Posted on 11/14/2007 9:14:32 PM PST by dervish
Still not satisfied with the treatment of religions in her son's seventh-grade textbook, Korina Self aired her concerns Tuesday night at Lodi Unified's board meeting.
Backed by nearly a dozen family members and friends, Self delivered a prepared statement asking the board to remove the book "History Alive!: The Medieval World and Beyond" from classrooms.
"To know that a textbook was selected and put into use by our district that is blatantly one-sided, whitewashed, and that our children are being spoon-fed this information with sugar on top ... I feel is negligent and intolerable," Self said.
Self stopped to gather herself several times during her statement, in which she said the book's description of the Crusades and its definition of several Islamic terms, including "Jihad" and "Shari'ah" are incorrect.
Korina Self and her husband Jim decided to review their 12-year-old son's textbook late last month after hearing that he was learning about the Prophet Muhammad.
After reading the book, which was published by the Teachers' Curriculum Institute, the Selfs took issue with what they feel is an undue amount of attention to the teachings of Islam, historical inaccuracies and a lack of information on other religions.
Initially, they asked that their son, who attended Houston Elementary School in Acampo, not participate in the school's history lessons.
(Excerpt) Read more at lodinews.com ...
From the publisher’s Web site (http://www.teachtci.com/products/secondary/mwh_program.aspx):
Unit 2: The Rise of Islam
Lesson 7 The Geography of the Arabian Peninsula
In a Response Group activity, students examine four environments—the desert, oases, the coastal plain, and mountains—to discover how they affected ways of life on the Arabian Peninsula.
Lesson 8 The Prophet Muhammad
In this lesson, students learn about the life of Muhammad and the rise and expansion of Muslim rule. In a Writing for Understanding activity, students create an illustrated manuscript that retells the story of Muhammad’s life in their own words.
Lesson 9 The Teachings of Islam
In a Problem Solving Groupwork activity, students learn about the beliefs and practices of Islam.
Lesson 10 Contributions of Muslims to World Civilizations
In a Social Studies Skill Builder, students read and learn about the contributions of Muslims to world civilization in such areas as science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature.
Lesson 11 From the Crusades to the Rise of New Muslim Empires
In a Problem Solving Groupwork activity, students learn about the causes and effects of the crusades through role playing and class discussions.
Good move! (Ping)
Hmmmm.....how do they teach Christianity? Or is that banned at school?
What exactly was offensive in the book? The article isn’t very clear, except that the kid was ‘learning about Mohammed’, which quite frankly is to be expected in a medieval history course, since Mohammed and the rise of Islam played a crucial part in that time period.
Homeschool. Private school. Pick one and go with it.
Why is anyone surprised that public schools are screwy?
Goodness.
DFU SONG: Bobby’s Girl (Mohammed’s girl) 6-15-02
DFU SONG PARODIES ^ | 6-2002 | Lyrics, Doug from Upland
Posted on 06/15/2002 9:04:32 PM PDT by doug from upland
MIDI - BOBBY’S GIRL
http://jhfoster.tripod.com/the60s.html
I know that he wants me bad…I know that he wants me bad
I’m only 8 years old…he’s still got it, I’m told
In just one year I’m gonna be his
Although I still am flat...he’ll call me pussy cat
That I’m too young is nobody’s biz
I will be Mohammed’s girl…I will be Mohammed’s girl
That is what I really want to be
When I’m Mohammed’s girl…I am Mohammed’s girl
I know he will take good care of me
All of his wives are hags…they’ve turned into old bags
I am so fresh and very nubile
On me he’s had his eye…he is my kind of guy
I’ll be the next one he will defile
I will be Mohammed’s girl…I will be Mohammed’s girl
That is what I really want to be
When I’m Mohammed’s girl…I am Mohammed’s girl
I know he will take good care of me
Our homeschool curriculum was far too generous to Islam also. Of course, the advantage of homeschooling is that I was able to correct it. So when my 7 year old told me that Gabriel appeared to MoMo in a cave. I asked him how he knew it was Gabriel. He said "It's in the lesson."
So I asked him if Gabriel would say that Jesus faked his resurrection or to kill Jews or to kill people who become Christians after once being Muslims. He agreed that Gabriel would never say any of those things. So it wasn't Gabriel. So what did happen?
We finally ended up agreeing that: Either (1) Mohammed made the whole thing up; or (2) Mohammed was crazy; or (3) Satan appeared to Mohammed and told him he was Gabriel.
One of the big advantages of homeschooling--we can correct this crap before it sets in as true. When he did his picture narration, he portrayed Mohammed as a pirate.
from the article:
“Self stopped to gather herself several times during her statement, in which she said the book’s description of the Crusades and its definition of several Islamic terms, including “Jihad” and “Shari’ah” are incorrect.”
...................
also
“I don’t think we would have an issue about it if (it wasn’t so) in-depth,” said Jim Self, who fought in Iraq as a Marine from 2003 to 2004.
Among the Selfs’ concerns about the textbook is its definition of the word “jihad,” which is described in the book as “the human struggle to overcome difficulties and do things that would be pleasing to God.”
Other concerns stem from a passage on page 86 of the textbook, which quotes the angel Gabriel’s words to the Prophet Muhammad.
The Selfs said the textbook mentioned Jesus only twice, and other major religions were only given a paragraph of explanation.
One of the Selfs’ biggest concerns, though, is that such detailed explanation of Islam is a violation of the separation of church and state.”
http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2007/10/30/news/2_textbook_071030.txt
You are such a Wierd Al wannabe!
Thanks, the article the original post was linked to didn’t explain as much.
I am not sure anyone was offended. The text was inaccurate was the complaint. It was revisionist history that painted Western Civilization as Crusading murderers. I think learning about Mahomet can wait till high school, when students are mature enough to hear the true story of Mahomet.
Hey, kids like music. That song would be a good history lesson.
Such a discussion is ok provided it is accurate.
Ding, ding, ding - We have a winner!
I wouldn't mind if the would spend an equal amount of time on how Jesus and Christians impacted the world in the first century (during a history class covering that time period, of course). The class would, of course, have to include the lessons on Christian beliefs themselves, same as they are doing with Islam.
I am curious about how the Crusades are portrayed in this class, however. Do they bother to mention that the Crusades were launched in response to the Muslim violence in Europe? I would be willing to bet the answer is no.
Yeah, apparently (from reading the more in-depth link that dervish posted) there was hardly any mention of Christianity, which is a huge omission considering the massive roles various forms of Christianity played in medieval politics, life, and culture. In my medieval history class, we spent about a week on Islam, and a touched on it again when we went over ‘The Song of Roland’, but we’ve been incredibly in-depth with certain aspects of Christianity just because they influenced so much. In fact, I don’t think we’ve had a single class so far that hasn’t required some discussion of Christianity in order to better understand what was going on. What in the world were those textbook makers thinking?
I also wonder if they mention that Jews and Arian Christians were targeted just as much as Muslims during ‘The Crusades’ - it wasn’t just Christians versus Muslims, the Christians and Muslims even wound up fighting against people of their own faiths at that time. Or the fact that the Muslims have been killing each other over differences in their faith for about 1300 years as of now... I’d bet that gets glossed over too.
You bet.
TrueI wouldn't mind if the would spend an equal amount of time on how Jesus and Christians impacted the world in the first century (during a history class covering that time period, of course). The class would, of course, have to include the lessons on Christian beliefs themselves, same as they are doing with Islam.
The logical line would be the factual one that the emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium and founded his capital, Constantinople. Constantine and his successors made Christianity the established religion of the Eastern Empire. The Eastern Roman Empire was conquered by the Mohammedan's, while Christianity became the established religion in Europe. even as the Roman Empire collapsed under the weight of its own corruption and the pressure of the Goths, Vandals, &c.I am curious about how the Crusades are portrayed in this class, however. Do they bother to mention that the Crusades were launched in response to the Muslim violence in Europe? I would be willing to bet the answer is no.
The Mohammedan's conquered the whole Eastern Roman Empire which had been Christian - including Egypt, for example. It is all well and good for Mohammedan's to complain about the Crusades, in which they were attacked - but the entire Jihad project was an offensive which had Europe on the defensive in Spain and in eastern Europe.None of the resulting empires - the Ottoman Empire, Arabia, the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire, or the Western Roman Empire or any of the fragments into which it devolved - allowed freedom as Americans understand the term. Slavery existed throughout the world throughout history, including the Christian world after the establishment of Christianity, up until basically the Nineteenth Century. Then the Christians simultaneously became abolitionist toward slavery, and simultaneously became politically/militarily dominant over most of the world. Which is the only reason that slavery is no longer common.
Not in my 7th grade social studies class—we spend the same amount of time on each of the big five religions (four weeks each), and the kids learn a LOT. No one has to dress up in a different religions clothing, etc, but they do learn the history, and why it is important to Western Civ.
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