RE: [ ::: ♥Keep_Mailing♥ ::: ]™ LIFE IS HARD FOR HINDU TWEENS

It is still worse for Muslims, who are considered  by local people as  potential terrorists in the country, though the Govt. do not discriminate on the basis of religion.

T. M

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From: mjkassam@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2016 13:44:39 +0100
Subject: [ ::: Keep_Mailing ::: ]™ LIFE IS HARD FOR HINDU TWEENS
To: Chumma@yahoogroups.com; Have-A-Heart@yahoogroups.com; keep_mailing@googlegroups.com

Life Is Hard for Hindu Tweens--Texas Schoolbooks Make It Worse

Source

HOUSTON, TEXAS, July 5, 2016 (Houston Chronicle, by Kavita Pallod): 

me, as for most tweens, middle school was a time of all-encompassing awkwardness. 

I didn't know what to do with my oddly proportioned limbs, how to dress while my

 mom was still shopping for me, what was acceptable to pack for lunch or even how

 to greet my friends in the morning. I certainly didn't need the help of my teachers or

 social studies textbooks to feel out of place. But, as so many things

 are at that age, it was out of my hands.

As a Hindu American growing up in Alief, I was faced with Texas textbooks that

 made my faith look strange and primitive, even to me. We were taught about a

 discriminatory caste system that deemed people untouchable, the practice of sati

 (where widows threw themselves on their husbands' funeral pyres), 

the lower status of women in ancient and modern India.

All but absent from the textbook were the things I did know about my faith: 

karma, dharma; the four yogas (the paths to spiritual liberation). And, of course,

 the teachers had no knowledge of Hinduism outside of the textbooks in front of them,

 nor a very well-developed sense of cultural sensitivity. My tenth-grade teacher was

 not trying to be cruel when he had me stand up in front of the class,

 then asked me what my caste was.

In addition to this, always hovering over me was the specter of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon,

 an essentialized character from The Simpsons, who believed odd things and

 scammed people at his convenience store. Between Apu and the textbooks,

 misconceptions and prejudice in my classmates was inevitable, as

 were the isolation and shame that dogged me.

I kept my head down. I passed quizzes and tests by answering questions about

 caste and rituals in ways I knew to be incorrect. I tolerated classmates who

 insisted I was going to hell for worshiping idols. I tried, to work up the nerve to 

speak up about the misrepresentations in my textbook, but I was 

stymied by shyness and embarrassment.

Unfortunately, the Hindu American Foundation's 2016 Bullying Report shows that 

I am far from alone in my experience: Half of the students who responded to the 

survey said that they felt awkward or socially isolated because of their religious identity.

 Well over half said that their classes focused on caste and included claims about 

Hinduism that they knew to be inaccurate, in debate, or long debunked. Caste, when

 presented as a hierarchical and rigid system at the core of the faith, implies that 

people who follow the faith are inherently oppressive, judgmental, and exclusivist. 

Dharma is the set of basic principles that most Hindus use as a moral cornerstone to 

navigate daily decisions. To have it tainted in this way is hugely damaging.

Many Hindus growing up in the United States have little or no attachment to caste, 

much less any engagement with the caste-based discrimination that is excruciatingly

 highlighted in textbooks. But it would take a remarkable amount of wherewithal 

(an amount that cannot be expected from a sixth-, eighth- or even tenth-grader) 

to dismiss their textbooks and teachers. Worse still, one in eight Hindu students said

 their teachers have made sarcastic remarks about their faith. It's hard enough to get 

through a lesson with a teacher who is trying to be sensitive, let alone one who isn't.

Bullying is of course ubiquitous in this age group. Teens can and do make fun of

 just about anything. But there is something particularly insidious about being attacked

 for your core beliefs, as opposed to, say, a sweater that can

 be ditched or a haircut that will grow out.

These days, I work as a therapist in a setting where I see middle and high school

 students during the school day and help teens navigate a spectrum of challenges:

 depression resulting from issues at home, anxiety from school and academic pressure,

 angst about who they are. Across the board, they feel isolated, judged, awkward and alone.

Teenage years are tough. Tough enough that students shouldn't ever feel like

 their educational institution is attacking them, however subtly -- or unsubtly. 

For Hindu American students exposed to current social studies textbooks and

 the problematic understanding of Hinduism that they foster, the challenge is magnified. 

The textbooks' mistakes aren't the only thing that makes life hard on Hindu students.

 But those mistakes are something that Texas can -- and must -- remedy.

Kavita Pallod is a doctoral candidate at Rutgers University, studying clinical psychology.

 She holds psychology and education degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. 

She is active in the Hindu community of Houston and serves on the steering committee

 for the Hindu Heritage Youth Camp. She is also the 2011 winner of the Hindus of 

Greater Houston's Youth Leader award. Kavita's work at 

Hindu American Foundation is focused on K-12 curricular issues.

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