Serious Flaws in Textbook Adoption Process

Its wonderful to know there are a handful of people who make the effort to bring out the sophiscatedly hidden and controversial issues out in the open.
Now the world is moving from the concept of a melting pot into the concept of a salad bowl, where each one is an individual and each one has to learn to treat and respect other, to find the harmony of unity in diversity.
This learning starts in schools NOW where the textbooks need to reflect the content in an unbiased manner, irrespective of skin color, ethnicity and religion.

An excellent essay. The Christianist movement in America, is, of course, reactionary, and speaks to a number of understandable fears, all of which might be quelled by our honoring our commitment to the separation of church and state, placing limits on those conversionist activities by certain religions that clearly constitute harrassment.

As for education, I'm in the middle of completing a survey of the most frequently used introductions to religion at the college level. Out of the twenty-eight top-sellers, twenty-four represent Judaism with a summary of the Tanakh (OT)!!!!!
Absolutely ridiculous, but squarely in keeping with Christian ideology.

An analogy would be representing Hinduism to pre-Christian "idolatry."

A lawsuit, in the making, perhaps? Hmmmm.....

Thank you for your on-watch service for positive change to rectify confusion in educating young minds. Attention you provide and this Forum is sorely needed in order for all religions to be accepted in our melting pot country. I teach at a Buddhist school, grades K-12, and have experienced how Buddhism, Christianity and Hindu Dharma together can create a safe comfort for young minds to find refuge.

Your experience with the California shcool textbook issue and your recommendations are correct.

The politics and business of textbooks has always been a little murky. This is because the issue is so important. Jefferson believed an educated population is essential for a democracy. Control of content should be carefully protected from bias.

Many of the respondents are missing one of the most important points which Dr. Shukla raises, albeit briefly. I understand that U.S. schools are depicting Hindus in a twisted fashion, but what about the host nation upon which the U.S.A. is built?

I am speaking of Native Americans.
It has only been 10 years since I left high school, so I can still remember some of the 'lessons' that I was taught. Unfortunately, the respondent who mentioned the 3-C's - Cows, Curry, and Caste - is pretty accurate for what I was told about Hinduism. But what about the Native Americans?

When I was in high school we celebrated Columbus Day. The only controversy surrounding the day was regarding Amerigo Vespucci - the book said he might have actually 'discovered' America before Columbus. My course curriculum made no mention of the rape-and-pillage strategies of Columbus and all of the other colonizers.

The closest my textbooks came to describing the genocide of Native Americans was a one page description of the Trail of Tears. (The rest of the chapter was dedicated toward describing "Manifest Destiny.")

Unfortunately, a similar treatment was given to the original inhabitants of central and South America when the 'conquests' of Cortez, et al were introduced to my naive teenage mind.

Throughout history it has not been immigrated minorities who have gotten the worst treatment in public schools, although I do not attempt to downplay the struggle of these minorities. I feel it is the indigenous people, the original inhabitants of the American lands, who have received the worst treatment of all, and I feel that any public school curriculum oriented toward honesty and decency should first address this issue before moving onto other religious traditions.

Then, we should give our children a toolkit for ingesting the actions of our forefathers without feeling like we are somehow complicit, simply because we share a common lineage or skin color. This is a major deterrent to some people when it comes to including indigenous people's history in public school curricula.

We need to teach youth how to circumvent the psychological reactions of guilt, aversion, and denial upon hearing about atrocities which were committed by 'our own people.' If we can accomplish this then it will go a long way toward our ability to introduce multiple viewpoints on religion and history into our public school systems.

Mr. Shukla,

Thank you for an excellent article and refreshing point of view.
Biased scholarship is hopefully a thing of the past. But as biased "scholars" like Michael Witzel have shown, old prejudices die hard.
The good history of America is one of enlightened secular intellectuals like Jefferson, Madison, & Franklin promoting freedom, tolerance, and separation of church and state. This was in contradistinction to the Christian Southerners who promoted ownership and exploitation of fellow black humans. They, like Witzel, fought to the end in a bloody and painful civil war, even though the world had clearly progressed and moved on.
The future of America will be increasingly diverse, which will diminish the power of narrow minded scholars and politicians. The demographics will move America forward and move others like Witzel out of the way. Brainwashing the minds of children is standard operating procedure for many organized religions like Islam and Christianity. This is obvious in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but apparently more subtle in Texas.
Young Americans with fresh prespective such as yourself will only help move us all forward more rapidly and in the right direction.

Dr. Shukla,

Excellent post. I am a Hindu-American and war veteran. I find it utterly disgusting the way Hinduism is taught in schools (People like Michael Witzel are propagators of hate). It's designed to humiliate Hindu children. This divisive state sponsored racism won't help in making America a stronger nation. It's also very demoralizing when I am deployed and to hear about what's being taught in schools at home. Hinduism has been around for 5000 years (for a darn good reason!), the oldest religion in the world (When so many other's have disappeared). The test of time is the greatest test of it's strength.

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Shukla. Intelligent analysis like this is an antidote to the "none so blind as those who will not see Christian" zealots who seem to smear not only our great country, but in fact their own religion. I participated in the CA initiative a few years back, and the vitriol spewed my Michael Witzer and the like is akin to Nazism.

The consultants seem to be closing their eye to the reality of a multi ethnic multi religious nation. Their recommendation of emphasis on one religion while ignoring the others is not a realistic depiction of the US and is thus unethical.
I hope that the awareness created by Mr. Shukla can ultimately stop such unethical practices.

Dr. Shukla makes several good points. I am heartily sick of the same, hackneyed and false 3-C portrayals of Hinduism (and of India) - Cows, Curry and Caste.

I am a non-observant, cosmopolitan Hindu, have been a church warden among other things, and can carol "Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel" with the best of them. The Bible rubs shoulders on my bedside table with the Bhagvad Gita and one of my most delightful annual experiences, come Christmas, is attending a carol service at a nearby church.

I would hope that the Texas textbooks will do justice to the portrayal of my faith instead of producing a caricature and calling it knowledge.

Siddhartha Banerjee

Excellent commentary on Chritian zealots.

Do these three reviewers know What the founding fathers said about Christianity?

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." - Thomas Jefferson

"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half of the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind" - Thomas Paine

"The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession." - Abraham Lincoln

"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved-- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!" - John Adams

Excellent article. Author not only shows the problem, but also gives the solutions & procedures that should be followed.

The problem is with attitudes developed out of religious theology which is in total contrast to science & ethical behavior.

In reading this blog, I found it to be a very thoughtful post, yet the need for such a post is depressing for an obvious reason. When religious idealogues such as those in Texas or, as the writer mentioned, in California, can so easily, shamelessly use our school systems to influence and promote their version of "truth" and faith through middle-school textbooks to the exclusion of other faiths, or contrastingly, to demean or defame other faiths through negative stereotyping, our children will, sadly, lose. Such chicanery should open the eyes and ears of all Americans who value our Constitutional rights. The wise counsel of our Founders who professed separation of church from state and, importantly, the ideal of pluralism can never be forgotten.

Great commentary. The efforts of fundamentalist Christians in Texas shows the need for pluralists from all religious traditions to work more closely together to promote tolerance, pluralism, and understanding. Its only through such concerted effort that lasting peace and harmony can be achieved, with dignity for all people.