Act for America, founded by Brigitte Gabriel, has forwarded me the just released study they did on how our country's school textbooks are portraying Islam to our children. I initially became aware of this problem when my teaching colleague at UC Irvine complained to me about the texts and instruction his two middle school children were receiving on Islam while other religions were briefly passed over. When I researched the book, I found that other communities had already complained about it as well. I urge the readers to take the time and read this study, which took several years to put together.
http://www.actforamericaeducation.com/downloads/textbook_research/full_report/Full_Report_version_3.1.12.pdf
The teaching of religion in public school is a thorny problem. No teacher wants to speak critically about a religion that may be practiced by some of his or her pupils (though some will not hesitate to rip into Christianity and Catholicism in class.) I would not advocate that a teacher excoriate Islam in a classroom. However, that does not-or should not-give license to a policy that presents a version of Islam (or any religion) that is misleading to the point of being factually inaccurate.
For the children of today, Islam is a subject that will be front and center in their lives, one way or another. In fact, I predict it will the defining issue of their times. If the schools cannot or will not deal with the issue in a frank and truthful matter, then they would be well-advised to leave it alone. The kids will learn. Trust me. They will learn.
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I was having a discussion about this with a History teacher yesterday. He said you "just throw it out there" and spend as little time as possible on it.
Already one teacher in the Houston area has gotten his name in the paper for being somewhat critacal of Islam.
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