Just when it seemed like all the rigmarole concerning textbooks was over, I got blasted with another news story...there's too much *Islam* in them now!
This broke a few days ago, and I don't know if I'm putting this thread in the right place, or if someone else has already mentioned it, but I had to vent - especially because I'm seeing it all over other people's blogs. It seems to me (when I remember all my world history classes, which I had just about every other year, and I do have a decent long term memory) that my history textbooks contained a page for Judaism, a page for Christianity, and a page for Islam. Equal treatment. The lessons were objective, written only in a historical context. No one had a problem with it. Of course, this was all pre-9/11, but I don't think that should make much of a difference for a generalized history course for younger children.
Now, even if there is 'more' space devoted to Islam in those textbooks than to Christianity (and no one mentioned Judaism, which came before both...funny that...), wouldn't it be safe to assume that it's because in this country we get exposed to Christianity in all sorts of ways and maybe the writers wanted to (post 9/11) expose our school children to a religion we are obviously coming more and more in contact with (and conflict) and hope that with a little more knowledge...we might have a little less ignorance and a little more peace?
Is there anyone from Texas in this forum? What are your thoughts on this? I asked a very good friend who lives in Plano what it was like to live in the state that was fast becoming the most reviled/ridiculed in the nation and he said he felt he was adrift in a sea of stupid. Is there anything any of us can do outside of TX? (Because those textbook influence the rest of the country's book choices)
This broke a few days ago, and I don't know if I'm putting this thread in the right place, or if someone else has already mentioned it, but I had to vent - especially because I'm seeing it all over other people's blogs. It seems to me (when I remember all my world history classes, which I had just about every other year, and I do have a decent long term memory) that my history textbooks contained a page for Judaism, a page for Christianity, and a page for Islam. Equal treatment. The lessons were objective, written only in a historical context. No one had a problem with it. Of course, this was all pre-9/11, but I don't think that should make much of a difference for a generalized history course for younger children.
Now, even if there is 'more' space devoted to Islam in those textbooks than to Christianity (and no one mentioned Judaism, which came before both...funny that...), wouldn't it be safe to assume that it's because in this country we get exposed to Christianity in all sorts of ways and maybe the writers wanted to (post 9/11) expose our school children to a religion we are obviously coming more and more in contact with (and conflict) and hope that with a little more knowledge...we might have a little less ignorance and a little more peace?
Is there anyone from Texas in this forum? What are your thoughts on this? I asked a very good friend who lives in Plano what it was like to live in the state that was fast becoming the most reviled/ridiculed in the nation and he said he felt he was adrift in a sea of stupid. Is there anything any of us can do outside of TX? (Because those textbook influence the rest of the country's book choices)
