Sakshi Venkatraman

staff writer

@oompapa1

“Are you a Muslim terrorist?”

In a country that is labeled a “melting pot” for cultures and religions, it is shocking to see how ignorant some citizens really are of the people that live just next-door to them.

As a third grader, this innocent query from my peer took me by surprise. Even with my limited knowledge of what terrorism entailed, I knew the assumption was not positive.

Firstly, I am not a Muslim, but that allegation was minute in comparison to the one that followed. The assertion that anyone with brown skin who is of the Islamic faith is automatically a terrorist was what confused me. Growing up with the Indian culture, I was accustomed to an assimilation of many religions in one area, and I had certainly met many nice Muslims.

Although in the moment I was hurt, I quickly disregarded the comment, like any distracted third grader would. However, as I matured, I came to discover the painful reality behind this question. However, now I feel nothing but pity for the boy who asked me.

We are raised in a society that is ripping at the seams with culture, yet it is not just the kids, but the adults as well, that are ignorant of the different beliefs and customs that fill this country.

Religious and cultural stereotyping is the first obvious issue. For example, Muslims have been labeled as terrorists and Christians have been labeled as homophobic by some people.

Why stereotypes exist can be due to multiple things, from the way a person was raised to their own life experience. But the main problem (and potential solution) is education.

When children are never taught about the concept of extremism in religions, they grow up with negative images of an entire people instead of just the radical parties that exist in every faith.

The biases of friends and parents can brand a child with a very one-sided view of a group of people. This is where educators need to take the wheel.

Because of the separation of church and state, teachers often get awkward in the wake of religious topics. In attempts to avoid offending anyone, instructors and administrators dance around important subjects (often shutting down religous discussions) that could ultimately create a generation that is more aware of the world and its people.

Schools’ censorship of religious topics is the birthing ground for unknowledgeable citizens who will raise their kids in the same unknowledgeable way. It is the perfect way for history’s religious and cultural dilemmas to repeat themselves.

The world is getting smaller, and the inability of some Americans to catch up is giving us a serious disadvantage in many aspects of our life; social or job-oriented. ‘

In Coppell itself, it is clear that our suburban bubble is being exposed to numerous races, cultures, and religions of the world. Even in Coppell High School, any given class contains at least three or four different ethnicities.

The reason that generations are ignorant is because we have less desire to learn on our own, yet another reason world religions should be taught in school.

Public school districts should offer a ‘World Religions’ elective where students discuss and learn to communicate with their peers of different faiths. It is a simple option schools can do to remove the barriers between faiths and instill a well rounded understanding of culture and religion at a young age.

In most situations I would jump on the “do not force kids into subjects” bandwagon, but we need to face the facts: there may be a Muslim living in the house next door to you, a Buddhist two doors down and possibly even a Zoroastrian in the house at the end of the block. So why silently resent each other for things you are uneducated about?

I believe censoring religion from schools is the equivalent of blurring out the face of every person in the world that a child does not know about. If educators continue to sit idly by while Americans drift further and further from the rest of the world, then eventually, the only thing we will be melting in our “melting pot” is the well being of our own posterity.