Rajasi Agarwal has earned FFRF’s $1,000 Thomas Jendrock Student Activist Award for writing an op-ed that appeared in the Austin American-Statesman.
Rajasi writes: “I am a freshman at Westlake High School in Texas , where I am a reporter on the school newspaper, a member of the politics club, a delegate of Model United Nations and a violinist in an orchestra ensemble. In my free time, I love to read books. My favorite book series are Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, but my current interest is in dystopian novels. I particularly enjoy books by authors George Orwell and Suzanne Collins. Some of my other interests include keeping up with the news, playing the violin and writing opinion pieces. To me, the most interesting thing is human behavior. Why do cultures have the beliefs they do? Why do politicians do certain things? What are the dynamics within our own government? These questions are what drive me to read and write about politics.”
The following is Rajasi’s op-ed that ran in the Austin American-Statesman on March 24.
By Rajasi Agarwal
Starting this fall, a bible-influenced curriculum approved by the state Board of Education last November will be allowed in Texas public elementary schools. The lessons could reach as many as 7,000 schools and 2 million K-5 students.
As a second-generation Hindu teenager in Texas public schools, I find this curriculum worrying. Minority students can feel socially ostracized. Adding lessons that emphasize one religious tradition will increase social alienation for those who don’t identify with that faith.
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