Some parents were telling me earlier today how their children were flourishing at the infamous Derby based Medina school in the UK - now renamed Zaytouna school. Their kids were memorizing Qur'an, learning 5 pillars and praying - 3 hours of religious instruction a week. I thought wow - that sounds like quite a turnaround!
I decided to take a look at the website of the school.
I was unsurprisingly disappointed not to find it had changed in name alone. The Ofsted reports all state it requires improvement in most areas of operation so it isn't doing its job too well according to Her Majesty's inspectorate.
It remains committed to promote state ideology of forced integration ie assimilation into wider society based on the British elite's liberal secular values and new narrative of its alleged benign role around the world - Human Rights organisations seem to differ as do numerous voices around the world complaining of its self-interested exploitative policies.
The elites always have believed their values comprise democracy, rule of law, individualism and tolerance of others' 'personal' faiths. Reviewing virtually every government enquiry post-WW2 you'll find they are embedded in there, underpinning even multiculturalism policy that was little more than a veneer to appease immigrants which has now been abandoned. Lord Carlyle's review of Prevent anti-terrorism policy in 2011 put these values back into the heart of the strategy.
Whilst the website gives the traditional perfunctory nod to Islam 'the personal religion', it is littered with Prevent vocabulary promoting fundamental British values and how benign the state is to Muslims.
Here's some examples from the landing page:
- "Curriculum ... is all inspired and underpinned by the principles of the Islamic Faith and British Values" - selected Islamic principles will underpin a secular apolitical personal faith whilst British values will underpin the social content of how we live as a society
- "We want our school family to celebrate diversity, where difference is respected" - fundamental British value of individualism
- "We prepare our children to live in a multi-cultural world" - not multilegal as only secular values will be enforced by secular law
- "They value people of all faiths and none along with people of all walks of life" - fundamental British value where all faiths are equal
- "Who challenge discrimination of any form" - promotion of equality of which SRE is the latest development
- Children flourish in pretty much any school if your definition of flourishing is elastic enough.
The schools aim, akin to most schools in the UK, is that Muslims continue to see Islam as a hollowed out personal faith that comprises atomised and meaningless dogma and rituals, out of date, old fashioned and even regressive; whilst the secular worldview and social content is all technological, progressive and modern.
Our children aren't flourishing - they are being indoctrinated into a conveyor-belt life of consumption and work - misery and toil.