An Interview with the Blogger

I've noticed several references to a school and students. What exactly is it that you do?
I teach English to high school students at a small private religious school.

You mean a Catholic school, right?
No, I work at a Muslim pk-12th school.

A Madrassa!?!
Heh! No. My students have one religion class every day, and one combined Arabic language and Quran class. Sadly, parents and students are much more focused on immediate academic and economic goals--the religious education aspect of the school often feels like an afterthought, an add-on. By the way, a madrassa is simply the Arabic word for school.

Are you certain about this? I imagine it takes a great amount of resources to put up a building, hire staff, etc. If there is no focus on religious education, why don't these parents take advantage of the public schools in the area and simply send their kids to after school language classes?
Well, if we were all as smart as you are, I'm sure that would be the rout parents would take. Too many parents however are negligent of their duties as parents, or rather they are incompetent parents. So encountering a big scary world where their kids could loose their religious identity, they opt for the security of a Muslim environment. Notice I said Muslim environment, because the Islamicity of the institution is often questioned.

Islamicity?
Yes, by that I mean an adjective signifying the degree to which values and practices are in keeping with Islam, as revealed in the Quran and as taught by the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

That's quite a mouthful. You must be a poor excuse for an English teacher.
I've never claimed that I'm a good teacher, or even a competent teacher. In fact, be self-doubt is the main reason I'm stepping back from the teaching job.

Oh.

This interview may a continue in a future post.