Teaching Tough Topics: Textbook Fight Riles Tennessee
What should school children be taught about Islam?
In Southern states such as Florida and North Carolina, parents claim students are being “indoctrinated” with a sanitized version of the Muslim faith.
One of the fiercest fights so far is going on right now in Tennessee, possibly revealing the playbook for future battles.
For the Southern Education Desk, Chas Sisk of WPLN reports.
Usama Dakdok, a traveling speaker, addressed an overflow crowd of about 300 people recently at the Christian Life First Assembly of God in the small, Middle Tennessee town of Sparta.
Dakdok, using a fire-and-brimstone delivery, preached about the dangers of Islam. The military campaigns of Mohammad, the crusades and the 9/11 are all proof Muslims are violent, says the Egyptian-born Christian.
“If you stand up and you say anything, that means you are an Islamaphobe or you are a bunch of hate mongers or you are not practicing tolerance, “Dakdok says. “That means you’re not good Americans, and that is the end of the story. Tonight we’re going to turn it around. We’re going to throw this book and those who support it into the trashcan.”
Dakdok was referring to the world history textbooks being used by seventh graders in rural White County and many other Tennessee districts.
He claims those books are part of plot, similar to how schools have tricked kids into believing in the theory of evolution.
“When you do nothing, you’re going to lose your children,” he says.
The famed Scopes monkey trial on evolution took place only 50 miles down the road from Sparta. And just like that case, this fight over Islam isn’t only about how to educate a few school children or even several classrooms. It’s a demonstration of how hard religious conservatives are willing to fight to keep out ideas they believe are dangerous.
Chas Sisk,WPLN.
This textbook is used by some Tennessee Schools to teach students about Islam.
Foes of the textbooks have called for the White County School Board to resign. They’ve threatened to picket businesses.
They’ve even run radio ads calling school board members out by name.
It’s not just White County. Many other districts, including several in suburban Nashville, have been confronted by claims of pro-Islam bias.
Vicki Kirk, Tennessee’s deputy education commissioner, says the study of religion is different from becoming or adopting a belief.
She believes it’s a good idea to teach kids early about Islam.
“We have so many students in Tennessee that rarely go outside the borders of their hometown. Let’s say I wanted to be a missionary. It would be pretty important for me to know a little bit about other cultures if I was going to go live in one,” she says.
But Kirk understands why it’s a sensitive subject. She is a former middle school science teacher.
“I did teach things that some students found objectionable, and I said, you know, we’re going to talk about what science has to say about this. But you have your beliefs, and nobody’s treading on that,” she says.
Education officials have agreed to start revising the standards in January. They hope that’ll take some of the heat off local school districts. A panel of teachers will revise the curriculum. That will lead to a rewrite of the textbooks.
Three weeks after the anti-textbook rally, the White County School Board held its next meeting.
A local sheriff’s deputy stood watch as about 70 people entered. Almost all turned out to be supporters of the textbooks.
Deanna Lack says those who are calling for the books’ removal are acting out of fear.
“I think, we need to not villianize a whole group of people because of the actions of a few,” she says.
The crowd’s support seemed to embolden the school board. One by one, members said they would not send the textbooks back. For that stance, they were given a standing ovation.
School Board Chairman Edd Cantrell was emotional after the meeting.
“Really, I wasn’t expecting that,” Cantrell said. “I expected it to be one side and the other side. In reality, White County is one community. And we don’t need our community split.”
The Southern Education Desk is supported by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Russia sends 3 Iranian satellites into orbit, report says
The report said that a Russian rocket sent the satellites on Sunday from a launchpad in eastern Russia.
Viral global TikToks: A twist on soccer, Tanzania’s Charlie Chaplin, hope in Gaza
TikToks are everywhere (well, except countries like Australia and India, where they've been banned.) We talk to the creators of some of the year's most popular reels from the Global South.
This painting is missing. Do you have it?
An important work from a rediscovered artist has been absent from public view since the 1970s. A New York curator is hunting for it.
Memory loss: As AI gobbles up chips, prices for devices may rise
Demand for memory chips currently exceeds supply and there's very little chance of that changing any time soon. More chips for AI means less available for other products such as computers and phones and that could drive up those prices too.
Brigitte Bardot, sex goddess of cinema, has died
Legendary screen siren and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at age 91. The alluring former model starred in numerous movies, often playing the highly sexualized love interest.
For Ukrainians, a nuclear missile museum is a bitter reminder of what the country gave up
The Museum of Strategic Missile Forces tells the story of how Ukraine dismantled its nuclear weapons arsenal after independence in 1991. Today many Ukrainians believe that decision to give up nukes was a mistake.
