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A Victory For History Education In Florida

The Islamophobic strategy of targeting public school social studies and history textbooks that have sections on Islam by either having the books replaced with anti-Muslim histrionics or the courses removed all together was dealt a blow in Florida.

By Caroline Glenn, USA Today

MELBOURNE, Fla. — Ninth-graders in Brevard County will keep using a world history textbook, despite fierce debate over its chapter on Islam.

The Pearson textbook came under fire in 2013 and again last month, drawing the attention of the local chapters of ACT for America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. However, the school board ultimately decided Tuesday night to keep the textbook as is.

Leading up to their decision, opponents argued that the chapter ignored the “true history” of Islam and painted Mohammed and the treatment of women in an overly favorable light.

“I think we all understand that the challenges to the specific faiths that are addressed in this book are not random challenges,” said Philip Stasik, president of the Space Coast Progressive Alliance. “This is an organized challenge against the Muslim community, and frankly it’s an insult to the Muslim community.”

Others said it scared them to see people who want to challenge “years of documented history” because of recent political discourse.

“I’m pretty offended by and really afraid of people who are going out of their way to make me feel unequal,” said Alyssa Ardhya, a freshman at Satellite High School. “They want to recreate the truth.”

It’s amazing how low Islamophobes will go in their Crusade against Islam and Muslims. Like all fanatic extremists they will cut off their nose to spite their face: i.e. purposefully remain ignorant to knowledge and truth. Indeed, they make-up their own “truth.”

Previous attacks on the Islam sections of history books have occurred in Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas. ACT! For America is behind a lot of the lobbying efforts and mobilization against the history textbooks. As RightWingWatch has documented, the basis of the strategy was detailed in a 200-page “national textbook study” called “Education or Indoctrination?”

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    • HSkol

      Good points. I thank you for your thoughtful reply.

    • 786 I disagree. Previously accepted views are subject to change because history is not a collection of Things which were Faithfully Written Down for us to consult when we want to know the Truth about The Past. It is a discipline which is always evolving. Our understanding of linguistics and paleography advances, new sources come to light, new archaeological discoveries are made, and older texts are critiqued. Giants like Gibbon aren’t taken seriously by modern students of history anymore because, while they did a superb job with what they had, what they had was far less than what we have. This is not to say that the rejectionism mentioned in the article is in any way valid: they are going against not only the views of modern historical scholarship, but also against the views held by historians for the past century. But disengagement from previously accepted views is not itself a Bad Thing.

    • syed ali

      the Anti Muslim horde are no different from other evil groups their activities are based upon ignorance of historical facts.

    • Joey Sanders

      What are the Islamophobes worried about anyway. It’s not like they read.

    • mindy1

      Education always scares idiots.

    • HSkol

      History cannot change; however, our views upon it have become rather wide open – far too open. Our modern disengagement from previously accepted historical views and accounts tells a greater story about us than it does of history itself.

      In my lowly view, as “modern” folk, we should appreciate the stories told before us – even if our own skepticism raises uncomfortable questions.

      I’d think we’d have grown in humanity, and politically, more so than we have to this date. I hate to announce my personal view – we’ve devolved, degenerated.

    • sasboy

      The anti Muslim horde has shown us what scares them the most – textbooks.

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