A friend has a daughter attending 5th grade at a New Jersey public school. She has been wary about her daughter's teacher since the first week of school, when her daughter told her she had been corrected for saying "Bless you," to a fellow student who sneezed. "You mean GOD bless you," the teacher said. Her daughter explained that the teacher insists students say "GOD" whenever they use "bless you." Since then, the teacher has made many comments that make it clear she is Christian and very religious. My friend cautioned her daughter not to let the teacher know their family was not religious, for fear the teacher--known to be hard on students--would discriminate against her child.
Today, my friend showed me a picture of a Social Studies quiz her daughter had to take that included questions like, "Why did God change Abram's name to Abraham?" and "What was Moses known for?" Then she shared photos of some pages from her daughter's textbook that seem wholly inappropriate for a grade school Social Studies unit. Is this yet another example of Texas' influence on our textbooks? UPDATE: According to Flying Goat (thank you!), the book is "History Alive! The Ancient World Biographies" by the "Teacher's learning institute," and the full chapter is available here:
http://kristinpittwood.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/...
More over the fold.
First, here is the Social Studies test:
Notice how the test treats Moses like a genuine historical figure, instructing students to rank his actions in the Bible chronologically. (Also notice that this teacher has misspelled "copper" as "cooper.") Below are some pages from the textbook, which are more appropriate for a Sunday School lesson than for a public school's social studies curriculum (I apologize, but I can't figure out how to upload them so that people can read the text; I've embedded some and left links to the remaining images):
http://images.dailykos.com/...
http://images.dailykos.com/...
http://images.dailykos.com/...
Some close-ups of some of the text, which includes maps that provide extensive detail on supposed routes:
Here are some quotes from the pages:
"In this chapter, you will read about some of the early history of the Jewish people told in the Bible. You will meet four Hebrew leaders--Abraham, Moses, and kings David and Solomon--and learn about their contributions to the development of Judaism."
"The greatest leader of the Hebrews was Moses."
"King David established Jerusalem as a holy city. King Solomon built Jerusalem's first temple. The city of Jerusalem and its temple became powerful symbols to the Hebrews of their faith in God."
"Let's learn more about each of these four important leaders by looking at some history from the Hebrew Bible."
"As the home of the Ark, Jerusalem became a holy city."
The entire chapter treats the information about the Biblical kings of Israel, Moses, and the Exodus as historical facts. However, there is no evidence that Moses ever existed or that the Exodus ever happened. Even the pharaoh described in Exodus is not consistent with any pharaoh known to history. Some religious scholars have expressed faith that a Moses archetype existed, but
no historical evidence exists.
"There is virtually no evidence, as the Torah says, that 600,000 Jewish males, with their wives and children and elders, left Egypt in the Exodus," said Rabbi Burt Visotzky, a professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. "Those are big numbers. You'd think someone would notice."
There is a
sliver of evidence that the kings David and Solomon existed, but the scant documentation of their existence calls into question the importance given to them in the Torah. There is certainly no proof that David founded Jerusalem or that Solomon built the great temple. Their existence remains unproven and a source of debate among scholars, which the social studies textbook fails to mention. In fact, the textbook subtly implies scholars have used archaeological evidence to support the Biblical stories.
"In addition to the Torah, historians look for a variety of other sources of information about early Jewish history. To help understand the events and ideas of the time period, they examine archaeological artifacts, as well as other written records."
Although it is true historians use other sources to learn about early Jewish history, the chapter mentions none of the other sources or what they say about early Jewish history. The chapter concludes with an assurance that students are not done learning about Judaism:
"In the next chapter, you will learn how the Hebrews became known as Jews and how they kept their ancient religion alive outside of Judah and Israel."
It seems extreme to devote at least two chapters of Social Studies to Judaism, and this emphasis on religion is not something I recall encountering when my children were in school. The textbook also includes a section on Hinduism and Buddhism, but it appropriately describes these religions as faiths, rather than presenting them as historical fact. (I forgot to ask my friend whether the book discusses Christianity, but I'll update this after I find out.)
I will give you one guess as to what religion the textbook does not discuss. My friend flipped through the text and looked in the index but could find no mention of Islam.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world and the fastest-growing religion.
I support teaching kids that different people adhere to different religions and providing them with a basic understanding of the various religions. Understanding religions and their influence helps us understand different cultures and historical and current events.
However, I oppose portraying Biblical events and figures as historical without vetted evidence or teaching Biblical stories without context. Most people would oppose a history textbook that positioned Arthur as an important king of Britain who founded the city of Camelot and took advice from a powerful magician. Also, while disagreements over the status of Jerusalem are more appropriate for a high school discussion, textbooks should avoid predisposing kids to take one side of what remains a hotly contested issue.
I recommended that my friend contact the ACLU because I cannot believe this is being taught in public schools. I suspect she will not take me up on it, because she is busy and doesn't like to make waves. However, she is upset and gave me permission to post the pictures and discuss the issue here. Also, does anyone know how textbooks are selected for each class? Is it possible the teacher could select a textbook without the school knowing that this information is in it?
Mon Oct 05, 2015 at 7:19 PM PT: Thank you to Flying Goat, who provided a link in the comments to the full chapter, which is readable.
http://kristinpittwood.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/...
He also provided a link to some criticism of the lessons:
http://files.eric.ed.gov/...