schools open to multi culture (yeh right)

[MagsStardustBlack]

So kind of still bugged over this thing a few weeks ago.

My daughter in p1 was playing with her tarot cards. To her they are nothing more than pretty pictures of mermaids and fairies ect.. (Tarot of the Moon Garden). I got her them so she would leave mine alone.

In school they have a 'show and tell day'. She asked me could she take them in for show and tell. I had a gut feeling which wasn't great but I said I'd better ask the teacher. So I wrote a note.

I explained these were just pretty pictures that my daughter wanted to show would it be ok? I received a note back saying that the head teacher said no sorry this will not be appropriate.

I was slightly fizzing and wrote a big letter back about equality and multiculture and spirituality and queried whether this rule applied to all religious or spiritual object? For example would a child be ok to bring in rosary beads or a bag or runes or a bible or something from a Muslim religion ect..... anyways I didn't put the letter in.

But this school promotes multiculture, in their curriculum. And show and tell is time for children to share their things in all innocence.

Just wondering what thoughts are on this?

 

[nisaba]

I'd be ropable. I'd turn up the volume.

As it happens, our local primary school is not so bad. I haven't had a primary school age child for a long, long time, but the last couple of years they've allowed me to make a speech at Assembly about Halloween.

 

[ravenest]

Still put the letter in, it sounds like a good one and may well nip a forming bias opinion (at the school) in the bud.

Censoring kiddies show and tell (especially with parential permission) ... I mean really !

 

[Zyfe]

I think you should seriously consider sending the school a letter (maybe when school starts up again after the summer, since they are probably putting aside everything but urgent end-of-term stuff right now). Probably not the exact same letter you wrote in the heat of the moment, though.

Ask the head teacher to clarify their position - if all you got the first time was "this is not appropriate", you respond "could you please explain to me why this is not appropriate?" and then await their response. Don't try to anticipate their stance and pre-empt it; get them to explain themselves first. (Actually I'd love to know what they come up with.) Of course you can acknowledge that you're still angry and this is why you're raising the issue some weeks/months after the event, but keeping the tone as polite and calm as possible is key to not being dismissed outright.

I was slightly fizzing and wrote a big letter back about equality and multiculture and spirituality and queried whether this rule applied to all religious or spiritual object? For example would a child be ok to bring in rosary beads or a bag or runes or a bible or something from a Muslim religion ect..... anyways I didn't put the letter in.

While these are good things to wonder and to ask about, they risk clouding the issue at hand. I don't know your school's policy on religious education and equality thereof, but Tarot cards are not strictly related to religion. Something it could be to your advantage to point out yourself, if they do try to play the religion card. ("Spirituality" is rather a subjective word, so I'd leave that one off the table for the time being.) I'm guessing that they probably have a pre-set list of "acceptable" things to teach the kids about and will knee-jerk reject anything they perceive as being outside this list. (I also suspect that 'promoting multiculturalism' really means that they teach kids a little along the lines of 'this is what all those people in other countries and religions do', while promoting and teaching Christianity as the de facto religion of this country.)

If the school proves itself to be unsatisfactory and bigoted, ask yourself how would you feel about taking your complaint elsewhere? Direct to the council, who presumably have a hand in forming the school curriculum and policies (assuming your daughter isn't at a private school); or even to the local press? Another reason it would be good to wait until after summer, so you have time to think these things over and decide to what level of involvement you're prepared to fight this, if it comes to it.

 

[Grizabella]

I'm not sure Tarot would fall under the heading of cultural issues. It seems like it's more along the lines of hobbies or even maybe spiritual beliefs in the eyes of the school. It's usually classed in the "occult" category so I suppose they'd justify not including it like they'd justify not allowing satanic practices to be shared at show and tell.

Tarot and other divination practices don't fall under cultural beliefs, really. I mean, they're not peculiar to any one culture. All cultures divine as far as I know.

 

[Alta]

Moderator note:

As Grizabella points out, Talking Tarot is not in any way a forum to discuss multiculturalism as an issue. The News, Views and Opinions section would be right place.

I am removing some posts that, while interesting in their own right, really need to be here. It is a subscriber section.

Thanks,
Alta
co-Moderator, Talking Tarot

 

[Holland]

A lot of people have misunderstood Tarot(like most of the comments are saying). This is not at all a surprise. Personally I would let it go, but I would be upset too!
But you must you must ask yourself, is this a battle that is worth fighting for? If so, give it all you got.
Blessings.

 

[gregory]

Schools should be totally secular. (I realise they aren't all, but still.)

As such, NO religious objects - including tarot - should be brought in for show and tell.

If one of my kids came home and told me a kirpan, or a crucifix, or any such thing, had been brought in for show and tell, I would be sending that letter myself - and I would not myself have allowed my kids to take a deck in.

Oddly enough, while I was teaching, one of the children (aged 5) told me her mother was a witch. I reacted along the lines of "that's nice for her"- and one of the other teachers (it was a group-taught class) asked what I'd said. "Oh good," she said, "because her mother IS a witch, but we shouldn't be talking any kind of religion here."

QUITE. That applies as much to tarot as anything else. It is something that can cause alarm in parents - and it is NOT UP TO US TO JUDGE THOSE PARENTS - and dissent among children. Save it for the comparative religion class.

 

[nisaba]

Schools should be totally secular. ... Save it for the comparative religion class.

In theory, I agree with everything you said.

Except ...

A Tarot deck isn't a religious object. I know atheists that read!

 

[gregory]

In theory, I agree with everything you said.

Except ...

A Tarot deck isn't a religious object. I know atheists that read!

It's sort of part of a belief system and as such - as you know - can cause offence to other types of believers.