Assignment 2
1. Three meaningful takeaways
The paper highlights how Muslim students often navigate a fragmented sense of identity in school. I learned that as a mentor affirming students’ identities helps counter feelings of isolation and reinforces that they do not need to choose between belonging and being themselves.
The authors show that schools frequently misunderstand or marginalize Muslim students through disciplinary practices, curriculum gaps, or assumptions. I learned that as a mentor and advocate I need to emphasize the existence of power dynamics and to vouch for students when institutional frameworks fail to do so.
The paper emphasizes the importance of community spaces and peer networks in helping Muslim students remain resilient in unwelcoming school environments. As a mentor this resonates with me as it reminds me that effective support extends beyond academics and includes building trust and culturally responsive/aware spaces.
One continuity Muslim students are still navigating today is the need to constantly explain or defend their identity. Especially during times in which many Muslim students have become active in protesting geopolitical issues and conflicts, their identity as been misused in order to bring them down some times to extremely dangerous levels. Just like in 2003, Muslim students are left to fend off against unfair stereotypes and media backlash that are blatantly not true.
However these same student organizations that are advocates and activists are also a major difference. Though they may feel the same sense of having to constantly explain themselves, there are now many of these organizations that serve as support networks for muslims across the nation that were not present in 2003. It makes it much easier for Muslim students to feel as though they belong and navigate life with a huge support system behind them .
