1933 2013
We have reported before here on various school textbooks that our children are reading that give a misleading portrait of Islam. Now there is another textbook controversy brewing in Florida over Prentice's World History. Todd Starnes in Townhall has the report.
http://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2013/07/29/textbook-praises-islam-denigrates-christianity-n1651503
In this book, which I perused online, no mention is made of any Islamic war or fighting until after the death of the Prophet Mohammad. That is misleading if not completely inaccurate. Schoolchildren in the Islamic world are not misled about those things. Why should children here be misled? As I have said before, if schools cannot teach true history to pupils when these sensitive subjects come up, it is better to stay away from religion altogether. False history has no place in our schools.
I tried to follow your link, but I wasn't allowed to read the article. First my view was blocked by an ad asking if I wanted Sarah Palin to run for the senate, and I don't live in Alaska so its really not my call, and it wouldn't close down when I clicked CLOSE, but eventually it shifted to an ad for snuggles.
ReplyDeleteWhat I managed to glean was that the text book has a 36 page chapter on Islam, and no chapter on Judaism or Christianity. Off hand, I'd say that's poor construction. It may have been due to some innocent reason, like, most Americans know a lot about Christianity and Judaism but not much about Islam. Still, when teaching history, its not wise to assume that American school children know much of anything about anything.
If I were writing the text book, I think I would have a chapter on the emergence of the caliphates, which would of course mention Muhammed, his successors, why Jewish populations from Jerusalem to Hispania collaborated with them, and run up through the four Rashidun caliphs, the Umayyads, and the Abbasids.
I guess I would also have a chapter about the early Roman Empire, which would mention this character Yehoshua ben Yosef who was a Jewish heretic who was executed by the Romans, and whose followers converted a bunch of gentiles, who were used to Emperor Constantine to glue his empire together for a few more centuries.
Hard to write ANYTHING to please anywhere close to EVERYBODY. Be nice to just leave religion out of it, but it keeps becoming a political and national issue, at least prior to 1787.
I was just perusing the book online. No mention of any war or fighting until after Mohammed died. That gives you a flavor.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope that students also learn the truth about our wonderful law enforcement agencies such as the DEA:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/l5xwvxf
Shame, fousesquawk, shame.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteShame on whom, me? I was long retired when that happened, and I never was stationed in San Diego. I have no explanation for it. It was a monumental screw up and there is no excuse for it.
Signed Gary Fouse
Retired DEA agent
PS: Notwithstanding, I would be willing to bet you couldn't do a DEA agent's job. At least we sign our letters.
Nothing happened outside of the Arabian peninsula until after Muhammed died. Maybe it wasn't considered world significant.
ReplyDelete