MORE than half of Victorian schoolchildren view Muslims as terrorists, and two out of five agree that Muslims "are unclean", a survey has revealed. Just over 50 per cent believe Muslims "behave strangely", while 45 per cent say Australians do not have positive feelings about Muslims.| I'm surprised the numbers are that high after Bali. |
Almost half said they had learned "a little" about Muslims and Islam at school, but more than a third said they had learned nothing on these subjects. When asked if schools should teach more about Muslims, 29 per cent of the teenagers said no, and 34 per cent said they did not care.
One of the researchers, Abe Ata, of the Australian Catholic University, said the findings showed a need for educators to develop new ways of promoting multiculturalism among children. "There are very strong signals that there is a chasm between mainstream students and Muslim students," said Dr Ata, a senior fellow at the university's Institute for the Advancement of Research.
| Then again, the kids could be educating you about a few things: like multiculturalism, which doesn't work when you force-feed it people. |
Waleed Aly, a member of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said the results were troubling. "What it demonstrates is that Muslims are being viewed in a way that is really subhuman," he said. "The only way you can combat this kind of prejudice is on a personal level. It's much harder to hate people when you know someone in that social group."
| Perhaps teaching a little self-control would help, eh? |
| People need to earn respect, whether as kids or as adults. You can teach kids to start off treating a person they encounter with decency, but the only they'll continue to treat that person with respect is if that person earns it. Somehow that isn't on the multi-cultural agenda. |
Learning about other faiths and cultures was just as important to a child's education as studying subjects such as maths or physics, Mr Nguyen said.
The Victorian Government's draft new education laws explicitly permits the teaching of comparative religion in public schools, and enshrines values of "openness and tolerance". However, according to the Australian Education Union, while some schools discussed issues involving Muslims within the curriculum, others are more hesitant to do so. "Sometimes schools do shy away from such controversial issues because of the sensitivities," said the union's branch president, Mary Bluett. "There's always the thought that you might fall foul of politicians or parents."
But Andrew Blair, the president of the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals, said schools had a social responsibility to discuss such sensitive issues with students. "Just because it's tough, you shouldn't turn your back on it," he said, adding that the task of helping young people learn about other cultures lay not only with schools, but also with parents. "The lack of understanding and generosity out of these (survey) results is incredibly disappointing," Mr Blair said.