At the start of the year we received some paperwork from our eldest daughters school, she's 12 and in grade 8 this year. The paperwork was just things they wanted us to confirm the details were still current and correct such as our address, phone, allergies, doctor etc. I was a little dismayed whilst reading this paperwork to come to the section of 'religion' and find that it no longer stated my daughters religion to be Jewish but now stated 'Islam'. Some people would not find this a problem and would simply change it back to 'Jewish', which is exactly what I did, but, I must admit, I was a little upset. No other details had been 'accidentally changed' but what could I do? It was obviously a mistake, there was no point contacting the school as that would be a complete over reaction. It did cross my mind though, that the school has a fairly new principle who has arrived from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She is an Australian, but has spent the past few years teaching and living in Dubai - but hey, a little far fetched to think that there is some kind of connection right?? I suppose I should also mention that where we live here in Australia, it is an area which does not have a very big Muslim population, and basically you could count them on one hand, unlike other areas which have been pretty much taken over by Muslims like Lakemba in Sydney.
Last week my daughter came home from school and told me that the school assembly would not be on Wednesday this week but Thursday to celebrate 'International Women's Day'. So, I thought "Well, that sounds good...". She then proceeded to tell me the principle has arranged a special guest speaker to come and talk to the whole school (it's a girls school)....and that special guest speaker is 'Muslim of the Year' from 2009. I don't want to sound racist, but I'm not really excited about the whole thing. Surely they could have found someone a little more inspirational than someone who is a stand out in the community for organising the 'shinpads and hijabs' program? I'm starting to see a pattern from this principle that I'm not really liking.
.... Just another day ....
