Virginia School District Closes After Backlash Over Arabic Assignment - 0 views
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Parents were upset over a geography assignment on world religions from teacher Cheryl LaPorte, who had students practice calligraphy by writing the Muslim statement of faith, which translates to "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah," according to Staunton, Virginia, paper the News Leader. Students were also shown a copy of the Quran, according to the News Leader
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Augusta County Superintendent Eric Bond said a statement to the News Leader that the Arabic message was not translated and that LaPorte did not ask students to "translate it, recite it or otherwise adopt or pronounce it as a personal belief."
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"The students were presented with the statement to demonstrate the complex artistry of the written language used in the Middle East, and were asked to attempt to copy it in order to give the students an idea of the artistic complexity of the calligraphy," Bond said.
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