Starting this fall, a Bible-influenced curriculum approved by the State Board of Education last November will be allowed in Texas public elementary schools. The lessons could reach as many as 7,000 schools and 2 million K-5 students.
As a second-generation Hindu teenager in Texas public schools, I find this curriculum worrying. Minority students can feel socially ostracized. Adding lessons that emphasize one religious tradition will increase social alienation for those who don’t identify with that faith.
Secular education, which has contributed to maintaining peace in classrooms, is being threatened. Young students rarely understand religious differences between themselves and their peers, in my experience. When a particular tradition — whether a place of worship or dietary restriction — is presented as “correct” or “better,” those outside that tradition feel demeaned…