An Ohio School Allows Parents to Opt Children Out of Learning About Islam

angry-kid-schoolWell somebody didn’t read their Harry Potter, because an Ohio middle school is actually allowing some parents to opt their children out of part of the state social studies curriculum  on the grounds that they don’t want their kids learning about Muslims.

Seriously. Thanks, America.

The Wapakoneta Middle School in Ohio has reportedly decided to pander to bigots given the parents of seventh graders the options to have their kids skip the lesson on Islam because “some topics are sensitive,” the principal said to Buzzfeed.

The relevant part of the Ohio Social Studies curriculum for seventh graders does not actually force children to become Muslim or start practicing a different religion. It just addresses the ”achievements in medicine, science, mathematics and geography by the Islamic civilization that dominated most of the Mediterranean after the decline of the Roman Empire.”

Sorry kids, no algebra for you. (For the love of God, nobody tell these parents that the numbers we use are called “Arabic numerals,” or we’re going to wind up with a rehash of Freedom Fries.)

Wapakoneta mayor Rodney Metz told Buzzfeed in an interview that he thought this was a terrible idea.

”I don’t know why we would want to limit our youth and young adults in their capabilities of learning other cultures,” Metz said. ”If you’re going to teach history, you need to teach all the history. Why would you want to censor what you teach and don’t teach?”

The school said it was not actually recommending that students opt out of the Islam portion of social studies class, which is actually reportedly a pretty tiny part of the curriculum, but it said that it recognized that some parents are irrational bigots “some curriculum topics are sensitive and we work with our parents to work through these respective issues.”

Do you ever feel like we’re living in an Orwellian dystopia where ignorance is patriotism? Because this is appalling.

(Photo: ruizluquepaz/iStockPhoto/GettyImages)

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