In the week and a half leading up to our much-needed spring break, I came up with an assignment for my freshmen Honors Geography students. It was called Suppression or Liberation: Islam, Hijab, and Modern Society, and my aim was to have them explore the religion of Islam, the hijab (and niqab, burqa, and other garments) and the reasons Muslim women wear them, and finally their own opinion on the issue. There exist two chief viewpoints on the modest dress of Muslim women:
1. Forcing women to wear such confining clothing is oppressive and solidifies their place beneath men in society.
2. Such clothing is actually liberating because women are now only judged based on their character, personality, intelligence, and competence, not their looks, as so many women in the West are judged.
I was excited about this assignment for a few reasons:
– First of all, one of my core beliefs is that education is the cure for all that ails the world (the first step, at least). I knew at the beginning of this assignment my students would have many preconceived notions about Muslims, with most of them being negative. I was confident that by doing extensive research on the religion itself, many of those negative stereotypes would be disproven. Hopefully now that the assignment is done and their papers are written, many of them realize that most Muslims are not terrorists.
– Secondly, based on my three years in education thus far, teenagers are pretty interested in human rights and social justice. I knew this topic would be very interesting for them as a way to learn about a culture that is very different from their own.
– Finally, tying back to the first reason, education is what changes and corrects misconceptions. My students are now informed about a controversial religion and region of the world. My hope is that they are now more accepting and tolerant, at least to some degree. Also, they were able to explore the two main opinions on the topic of the hijab, formulate their own opinions, and simultaneously reflect on our own culture and our views on women's dress and modesty. It was fun for me to teach because, as some of you might know, I'm not particularly fond of religion, but I enjoyed the challenge of staying very neutral. I also played some great Arabic music and showed some images of Islamic art and architecture, which is all really remarkable.
I'm writing this post because as I was reading their papers, I was pleased to see so many great comments by these ninth graders. I'm including some of the quotes that stood out to me as very insightful, respectful, accepting, or just intelligent. Note: I fixed any spelling, grammatical, or punctuation mistakes for the purposes of professionalism, but changed none of the words they used.
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| Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram. |
– "Some of the people that I look up to always tell me that to be you is to be everything."
– "The Muslim religion has many stereotypes, and it's important for people to first of all be educated enough to understand that they are all different too. We all have stereotypes made about what we choose to do in our daily lives or simply things that we can't change, such as our cultural history and our race. An open mind never hurt anyone."
– "People need to stop being so close-minded. You should not go around judging people because they don't look like the average American because in all honesty that's something only uneducated people would do."
– "Think about the Muslim woman. She doesn't seek anyone's approval but god's and that's why she wears her hijab without caring what people think of her. She has so much faith in her religion she wears her hijab proudly with her head up. Can a girl in a bikini do that? Can she say she's wearing it as a symbol of her faith? Is that even a symbol of anything?"
– "I am confused about how the West fears the Arab World. Christians in general have done many more worse things to the Arab World in the form of the Crusades, and the various interventions that the West has done. It's way worse that any terrorist attack."
– "In the West people tend to dress based on what the social order says is normal, so it's not that different from the Arab World."
– "If the hijab is truly going to be freeing, it must be a choice – a decision made by the woman, not her husband or her country."
– "It's good that we know more about other cultures because it gives us a chance to see their struggles and their beliefs. It just gives me a chance to think how important it actually is, and how it can affect us."
– "Does a scarf around your head really change them [Muslims] to something dangerous?"
– "I don't want to be judged by the way I look, but by my character, and I believe that Muslim people want this too."
– "Sometimes, it takes some research and dedication in order to find out more over someone's real intentions rather than believing a wrong statement for a long time."
– "Without knowledge of all that has happened, one may assume all the wrong facts about a certain culture."
– "Wearing [a] hijab doesn't make a person less intelligent, affectionate, critical, and it certainly doesn't make anyone look less beautiful. Wearing a hijab simply allows one to see inner beauty rather than what's outside."
– "[A person's] color, hair, [or] face doesn't determine how someone is, and clothing shouldn't be the difference."
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