Author: Larry Witham
Publication: The Washington Times
Date: February 7, 2003
URL: http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030207-69320890.htm
World history textbooks in U.S.
classrooms sanitize the problems of Islam when compared to how they often
treat Western civilization, a review of seven widely used texts reported
yesterday.
The study, released by the American
Textbook Council, said a rosy treatment of Islam may arise from the lobbying
of the Council on Islamic Education on national publishers.
"When any dark side [of Islam] surfaces,
textbooks run and hide," said the report, "Islam and the Textbooks," by
Gilbert Sewall, a former professor who directs the council.
"Subjects such as jihad and the
advocacy of violence among militant Islamists to attain worldly ends, the
imposition of [Shariah] law, the record of Muslim enslavement, and the
brutal subjection of women are glossed over," the 35-page study says.
This contrasts, the report suggested,
with the candor in textbooks over such events of Western history as the
Crusades, the Inquisition, slavery, imperialism, Christian fundamentalism
and women's suffrage.
Without solid facts about Islam,
the study said, "instructors fall back on themes of tolerance and apology
[and] skirt the reality of international affairs and threats to world peace."
Many topics in history textbooks
are reduced to a few paragraphs and require elaboration by teachers or
supplementary materials. But Islam is so exotic that a few textbook sentences
can have an inordinate impact, Mr. Sewall said in an interview.
"Few teachers are comfortable with
the subject," he said. "They are generally ignorant of Islam, so they depend
on the textbooks for guidance."
The textbook council, formed in
1988 in New York as an independent group researching social studies and
history texts, advocates factual knowledge and appreciation of Western
values.
It began a review of world history
textbooks in 2001, but issued this "preliminary report" on Islam's treatment
because of its importance for students in an age of terrorism and new global
tensions.
Shabbir Mansuri, founding director
of the Council on Islamic Education, yesterday was sent a portion of the
report. Other than describing the textbook council as "a conservative group,"
he had no comment.
The Council on Islamic Education,
formed in Orange County, Calif., in 1989, has sent publishers guidelines
and definitions for words for the textbook treatments and protests if texts
offend Muslim sensibilities, the new report said.
"For more than a decade, history-textbook
editors have done the Council's bidding, and as a result, history textbooks
accommodate Islam on terms that Islamists demand," the report said.
It noted that the Council on Islamic
Education, which influences California public schools with materials and
classroom speakers, is not listed as a nonprofit group and is funded by
private donors. "My efforts to find out where the money comes from have
met a stone wall," Mr. Gilbert said.
Textbook publishers said yesterday
that consulting with the public and with interest groups is routine.
"There's no secret to that," said
Richard Blake, spokesman for Holt, Rinehart and Winston, which publishes
the high school text "Continuity and Change," which is reviewed in the
new report. "Where publishers get in trouble is when the public thinks
they are not fair or accurate."
Collin Earnst, spokesman for Houghton
Mifflin in Boston, agreed with other publishers that consulting is essential,
but then a publisher makes independent decisions with its own scholarly
editorial board.
"We have mentioned those topics
about Islam in our book," Mr. Earnst said of Houghton Mifflin's "Across
the Centuries," which is used for the seventh grade in California and elsewhere.
"It's not as if there's a rosy-colored view of Islam."
He said a text for that age group
must be simplified. Texts that cover Judaism and Christianity are used
in the sixth grade. "None of these books are designed to delve into the
dark side of any of these topics," he said.
He rejected an assertion in the
report that, although conservative Christian protests about textbook content
are not heeded, Islamic protests are heeded to the point of censoring publishers.
"Neither of the groups are censors,"
Mr. Earnst said. "They obviously want the textbook written the way that
they like. It's common to have groups review things. Then we walk a careful
line."
Mr. Gilbert said the main concern
of his report are the high school texts, some of which avoid Islam's poor
record on violence, treatment of women, slavery and intolerance toward
other religions.
Since about 1987, teachers and historians
have agreed that world history was worth more attention for students, a
goal that the American Textbook Council has applauded.
"This expansion of studying non-Western
history is praiseworthy," Mr. Gilbert said. But since it began, many of
the cultural interest groups, particularly Muslims and blacks, have pressured
publishers to sanitize the history of their native lands.
"I hope the publishers will take
a second look at this," Mr. Gilbert said.
