It sounds like something out of the Rich Christiano Christian movie, A Matter of Faith, except that this story is set in a junior high classroom rather than a college lecture hall. As the story unfolds, seventh-grader Jordan Wooley and her classmates were told to write on a paper whether they thought the existence of God is fact, opinion or a myth. When Jordan said that she saw this as a fact or an opinion, the teacher threatened to give her a failing grade if she did not change her answer to myth.
It would be one thing if this school district were located in a liberal area of the country. But part of what adds to the shock of it all is that this took place in a Katy Independent School District located in Texas. But in the spirit of a true Texan, brave young Jordan refused to back down and deny her Christian faith. She went home and told her mother what happened, and the situation has mushroomed from there.
The teacher claims that the assignment was intended to bring about critical thinking. However, Jordan's mother, Chantal, said, "That a kid was literally graded against her faith in God in a classroom so who would want to be known. ... So the kids were caught in a Catch-22. If they argued their faith, they were being told they were arguing against their faith and that happened in the classroom."
All of the publicity from the situation has caused Jordan Wooley to get some unwanted and cruel attention from some of the kids where she attends school. There have been some incidents of bullying and some kids have even told that she should "kill herself." Jordan says that she has also lost a few of her close friends as a result of her bold stand.
The incident ended up taking Jordan before the Katy Independent School District's Board of Education, where she testified about what happened. The board promised that there would be an investigation. The board acknowledged that such an assignment could be used as a way to teach critical thinking, but that, " Still this does not excuse the fact that this ungraded activity was ill-conceived and because of that, its intent had been misconstrued,"
Once the investigation was completed, the board admitted in a statement that completion of the assignment was not necessary for students to received a passing grade. The statement also mentioned that the teacher has said that she, herself is a Christian and that the assignment was "misunderstood."
