B'H
Now we are settled in Longwarry for a few more weeks until we find another house which will be more permanent (with Hashem's help), I have been seeking some CRT work and hopefully will have some permanent type of employment and can finish my novel text which is outlined and ready to go to a second draft after another 75,000 words have been written. I set a limit of 80,000 on it and have allowed an outer limit of 100,000 words. If I cannot put it out in that word limit than I need to rethink the whole concept. One can be too wordy and I do not want to write an Australia version of War and Peace although I would like to be able to do the Aussie version of Crime and Punishment one day.
I received an interesting knock back for casual teaching work on Friday from a Christian Independent School and here is an extract from their letter to me. I sent a similar CV and covering letter to most of the public schools I have approached for work. I did specify that my teaching disciplines were English, History and Humanities.
Dear Ilana,
Thank you for your email introducing yourself and for your CV which we received with your email.
It is a requirement that all Teaching Staff at XXXXX Christian School are able to deliver our curriculum from a Christian Worldview perspective. I note from reading your Application Form that you would not be able to take Christian Instruction classes and consequently, it would be unreasonable for us to ask you to teach from a Christian Worldview perspective.
Thank you for the time that you took to prepare and send your Resume and I wish you well as you explore other opportunities for CRT work.
Kind Regards
I laughed when I read this as I believe it is an example of the parochial viewpoint that is the antithesis of real education.
My reply to them will be somewhere along these lines.
Dear XXXX
Many thanks for your sensitive rejection of my application for Casual Relief Teaching. Your inability conceive of any other view point in the world but a 'Christian Worldview' confirms my original analysis of many Christian institutes of education as admirably parochial in their outlook. It was just such a provincial viewpoint which is so admirably espoused in your letter that led me to explore my genetic heritage and convert to Orthodox Judaism. Apart from a direct line to G-D, Jewish thinking and faith have had an active ongoing dialogue on many issues over the centuries which means that on all levels my faith is a living testament to contemporary times.
Also I would like to remind you that your 'messiah' was actually a practising Orthodox Jew whose teachings were those of Orthodox Judaism. These have, somehow, like some elements of Islam which also has its roots in Judaism, been perverted and misrepresented over the centuries by followers of your faith with unfortunate prejudice resulting for the Jewish nation.
I thank you for allowing me to see that my original impressions of the Christian educational philosophies are confirmed and my Jewish path in life was always the right one.
I will be more successful in my search for work in educational institutions that are less insular and have a broader world viewpoint and a more tolerant one towards the members of other faiths who happen to be teachers. Afterall I did apply to be a casual relief teacher and not a Christian religious studies teacher. I agree with you that I am highly unqualified for that role. My knowledge base relies purely on what you call the old Testament and what we call the Living Torah. Once I feel I have a good knowledge of Tanach and other Jewish holy books like the Tanya, I might find time to look at your religious book. However better people and scholars that I am,have spent their whole lifetimes on the study of our holy books, therefore I doubt I could even hope or desire to teach from a Christian worldview. I am too attached to the Jewish world view which allows and respects other world viewpoints to exist in their schools because we have no such insecurities about the basis of our faith or feel threatened by other world viewpoints apart from our own.
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