Hindus, Muslims, and Christians

[Ken]

Hindus are living in explicit sin and in violation of both the 1st and 2nd Commandments. There is absolutely no ambiguity about that. None whatsoever. Are you being consistent in using Biblical definitions of sin to guide your interactions with others? I have never once seen any hand-wringing by conservative Christians about how they can live next to Muslim or Hindu neighbors, or accommodate such people in schools, workplaces, and so forth.
Why is that? Sheer hypocrisy?

I can't speak for the kind of conservative Christians you interact with, but I can tell you that among the conservative Amish and Mennonites with whom I interact there is no hand-wringing about living next to LGBTQ people or about working with them, etc. Are there discussions on occasion about how to handle accommodation requests, requests to affirm perversions through using certain requested pronouns, etc? Yes. Are these discussions more common than discussions about how to accommodate Muslims or Hindus in the workplace? Again, yes. Why? Because the Muslims and Hindus with whom we work do not ask us to affirm them in their belief system or take offense when we refuse to recognize their gods. We aren't obnoxious about it, but there is a respectful understanding where they understand we believe their religion is a false religion, and they don't accept ours. They don't ask us to pretend that their gods are alive. That is markedly different from how some LGBTQ people interact. When a man asks us to pretend that he is a woman, that creates an accommodation problem that is not easily solved.

In my classes I have, on occasion, had Muslim students who wear head scarves and ask to be accommodated in various ways such as being allowed to leave the classroom and miss work to pray during Ramadan.

Likewise, I have had, on occasion, different LGBT students who ask to be accommodated by using a different name in the classroom. Which is something that straight students commonly request as well.

In neither case is anyone asking me to pretend or believe anything. Nor is what I believe about anything any of their business. In fact, it isn't about ME at all. It is about whether as attendees of a public institution funded by their tax dollars, they are entitled under the law to ask for and expect such accommodations. As a teacher I am not acting as a representative of myself or of my faith. I am acting as a representative of the state and with coercive power over those students in my care.

As a teacher I frequently get asked by students what I believe about this or that. Usually politics. I explicitly refuse to answer them and explain that my own beliefs are not relevant. It is almost always a mistake for teachers to wear their politics on their sleeves. Although many still do so. My daughter's band teacher is super MAGA, for example. And can't help himself but let pro Trump opinions leak out in his class. All he accomplishes by this is alienating half his students for no good reason. He is entitled to his beliefs as are we all. But expressing them in his classroom is probably a mistake. Same as it would be for a teacher who did the same thing from the other direction.

[Bootstrap]

In my classes I have, on occasion, had Muslim students who wear head scarves and ask to be accommodated in various ways such as being allowed to leave the classroom and miss work to pray during Ramadan.

Suppose you knew that the parents were Orthodox Jews who would object to this. Or Evangelical Christians. Would you communicate with the parents? Would their views carry any weight?

[ken_sylvania]

Hindus are living in explicit sin and in violation of both the 1st and 2nd Commandments. There is absolutely no ambiguity about that. None whatsoever. Are you being consistent in using Biblical definitions of sin to guide your interactions with others? I have never once seen any hand-wringing by conservative Christians about how they can live next to Muslim or Hindu neighbors, or accommodate such people in schools, workplaces, and so forth.
Why is that? Sheer hypocrisy?

I can't speak for the kind of conservative Christians you interact with, but I can tell you that among the conservative Amish and Mennonites with whom I interact there is no hand-wringing about living next to LGBTQ people or about working with them, etc. Are there discussions on occasion about how to handle accommodation requests, requests to affirm perversions through using certain requested pronouns, etc? Yes. Are these discussions more common than discussions about how to accommodate Muslims or Hindus in the workplace? Again, yes. Why? Because the Muslims and Hindus with whom we work do not ask us to affirm them in their belief system or take offense when we refuse to recognize their gods. We aren't obnoxious about it, but there is a respectful understanding where they understand we believe their religion is a false religion, and they don't accept ours. They don't ask us to pretend that their gods are alive. That is markedly different from how some LGBTQ people interact. When a man asks us to pretend that he is a woman, that creates an accommodation problem that is not easily solved.

In my classes I have, on occasion, had Muslim students who wear head scarves and ask to be accommodated in various ways such as being allowed to leave the classroom and miss work to pray during Ramadan.

Likewise, I have had, on occasion, different LGBT students who ask to be accommodated by using a different name in the classroom. Which is something that straight students commonly request as well.

In neither case is anyone asking me to pretend or believe anything. Nor is what I believe about anything any of their business. In fact, it isn't about ME at all. It is about whether as attendees of a public institution funded by their tax dollars, they are entitled under the law to ask for and expect such accommodations. As a teacher I am not acting as a representative of myself or of my faith. I am acting as a representative of the state and with coercive power over those students in my care.

As a teacher I frequently get asked by students what I believe about this or that. Usually politics. I explicitly refuse to answer them and explain that my own beliefs are not relevant. It is almost always a mistake for teachers to wear their politics on their sleeves. Although many still do so. My daughter's band teacher is super MAGA, for example. And can't help himself but let pro Trump opinions leak out in his class. All he accomplishes by this is alienating half his students for no good reason. He is entitled to his beliefs as are we all. But expressing them in his classroom is probably a mistake. Same as it would be for a teacher who did the same thing from the other direction.

It sounds like your daughter's band-mates could use some education on toleration and respect. By your account it appears they can't handle allowing their teacher to have political opinions.

[Ken]

In my classes I have, on occasion, had Muslim students who wear head scarves and ask to be accommodated in various ways such as being allowed to leave the classroom and miss work to pray during Ramadan.

Suppose you knew that the parents were Orthodox Jews who would object to this. Or Evangelical Christians. Would you communicate with the parents? Would their views carry any weight?

The law is actually quite clear about this.

Under Federal law, parents are entitled to have access to ALL records that a school maintains on their child: Transcripts, report cards, discipline records, attendance records, health records, special education accommodations, and so forth. And are also entitled to request that the school correct any errors.

Likewise, under Federal law, such records must be kept confidential from all individuals who are not the parents. Teachers and administrators are prohibited from sharing any information about students to people who are not the parents, and are prohibited from making any such information public. This is education law 101.

So if there is a particular student in my class who has any sort of specific identity or accommodation. Whether for educational reasons, medical reasons, religious reasons, social reasons, or family reasons. It is not the business of any other parent and not something they are entitled to know about, whether they are Orthodox Jews, Evangelical Christians, neo-Nazi white supremacists, or simply nosy busybodies. And if they don't like it they need to take it up with Congress and not the teacher in question who is simply doing their job and following the law.

So to answer the question. I'm happy to discuss with parents anything to do with their student. I am prohibited by law from discussing with parents anything about any other student. However if they have any questions about school policy in general I'm happy to point them in the right direction to have that question answered.

[Ken]

It sounds like your daughter's band-mates could use some education on toleration and respect. By your account it appears they can't handle allowing their teacher to have political opinions.

Oh they can handle him just fine. They just roll their eyes and get on with band. But he is unnecessarily diminishing the esteem he previously had for no good reason. My older daughter went through band in the pre-COVID days and loved him. That was before he started to get political. My younger daughter started HS during COVID. Her freshman year was the lockdown year with remote learning. And when they returned to in-person class he had changed. From how she described it, nearly every day he was doing some anti-vax or anti-mask diatribe in class. Which more or less stopped when his wife died of COVID in 2021 (in her 40s). Now he is apparently just grumpily pro-Trump and repeats irrelevant (to band class) conservative talking points on occasion. He is still a very good band director, but he has created unnecessary headwinds for himself for no good reason.

[ken_sylvania]

In my classes I have, on occasion, had Muslim students who wear head scarves and ask to be accommodated in various ways such as being allowed to leave the classroom and miss work to pray during Ramadan.

Suppose you knew that the parents were Orthodox Jews who would object to this. Or Evangelical Christians. Would you communicate with the parents? Would their views carry any weight?

The law is actually quite clear about this.

Under Federal law, parents are entitled to have access to ALL records that a school maintains on their child: Transcripts, report cards, discipline records, attendance records, health records, special education accommodations, and so forth. And are also entitled to request that the school correct any errors.

Likewise, under Federal law, such records must be kept confidential from all individuals who are not the parents. Teachers and administrators are prohibited from sharing any information about students to people who are not the parents, and are prohibited from making any such information public. This is education law 101.

So if there is a particular student in my class who has any sort of specific identity or accommodation. Whether for educational reasons, medical reasons, religious reasons, social reasons, or family reasons. It is not the business of any other parent and not something they are entitled to know about, whether they are Orthodox Jews, Evangelical Christians, neo-Nazi white supremacists, or simply nosy busybodies. And if they don't like it they need to take it up with Congress and not the teacher in question who is simply doing their job and following the law.

So then what's with these schools policies saying that the school will accommodate requests for name and gender changes and keep private from the parents of the student involved? Are they illegal?

[ken_sylvania]

It sounds like your daughter's band-mates could use some education on toleration and respect. By your account it appears they can't handle allowing their teacher to have political opinions.

Oh they can handle him just fine. They just roll their eyes and get on with band. But he is unnecessarily diminishing the esteem he previously had for no good reason. My older daughter went through band in the pre-COVID days and loved him. That was before he started to get political. My younger daughter started HS during COVID. Her freshman year was the lockdown year with remote learning. And when they returned to in-person class he had changed. From how she described it, nearly every day he was doing some anti-vax or anti-mask diatribe in class. Which more or less stopped when his wife died of COVID in 2021 (in her 40s). Now he is apparently just grumpily pro-Trump and repeats irrelevant (to band class) conservative talking points on occasion. He is still a very good band director, but he has created unnecessary headwinds for himself for no good reason.

If they are truly alienated as you claim then they apparently have not learned to accept other people the way they are.

[Ken]

Suppose you knew that the parents were Orthodox Jews who would object to this. Or Evangelical Christians. Would you communicate with the parents? Would their views carry any weight?

The law is actually quite clear about this.

Under Federal law, parents are entitled to have access to ALL records that a school maintains on their child: Transcripts, report cards, discipline records, attendance records, health records, special education accommodations, and so forth. And are also entitled to request that the school correct any errors.

Likewise, under Federal law, such records must be kept confidential from all individuals who are not the parents. Teachers and administrators are prohibited from sharing any information about students to people who are not the parents, and are prohibited from making any such information public. This is education law 101.

So if there is a particular student in my class who has any sort of specific identity or accommodation. Whether for educational reasons, medical reasons, religious reasons, social reasons, or family reasons. It is not the business of any other parent and not something they are entitled to know about, whether they are Orthodox Jews, Evangelical Christians, neo-Nazi white supremacists, or simply nosy busybodies. And if they don't like it they need to take it up with Congress and not the teacher in question who is simply doing their job and following the law.

So then what's with these schools policies saying that they will accommodate requests for name and gender changes and keep private from the parents of the student involved?

If there is any record of this generated by the school then the parent is entitled to this information by law. The law is quite clear on that point. That does not mean it is the job or responsibility of the school to actively report to parents about everything that goes on in every classroom beyond the normal and usual communications home about grades, attendance, discipline, health issues and so forth. But if parents want that information they are entitled to it by law. This is the actual law in question (FERPA): https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpc ... index.html

In fact, in my class we use an online portal called Canvas where all the students are rostered and have their online profiles. They can edit their own profiles to post up nicknames, personal profile pictures or avatars, and preferred pronouns. All parents are free to request an observer account which will let them see their student's profile as well as all the assignments and materials that I push out to the class. They just can't see the profiles of other students or their grades, or participate in online class forums and discussions..

[Ken]

It sounds like your daughter's band-mates could use some education on toleration and respect. By your account it appears they can't handle allowing their teacher to have political opinions.

Oh they can handle him just fine. They just roll their eyes and get on with band. But he is unnecessarily diminishing the esteem he previously had for no good reason. My older daughter went through band in the pre-COVID days and loved him. That was before he started to get political. My younger daughter started HS during COVID. Her freshman year was the lockdown year with remote learning. And when they returned to in-person class he had changed. From how she described it, nearly every day he was doing some anti-vax or anti-mask diatribe in class. Which more or less stopped when his wife died of COVID in 2021 (in her 40s). Now he is apparently just grumpily pro-Trump and repeats irrelevant (to band class) conservative talking points on occasion. He is still a very good band director, but he has created unnecessary headwinds for himself for no good reason.

If they are truly alienated as you claim then they apparently have not learned to accept other people the way they are.

Alienated is perhaps a strong word. They still like him just fine. But their respect for him has diminished. This I know because our house is a favorite gathering place for band kids. During nice weather I sometimes set up an outdoor movie screen and projector and they come watch band movies and musicals and I overhear them.

[ken_sylvania]

Oh they can handle him just fine. They just roll their eyes and get on with band. But he is unnecessarily diminishing the esteem he previously had for no good reason. My older daughter went through band in the pre-COVID days and loved him. That was before he started to get political. My younger daughter started HS during COVID. Her freshman year was the lockdown year with remote learning. And when they returned to in-person class he had changed. From how she described it, nearly every day he was doing some anti-vax or anti-mask diatribe in class. Which more or less stopped when his wife died of COVID in 2021 (in her 40s). Now he is apparently just grumpily pro-Trump and repeats irrelevant (to band class) conservative talking points on occasion. He is still a very good band director, but he has created unnecessary headwinds for himself for no good reason.

If they are truly alienated as you claim then they apparently have not learned to accept other people the way they are.

Alienated is perhaps a strong word. They still like him just fine. But their respect for him has diminished. This I know because our house is a favorite gathering place for band kids. During nice weather I sometimes set up an outdoor movie screen and projector and they come watch band movies and musicals and I overhear them.

And it's OK to have a reduced respect for a person who thinks the election was rigged, and also OK to have a reduced respect for a person who thinks they can change from being a man from being a woman. A person who understands that the election wasn't rigged shouldn't be forced to pretend that it was, and the person who understands that a man can't become a woman shouldn't have to refer to that man as "she."