I teach 7th grade world history. The standards for that grade include the birth of Islam and the Crusades. I have had some of my Muslim students tell me that Jesus was a Muslim; that Islam was not spread by the sword, rather it was spread through "gifts" (whatever that means); that the Christians were the sole aggressors in the Crusades, and a myriad of other lunacies. Do I cower from my Muslim students for fear of offending them? Heck no, I am glad to expose them to historical facts that counter some of the sicko propaganda that I am sure some of them are being fed at home; you know, like the idea of Islam being spread through gift-giving rather than the threat of subjugation or death if you don't convert to the Religion of Peace.
I can't say I fully blame the teachers in Britain for their cold feet about offending the Muslims. Great Britain arguably has the most viciously radical Muslims of any European country. Only in Britain have I seen photos of Muslim rallies that sport signs like this:
Gosh, is what I just wrote about Islam considered by this guy to be an insult? If we in this country start kowtowing to people like this monster above - and some of us already are - then start preparing yourselves for signs like these in cities all over America. I will not submit!
**UPDATE: I had a commenter write in to challenge the validity of the newspaper articles about this story. So you don't have to worry about what the newspapers say or don't say, I have tracked down the actual study from the Department of Education and Skills in Britain and linked it right here. It is a PDF file, so you will need Adobe Acrobat to read it. The controversy in question is mentioned on page 15 of the study.
Good Day to You, Sir
6 comments:
Great Post!!
I will NOT submit either.
Keep up the good work.
I realise this story has been published widely in the British press.
However, I have yet to see one version of it that names a school that doesn't actually teach the Haulocaust and I've certainly never heard of a school that doesn't. In fact it always used to be a criticism of the British history curriculum that all it ever covers is Nazis and Tudors.
Don't ever believe what you read in British newspapers, they are famous for not letting the facts get in the way of a good story.
Sorry Andrew, but you are going to have to do better than that. The newspaper articles don't mention any specific schools or teachers, because the study doesn't either. I went to the website of Britain's Deparment of Education and Skills and found the study. I will amend my post by hyperlinking the study. The mention of the topic in question is on page 15. They mention teachers at a school in northern England as an example of where they decided not to teach the Holocaust. I can easily see why they didn't mention the specific names in the study, but I know that researchers always keep their notes on such things, and if they were asked for specifics, they would logically have the research notes to verify from whom and where they got their information.
Andrew, I have to say, you sound like you are trying to convince yourself that the newspapers are being untruthful because you don't like what they are telling you.
I've now looked at the report.
Despite the claims in the press that schools the report says it found one unnamed school out of the 4000 secondary schools in the UK that wasn't teaching the Haulocaust.
Sorry that should say:
"Despite the claims in the press that schools (plural) aren't teaching the haulocaust the report says it found one unnamed school out of the 4000 secondary schools in the UK that wasn't teaching the Haulocaust."
Incidentally a few years ago all the concern was that British history teaching was too concerned with the Nazis:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2003/06/21/tenhist15.xml
So Andrew, the stories I have read about the story of the Three Little Pigs being changed to the Three Little Puppies is also just an isolated incident?
The story of banks in Britain getting rid of piggy bank giveaways for fear of offending Muslims is also an isolated incident?
You see, after awhile, it is no longer just an isolated incident when enough of these incidents add up to become a pattern.
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