I've been following this discussion but haven't posted. I wanted to share an experience with a local Christian school but didn't want to take the thread too far off-topic. Since many here have alluded to bigotry, intolerance, small-mindedness, etc., I think it's alright for me to share this unfortunate occurrence.
Some of you might be familiar with
Chili's restaurant annual chili pepper coloring contest that raises money to fight children's cancer. Several years ago, DH and went to
Chili's one evening when we were running errands near the restaurant. The walls of the lobby were decorated with the chili pepper coloring forms that were submitted by patrons. Our server told us about the coloring contest and since we didn't have children with us, we were asked to make a donation at our discretion (we did).
http://morehope.chilis.com/
After we finished our dinner, we took some time to look at the vast array of colorful pictures and noticed one that we deemed totally inappropriate. We looked at one another
and wondered what prompted a youngster to use the coloring form to make a religious slur while pointing out that the chili pepper resembled a certain facial feature. The contest submission was signed by a child who identified herself as being in third grade at a local Christian school.
We asked the hostess if we could speak to a manager but were told that he wasn't there at the time. Had there been a problem with our food or service? No. We simply wanted to speak to the manager and were told that he would be there the following night. We called before we headed there the next night to make sure that the manager was available. We showed him the coloring form, and he immediately removed it from the display. He was very apologetic and said that he agreed with us that the entry should not have been displayed and that he would advise his staff to use discretion when posting the coloring forms. We asked if we could have the original because we wanted to contact the child's school and let them see this younger's handiwork.
We sent a letter along with the original coloring form to the principal of the local Christian school, asking the rhetorical question, "Is this what you are teaching children in your school?". We said that we had been offended by the derogatory comment written by the third grader and wondered what would have prompted her to say such a thing. Presumably, the child's parents were with the girl when she submitted the drawing, so we wondered if the behavior was learned in the home and/or at school.
We hadn't asked for a response but received a letter from the principal with his apologies regarding the insensitive coloring contest entry. He indicated that the child's family had been contacted regarding the inappropriateness of the drawing and that the school would make certain that their students would be discouraged from future insensitivity.
My apologies if my post is off-topic, but it speaks to the bigotry and intolerance that is learned at a very early age. :moo:
