Panorama: Overwhelming Hypocrisy In Religious Schools

I have just watched a Panorama documentary which first aired on TV on Monday 22 November 2010.  It was called ‘British Schools: Islamic Rules’, and it made for disturbing viewing.

I couldn’t believe it.  I thought the government would take measures to prevent such extremist teaching in British Schools.  Clearly I was wrong.

The government may defend itself by claiming it didn’t see this coming, but that’s just an excuse.  How could they not see this coming?  I would’ve seen it coming.  I would’ve predicted this if I’d known the government was giving such freedom and such powers to religious schools.

I first commented on religious schools on another blog in the summer (www.redroom.com/member/sabiha).  At the time I concluded that the subject of religious schools was an issue for which there were no easy answers.  Now I say, when it comes to religious schools, there are some easy answers.

For example, schools cannot be allowed to practice if they teach strict segregation from mainstream society.  Some of these schools were teaching children to avoid music totally and to NOT celebrate birthdays.  I would question the religious backing for some of these so-called ‘rules’.

What saddens me most about this is that the children in the documentary are being taught to strictly segregate themselves from mainstream British society, even though they are living in Britain.  The mere hypocrisy is just so overwhelming.  How ironic that this level of hypocrisy is coming from a ‘religious’ school.

Early Bird Or Night Owl?

I have always been a night owl.  I’ve dealt with it when it wasn’t convenient, but I’ve always been a night owl.  I wish I wasn’t, but I console myself by telling myself that my nocturnalism is just the writer deep within me, as I read somewhere that writers are most creative late in the night.

I have always wanted to be one of those people that wakes up early in the morning to catch the first break of dawn.  Actually I have caught the first break of dawn, but it was from staying up late, not waking up early.  And it just isn’t the same.  I want to wake up early (is 5am too early?) put the coffee on, and have the whole day ahead of me to look forward to.  Nothing beats the smell of fresh coffee in the morning.

My typical bedtime is 2-3am.  I eventually drag myself out of bed at about 11am-12midday.  Waking up at that hour leaves me demotivated about anything.  All the passions I have, they seem less intense.  I feel a sudden sense of self-doubt somehow, though I can’t understand why.  These notions of self-doubt only disappear late in the evening, about 9pm or so.

So what do I do late into the night?  Well, I do some writing, either for my journalism course, or if I’m in the middle of a short story, I build on that.  Or I go on youtube and see clips of my favourite shows/favourite songs etc.  Once I’m doing something, I tell myself there’s no point in going to bed unless I feel tired, as I won’t be able to sleep anyway.  Before I know it, it’s 2am, then 3am.  Not anymore!  I’ve decided, tired or not, I’m going to bed no later than 11pm-12midnight.  My body clock will soon have to adjust.

So basically, this night owl is trying to convert into an early bird.

Goodnight.