August 17, 2006

Nine Hours a Day Memorizing the Koran

Yes, we've all heard the stories of those third-world madrassas that teach school-age boys nothing but the words of the Koran. Such madrassas are all over the world--even in New York. From the NYT via Ann Althouse:

By not offering instruction in other subjects, the school may be inadvertently running afoul of state law, according to city and state education officials. Private religious schools like the Muslim Center’s program are required to provide “substantially equivalent” instruction to that offered in public schools, they said. But tracking every school-age child who leaves the public school system can be difficult. . . .

[The mother of one of the students] confessed that she sometimes questioned whether she was doing the right thing with her son, fretting that Thaha, who would have been entering the sixth grade this year if he had stayed in regular school, does not know his multiplication tables, for example.

But the beauty of this country, Mrs. Sherwani said, is that her son is free to have it both ways, to be steeped in Islam and be whatever he wants.

Tick, tick, tick...

Cross-posted to The Sammenhold Blog.

By Ragnar Danneskjold, Typical Bitter Gun-Clinger at 12:43 AM | |