Hundreds Prepare Protest Against Islam Chapter in Volusia Co. School Textbook

WFTV (Volusia County), November 4, 2013

Hundreds of people in Volusia County are preparing a protest against a textbook that’s in public schools across Florida.  They believe a world history book dedicates too much material to Islam and doesn’t focus equally on Christianity and other religions.

Some protest organizers want students to go home and tear the section on Islam out of their textbooks.

The controversy started unraveling after a 15-year-old Deltona high school student showed her mom her 10th-grade history book, which has an entire chapter dedicated to Islam but none of the other world religions.

A conservative activist flocked to Facebook, calling for a curriculum overhaul, and nearly 200 activists are planning a protest at tomorrow’s Volusia County School Board meeting.  {snip}

Proponents say people need more time dedicated to the religion because is tied to a great deal of the United States’ foreign affairs, yet few know much about it.  {snip}

The district said it has no plans to change anything about the book.

Statement from the protest organizer:

An entire chapter is dedicated to Islam while that of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and other religions are not focused equally. I did acknowledge that other religions are included throughout the textbook but in snippets with no dedication of a chapter for easy reference as is the case with Islam in Chapter 10.

Also, my statement about the tearing up of Isalm sections in the textbook was simply a suggestion to counter any possible claims from officials of budgetary concerns regarding the issuance of new textbooks, supplements to the curriculum and so on. I then suggested that a simple remedy to correct the issue for the current school year would be for the school to ask for student volunteers who would be willing to take the textbook home and tear out the pages to the chapter so as to quell the controversy, all at a whopping tax payer cost of $0.

I agree that many of the comments from others may appear to be intolerant, but I as the organizer of the event have made it CRYSTAL CLEAR on the events page that such comments need to cease but cannot control the mindset of such individuals as I am NOT intolerant of minority religions here in the U.S.

–Rick Sarmiento

Statement from the Council on American-Islamic Relations:

“The name of the FB page and intolerant comments is troubling. This group is holding a protest and rally to oppose the teaching of the historical and basic Pillars of Islam to students in Volusia County. This group is displaying an alarming level of intolerance and brazen disregard of minority religions here in the US. We find their  actions Un-American and against every core principal that makes this country so great,” the Muslim civil liberties group said.

Statement from the Volusia County School District:

Volusia County Schools is one of many school districts in Florida that have chosen Prentice Hall’s World History textbook as a primary resource for teachers to use as they ensure quality instruction on Florida’s Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for World History.

World History was chosen in accordance with the State of Florida’s standard procedure for textbook adoption. First, the State of Florida approves a list of textbooks from which Florida school districts may choose potential textbooks to adopt. As the State is considering which textbooks will make its list, the public is offered the opportunity to participate. World History was one of three state-approved textbooks that met the state’s criteria for the adoption process. A committee of Volusia County Schools Social Studies teachers selected the Prentice Hall World History textbook after reviewing all three potential texts. Volusia County Schools procedures for textbook adoption provide for public participation and viewing of the textbooks chosen by the committee before a final decision is made.

One key factor in selecting a textbook is its ability to accurately convey information aligned to  Florida’s Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS). These mandated standards are established by the Florida Department of Education. Teachers may use the adopted textbook, as well as supplemental materials, to teach the mandated standards.

Prentice Hall’s World History textbook presents coverage of the standards for World History, which require students to learn information about world religions and their relationship to the development of civilizations. The textbook covers information related to Muslim Civilization in one chapter and information about Christianity and Judaism in seven chapters.

Original Article

Result data from 2013 EOC Data by District & School

  Over 133,000 students participated in the May 2013 EOC assessment for American History.  Click 'HERE' for the results showing how many students participated in the assessment and what percent scored in the top, middle, and bottom 'third' of each county and each participating school.  These results mark the first time Florida has ever known what percent of its students scored in their understanding of American History in comparison to others in the state.  Currently, for every percent of students scoring in the top third category adds ONE PERCENT to each school's overall GRADE on the Florida School Report Card.  School and district administrators will therefore undoubtedly begin to pay more attention to Social Studies in the future. 

Results of May 2013 US Hist. EOC Assessment

Terrorists driven by low self-esteem, Florida high schoolers told

By Joshua Rhett Miller      Published May 31, 2013                   FoxNews.com

It's low self-esteem and the need for a “sense of belonging” that drives terrorists to join groups that kill in the name of religion, according to an online lesson plan for Florida high school students.  The world history course on “Invisible Warfare” — offered by the Florida Virtual School, the nation’s first statewide Internet-based public high school — begins by asking students “what comes to mind” when considering the concept of fundamentalism and then prompts them to think of the term in a religious context. It later defines terrorism as the act of using fear or violence to accomplish certain political or religious goals.

“Common traits that psychologists have found in terrorists are that they are often risk-takers and many suffer from low self-esteem,” according to the lesson plan, which was obtained by FoxNews.com. “Sometimes joining a terrorist group provides these individuals with a sense of belonging.”

Earlier in the lesson plan, students are asked to consider how “this type of fundamentalism” has affected Islam and notes that some Islamic fundamentalist groups have reinterpreted the word jihad, which means “struggle” in Arabic, to mean a “holy war” against non-Muslims.  Some critics including the Global Dispatch claimed that the transition from Christianity to Islam within the lesson plan “softly could imply Christianity may be affecting (therefore causing) Muslim extremism.”   “For example, some passages in the Bible could be used to justify the slaughter of men, women and children in ways we have difficulty understanding today,” the plan reads.  “Would anyone condone this now? How would you react to someone who insisted that holding these beliefs was fundamental to Christianity?”

Representatives at the Florida Virtual School denied those claims, saying the lesson plan does not suggest a link between fundamentalists within Islam and Christianity. Tania Clow, a spokeswoman for the Florida Virtual School, told FoxNews.com in a statement that the purpose of the lesson was to lay foundational knowledge in order for students to understand the more complex issue of global terrorism and the impact religious fundamentalism is having globally.   “Yes, the Bible is referenced, but only as an example of how some passages may no longer be compatible with the modern world, prompting students to think about whether the ideas would be condoned today,” Clow wrote in an email. “The lesson does not suggest that there is a link between Islam and Christianity as fundamentalist groups.”

Two key issues are specifically addressed in the lesson, Clow said, including the impact of religious fundamentalism in the last half of the 20th century and the impact and global response to international terrorism.

State-certified instructors at the online school are not allowed to change the actual lesson text, but are encouraged to engage students in thoughtful debate, Clow said.

Not everyone, however, agrees that the lesson plan as presented is useful for young minds, including Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, who claimed the lesson plan unfairly compared fundamentalists within Christianity and Islam.  “Fundamentalist Christians pray for people, they pray for their own members who convert to another religion,” Donohue told FoxNews.com. “Fundamentalist Muslims will kill you. So, right off the bat, the equation is pernicious.”

Dr. Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist and Fox News contributor, said it takes more than low self-esteem to prompt someone to don a suicide vest in the name of religion.  “Much more in the way of psychiatric disorder is required to create a terrorist than just low self-esteem," Ablow said. "The real key is a failure of empathy, and while it might be true that many terrorists have low self-esteem, there are lots of people with low self-esteem that are either depressed, homeless, or are in relationships with people that abuse them – but not terrorists.”

Robert Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, cited a 2011 study that found that Americans are more willing — by more than a 3-to-1 margin — to separate the violence of self-professed Christians from Christianity than they are to separate violent behavior of self-professed Muslims from Islam.

The poll, entitled ““Pluralism, Immigration and Civic Integration Survey,” found that 44 percent of all Americans believed self-professed Muslims who committed acts of violence in the name of Islam to truly be Muslims, compared to just 13 percent of those committed acts of violence in the name of Christianity to truly be Christians.

As a whole, younger Americans and college graduates are overwhelmingly more likely to believe that Islam -- as practiced by most Muslims -- does not promote violence, Jones said.  “If you ask that question, Americans are basically divided,” Jones told FoxNews.com. “But education and age is driving a lot of it.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/30/terrorists-driven-by-low-self-esteem-florida-high-schoolers-told/#ixzz2VEq7iNPV

Doing a Texas Two-Step Around Education Reform

Watering down new high-school graduation standards will shortchange students, employers and the country.
By CHARLES COOK AND TERRENCE MOORE

For decades, policy makers have gone back and forth adopting the latest fads in school reform without any measurable improvement in learning. The latest trend in Texas is to de-emphasize the liberal arts and increase instructional time spent in math, science and technology.
        As the Texas legislature convened last month, a coalition of anti-testing organizations, including Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment, promoted a plan to gut the state's tough new high-school graduation standards. Instead of passing 15 end-of-course exams, a student would graduate by passing two or three. More than 800 Texas school boards have adopted a resolution to water down requirements.
     We disagree. States across the country are increasing graduation standards, and Texas cannot afford to water down its own. A proposal to eliminate exams in world geography and world history as a graduation requirement, for instance, is shortsighted. Ever-lower expectations lead to one predictable outcome: a profound ignorance of the world among young people in an era when international events and evolving fiscal and trade policies have a personal impact on communities, businesses and individuals in every corner of the U.S.
         Who hasn't heard or seen the signs of this ignorance? To cite one of many now-familiar results, there is the 2008 report "Still at Risk: What Students Don't Know, Even Now" by Frederick Hess. It found that nearly 25% of 17-year-olds surveyed nationwide could not identify Adolf Hitler. More than 25% believed Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World after 1750. Forty percent could not place World War I as occurring between 1900 and 1950. Nearly 40% could not identify the Renaissance as the period in European history noted for cultural and technological advances.     
        Allowing young people to graduate as historical or geographical illiterates is myopic for another reason. Training them for getting jobs is not good enough; graduates of public schools are also citizens. Ask any physician today whether politics affects his livelihood.
        We have a different approach to equipping students to face the future, one that has the weight of millennia of human experience behind it: a rigorous classical education. Such an education (called liberal-arts at the college level) does not shortchange math and science. On the contrary, those subjects are studied with more rigor than can be seen in today's public schools.
        Students also learn the fundamentals of English grammar; American and world history through the reading of primary source documents; and the great stories of human struggle and yearning told by the greatest storytellers—Homer, Shakespeare, Milton and Melville. They study the principles of liberty and self-government as articulated by the Founding Fathers and the ennobling beauties found in painting, sculpture and song. Yes, the children have to learn Latin, too, just as the Founding Fathers did, because that language gives the greatest insight into the vocabulary and grammar of our own tongue and the Romance languages, including Spanish.
          Certainly America needs as many engineers and computer scientists as the country requires in the 21st century. But that does not describe what lies ahead for the vast majority of young people entering the marketplace. The most common complaints of American employers is that job applicant and recent hires lack communication skills and higher-level thinking skills. More plainly, many applicants cannot read a memo, they cannot express themselves in speech or in writing, they lack the ability to think through difficult problems.
        We think that students who have been taught to write forcefully by studying Shakespeare and Tom Paine, who have learned to speak by studying the speeches of Cicero and Abraham Lincoln, who have learned to think through difficult problems by studying the Constitution through an analysis of the Federalist Papers, and who revel in the rigors of Latin grammar will have no difficulty in reading the boss's memo.
       Training young people in the liberal arts and sciences also will better prepare them to become "the boss" when it is time for the present cohort of bosses to retire. Those on the front lines of hiring employees in this state see the need for a classical education. Now parents are increasingly demanding such an education for their children. We know this in part because the number of schools that have come to Hillsdale College each spring in search of graduating seniors to recruit as teachers of classical subjects has more than doubled in the past five years.
       Before long, we will begin to see how well the approach works. Responsive Education Solutions (ResponsiveEd), the largest charter-school system in Texas, in collaboration with Hillsdale College, is providing students the opportunity to receive a rigorous classical education tuition-free. Founders Classical Academy is a public charter school that opened near Dallas in August 2012. The response has been almost overwhelming. The school initially started with 450 students and will educate more than 700 next year.
       Classical-curriculum schools in other states, such as Ridgeview Classical Schools in Colorado, generally have waiting lists of over a thousand applicants. The graduates of such programs go on to college to study the liberal arts and sciences. Typically, the biggest complaint of these graduates is that their freshman courses were too easy.
       As ResponsiveEd and Hillsdale College continue to open classical schools across the country, we want to see other schools, including noncharter public schools, brought up to a serious level of accountability as well.
       Jobs do not create the human mind; the human mind creates jobs. As a result, the very best education—the kind the Founding Fathers had—is what will produce good workers and good citizens. The challenge for those who want to eliminate testing in world history and geography or other subjects in Texas is to explain how students are prepared for a global economy when they are not required to learn anything about either the globe or the economy.

Mr. Cook is CEO of ResponsiveEd, a charter-school district with over 60 schools in Texas. Mr. Moore is a Hillsdale College professor of history who advises the college's Barney Charter School Initiative. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324081704578233814190553202.html

Our thanks to Peggy Renihan, Regional Programs Coordinator for the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship for the following information related to the new CIVICS ASSESSMENT. You may access the files by clicking on the links below or by accessing the files to the right in the "What's the latest?" area. Contact the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship for additional information. (850-508-9294) The Civics Assessment Update--October 2, 2012; The "Civics Test Item Specifications"; The EOC Civics Test Reporting Categories list; The 2013-2014 Test Assessment Date Calendar

Civics Assessment Update, Oct. 2012 (To view, select this title link in the "What's the Latest?" links to the right.

Testing Schedule 2013-2014 (To access full file, select title name to the right in the "What's the Latest?" section!

Testing Schedule 2012-2013

Colleges Twist U.S. History

National Association of Scholars, January 10, 2013

U.S. history courses at American colleges and universities downplay the nation’s economic, military, and political history and dramatically overemphasize the role of race. So finds a new study by the Texas Association of Scholars (TAS) and Center for the Study of the Curriculum at the National Association of Scholars (NAS).

The study focused on the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M as representative institutions because Texas law requires all students at public universities to take a year of American history and for universities to post course syllabi and faculty credentials online. The researchers found that many important topics received scant attention while more than half the faculty members focused on race, class, and gender (RCG) in their courses. Among the topics that were often crowded out were America’s diplomatic, philosophical, religious, and scientific history.

The report, Recasting History: Are Race, Class, and Gender Dominating American History?, finds:

High emphasis on race, class, and gender in reading assignments. 78 percent of UT faculty members were high assigners of RCG readings;

• 50 percent of A&M faculty members were high assigners of RCG readings.
• An absence of significant primary source documents and key concepts
• Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and the Gettysburg Address, for instance, were rarely assigned, and numerous political documents, such as the Mayflower Compact and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, were not assigned in any American history courses. 
• High level of race, class, and gender research interests among faculty members teaching these courses. 78 percent of UT faculty members had special research interests in RCG;
• 64 percent of A&M faculty members had special research interests in RCG.

“The failure of these major universities to present a broader picture of the American story shortchanges students,” said Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars. “It also puts at risk the nation’s civic literacy.”

“The patterns we uncovered at UT and A&M reflect national trends in the discipline. To turn this around history departments must review their curricula, keep broad courses broad, hire less-narrowly-specialized faculty members, and diversify graduate programs.”

Download a PDF of the Study

Original Article