All schools are closed in Augusta County, Virginia today because a geography teacher had her students copy a sentence in Arabic for a lesson in calligraphy.
After the lesson, the school received a mountain of hate mail and threats and some local parents lost their shit. Some parents even claimed their children were being indoctrinated.
In response, Augusta County Superintendent Eric Bond said in a news release that when students learn about a geographic region, they also study its religion and language.
"The students were presented with the statement to demonstrate the complex artistry of the written language used in the Middle East, and were asked to attempt to copy it in order to give the students an idea of the artistic complexity of the calligraphy," Bond said.
Yep. That definitely sounds like indoctrination to me.
Local law enforcement urged the school district to close today out of an "abundance of caution" because of the extreme volume of threatening phone calls and hate mail they've continued to receive.
Americans are completely fucking stupid.
On the bright side, the kids get to start their Christmas vacation a day early.