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Original poster

Batley Grammar School

207 replies

Brahumbug · 26/03/2021 06:29

I am outraged that a howling mob of thugs has been allowed to gather at Batley Grammar School to threaten a teacher and demand his sacking. The headmaster has issued a groveling, spineless apology. The threats have been condemned by such as the National Secular Society. The cause if this nonsense? During a lesson on blasphemy, its self the ultimate victimless crime, the teacher showed cartoons of Muhammad. Free soeech is once agsin under attack by religious groups claiming special privileges for their beliefs, absolutely disgusting.

OP posts:
Flaxmeadow · 26/03/2021 17:18

They look like thugs not protesters imagine how intimidated the other pupils must feel never mind the teachers! Disgraceful and the head teacher shouldn’t have apologised coward

And the teacher will probably have to move or even go into police protection. Unfortunately this isn't the first time a toxic mob have put lives at risk in West Yorkshire
Ray Honeyford was hounded out of his job and called a racist for wanting more integration in schools in Bradford. He had death threats and had to have police protection
Anne Cryer MP was labelled a racist by her own party for trying to highlight the problem of grooming gangs in West Yorkshire. Many death threats have been given in relation to this huge problem in the county.
We had the Salmon Rushtie protests, where mobs burnt books and effigies in the streets.
Muslims who have tried to convert to Christianity have been hounded out, in particular in Bradford and had to have police protection.

What's sad is that the county of W.Yorks was once at the forefront of the trade union movement, womens rights and secular society.

PrincessNutNuts · 26/03/2021 17:19

@BuggerBognor

The reason nobody is answering my question about why the teacher showed an image that is famously distressing and offensive to Muslims to Muslim children is because it's indefensible.

I can categorically guarantee that there is no lawful image relating to the curriculum that would get me into a lather if shown to my DC. And I’m married to a Muslim man. I would debate and discuss at home, ask how it made DC feel etc. But then again I’m trying to raise my child to be a critical thinker who challenges all sorts of views, not an apologist for the regressive actions of a minority.

This image is on the curriculum?

All our children are shown it?

PrincessNutNuts · 26/03/2021 17:20

@Northernshepherd

Yeah except the teacher is the victim here princess.
Because somebody forced the teacher to show this famously distressing and offensive picture and start this?
BuggerBognor · 26/03/2021 17:22

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

RubyViolet · 26/03/2021 17:25

I really feel for the Teacher who could have never wanted this to happen. Imagine thinking that the kids you teach would report you knowing the consequences..... it’s frightening.
This is well above a Teachers pay grade.

Northernshepherd · 26/03/2021 17:28

The teacher has done nothing wrong in showing the image. It's not hateful. It doesn't incite violence. It's not racist. It causes offence to some yes. But you are causing offence to some here & we all have to accept that.

Hoppinggreen · 26/03/2021 17:45

[quote PrincessNutNuts]@Hoppinggreen

Ah I see. Distressing children is ok with you.

It's the child's own fault and that of their parents if they are distressed by something distressing that their teacher deliberately and entirely unnecessarily shows them.

Gotcha. [/quote]
No, distressing Children is not ok but neither is patents claiming their child is distressed for absolutely no reason

BettyOBarley · 26/03/2021 17:59

I live a couple of miles from this school and the local Facebook pages have been "lively" for the last couple of days as you can imagine.
A couple of the pupils who were actually in the class have posted in support of him, including this one (pic attached).

Batley Grammar School
PrincessNutNuts · 26/03/2021 18:01

@BettyOBarley

I live a couple of miles from this school and the local Facebook pages have been "lively" for the last couple of days as you can imagine. A couple of the pupils who were actually in the class have posted in support of him, including this one (pic attached).
Do you think that was written by one of the Muslim children?
PrincessNutNuts · 26/03/2021 18:02

It's not no reason is it @Hoppinggreen. People have been killed over it.

SprungisSpringYaY · 26/03/2021 18:04

Princesses why wouldn't it be written by a Muslim child? Muslim parents also support the teacher

BettyOBarley · 26/03/2021 18:05

@princessnutnuts

That one wasn't but there have been others.
Tbh I can't see many of the Muslim pupils daring to speak out in his defence of that's how their parents / neighbours / community are behaving can you? The vitriol on Facebook towards other Muslims who dare to agree with the teacher is quite something.

PrincessNutNuts · 26/03/2021 18:08

[quote BuggerBognor]@PrincessNutNuts I said “related to” so please don’t try to do a “gotcha” - you’re embarrassing yourself. it’s a RE lesson on the subject of blasphemy and the context has been explained to you several times, and you’ve ignored it each time. Presumably it’s inconvenient to acknowledge that?[/quote]
If this image was on the curriculum then the teacher did nothing wrong and those who designed the curriculum should be standing up for him.

But if it's not on the curriculum, and every other teacher in the country manages to teach RE without it then I want to know why he did it.

Because if he did it in full knowledge of how upset the community he teaches in were likely to be, then my sympathy for him reduces dramatically.

Which is why I've been asking if we know why he did it.

Boph · 26/03/2021 18:10

@manchestermyself

Here are some things that I want answers to and some things I hope might happen (but won't).

All media reports mention the unequivocal apology made by the Head Teacher whilst some also add that the RE teacher has also apologised unreservedly, but other outlets say he hasn't - so which is it? Has the RE teacher actually apologised or has the school apologised on his behalf? which would be so wrong, if they have.

Why have the teaching Unions not spoken up about this?

Gavin Williamson has said the right things, but here is something else he could do: apparently a Muslim Charity that works with the school called 'Purpose of Life' (it has provided computers) has said it will not support the school anymore AND it revealed the poor teacher's name. All the ICT from this charity should be dumped in a skip and the DFE should replace it. The charity should lose its charitable status. How dare they talk about withdrawing their 'support' for the school when actions from one of their members could lead to the death of a teacher. Some charity that is! Prosecutions should follow too, under incitement of violence laws for those who have revealed the name or called for violence against him.

Finally, it is too late now, but this school should not have closed today, it should have been open even if it needed 10,000 police to do so. There should have not been any protest there on Friday morning, it should have been broken up proactively like the Sarah Everard vigil was on Clapham Common the other week, to not do that just reinforces the view that it is one rule for one, one for others - as we saw in 2020 when the authorities stood aside for #BLM and the statue topplers in Bristol.

The head teacher should be utterly ashamed of making that statement instead of defending his staff against a mob.
WireFan · 26/03/2021 18:11

PrincessNutNuts
Whether or not it was wise or necessary to show this image in this school, it remains the fact that the image is not illegal and is shown in other schools as part of RS lessons. Batley Grammar is not a private Islanic school. It is a state school which follows the national curriculum.

Pupils were reportedly warned about the image and given the chance not to view it.
To me that shows appropriate sensitivity.

Do you think that mob rule should mean that a teacher gets dismissed, with no due process nor regard for whether any wrongdoing was committed? A suspension, an investigation and a grovelling apology from the headteacher even before the investigation has concluded is not enough is it, even if we accept that there is something to apologise for.....

Presumably you're willing to forgo all employment protections too? Any other general freedoms and protections that we all benefit from that you're willing to give up so that people can kick off about a cartoon?

People with such deeply held religious convictions are nowhere near as fragile and reactionary as this lot, who don't represent the whole Muslim 'community' in any case.

Have you seen what Charlie Hebdo has published ridiculing the Catholic church in France? No similar reaction to that, but a French teacher was beheaded only recently because of showing a class a Charlie Hebdo Muhammad cartoon.

PrincessNutNuts · 26/03/2021 18:12

@SprungisSpringYaY

Princesses why wouldn't it be written by a Muslim child? Muslim parents also support the teacher
"Asian teacher" stood out to me.
PrincessNutNuts · 26/03/2021 18:13

[quote BettyOBarley]@princessnutnuts

That one wasn't but there have been others.
Tbh I can't see many of the Muslim pupils daring to speak out in his defence of that's how their parents / neighbours / community are behaving can you? The vitriol on Facebook towards other Muslims who dare to agree with the teacher is quite something.[/quote]
So Muslim kids have spoken up and you can quote them too? Or not?

Flaxmeadow · 26/03/2021 18:14

Because if he did it in full knowledge of how upset the community he teaches in were likely to be, then my sympathy for him reduces dramatically

The community he teaches in is in West Yorkshire, England, not Saudi Arabia or Pakistan

Moonstone1234 · 26/03/2021 18:14

Why does this community think they can behave like this. The Muslim community should take a long hard look at their endless outages.

WireFan · 26/03/2021 18:17

I find all this talk of a 'Muslim community' unnecessarily flattering towards these thugs and trite too. Do we speak of a fascist community? A BNP or National Front community? No, because community lands some kind of fluffy credibility. Call these people what they are. Intolerant extremists.

Flaxmeadow · 26/03/2021 18:20

This whole taking offence and grievance business is bizarre and contradictory
After all, some might objected to, and be offended by, large local buildings dedicated to the worship of a notorious genocidal warlord and slaver.

porridgecake · 26/03/2021 18:21

In history lessons at school we were shown pictures of concentration camps. Pretty shocking for 12 year olds, but educational and didn't mean the teacher agreed with the Nazis.
Some people need to realise that the whole population doesn't need to agree with and pander to their religious beliefs.
If the protesters were not parents of the pupils they should have kept out of it.

BettyOBarley · 26/03/2021 18:21

There have been other posts I meant, I'm not sure if they were from Muslims or not and I aren't planning to go trawling back through Facebook looking for them. Does that mean she's lying about what took place, just because she's not Muslim? I don't really understand your point. She's stating the facts of what took place.

Do you honestly think a teacher who values his job would deliberately set out to offend his class of approx. 75% Muslim children, knowing that it would probably cost him his job? Really?

Flaxmeadow · 26/03/2021 18:24

I'm pretty sure that if I stood outside some of the prominent buildings in my neighbourhood with banners saying "genocidal maniac" ... "slave trader" and "tear this symbol of oppression down". I'd be arrested !

twelly · 26/03/2021 18:34

Most of the protesters are not parents they should be arrested.