The Editor,
Re: "Serving across religious nets," News, Nov. 16.
Although I applaud the efforts of the Richmond Jewish Day School, Cornerstone Christian Academy and Az-Zahraa Islamic Academy in their attempt to promote an understanding and respect for other cultures and religions through the organizing of a friendly volleyball tournament, one comment struck me as rather odd.
The principal of the Richmond Jewish Day School was quoted as saying, "When was the last time a Muslim kid talked to a Jewish kid or a Christian kid?"
It happens every single day in my school. It's called public education.
Students in my Grade 7 classroom interact on a daily basis with classmates who practice different religions, speak different languages in the home and who present a variety of abilities and needs, both physical and intellectual.
Our students develop an understanding and tolerance of others. Over the past few years I have had students who speak Tagalog, Urdu, Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, Farsi, Vietnamese, Italian, Somali, Hebrew, Arabic, French and Spanish, among others. We are all the better for having had the opportunity to work and play alongside one another.
I fail to see how sending your child to be educated in isolation from the realities of our community, and world, is helpful in developing a sense of community, or an understanding of others. It is a disservice to them.
Jamie Tolman Richmond
