What are we teaching our children?

THIS is my sixth year as an academic with a local public university, where as part of the job I am required to teach. I must admit that it is not my first choice of profession, but as I learnt over the years, “those who do, teach”.

A few days before Teacher’s Day this year, a remarkable woman who is one of my teachers, Siti Kasim, shared photos that went viral.

The photos were originally posted on Instagram by a teacher whose profession and responsibility involves educating and shaping young minds.

They depicted young Malay, Muslim, Malaysian (3M) boys in warfare gear and toting toy guns, while the very young girls were covered head to toe. The kindergarten, and the teacher, justified that the photos were of the children performing a play, to create awareness on the Palestine-Israel war.

This begs the question: what are we, Malaysians collectively, teaching our children? Lest we forget, it takes a village to raise a child.

I am all for Malaysians having a globalised view, but, should not the lesson learnt from history drenched in bloodshed be that violence never solves any problems in the world?

Instead of teaching the kids to play with guns and the girls that they should not be visible (why else are young girls forced to don Arabic niqabs?) to create awareness about a war, why not have plays depicting humanitarian workers helping the wounded, rebuilding infrastructure, or have the girls play-acting as promi­nent activists?

Better yet, instil in these young children the spirit of volunteerism. I have seen young volunteers eagerly sorting toys, lifting light boxes and pushing trolleys during the east coast flood relief efforts just a couple of years back.

Surely such a value is better than teaching children to use guns.I do not deny that there are lessons to be learnt from wars. Stories like Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief should serve as a reminder that extremism and hatred only create loss and propagate suffering.

The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, both by Khaled Hosseini, should remind us that narrow-thinking, superficial understanding and politicising the beautiful Islamic faith could create wars and lead to barbaric, inhumane treatment of fellow humans, including fellow Muslims.

Kindergarten teachers looking to teach children about wars can also share local singer Faizal Tahir’s music video to the song Assalamualaikum on the current Syrian war.

Teach our children that wars are full of bad consequences, but we all can help put an end to them, in our little ways. It begins with being kind and having compassion, instead of focusing on hatred.

A November 2015 Pew survey showed that 12% of 3Ms have a favourable view of Islamic State, with 21% stating “don’t know” when asked their opinion of the Islamic State.

(The survey had 1,000 respondents, data divided by religion, ethnicity, and region and cut across urbanity).

To me, this is 12% too many, and a worrying 21% that can be swayed by extremism if it fits their personal agenda.

An April 2016 Pew survey then showed that 52% of Malaysians opined that our country’s laws should strictly follow the teachings of the Quran; Islamic State claims that they are upholding an “Islamic” State based on Quranic teachings. Personally, I would question whether these survey respondents truly understand what the Quran teaches, and whether we 3Ms have an adequate, non-extremist, pluralist education when it comes to Islam.

The evidence, as shown by the viral photos, points to the contrary. How many 3Ms would gladly join the discourse on Islamic education in Malaysia, or even allow such a discourse to happen?

From personal experience, as a student I was not encouraged to ask questions, especially those on my own religion.

Today, as an educator, my students are too timid to ask questions, as they are scared to be “wrong”; they are waiting to be told what to do.

This in itself is a worrying trend. We should encourage children to ask questions, instead of telling them to keep mum or use them as puppets for our agendas.

Orwell’s Animal Farm comes to mind, where the lambs happily recite “Four legs good, two legs bad”, only for some of the animals to be “more equal than others” in the end.

Children are like sponges: they absorb what we adults do and unknowingly teach, thus it is our responsibility to be exemplary.

We must lead by example by questioning any injustice, corruption and hatred that we see among us. We must teach our children by undoing the very lessons that we have been taught.

I want young children to be taught values instead of rituals when it comes to Islamic education. I want children to be taught that the very reason we, the last ummah, were given the miracle of a Book, was for us to read, think, debate and discuss when it comes to the faith. It takes a village to raise a child, yet it takes but one child to change the world – for better, or worse.

Lyana Khairuddin is an academic with a local public university who runs to keep being optimistic about Malaysia. The views expressed here are entirely her own.