We don't want to offend them

[vaskidmark]

The mods are probably going to move this to poly-ticks because they have no faith that we can stick to the sociology of this.  Let's see how long we can prove them wrong, shall we?

Is this worth outrage, or is it a tempest in a teapot?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2361932/Teachers-denied-schoolboy-10-water-hottest-day-year-avoid-upsetting-Muslim-pupils-Ramadan.html

An angry mother has accused a primary school of denying her child water on one of the hottest days of the year for fear of upsetting pupils observing Ramadan.[Actually, only one student in the classroom was fasting.]

Kora Blagden, 32, claimed a teacher at her son Luke’s school refused to let the 10-year old drink from his water bottle because it was unfair to fasting classmates.

...

Mother-of-four Kora said: 'Just before bedtime me and my sons Luke, ten, and Alfie, eight, were talking about Ramadan as we had seen it on the news.

'Luke said to me he was told he wasn’t allowed to drink in class by his teacher.

'The reason being, a child who is fasting had a headache and the teacher said it would be unfair if the other children drank in front of the pupil.

Elementary school in (fG)B runs about the same as in the US - 5 to 12 years old.

http://islam.about.com/od/ramadan/f/fasting-kids.htm

Muslim children are not required to fast for Ramadan until they reach the age of maturity (puberty). However, in many families, younger children enjoy participating and are encouraged to practice their fasting. It is common for a younger child to fast for part of a day, or for one day on the weekend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawm_of_Ramadan

Fasting during Ramadan is not obligatory for several groups for whom it would be excessively problematic. According to the Qur'an, if fasting would be dangerous to an individual's health such as those with a medical condition or the aged, they are excused.

Pre-pubescent children are not required to fast, though some choose to do so, and some small children fast for half a day to train themselves. If puberty is delayed, fasting becomes obligatory for males and females after a certain age.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/health/ramadan-how-to-help-children-fast-safely-1.1208007

Some parents encourage children to fast for a few hours to get accustomed to the discipline, said Dr Maged Shurrad, Specialist in Family Medicine and Paediatrics at Al Tadawi Medical Centre, Dubai.  He said parents should gradually introduce fasting periods lasting for a few hours, and increase the period depending on the health of the child.

“A child should stop fasting if they show signs of dehydration — dry mouth, headache, and dizziness; fatigue, which is characterised by weakness and tiredness; and/or hypoglycaemia [low blood sugar] through symptoms like sudden moodiness or behaviour changes, irritability and shakiness,” said Dr Shurrad.

So what business does that kid have fasting to the point of symptoms of dehydration?  And since when are teachers in (fG)B exempted from child abuse laws?  Knowing that the kid is showing a symptom that could be associaed with dehydration, should the teacher have excused him from class and sent him to the school nurse to be checked out, or at least allowed to rest and maybe cooled externally (wet cloths to the forhead) and then returned to the classroom?

Many other religions have fast days.  I can't think of another one off the top of my head that extends the fast as long as Ramadan.  But even so, all of them seem to have exemptions for various categories that include children as well as the sick.  As a young child I was encouraged to participate in fast days - to the extent that I could do so without becoming ill or emotionally bothersome to the adults.  Adults checked on me regularly, asking if I felt weak or dizzy or had a headache.  If so, I was given water with a bit of sugar/honey or watered-down milk or juice to prevent/cure the crabbiness that uncomfortable young children may display.  My family was not fundamentalists but certainly would be considered to have been orthodox adherents.  Because we were "on the road" we were usually guests of a local family on these fast days.  I do not recall anybody objecting to my being allowed water and occassional small amounts of carbs while the adults did the full fast thing.

stay safe.

[BryanP]

I asked a Muslim coworker about this.  I thought his eyes were going to roll out the back of his head.  He thought it was the stupidest thing he'd seen in quite a while.  Most of his points came back to what you've already stated: that children aren't required to do this.  That and he isn't offended when people of other faiths do things like eat bacon or drink beer or not fast on Ramadan.  Why?  Because they're not Muslim.

[HankB]

When I was in elementary school, we didn't have drinks available except at lunch time or when passing a water fountain; we certainly didn't have water bottles at our desks to slake our thirst any time we wanted - drinking in between regular breaks  simply wasn't needed by healthy youngsters.

The story said it was one of the hottest days of the year - 28. Presumably centigrade, that's only around 82 F, which is warm, but not exactly hot. Open windows were how we dealt with somewhat higher levels of "heat" back then.

But if the school practices said otherwise, and the teacher denied a student water because of a Moslem student's fasting . . . she in effect imposed Moslem religious observances on other students - which ought to be a firing offence.

[T.O.M.]

I asked a Muslim coworker about this.  I thought his eyes were going to roll out the back of his head.  He thought it was the stupidest thing he'd seen in quite a while.  Most of his points came back to what you've already stated: that children aren't required to do this.  That and he isn't offended when people of other faiths do things like eat bacon or drink beer or not fast on Ramadan.  Why?  Because they're not Muslim.

And I find this to be true more often than not...those who they try to protect feom being offended usually aren't.  It's the ones who think they are protecting that are the only ones offended.

[Perd Hapley]

And I find this to be true more often than not...those who they try to protect feom being offended usually aren't.  It's the ones who think they are protecting that are the only ones offended.

The important thing is that leftists get to feel like noble souls, by displaying inordinate respect for non-Western beliefs and practices. If a kid has to be abused for that to happen, that's just the way the falafel crumbles.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

And I find this to be true more often than not...those who they try to protect feom being offended usually aren't.  It's the ones who think they are protecting that are the only ones offended.

A thousand times yes
Same with white folks with their kids in private school trying to decry racism before they return to their gated white hood