show which finishes this Wednesday. In what is touted as a “bold social experiment to break down barriers and build bridges between families and cultures”, six high school students from years 9 and 10 at the Islamic College of Brisbane are “swapped” with three pairs of students from Catholic and public schools.
At the core of the series – and the experiment – is ICB principal Ali Kadri, a self-styled “community spokesman”, who argues that Muslims in Brisbane emerge from Islamic schools ill-equipped to deal with living in Australia, and believes this experiment – if adopted more broadly – could address that. Before the show was aired, Kadri told Guardian Australia he had pitched the idea to the producers, saying a lack of interaction between communities had created “disharmony”.
Instead, the Muslim children are forced to explain and defend complex ideas on national TV, including Islamic prophecy, what does and doesn’t make something halal, how the religion feels about homosexuality, and life after death. The non-Muslim kids, meanwhile, have to process these complex ideas in real time, with their naivety and curiosity often used to create tension and emphasise differences between the communities.
“There at multiple occasions where they’ve come into my room to discuss things with me. They also spoke with their homeroom teacher, so they had support and guidance,” he said. Should children who have an understandably narrow comprehension of their religion and culture really be representing it on the national stage? Should they be tasked with publicly unpacking difficult questions the community itself is still grappling with? And what will the consequences be for both of these groups of children later on?
Not so bold, I was a part of a school swap 45 years ago. We visited Presbyterian Ladies College & they came to our State High School. It was only for a day but I think it was more of an education for them than us. We also visited a Synagogue & another institution I can’t remember