tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507659435767768133.post1657894071071608759..comments2023-09-25T01:17:03.971+13:00Comments on lefthandpalm: King Fahad Academy 'teaches hate'lurgeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08735536088030480119noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-507659435767768133.post-29774071590392222732007-03-07T22:23:00.000+13:002007-03-07T22:23:00.000+13:00This is another perspective on King Fahad Academy,...This is another perspective on King Fahad Academy, courtesy of the leftie <I>Guardian</I>:<BR/><BR/><B>Tripped up by a footnote</B><BR/><BR/>Teacher of 'hate-filled' Islamist texts or a misunderstood, multicultural school caught in a media row? John Crace has a look at what really goes on at the King Fahad academy<BR/><BR/>Breakfast on February 5 was just about the last time Dr Sumaya Alyusuf had a moment to herself. After battling her way through the Monday morning traffic on the A40, the director of the King Fahad academy walked into her office to find the phone ringing. It was the London Evening Standard. The newspaper was running a story saying that Colin Cook, a former teacher who was already suing the Muslim independent school for wrongful dismissal, was claiming that pupils were taught from a book that labelled Jews as "apes" and Christians as "pigs". Would she care to comment?<BR/>She would. She had no idea what Cook was referring to, had not heard of the passage in question and insisted that the school was committed to multiculturalism. It didn't do her a lot of good. Within hours, the academy was outed as a "race-hate" school and, after Alyusuf made a somewhat shaky appearance on BBC2's Newsnight, the school has been in a state of semi-siege. Pupils have been abused and threatened on their way to school, and Alyusuf has received hundreds of abusive and threatening messages.<BR/><BR/>It's not hard to work out why I've been invited into the school. After 10 days of relentlessly negative publicity, the academy is desperate to have its voice heard.<BR/><BR/>Walking into the school, I'm under no illusions about what I am going to find. There will be nice multicultural artwork hanging in the corridors, the pupils are all going to be open and friendly, and the staff will be falling over themselves to make me welcome. Pretty much what you would expect of any school opening its doors to the media, in fact.<BR/><BR/>But this doesn't mean it isn't a fairly accurate picture. Yes, some things feel a bit stage-managed, but the King Fahad academy does not appear to be a fertile breeding-ground for Muslim fundamentalism. The girls are free to decide if they want to wear headscarves, all the lessons - other than Arabic, Islamic studies and French - are taught in English, and not all the teachers are Muslims.<BR/><BR/>(Story continues: http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2016561,00.html)lurgeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08735536088030480119noreply@blogger.com