CULTURE CLASH: Hard-Core Islamist Protests Mandatory Grade School Class Once again, hard core Islam butts up against western culture, and one Islamist is protesting grade school academic requirements, and getting scores more families to join him. Todays example comes from Toronto, Ontario. Our neighbors to the north require students in public elementary school to be instructed in music. As per the rules of Islam, one Islamist man will not allow his children to be subjected to singing and instrument playing. To that end, Dasu organized over 130 parents in the last two years to protest the music requirement in the primary grades in the Toronto school system. They used the Canadian version of Freedom of Religion, the religious clauses of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to request religious exemptions. Initial communications with the group indicate that the school board tried to make accommodations, but nothing would do for Dasu and his group than wholesale non-participation in music. And here, we western Christians, Jews, and even agnostics and atheists are trying to find ways to salvage what is left of music education. As a classical musician who has been a member of civic choruses and church choirs consistently for at least 27 years, this is very painful. 