A Visit to a Madrassa

Not the one where they teach you to have faith in the goodness of all fellow beings and donate to charity; Mind you, this was a real teach-kids-terror Madarassa.

"We have about two hundred and fifty school children here, in various stages of training". My guide started the tour.
"Violence has to be inculcated into the little minds right from childhood. Here we do it through books, films and group activities. You see a bird teaches the fledgling to fly right from when it is an egg."

That was a new one on me. But the school was named Al-Baidaa, so there had got to be something in that.

I passed a group of kids (aged three) watching Tom & Jerry cartoons. A dog was pounding the cat into the meat grinder. "That looks pretty harmless", I ventured. My guide looked at me in a Heh-Heh kind of way. "That is according to the Montessori system."

The next group of kids, five years old, were getting to the real training, he said. As I passed, they chanted out,
'Piggy on the railway, Picking up stones,
Along came an engine And broke poor Piggy's bones.
"Oh" said Piggy, "That's not fair"
"Oh" said the Engine, "I don't care" '

I moved to another group which was practicing killing innocents.
"Rock a bye baby on the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all. "

Some kids were into their Play recess. "Ah, it makes your heart glow to see little kids playing.", my guide said.
The children started..
"Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement's...
You owe me ten shillings, Say the bells at St. Helen's.
When will you pay me? Say the bells at Old Bailey.
When I grow rich, Say the bells at Shoreditch....
Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head. "

I moved to some older kids reading '1000 Amazing Facts for Children'.
'If all arteries, veins and capillaries from the human body were stretched end to end, they would make a path that could go four times around the moon.'

'The human brain generates enough electricity to power a electric toothbrush.'
I could see some of the kids looking at me with a glint in their eye. I left as fast as I could.

The visit to the terror-training school left me shaken. It is chilling to think of young minds growing up saying such fiendish things.

Aren't you glad your kids are not exposed to such violent literature?