A Jordanian Reality

Before ‘Pluralism in the Classroom’ (posted April 21, 2006) slips into April archives, I want to mention my first experience with religion classes, and how different it was for me. Both our daughters went to a private Catholic girl’s school in Jerusalem and I knew that the school would teach them their catechism. No problem, since it relieved us from seeking private tutoring. However, my husband discovered that when our youngest daughter was in the first grade, she didn’t know the rosary. When he asked her why, she answered that her math teacher who taught the class for Moslems was much more fun than the nun! She had been going with her Moslem friends to their religion classes!

I never knew that the Moslem girls in this Catholic school were also having their own classes; I had never thought about it! All schools admitting Jordanian children come under the authority of the Ministry of Education. I was young and naïve and had not yet translated into my own life the fact that Jordan is a nation with a state religion - Islam. A state religion is a foreign concept to an American. Another reality that struck me at the same time was that I was the foreigner now! ASH