If you want to promote tolerance and respect for Muslim students, perhaps teaching children something about Islam might help. Teachers College has come out with a guide for teachers “designed to enhance understanding of Islam and promote tolerance of Muslim students.” But EdWeek’s Mary Ann Zehr points out the guide ”gives only tangential treatment to religion in favor of focusing on the culture and identity of Muslims.”
The guide doesn’t discuss, for example, the five pillars of Islam, the significance of Ramadan, or the differences between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. One of the most direct references to religion that I could find is a link to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life about the beliefs and practices of Muslims (search by “tradition”). But that survey tells you about as much about Islam as a religion as a survey of the beliefs and practices of Roman Catholics in the United States tells you about Catholicism.
In contrast, the Core Knowledge Sequence introduces major world religions in the first grade. In the fourth grade, the spread of Islam is examined along with Islamic art. One of the lessons in the TC cycle asks students to examine and evaluate depictions of Muslims and Islam in the media. Great idea. Hard to do if you’re coming to the subject cold. “There are still entrenched suspicions and profound misconceptions about Islam and Muslim culture,” the TC guide notes. And there will continue to be unless you actually teach the subject.
Why are the government-run schools promoting *ANY* religion? I have no problem with including a discussion of Islam from a historical standpoint, but teaching “tolerance” towards Muslims is not a legitimate academic goal. Students should obviously be expected to treat each other with respect and civility at all times. But no one particular group should be singled out for propaganda.
FYI: all California 7th graders are SUPPOSED to learn about the origins of Islam and the golden age of Islamic civilization. What actually occurs in most classrooms is anyone’s guess. I try to make it a meaty unit by supplementing the textbook’s thin gruel. I fear that many kids only get an anemic, textbook-only unit, if that. I hear stories about combo English/history classes where history gets short shrift and many prescribed units never get taught. This is one reason I think it’s a bad idea to combine English and history into “core” class the way most California middle schools seem to do.
Good title for the post. (I had to click to see what was up!)
My fourth grader is not studying Islamic art but going over and over editing worksheets for the upcoming state tests. Big sigh…
The same loss of content happened when geography and history were combined into social studies.
Promoting tolerance for Islam should not be done in school; it is propaganda, not education. Some schools/districts have given Muslim students accommodations which are not extended to Christians or Jews, which is plainly unconstitutional. Everyone should be expected to treat others politely, but that’s it. No one has the right never to be offended.
That’s interesting to hear that world religions are introduced as early as the first grade in the Core Knowledge Sequence. Personally, I learned most of what I know about Islam on the job as a journalist. It would have been nice to have some background before I became an adult. Mary Ann Zehr
Curriculum Matters
Because religion has been such a central force in shaping the development of civilizations, Core Knowledge introduces children in the early grades to major world religions for the purpose of providing a basic vocabulary for understanding many events and ideas in history. The goal is to familiarize children with major ideas in world history, it is not to proselytize. The tone should be one of respect and balance when teaching these topics. Should questions about truth and rightness come up in discussion, an appropriate answer is: People of different faiths believe different things to be true. The best people to guide you right now are the adults at home.
We advise CK teachers to inform parents and caregivers in advance of covering these topics so they understand that teachers are teaching facts and not preaching; the curriculum in first grade focuses on teaching children the similarities and differences among religions and fostering an understanding and respect for those similarities and differences.
Children need to have a basic understanding of religion in order to make sense of historical events covered in fourth grade. You can’t talk about the Middle Ages without discussion the importance of the Christian Church. You can’t teach about the Crusades without talking the development of Islam.
Religion has often been at the base of significant ideas and events in world history and it must be taught.
I think it is awesome that your lesson plan tells fourth graders that Judaism is one of the “three major religions in the world.” Hilarious.
I agree with SA Wright about the importance of religion in world history. My previous comment was meant to convey that there is a difference between teaching content knowledge relating to a religion (or anything else) and promoting tolerance toward its practitioners. The former is education; the latter is propaganda.
In response to Crimson Wife…Schools (and Core Knowledge) are NOT promoting a religion by teaching about it. There is a huge difference between educating students about the FACTS of a religion and trying to promote or convert others to that religion. I am a born-agin Christian and I taught 4th grade, which teaches about the Islamic religion. I never felt this was a contradiction. We need our students to be EDUCATED about different religions, not preached to. This can (and is) done very well by teachers in many Core Knowledge schools I have taught at or visited. Like it or not, you cannot study history without studying religion. As Suzanne Wright stated, how in the world can one teach the Middle Ages without talking about the spread of the Christian Church and the monks who kept learning alive by handcopying the Bible? How can my students ever make sense of the Crusades without knowing about Islam?
If it comes from Teachers College, I usually trash it. Afterall, they trashed the WHOLE NYC Public School System with their ridiculous “Leveled Reading program”. They’re out of touch with reality in their ivory academic towers, misleading the masses who think they’re “in the know”. Core Knowledge is practical and logical. What Teacher’s College has done to U.S. Education is criminal.
I wasn’t criticizing the Core Knowledge sequence treatment of Islam (which appears sufficiently objective in the materials I’ve seen), but rather the quote from Teachers College that schools should promote “tolerance” of Muslims. No, they shouldn’t. Teach about Islam from a historical perspective, yes. Require students to treat each other with respect and civility, absolutely. But not use classtime for propaganda favoring one particular group.
To CK Teacher. If teachers spent as much time on Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, etc…, as they do on the Muslim religion that would be fine. But no, not in our school. They talk about the Muslim religion, have announcements about it during Ramadan and other Muslim holidays and discuss what it means. When it comes time to have announcements during the Christian holiday – the birth of Christ – they talk about Santa Clause. Not a single word about Christ or the reason Christians celebrate it. It’s ridiculous!!
In response to Texas mom…I cannot speak to your particular school or teachers, but I was simpky speaking about the Core Knowledge curriculum. Equal time is given to Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc. I agree with you that it seems like your school has an unhealthy balance and gives too much time/credence to the Muslim religion, which I don’t think is right. I was simply explaining the Core Knowledge approach to educating about religion.
WEll i would just like to say it is fair to teach tolerance to muslim or even spend a little more time talking about islam at school, i say this because there is definitely more time spent in the media putting islam down with out justification. If this is all anyone ever hears about islam then a person would naturally have some ill feelings towards muslim whether it is a classmate, colleague, or whatever. so in order to establish the “balance” this must be done.
Anonymous- so two wrongs make a right? Would you say that schools should try to establish “balance” by using classtime for propaganda for every single target of the media? How about we start with former President George W. Bush…Any takers?