Hate & Ignorance Control Students Ideas About..
.. Islam and the Muslims.
Once again, we see the ignorant and misguided people in position of "educators" in position to control information about, what they call, a creeping Middle Eastern influence.
A super 'conservative' group of 'educators' in Texas has voted to limit any reference to Islam in future text books.
Extremism is clearly evident here as the most recent directive is the direct opposite of the prior attitude toward Islam, when they actually published "pictures" of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Naturally, this was seen by mainstream Muslims as more of an insult toward Islam due to the cartoonists depiction of Muhammad, peace be upon him, in a very negative view.
| AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas State Board of Education adopted a resolution yesterday that seeks to curtail references to Islam in Texas textbooks, as social conservative board members warned of what they describe as a creeping Middle Eastern influence in the nation’s publishing industry. The board approved the one-page nonbinding resolution, which urges textbook publishers to limit what they print about Islam in world history books, by a 7-5 vote. Critics say it is another example of the ideological board’s trying to politicize public education. Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates for religious freedom, questioned why the resolution came at a time when “anti-Muslim rhetoric in this country has reached fever pitch.’’ “It’s hard not to conclude that the misleading claims in this resolution are either based on ignorance of what’s in the textbooks or, on the other hand, are an example of fear-mongering and playing politics,’’ Miller said. Future boards that will choose the state’s next generation of social studies texts will not be bound by the resolution. “This is an expression of the board’s opinion, so it does not have an effect on any particular textbook,’’ said David Anderson, the general counsel for the Texas Education Agency, when asked what legal weight the resolution would carry. “So this is a cosmetic exercise?’’ asked board member Mavis Knight, a Democrat from Dallas. The resolution cites world history books no longer used in Texas schools that it says devoted more lines of text to Islamic beliefs and practices than Christian ones. Chairwoman Gail Lowe said the resolution cites old books because board rules prohibit them from discussing current books more than 90 days after their adoption. The resolution also claims “more such discriminatory treatment of religion may occur as Middle Easterners buy into the US public school textbook oligopoly, as they are doing now.’’ Two Republicans broke from their party to vote with the Democrats. Two Democrats — Mary Helen Berlanga and Rene Nunez — were absent for the vote. The initial vote on the resolution was 7-6, but the board later reconsidered the measure. The second vote was 7-5 after a Democratic board member left the meeting. |