I’d be more annoyed by the pointless assignment of having someone use a pencil to try to recreate calligraphy.
I certainly wouldn’t pitch a hissy fit over it though.
Because years or even decades of indoctrination can’t withstand the onslaught of a single untranslated phrase.
“Try copying it by hand. This should give you an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy”
The premise of the assignment is ridiculous. You do not need to do more than look at the writing to appreciate its complexity. Also, an honest effort try at copying it might take well over 10 minutes, and if these children are typical then that time would be much better spent working on mastery of their their own language.
One news source wondered out loud how many other schools used the same text. I wonder too. It would be nice if someone followed up on that obviously significant subject of investigation.
I am not threatened by it. But I am religious enough to think that declarations of faith have intrinsic meaning, and I prefer not to make them falsely. I would not expect a true atheist to care, but many religious people do.
Not a parent, but I went with disapproval, though it is more complicated than that. It’s not that I’d have an inherent problem with my kid doing it–especially if I knew about it ahead of time–but that I think parents have the right to object.
Furthermore, I just don’t think it’s a good lesson. Either it’s about religion and the kids need to know what the meaning of what they are doing is, or it is not, and a less specifically religious example would be better.
I would not feel comfortable having children write out important Scriptures from the Bible that they didn’t understand, either. When we did use the Bible in class, it was explained. Just like when we used stuff from other religions. (I don’t specifically remember one about Islam, but I know we did Hindu stuff.)