Maury
County parents are expressing concern after their children came home with world
history schoolwork containing references to Islam and its teachings.
The
school district contends the curriculum has been in place for more than three
decades, and world history is difficult to teach without referencing religions.
Brandee
Porterfield has a daughter in seventh grade at Spring Hill Middle School. She
said her daughter brought home school materials containing the Five Pillars of
Islam. While she agrees that Islam is part of history and does not have a
problem with schools teaching about the religion, she said the lesson skipped a
chapter about Christianity.
Porterfield
said school officials moved past the chapter because it was not part of the
state’s standards.
“I
have big problem with that. From a historical point of view, that’s a lot of
history these kids are missing,” she said. “Also, for them to spend three weeks
on Islam after having skipped Christianity, it seems to be that they are making
a choice about which religion to discuss.”
The
mother said she was concerned about her child being taught the “Shahada,” the
Muslim profession of faith which was contained in a foldable teaching material.
One
of the translations of the creed reads, “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is
the Messenger of Allah.”
“I
have no problem with the teacher at all. It’s just that yellow foldable seems
to be teaching our children religion in schools, and only that religion,”
Porterfield said. “From a religion point of view, if the schools are going to
be teaching religion in history, they need to teach them all equally.”
Read more at http://conservativebyte.com/2015/09/public-government-school-teaching-five-pillars-of-islam-including-allah-is-the-only-god/
TN School Children Taught Five Pillars Of Islam, Including ‘Allah Is The Only God’ , 9/5/15 Columbia Daily Herald
It would be one thing if
they were taught this as history, with focus on other religions as well. But 3
weeks just on Islam?
Maury
County parents are expressing concern after their children came home with world
history schoolwork containing references to Islam and its teachings.
The
school district contends the curriculum has been in place for more than three
decades, and world history is difficult to teach without referencing religions.
Brandee
Porterfield has a daughter in seventh grade at Spring Hill Middle School. She
said her daughter brought home school materials containing the Five Pillars of
Islam. While she agrees that Islam is part of history and does not have a
problem with schools teaching about the religion, she said the lesson skipped a
chapter about Christianity.
Porterfield
said school officials moved past the chapter because it was not part of the
state’s standards.
“I have
big problem with that. From a historical point of view, that’s a lot of history
these kids are missing,” she said. “Also, for them to spend three weeks on
Islam after having skipped Christianity, it seems to be that they are making a
choice about which religion to discuss.”
The
mother said she was concerned about her child being taught the “Shahada,” the Muslim
profession of faith which was contained in a foldable teaching material.
One of
the translations of the creed reads, “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is
the Messenger of Allah.”
“I have
no problem with the teacher at all. It’s just that yellow foldable seems to be
teaching our children religion in schools, and only that religion,” Porterfield
said. “From a religion point of view, if the schools are going to be teaching
religion in history, they need to teach them all equally.”
By TIM
HODGEthodge@c-dh.net Maury County parents are expressing concern after their
children came home with world history schoolwork containing references to Islam
and its teachings. The school district contends the curriculum has been in
place for more than three decades, and world history is difficult to teach
without referencing religions.
Brandee Porterfield has a daughter in seventh grade at Spring
Hill Middle School. She said her daughter brought home school materials
containing the Five Pillars of Islam. While she agrees that Islam is part of
history and does not have a problem with schools teaching about the religion,
she said the lesson skipped a chapter about Christianity. Porterfield said
school officials moved past the chapter because it was not part of the state’s
standards. “I have big problem with that. From a historical point of view,
that’s a lot of history these kids are missing,” she said. “Also, for them to
spend three weeks on Islam after having skipped Christianity, it seems to be
that they are making a choice about which religion to discuss.” The mother said
she was concerned about her child being taught the “Shahada,” the Muslim
profession of faith which was contained in a foldable teaching material. One of
the translations of the creed reads, “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is
the Messenger of Allah.” “I have no problem with the teacher at all. It’s just
that yellow foldable seems to be teaching our children religion in schools, and
only that religion,” Porterfield said. “From a religion point of view, if the
schools are going to be teaching religion in history, they need to teach them
all equally.” Joy Ellis, who also has seventh-grader at Spring Hill Middle
School, said she was aware students were studying Islam but took issue with the
Shahada section. To me, a Christian child should not be made to write that,”
Ellis said. Ellis believes religion does not belong in schools, but if it is
going to be taught, then Christianity should be taught because it is the most
common in the United States. According to a Pew Research Center study in 2014
that surveyed 35,000 people from across the U.S., 81 percent of Tennesseans asked
identified as Christian. One percent identified as Muslim, while 14 percent
said they were not affiliated with any religion. National numbers showed 70.6
of those surveyed said they were Christian, while 0.9 percent identified as
Muslim, according to the data. “I honestly don’t want my child learning about
Islam at all, but if they’ve got to learn about it, I would like for them to
learn about the historical aspects of it and definitely nothing about the
religion … I don’t want her writing ‘Allah is the only god,’” Ellis said. Dr.
Jan Hanvey, Maury County Public Schools middle school supervisor, said the
curriculum and topics have been covered for at least 31 years. She is a former
social studies teacher. She said teachers do not spend three weeks specifically
talking about Islam, but rather the geography, culture, economics and
government surrounding the religion. Islam is discussed for about one day of
the three-week period, Hanvey said. By the end of the year, students will have
studied Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions, she said. “It’s part of
history. If you don’t talk about it, then you are leaving out the ‘why,’”
Hanvey said. “Children need to know the ‘why,’ and they need to be able to
learn and know where to find the facts, instead of going by what they hear or
what they see on the Internet.” The chapter on Christianity was not skipped
over but was put off until a later date, she said. The textbook’s chapter
layout does not drive instruction. Instead, teachers use a pacing guide that
may be different from chapter chronology, Hanvey said. The state’s pacing guide
says seventh grade social studies begins with the Islamic world, then moves on
to studies in ancient Africa. The year ends with the “Age of Exploration,”
which is continued in eighth grade. Christianity is studied during the Age of
Exploration section partly because religious persecution is one of the main
reasons pilgrims left in search of a new world, Hanvey said. Tennessee teachers
helped develop the teaching standards, and the state makes its tests based on
them, she added. Ashley Ball, Tennessee Department of Education spokeswoman,
said in an email the state sets academic standards or expectations for what
students should know or be able to do in each grade. Local districts determine
the curriculum, tailoring what classroom instruction looks like to their
students and teachers, she wrote. Per the state standards, all major religions
are taught across sixth and seventh grade, Ball added. Modern events have
caused “fear” of Islam, Hanvey said. She compared it to the 1940s when people
were afraid of Japanese culture and people during World War II. “It’s hard to
separate religion from history,” Hanvey said. “It’s teaching about religion. We
are not trying to convert.” Spring Hill Middle School Principal Shanda Sparrow
said in a statement that seventh grade teachers who shared the semester’s
syllabus at the beginning of the year are having fewer questions from parents.
She acknowledges the school did “not do the best job” highlighting topics that
might be considered controversial, including sensitive topics like religion.
Sparrow said in the statement the school will be offering a brief forum at its
Sept. 17 Parent-Teacher conferences in which parents can ask questions. “We
have responded to parents who’ve contacted us about the Islam unit of world
history. In addition to that, we want all parents to know about the content of
social studies (and) world history and continue an open dialogue about that,”
Sparrow said. “An open dialogue with our parents is essential for us to
maintain good parent relationships, and I’ve appreciated parents’ willingness
to bring to me — and to the school district — classroom issues they have
concerns about.” On Thursday, Maury County Schools Director Chris Marczak issued
a statement through the Maury County Public Schools’ Facebook page. “By now,
many of you have heard what is taking place with concerns to the teaching
section of middle school social studies. The standards that we have in place
from the State of Tennessee are newer standards that were developed in 2013 and
implemented last year, 2014-15 school year. In middle school, the standards
have us address early American History, world history early civilizations to
the Roman Empire, middle ages through exploration of the Americas, and
colonization to reconstruction of the Americas. Our teachers work together to
make sure that our students are learning what is expected through the Tennessee
academic standards. For this last section on the Islamic World this past week,
our educators had students complete an assignment that had an emphasis on
Islamic Faith. The assignment covered some sensitive topics that are of
importance to Islamic religion and caused some confusion around whether we are
asking students to believe in or simply understand the religion. It is our job
as a public school system to educate our students on world history in order to
be ready to compete in a global society, not to endorse one religion over
another or indoctrinate,” Marczak wrote. “I encourage all Maury County parents
to be their child’s first and main teacher. It is our job as parents of our own
children to instill in them the beliefs of our individual households. It’s
important that we establish a good working relationship with our children’s
teachers and schools so that when there are questions or concerns, teachers and
principals are the first line of asking. If we are truly going to Grow Maury
County together, then we need to openly talk and discuss about what we want to
emphasize in our county. I encourage you to talk with your children, talk with
your teachers, and talk with your principals. We are here to help your children
be prepared for Life,” he wrote. Battle royale? Hamilton County lawsuit may...
- See more at: http://columbiadailyherald.com/news/local-news/parents-concerned-over-religious-curriculum#sthash.5jYotk2R.dpuf
http://columbiadailyherald.com/news/local-news/parents-concerned-over-religious-curriculum
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