Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.
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Question: High School: Islamic vocabulary lesson part of Common Core standards. Parents in Farmville, North Carolina want to know why their children were given a Common Core vocabulary assignment in an English class that promoted the Prophet Muhammad and the Islamic faith . "It really caught me off guard," a Farmville Central High School student who was in the class told me . "If we are not allowed to talk about any other religions in school - how is this appropriate?" The Islamic vocabulary worksheet was assigned to seniors . "I was reading it and it caught me off guard," the student told me . "I just looked at it and knew something was not right- so I emailed the pages to my mom." "In the following exercises, you will have the opportunity to expand your vocabulary by reading about Muhammad and the Islamic word," the worksheet read . The lesson used words like astute, conducive, erratic, mosque, pastoral, and zenith in sentences about the Islamic faith . CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW TODD ON FACEBOOK FOR CONSERVATIVE CONVERSATION! "The zenith of any Muslim's life is a trip to Mecca," one sentence read . For "erratic," the lesson included this statement:"The responses to Muhammad's teachings were at first erratic. Some people responded favorably, while other resisted his claim that 'there is no God but Allah and Muhammad his Prophet." Another section required students to complete a sentence :. "There are such vast numbers of people who are anxious to spread the Muslim faith that it would be impossible to give a(n)___ amount." I spoke to one parent who asked not to be identified . She was extremely troubled by what her child was exposed to in the classroom . "What if right after Pearl Harbor our educational system was talking about how great the Japanese emperor was?" the parent asked . "What if during the Cold War our educational system was telling students how wonderful Russia was?" The parent said the material was classwork disguised as Islamic propaganda . "It's very shocking," she said . "I just told my daughter to read it as if it's fiction. It's no different than another of fictional book you've read." A spokesman for Pitt County Schools defended the lesson  - noting that it came from a state-adopted supplemental workbook and met the "Common Core standards for English Language Arts." "The course is designed to accompany the world literature text, which emphasizes culture in literature," the statement read . The problem is it's emphasizing a specific culture and religion - and the school district acknowledged there were concerns "related to the religious nature of sentences providing vocabulary words in context." "Our school system understands all concerns related to proselytizing, and there is no place for it in our instruction," the statement goes on to say . "However, this particular lesson was one of many the students in this class have had and will have that expose them to the various religions and how they shape cultures throughout the world." I asked the school district to provide me with a copy of vocabulary worksheets that promoted the Jewish, Hindu and Christian faiths . The school district did not reply . I also asked for the past or future dates when the students would be given those vocabulary worksheets . The school district has yet to reply . The student I spoke with told me they have not had any other assignments dealing with religion- other than the one about Islam . Why is that not surprising? Based on its official statement, Pitt County Schools seems confident that the vocabulary lessons are in compliance with three Common Core standards related to literacy . If you want to look up those standards , reference CCSSELA- Literary L11-12.4. A, 12.4. D and 12.6 . Since the Common Core folks seem to be infatuated with sentence completion - let me try one out on them . Use "Islamic" and "proselytizing" in the following sentence : Somebody got their ____ hand caught in the ____ cookie jar . UPDATE : I asked the school district if there had been similar vocabulary assignments about Judaism, Christianity or other religions . I also asked for the exact dates of those assignments . Here's the reply I received from the school district :. "The class recently finished reading Night by Elie Wiesel . As part of the study of this book, students were exposed to Judaism . I'm told that one of the next couple of lessons that will be taught in this class includes an examination of Psalm 23 as part of the lesson . Additionally ,  the workbook in question has another vocabulary lesson with words used in a passage about India's three great beliefs (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism) . Keep in mind that this workbook is just one of numerous resources used in the course . Students are exposed to various cultures, values, and beliefs through the reading of multiple types of literature, but teachers certainly aren't advocating for any of them." Notice how the school district dodged my question?

Answer: Parents in Farmville, North Carolina want to know why their children were given a Common Core vocabulary assignment in an English class that promoted the Prophet Muhammad and the Islamic faith For "erratic," the lesson included this statement:"The responses to Muhammad's teachings were at first erratic. Some people responded favorably, while other resisted his claim that 'there is no God but Allah and Muhammad his Prophet."


Question: The rights of sex workers. In a case brought by three sex workers, the Supreme Court of Canada, in December 2013, struck down three provisions of the Canadian prostitution law , because they violated sex workers' human and "constitutional right to security of the person" by imposing "dangerous conditions on prostitution" . In June 2014, the Canadian government introduced a new prostitution law, Bill C-36 "Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act", which entered into force on December 5 . While the Supreme Court had created the space for a radical change in the approach to sex work by reaffirming that human and constitutional rights apply to sex workers too , democratic procedures in Canada seem to have failed sex workers . The Canadian Pivot Legal Society argues that Bill C-36 has been "consistently misrepresented" and that it "will result in sweeping criminalisation of the sex industry", including sex workers themselves . Others have called it a "hate law" , because the safety and security of sex workers was, in fact, not the priority for some who voted for the Bill C-36 . One of the Senators, Donald Plett, clearly stated his priority in this regard:"We don't want to make life safe for prostitutes; we want to do away with prostitution." Canada is not the only state that has passed questionable legislation on sex work . ".[S]tates frequently deny sex workers the same human and legislative rights and protections afforded to other workers and citizens," says sex work researcher Jay Levy . The question is: How do human rights apply to sex workers and what laws and policies should states make? How should sex work laws look like, if human rights are to be respected to the fullest extent? The answer to these questions is controversial - both philosophically and politically . In the past year, numerous countries have put sex work policies on their political agenda - for different reasons and with different goals and outcomes . There are numerous examples worldwide, where the courts have upheld sex workers' human rights and questioned existing prostitution laws or filled legal grey areas . In New Zealand, where sex work is decriminalised, a sex worker won a case for sexual harassment against a brothel owner . In New York, 1,900 strip club dancers won a labour rights case against their employer , who will have to pay them at least $10m in compensation . Recently an Austrian court has ruled that the cost of forced health checks imposed on sex workers had to be reimbursed . Both in Germany and in Austria, court rulings abolished to notion of prostitution as being "immoral" , thus opening up the space for legal reform and the recognition of sex work as work . The European Court of Justice has repeatedly ruled that "prostitution" is an "economic activity" and that within the European Union member states cannot restrict "freedom of movement", not even for sex workers . While court rulings are useful and necessary in reminding us that sex workers have rights too , relying solely on courts to read human rights into existing legislation cannot be the sole answer to injustices that sex workers face . Democracies need to step in to make laws that actually improve sex workers' lives - a goal that has proven difficult to reach . Historically marginalised and stigmatised, sex workers have a hard time in pushing for a reform of prostitution laws . Most politicians, especially if male and heterosexual, do not wish to be associated with sex work . Prejudices and lack of knowledge about the topic as well as the unwillingness to engage with sex workers themselves have proven to be hard obstacles to surmount . Often, sex workers are heard in consultation processes , but their views and political claims aren't always taken seriously . By contrast, anti-prostitution activists calling for a world without prostitution have been far more successful in their lobbying efforts against sex work . They also explicitly distance themselves from self-identified sex workers , who they often accuse of being nothing but criminals . Using the stigma of sex work , anti-prostitution activists have managed to ally themselves with mostly sexually and socially conservative groups in their call for the suppression of sex work . By using slogans like"end demand" or "abolish prostitution now", they have been calling for the so-called "Swedish Model", in which the act of selling sex is formally decriminalised, while clients are charged with a monetary fine . By increasing the cost of a sexual transaction, the law should work as a deterrent . A variation of the law has been implemented in other small countries, such as Norway, Iceland, and, most recently, Northern Ireland . Supporters of this approach claim that only this particular law will reduce human trafficking as well as prostitution . However ,  the Swedish approach comes with many flaws and open questions . Because its goal is a society without sex workers , the law does not intend to provide any guidance on the laws we need in a society with sex workers . Norway is considering repealing the law , as the evaluation of the law has not been able to prove its success . While the EUROSTAT report on human trafficking does not point to a decrease in human trafficking in Sweden , sex workers' working conditions have worsened . In fact ,  the "Swedish Approach" criminalises any attempt to create safe working environments for sex workers , as anyone renting indoor space to sex workers can be charged with "pimping" . Ironically, this provision has not reduced pimping, but induced many landlords to put sex workers on the streets in order to avoid a fine for "pimping", as the so-called "Operation homeless" has shown in Norway . Furthermore ,  Sweden does not allow immigration for the purposes of prostitution and has been deporting migrant sex workers , who are still seen a problem of public order and security . It wasn't until 2011 that a Swedish Court ruled that deporting citizens of the European Union selling sex in Sweden was illegal . Last but not least, even Sweden and Norway tax income from sex work, while refusing to recognise it as labour . As empirical studies on the implementation of the "Swedish approach" show, its weaknesses in guaranteeing sex workers' human rights, policy-makers also have become sceptical . A Special Committee of French Senate excluded the provision criminalising clients from the proposed new prostitution law in summer 2014 - based on the recommendations of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights . So far, it is unclear whether France will go forward with the law at all . Britain has also excluded the provision criminalising the purchase of sex from its "Modern Slavery Bill" , which has itself been criticised by NGOs for not doing justice to victims of human trafficking . Germany is also working to reform its prostitution law . The Global Network of Sex Work Projects advocates "decriminalisation" of sex work . So far , only New Zealand has chosen "decriminalisation" as sex work policy , but maybe India will be next . India's chair of the National Commission of Women, Lalitha Kumaramangalam, recently stated that the "Immoral Traffic Prevention Act" should be revised in order to create"conditions conductive for sex workers to live with dignity" . In fact ,  the existing law casts sex workers simultaneously as dangerous to society and as victims to be forcefully protected from their own choices . Either way, they are not recognised as equal citizens, workers, and members of a social and political community with human rights . By decriminalising sex work, India would set an example for other countries, too . As a law practitioner recently pointed out that "the position of defining prostitution itself as inherently exploitative and a form of violence against women does not allow people in prostitution to access their right to earn a livelihood through sex work." It is time for democracies to include sex workers in policy-making processes and take them seriously - not just because democratic values mandate it, but because sex workers are the experts on the matter .

Answer: In a case brought by three sex workers, the Supreme Court of Canada, in December 2013, struck down three provisions of the Canadian prostitution law


Question: Inside the National Gallery, a portrait of modern inequality. The National Gallery's colonnaded splendour radiates across Trafalgar Square a sense of the importance of art in Britain's national life . But the reality inside is far less glorious . The 400 gallery assistants are about to be outsourced to a private company against their will, to squeeze pay and conditions . A ballot by their union, PCS, closes this week, calling for a five-day strike in protest . All day they guard the nation's treasures: not automata, but well-informed, if untrained, guides who like to be asked questions, know where paintings are, are glad to advise nervous visitors unsure what to look at . Some have worked there for 40 years , some are younger, many former art students . Ben, who has been there for over a decade since art school, is an artist when not at work stopping people poking the paintings . His favourite beat is the impressionists and Van Gogh , where he sends the ditherers : all assistants have their preferences, he says (Poussin and the French classicists being the least popular) . A letter to staff from the director, Nicholas Penny, says all gallery services go out to tender in April, something no other national gallery or museum has done . That includes visitor services, school bookings, public information and even complaints . As Tupe - Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) - regulations require, staff will transfer to a private company on the same terms , but that's weak protection : they can be sent to work anywhere in that company . As one fearful gallery assistant says:"I came to work at the National Gallery, but I could be transferred to a supermarket car park." This is the only national museum in London not paying the living wage . A tangle of pay rates means that older staff (predominantly male) are paid more than newer (predominantly female) . But even if men and women's pay were equalised , many of the older staff would still lose out . The gallery's grant is being cut , so it needs to make more money with extra paid evening events . Staff are willing - but expect extra pay . Management says negotiations went nowhere , so they have to go nuclear: let a private company get tough with them . Some would leave : they note that the security firm CIS, brought in to staff the recent Rembrandt exhibition, took away the chairs used by the gallery's own guards . That's how private companies profit from these contracts : as old staff leave, new staff can be hired at any pay rate . One gallery trustee I spoke to admitted that CIS had been brought in to run the Sainsbury wing to give the gallery staff a fright . CIS, if you look at its website , mostly provides heavies to guard empty buildings, not talk to the public . Most trustees, I'm told, would like to keep the staff in-house . What happens in hard times is always the same : spreadsheets show the most crushable item is staff . Numbers are cut and squeezed hard for longer hours . Vital breaks in a long day are eliminated . Changing into your uniform or taking your tea break has to happen on unpaid time . It's easier to let ruthless companies to do the dirty work , so squeamish managers can wash their hands of consequences . Both sides will now go to Acas : there is still time to pull back from this privatisation too far . This shedding of long-term employees is emblematic of low-pay Britain , where a million public jobs are being lost . Public servants are more unionised than other workforces, and so irksome to managers who eye a commercial world of 19th century employment practices - lump labour on zero hours, temp agencies, free interns, the bogus self-employed free of national insurance . The public servants' ethos, their attachment to the civic realm, has been systematically trashed as mere unionised self-interest . What's afoot at the gallery explains why pay is falling as a share of GDP . Galloping inequality is the result of a million such decisions employers think prudent , mainly because everyone is doing it . The derelict Low Pay Commission has let the minimum wage itself fall? 1,000 in real value since 2008 . The Tory call last week for higher wages was breathtaking dishonesty , echoing the TUC's "Britain Needs a Pay Rise" campaign . The government has huge sway over pay . If it demanded the living wage not just for its employees, but also from every contractor and supplier , then national pay norms would rise instantly . If the Low Pay Commission set higher minimums appropriate to each sector , like the old wages councils, larger companies could pay decent salaries according to profitability . The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's latest report finds 40% of families with children living below a minimum threshold of decency . Most are in work- but earning too little to buy what a majority of the public in focus groups consider essentials for participation in society: no drink or cigarettes,? 5 a fortnight for eating out, ? 40 for Christmas food, one week's UK holiday . That takes an income of ? 20,400 a year for a couple with two children  - which is almost? 3,000 more than National Gallery assistants earn . GDP growth is near invisible to the 8 million squeezed hardest, by this government's deliberate choice : average income loss since 2010 is? 33 a week . Now the government promises full employment - but what kind? Most new jobs are low paid, precarious and part time . For all George Osborne's hi-vis posturing about his sham "northern powerhouse", the latest figures from the Centre for Cities show how far the gap between the south and the rest has widened . At Davos this week, central bankers will echo the fashionable view that accelerating inequality is the real economic risk, a danger to capitalism itself . Oxfam tells them 1% of the population will by next year own more of the world's wealth than the other 99% : in Britain, the top 1% has soared away , and the bottom 10% has done worst while paying the highest proportion of its income in taxes: 47% . But no sign yet that the Davos set is worrying unduly: by Epiphany- 6 January - FTSE 100 chief executives had already earned more than a year of the average wage . How do you wrest back wealth from them? Restoring power to unions would help , ensuring every workplace is offered union membership . Instead ,  Cameron's manifesto will make strikes near-impossible, with a 40% ballot threshold unknown anywhere in the democratic west . That's a reason to hope the ever- patient attendants at the National Gallery resist being cast out to G4S, Serco and the rest- and remain as treasured employees of us all . o This article was amended on 20 January 2015 . An earlier version said:"Oxfam tells them 1% of the population will next year own 99% of the world's wealth" . This has been corrected to:"Oxfam tells them 1% of the population will by next year own more of the world's wealth than the other 99%" .

Answer:
The National Gallery's colonnaded splendour radiates across Trafalgar Square a sense of the importance of art in Britain's national life where he sends the ditherers