College Students Inspire Me!
NEIU Future Educators
Getting involved with the #MyJihad campaign has brought countless blessings- one of which was unseen: meeting college students from different schools. College students inspire me like crazy. I want to bottle their energy and optimism and admitedly, mother them at the same time. 😉
#MyJihad volunteer, Saleha and I, were honored to be invited to Northeastern Illinois University by Professor of Educational Inquiry and Curriculum Studies, Dr. Pulido, for a chapter discussion in her class, Philosophical and Historical Foundations of Education. The students are future educators and the topic dealt with the experience of Muslim children in school. I took part in a panel that consisted of a male student from the class, a Muslim man originally from Morocco. I was also joined by 2 other NEIU Muslim students, one who wears the hijab (head scarf) and the other, the niqab (face covering.) In my session, we answered questions of students ranging from the Muslim American experience after 9/11 to the stereotype of “women are oppressed in Islam,” to Muslim holidays and school.
Highlights from Saleha’s session: 1) Nobody had a clue about the existence of the Islamophobia industry. 2) No one knew how Islamic law is supposed to evolve culturally–keeping in line with the core belief system. 3) Most of them agreed upon the similar nature of Christianity and Islam in terms of being a scriptural tradition focusing on moral living. 4) A sense of activism was clear in these youngsters. 5) Finally, the point was clearly taken that extremists on both the sides do what they do with their political agenda and therefore, religion/religious communities themselves have nothing to do with it.
These students got to the heart of the matter and asked the tough questions. At one point, it even got heated. But we all left “changed” for the better. It is a testament to all of us involved that communication is key is breaking down barriers. The experience was beyond amazing. Additional #MyJihad volunteers will be spending time at NEIU; and all involved were left with the thought that there is a definite need for these types of classes in college education curriculum. Thank you Dr. Polido and NEIU students for your inspiration and hospitality!
About the Author
About the Author: I'm a Writer, Speaker and Muslim Activist. I'm a former Board Member of the #MyJihad Public Education Campaign.
Follow my blog at yasminareality.com or follow me on Twitter: @yasmina_reality. I'm also now on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YasminaReality
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