September 15, 2008

I’m working late tonight to wrap up a final draft of a Study & Survey for a local school district, which is a formalized capital facilities report to the Office if the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). It is a required submittal as part of the process of developing a building project and applying for state matching funds for construction and remodeling, and it asks for all sorts of demographic data that has little to do with whether the roof needs to be replaced or not. I was on the OSPI website looking for a particular form summarizing the district-wide minority population census and came across a checklist for evaluating a school district for compliance with racial/ethnic diversity and sensitivity. What struck me was that the list represented the tyranny of the minority. One of the positive factors to evaluate for is “Honoring Muslim students’ need for a place to pray during the school day.”

I have no problem with honoring our Muslim students’ need for a place to pray, but why don’t we recognize the need for Christian students to pray as equally worth honoring? Why must the majority keep silent? George Washington would be disheartened at how we have lost touch with our roots.