Secular School Values Impact Muslim Student Experiences

• In Event: Drawing on Islamic Educational Theories and Practices to Dismantle Racial Injustice

Abstract

Schools are steeped in neoliberal discourse. Leaders prioritize efficient standardized education, while failing to allocate sufficient resources to support student wellbeing. Advocates for equity promote culturally responsive pedagogies to disrupt neoliberal principles. These pedagogies foster meaningful connections to students’ cultural identities and practices that humanize and nurture the whole child. This can disrupt injustices and inequities faced by students whose cultural identities and practices remain marginalized.
But as schools reflect increasingly secularized values, educators are inadequately prepared to affirm students’ religious identities and practices. Anti-Muslim racism targets Muslims as religious-based bullying and epistemological intolerance. As schools seek to establish equity amid unjust and inequitable conditions, equity-oriented teaching and leading practices must address anti-Muslim racism that disproportionately impacts Muslim students by affirming and supporting their identities and practices.
Islamic epistemology is defined as the integration of inquiry of the world and in the Almighty. Knowledge is pursued to bring humanity closer to worship by understanding themselves, their relationships to others, and their responsibilities to the world. One’s intentions for seeking knowledge are as important as the knowledge itself. It is said that Islam was regarded as “a great equalizer”, a faith-based pursuit of knowledge that positions people to collectively achieve equity and justice.
This study diverged from traditional qualitative inquiry by employing a mode of inquiry to examine how narratives collected from a larger study of student voices analyzed through al-Zeera’s framework can inform the analysis of public discourse. How do secular values impact Muslim student experiences and the reproduction of anti-Muslim racism?
This study analyzes three types of qualitative data to answer the guiding research question. Narratives (75) from a larger study of Muslim student experiences were used to identify student experiences of anti-Muslim racism. My reflection journal entries from six months of attending district-level equity team meetings, strategic planning sessions, and prayer accommodation conversations with policy and district leaders yielded data on school district discourse. I also analyzed field notes collected over six months from Muslim community meetings addressing school-based concerns and issues.
Results from the study yielded two key findings. One, schools are increasingly becoming more secular by failing to acknowledge the identities and practices of Muslim students. This is experienced as an act of faith erasure, Muslim students are unable to fully embody their worldviews. Two, anti-Muslim racism is reproduced within schools as both racialized and epistemological injustice. Muslim students face religious-based bullying that threatens their safety, and they are left to defend the legitimacy of their Islamic worldviews as it remains silenced in school.
Drawing upon the findings, educators can utilize al-Zeera’s framework to create new ways of advancing justice and equity for students. It reiterates the importance of addressing the whole child by centering spiritual, social, emotional, and academic needs. This promotes a wholistic concept of the child as a full and complete being. Given the secular foundations of schools, educators need to partner with communities to incorporate other worldviews to fully embody their commitments to culturally responsive practices.

Author

• Amaarah N. DeCuir, American University