know majority were listening to me. That's all i wanted.
There should be a mandatory training process for all Religious Studies teachers... at the very very least.
but the good thing is, you spoke.... i mean people need to be told that what they are saying is wrong. Even, when an Imam at the mosque spreads things, he is informed that he needs to watch what he says.. likewise should happen with RE teachers..
[QUOTE] Originally posted by sadzzz: *
**yeah am really proud of her. Na i think she asks cus she knows i'd most likely agree with her. I'm the liberal one u see
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haha :) Liberals are cool people :D
Waisay, she's only 15 eh? wow Masha'Allah. i was such a dork and immature brat when i was 15 :(
^yeah same, i was running around playing cricket at that stage. But then again, Islam wasnt discussed all that much back then :)
yeah she's quite mature, but i think most of the younger generation are. Also, she hangs out with me and other girls who are older than her, so does get influences quite a bit.
Kudos to her for sticking up for her beliefs :k:
Take care of yourself too. Allah Hafiz