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Schools
My favourite schools story concerns the putting on of the play "The Just So Stories" some years ago by one of the english-speaking international schools. If you are not aware, the title refers to a famous childrens' book written by Rudyard Kipling about animals which all have morals to them and they have been doing the rounds of the english-speaking world for over 100 years. They were written when Britain had an empire so not all of them would necessarily be considered to be politically correct these days but what the hell, times change. "How the leopard got its spots", "how the elephant got its trunk" and the case in point, "how the camel got its hump". Clear so far I would imagine but when the camel story was being put on and it came to the part that explained that camels are lazy, this is where the problems started. Of course the small-minded individual had not read the book at all but this was too much so an offical complaint went to education board explaining that this is clearly a reference to Arabs and should be stopped. It was and all the effort put into the production by the children, staff and parents was for naught. I thought education was to educate people to grow up better and not to carry prejudices with them through life but what the children got out of this is that if you don't like something and have a big enough mouth then you can spoil it for lots of people irrespective of their views. Doesn't an international education mean an international outlook on life or is that what was to be smothered?
There are any number of other stories about schools which are being compiled so your experience is eaderly sought..... |
