Religious Profiling_de Keyzer
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Mercer University *
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Religion
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Apr 3, 2024
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Religious Profiling
Rachel de Keyzer
Mercer Fall 2023
With Holcomb Bridge Middle Schools racial composition being 44.85% Hispanic, a minority religious group would be students who practice Judaism. Judaism has a central principle, the “belief in the one God: the all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-
present creator of the universe”. This does not differ too heavily from Christianity or Catholicism, but there are stark differences on how, when, and who they worship. To ease the sense of in-betweenness of this difference in religious backgrounds of the students in Language Arts, the incorporation of texts that are written by jewish authors, or those on jewish topics, such as Anne Frank and the holocaust. Students in 6th grade learn the following standard in Social Studies:
SS6H3 Explain conflict and change in Europe.
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Describe the aftermath of World War I: the rise of communism, the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of Nazism, and worldwide depression.
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Explain the rise of Nazism including pre-existing prejudices, the use of propaganda, and events which resulted in the Holocaust.
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Explain how German reunification contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union and led to the end of the Cold War.
This could easily be a chance to integrate the same topic into Language Arts with specific reading material. This also allows the students to learn and ask questions about
a religion outside of their own, and in an ideal world, gain a sense of respect for others' backgrounds. I remember a time in elementary school that I learned about other religions. Specifically judaism. It was a public school in Dover, New Hampshire. It was for academic purposes, but that was 25 years ago, and I would highly doubt that students still are taught the dreidel song and how to place the actual game of dreidel. We did learn about other religions in the community, but because of the song, that one always stuck out to me. I do not know if this was common for elementary schools in the South to cover. A dissertation done on if jewish students felt marginalized in public schools, Garland stated:
“The Supreme Court, under the same rationale as Reynolds v. United States, could ban all religious practices and celebrations in relation to the various faiths as sponsored by the public schools, outside of a social studies context. In this case, the court would not be interfering with religious beliefs, only with the practices. While some may argue singing songs about Santa Claus or a dreidel are “harmless” and “secular,” this may be true for the individuals for whose faith
these songs celebrate; however, it is psychologically and socially harmful to public school students of a minority faith who “choose” not to participate, or participate with great discomfort” (Garland, 2009, p.14).”
I did not feel that it was harmful to me to learn the song, but I respect that it could be to other students when their religion is the minority. I agree that students should not be made to participate, and that understanding your students' religious backgrounds is important to create a safe teaching environment, but I do feel that students should learn about other religions and their values. This helps students learn more on why their friends are who they are. I have had two students in the past two years that I had encounters with where I had to explain Judaism to other students. Last year near the December break, I had a student that did not understand why his friend did not celebrate Christmas. I found a youtube video (
https://youtu.be/QJrADiF63CE?si=DqaQcl646SBxZgHn
) to explain in the most educational way I could what Hanukkah was. This year I had a student that was very upset that one of her friends in homeroom did not pray to the same person she did. Her choice of who she spoke to when she prays is Jesus, but she could not understand why her friend did not. This I explained with the help of my student that practices Judaism about who he does worship, this was a safer way for me to explain without getting too technical. I feel that the lack of different cultures and religious backgrounds that are represented in our required texts does not allow for students to gain the social skills in a
multicultural diverse environment. In 2023, half of these students will have a nicer phone than me. They do not have the same conversations we were having 20 years ago at their age because the school's curriculum has changed and is so much. It's important we aid students in knowing what questions to ask their friends, or parents to gain that knowledge. References
Garland, Michelle. (2009). Christian Privilege: Do Jewish students feel marginalized in U.S. public schools?. https://tfhc.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/252223/nt-judaism-fact-sheet.pdf
https://lor2.gadoe.org/gadoe/file/c9a2e7d3-c799-4252-8ec4-74e27fc1adee/1/Social-
Studies-6-8-Georgia-Standards.pdf
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