Islam in the Classroom

Our Flemish correspondent VH has compiled a report on the Islamic propaganda that has made its way into the curriculum, textbooks, and class materials of state-funded schools in Europe and the United States. He was inspired to write about the issue by a United American Committee report, excerpts from which are below.

But first here’s his account of what’s happening in Europe:

The same historical fraud and Socialist/Islamic brainwash is happening in Europe in the textbooks. I am not aware of the scale, however.

It only comes up when a case is revealed. Part of the European brainwash is the demonizing of the opposition against Islamization and also against anything “right-wing”. For instance, last year all pupils of groups 7 and 8 in all primary schools in the Netherlands were given this to read:

“The film Fitna by Geert Wilders or the book Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler are based on one-sided views. Fortunately there are a lot of books, museums and theater performances that are respectful towards people with different views, who have a different religion, or who look different. They make you think about your views and your behavior. What are your thoughts on slavery or racism? How would you respond when you had to flee?”

The PVV protested against this, and the editor Corinne Bierman thought her apologies would suffice, but the PVV persisted, and State Secretary on Education Dijksma later withdrew the subsidy for the foundation “Day of Respect”.

Oh, and by the way — the person who made this disgusting text public was banned from a debating society thanks to a phone call to the director of that society by Corinne Bierman.

A teacher responded on a teachers’ blog. Frank Jongbloed, community manager and teacher, wrote:

Wilders put in the same line as Hitler (unfortunately no progress on his hairdo). I was talking about this in school today: politicians should not deal with the content of educational material, let alone insist that they will require adjustments and corrections. Leave that to the experts. Look, in the case of Geert Wilders, I can somehow understand it. For a comparison with Hitler is not funny. Probably Hitler would not have liked the comparison with Wilders as well. In short, not funny. For both parties.

Commenter Arthur responded:

The phrase ‘Probably Hitler would not have liked the comparison with Wilders as well’ is of a disgusting level… Are you teaching our children? You are fascists in disguise.

VH has included some excerpts from a report from the United American Committee report entitled “Islam in America’s Classrooms: History or Propaganda?” (pdf here):
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A Note from the Authors

Alarmed by personal experiences and reports that Islamists are using our country’s laws and multi-cultural activism to transform public schools into venues for spreading Islam, the Mission Viejo Chapter of ACT! for America created a subcommittee to investigate these concerns. In alliance with The United American Committee the Truth in Education Subcommittee has researched and written the following Special Report.

The goal of this Special Report is to awaken educators, publishers, parents, the media and American citizens to the systematic deception about Islam that is being taught to our junior high school students. However, blatant Islamist propaganda is also a serious problem in our high schools, colleges and universities.

This Report also exposes the organizations and individuals who are behind these deliberately false accounts of the true history, nature, and ambition of Islam. It concludes with some preliminary recommendations on how to stop Islamic propaganda in America’s schools.

The authors believe it is crucial, for the protection of all Americans’ security, liberty and values, to guarantee the factual accuracy of our children’s education — especially about Islam.

[…]

Under the cover of political correctness, multiculturalism and Americans’ naïve belief in the universal goodwill of mankind, Muslim apologists have induced all of our major textbook publishers to whitewash Islam’s history.

Most modern American textbooks avoid painting a rosy picture of Christianity and Judaism. But, according to the Council, textbooks being used by thousands of public schools across the country are blatantly glorifying and promoting Islam.

[From a June 2008 report by the American Textbook Council:]

• “The misinformation surrounding Islam and textbooks is disturbing, more so because much of it is intentional.”
  
• “Outright textbook errors about Islam are not the main problem. The more serious failure is the presence of disputed definitions and claims that are presented as established facts.”

[…]

In a scathing report titled How a Public School In Scottsdale Arizona Subjected Students to Islamic Indoctrination, The League documents the misstatements, errors, and outright lies perpetuated in the middle school textbook History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond published by Teachers Curriculum Institute.

[…]

Intentional Vagueness: One textbook says, “An Arab man named Mohammed introduced Islam to the people of the Arabian Peninsula. Although the first Muslims lived in Arabia, Islam spread to the Middle East.” Another textbook says, “Muhammad’s success in spreading Islam was due in part to his strong character. His followers were attracted to his morality.”

“Introduced?” “Spread?” “Morality?” Where are the facts, dates and conquests of the Islamic armies? Where is the suffering of the conquered, murdered, raped and enslaved people?

These points made by Dr. Zudi Jasser are quoted in the report:

• “America’s educational system has seemed unwilling to enlighten our children to the nature, history and implications of the war that has been declared on us and on free people in general by Islamist theocratic totalitarians.”
  
• “Few would deny that our nation faces a clear and present danger physically and ideologically. Over 30 attacks against American citizens from radical Islamists have been prevented by our security forces since 9/11.”
  
• “Our nation has not faced such an unconventional enemy in its entire history.”
  
• “How will today’s students ever be able to address this challenge to our existence in the next few decades if they never even had an opportunity to understand it?”

And amongst the report’s many tips:

4.		Try to get a copy of the history book that is used in your local 7th grade public schools. Read the chapters on Islam.
5.		Complain to your local school board about the text books they are using to teach about Islam.
6.		Organize a local protest against Islamic indoctrination in your local schools.
7.		The key change must happen in the textbook writing process. We are researching how to influence the publishers while the books are being written and revised.