Islamophilia In America's Classrooms

(With a hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)



Some reading below the fold:

Saudi-funded textbooks being used in America's K-12 classrooms.

Teaching, among other things, that Jesus was a "Palestinian," the state of Israel never existed, and that the Muslims discovered America before Columbus. At this rate, perhaps even Saudi grade-school textbooks, complete with jihadi and dhimmi declarations, will come to instruct American school-children.

ooo OOO ooo

"Public Schools Teach the ABCs of Islam," by Erick Stakelbeck for CBN News, October 9, 2008:

CBNNews.com - Several recent studies have shown that American students are alarmingly ignorant about U.S. history and world events.

Experts have contributed the problem to everything from failing schools to substandard teachers.

But what about content?

For instance, did you know that Muslims discovered America? Or that Jerusalem is an Arab city? That's just some of the "history" that students in America's K-12 classrooms have been taught in recent years--with the help of taxpayer money.

A new report by the non-profit Institute for Jewish and Community Research finds that American high school and elementary textbooks contain countless inaccuracies about Christianity, Judaism, Israel and the Middle East.

The Institute examined 28 of the most widely-used history, geography and social studies textbooks in America. It found at least 500 errors.

One book ignored the Jewish roots of Christianity, saying the faith was founded by a "young Palestinian" named Jesus.

Another stated as fact that the Koran was revealed to Mohammed from God.

Yet another said ancient Jewish civilization contributed "very little" to to the arts and sciences.

Textbooks like these are used by millions of schoolchildren in all 50 states. [...]

Harvard is one of 18 universities that receives government funding under Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965. To qualify for that funding, the universities are required to conduct outreach to K-12 teachers, helping them to shape lessons for schoolchildren. Elementary and secondary teachers have taken full advantage of the arrangement: after all, they believe they're getting expert insight on Islam and the Middle East from distinguished university scholars.

"You have a lot of politically naive teachers--well intentioned teachers who do want their students to learn more about Islamic history," says Stotsky. "It has not been well covered in most history courses they've ever taken, so they do genuinely want to learn more for themselves and teach their students more."

In some cases they may be getting more than they bargained for: the Saudi government has donated millions of dollars to Middle East Centers at universities that receive Title VI funding.

The Harvard Middle Eastern Studies Center--whose recommendations to the Massachusetts Board originally drew Stosky's concern--is one of them. As CBN News reported earlier this year, the Harvard Center received a $20 million donation from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in 2005. Georgetown University--another title VI recipient--also received $ 20 million from the Prince that same year.

It's through these Title VI university centers--all of them government-sanctioned and taxpayer supported--that Saudi-funded materials find their way into K-12 classrooms.

"Saudi donations to American universities should be seen in a much larger picture of Saudi promotion of a Saudi point of view," said Daniel Pipes, Director of the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia. "Whether it be Islamic or political, the Saudis have a point of view. And they have been very clever and very generous over the decades to promote that point of view."

Have you looked at YOUR child's textbooks? Do you know what's going on in YOUR child's school?

According to DawaNet:

Students are routinely exposed in their classroom to new information and opinions, hence they tend to be more receptive to new beliefs and ideas.

Schools are therefore fertile grounds where the seeds of Islam can be sowed inside the hearts of non-Muslim students....

[...]

Some aspects of Islam can be incorporated in school projects. For example, for a speech class, if there is freedom to choose a topic, an Islamic topic should be selected. Similar opportunities can be created in history, social science, writing and other classes.

Remember, it was the Will and help of Allah, Iman (faith) and Muslim creativity that won victories for the Muslims. Schools and campuses are no exceptions as places where Islam can be victorious....

The bottom line

We should use every opportunity to sensitize non-Muslim peers and school staff to Islam and to establish an environment in which everywhere a non-Muslim turns, he notices Islam portrayed in a positive way, is influenced by it and eventually accepts Islam with Allah's guidance, Insha Allah (if God wills).

More HERE.

I repeat: Have you looked at YOUR child's textbooks? Do you know what's going on in YOUR child's school?

Must-read additional information about the subversion of the Western education HERE at Trencherbone.

Recommended book for your home library: The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion.

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Imprinting Young Minds With "The Tolerance of The Teachings of Islam"

Please see my post today over at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS.

This ideological war has so very many fronts!

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School Answering Machine

Spew alert! Set down your beverage.

Courtesy of commenter Speedy G:

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Interfaithing Equals Dhimmitude

Ongoing since 2002, the year after 9/11:


This week, at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C.:

From May 25-27, 2010, Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia will host Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and his 9th Annual Building Bridges Seminar. Since 2002, the Archbishop of Canterbury has chaired an annual seminar bringing together leading Muslim and Christian scholars from around the world to explore issues at the heart of the two traditions. Georgetown University has become a partner in this significant dialogue process and hosted the seminar in 2004 and 2006.

Prince Al-Waleed of Saudi is, no doubt, gratified by the dhimmitude of a Jesuit university as he watches mainstream Christianity submit to Islam via his "educational charities", which finance centers of Islamic study at Western universities.

According to Campus Watch:

Perhaps Alwaleed's animus toward the instruments of "Jewish pressure" explains some of his less-advertised investments -- among them, a $27 million contribution to a Saudi government telethon that raised more than $100 million for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Both the Middle East Media Research Institute's Steven Stalinsky and columnist Diana West have called attention to the prince's co-ownership of the Saudi ART TV network that, under Alwaleed's watch, aired not only the aforementioned telethon but also the fundraiser "Jihad in Palestine," which encouraged Muslims to triumph over the West through suicide bombings and "slitting of throats and shattering skulls."

Charming, huh? [heavy sarcasm]

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L.A. TEACHER CALLS FOR MEXICAN REVOLT IN THE U.S.

(crossposted from THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, where I'm privileged to have access to posting)

Note the ranting about the "global struggle against imperialism and capitalism." Much more leftist ranting below from Sanchee High School's history teacher Ron Gochez, paid on the taxpayers' dime:



The above consumer of taxpayer dollars spoke at the UCLA La Raza rally.

UPDATE (RELIAPUNDIT) FROM DONALD DOUGLAS/AMERICAN POWER:

Ron Gochez, Anti-Semitic Social Justice Teacher and Reconquista Activist, Connects With Underage Student Hotties on MySpace

There's a little buzz tonight surrounding a three year-old protest video featuring Los Angeles revolutionary/reconquista activist Ron Gochez -- who's listed as a Social Studies Teacher in the School of Public Service and Social Justice at Los Angeles' Santee High School.

Here's this from Gochez's speech at UCLA in 2007:

We are revolutionary Mexican organization here. We understand that this is not just about Mexico. It’s about a global struggle against imperialism and capitalism… At the forefront of this revolutionary movement is La Raza. We will no longer fall for these lies called borders. We see America as a northern front of a revolutionary movement… Our enemy is capitalism and imperialism.

Well, we find more on Ron Gochez with a little digging.

USE THIS LINK TO FIND OUT MORE. NOW!

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Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy and the ACLU

I've been waiting for something like this from the ACLU (via Jihad Watch):

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota is suing Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) for allegedly crossing the line between religion and public education...

When will the ACLU turn its sights in the direction of public schools other than those of the charter type?

According to the above-cited article in the Star Tribune:

A federal judge said this week that witness intimidation by any party will not be tolerated in a lawsuit involving a charter school accused of illegally promoting Islam.

[...]

The ACLU argued that administrators at the Inver Grove Heights school have intimidated potential witnesses or tried to dissuade them from testifying about TiZA, and asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeanne Graham to issue an order protecting them.

Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy is a public school in Minnesota and is named after the general who led the invasion of Spain in 711. He is famous for having made the following declaration upon landing in Spain:

Oh my warriors, whither would you flee? Behind you is the sea, before you, the enemy. You have left now only the hope of your courage and your constancy. Remember that in this country you are more unfortunate than the orphan seated at the table of the avaricious master. Your enemy is before you, protected by an innumerable army; he has men in abundance, but you, as your only aid, have your own swords, and, as your only chance for life, such chance as you can snatch from the hands of your enemy. If the absolute want to which you are reduced is prolonged ever so little, if you delay to seize immediate success, your good fortune will vanish, and your enemies, whom your very presence has filled with fear, will take courage. Put far from you the disgrace from which you flee in dreams, and attack this monarch who has left his strongly fortified city to meet you. Here is a splendid opportunity to defeat him, if you will consent to expose yourselves freely to death. Do not believe that I desire to incite you to face dangers which I shall refuse to share with you. In the attack I myself will be in the fore, where the chance of life is always least.

Remember that if you suffer a few moments in patience, you will afterward enjoy supreme delight. Do not imagine that your fate can be separated from mine, and rest assured that if you fall, I shall perish with you, or avenge you. You have heard that in this country there are a large number of ravishingly beautiful Greek maidens, their graceful forms are draped in sumptuous gowns on which gleam pearls, coral, and purest gold, and they live in the palaces of royal kings. The Commander of True Believers, Alwalid, son of Abdalmelik, has chosen you for this attack from among all his Arab warriors; and he promises that you shall become his comrades and shall hold the rank of kings in this country. Such is his confidence in your intrepidity. The one fruit which he desires to obtain from your bravery is that the word of God shall be exalted in this country, and that the true religion shall be established here. The spoils will belong to yourselves.

Remember that I place myself in the front of this glorious charge which I exhort you to make. At the moment when the two armies meet hand to hand, you will see me, never doubt it, seeking out this Roderick, tyrant of his people, challenging him to combat, if God is willing. If I perish after this, I will have had at least the satisfaction of delivering you, and you will easily find among you an experienced hero, to whom you can confidently give the task of directing you. But should I fall before I reach to [Visigothic king] Roderick, redouble your ardor, force yourselves to the attack and achieve the conquest of this country, in depriving him of life. With him dead, his soldiers will no longer defy you.

Jihad!

Tariq served as governor of Al-Andalus from 711-712.

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What Are Your Children Reading?

(Note to family and friends: The most recent update on Mr. AOW is here)

The screen shots below are lifted from one of Midnight Rider's posts at Infidel Bloggers Alliance...

WARNING! The hot link below the fold contains very graphic material!

These are some titles Kevin Jennings would suggest:

Please read this at Right Truth to get an idea as to what Kevin Jennings advocates. WARNING! GRAPHIC MATERIAL! Yet, this material is what Jennings advocates that fourteen-year olds and those even younger be exposed to.

What kind of President chooses a man like Jennings as an education czar, specifically, the safe-schools czar?

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FEATURED COMMENT: Suggested Responses To BHO's National Address To Schoolchildren

Last week, I this about BHO's upcoming speech, broadcast live on C-SPAN and the White House web site.

Commenter MJB, one of my homeschool students, opined as follows:

If some of the students who are forced to do this are educated enough, they can have some fun with the questions. Like, "What do you think it takes to be President?"

Let me see. A minority candidate, the racism argument, propaganda, and a truckload of money.

"What do you think he will say to you?"

Hmmmm. I usually can't construe meanings to much of what he says, but I can say this. It should be riddled with "Um"'s and "Uh"'s.

"What new ideas and actions is the President challenging me to think about?"

I heard Marxism, socialized medicine, nationalization of industries, saving the pathetic, helpless earth, and something about Change We Can Believe In.

"What would you like to tell the President?"

Hehehe. A lot of things.
XxXMJBXxX | 09.02.09 - 10:13 am

Note:As of today, FEATURED COMMENT is a new motif for this blog and will appear on a regular basis. Intervals of regularity will be at the blog owner's discretion.

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This Morning On NBC's Today Show (video added)

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

Something very like this from CNBC's John Harwood as he and the show anchor we discussing that parents shouldn't be concerned about BHO's upcoming national address to schoolchildren on September 8:

"Parents who object to the President speaking to schoolchildren aren't able to raise their children very effectively."

This is what the majority of Americans accept as news and words from an expert?

1. The mainstream media will not say anything negative about BHO's power grab and appointees. See Epa's post at Infidel Bloggers Alliance.

2. Having concerns about "The One" means that you are an unfit parent.

Get the picture?

Addendum, September 7:

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MyBarackObama.com: Dissenters To BHO's Plans Are "Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists"

Much of the following video is about BHO's upcoming national address to schoolchildren. But there is another element too. Listen and watch, particularly at time marker :55-1:10. Also note that right-wingers have been deemed "the heirs of Bin Laden," at time marker 1:40-1:43.



Not a surprise that the right is being demonized. Didn't I post this less than a month ago?

Maybe it "ain't America no more."

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Those Classroom Walls

As a taxpayer, whether or not you have children, you can enter the classrooms of the public schools. You may have to jump through some hoops to do so, but you can visit.

According to Glenn Beck, the following poster was on the walls of one public-school classroom (with thanks to Brooke):


Early indoctrination in global warming and the concept of the world community.

The second-grade classroom also displayed the newest book about BHO's dog. Well, at least there wasn't an altar to the Church of Obama present.

By the way, as a taxpayer in any school district, you have the right to review the textbooks being used. Caution: Many materials used in the classroom are not on the official list of curricula. Many of those materials never make their way to the students' bookbags because of school regulations.

As long as I'm posting about education, I call your attention to this information over at Gateway Pundit: "Dear Leader to Address Youth On Community Life & Sharing." Excerpt from that posting:

Dear Leader will address the beloved youth on September 8th.

In an unprecedented move, President Obama will address the nation's youth at their institutions of indoctrination [Grades K-12].

The White House even released a list of questions for the youth members to discuss before, during and after Dear Leader's blessed address...

Please take a look at the suggested list of questions and activities (Click on the "full screen" button at the top right of the embed below):


President Obama’s Address to Students Across America September 8, 2009 -

Your thoughts?

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The Idiocy Continues

You might ask, "Which idiocy?" After all, there are SO MANY IDIOCIES to choose for discussion these days.

Well, instead of posting about BHO (several of those posts below this one), I've chosen the following short video, one about the new euphemisms in our nation's textbooks (hat tip to Weasel Zippers):



The book The Trouble with Textbooks is available at Amazon. If you have children or grandchildren still in school or if you are a teacher, you might want to buy your own copy and start checking the, ahem, new terminology.

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UK: Jihad Summer School

Via Creeping Sharia, who points out that these UK teenagers will be able to travel all over the world if they have passports:

RANT PREACHER OPENS JIHAD SUMMER SCHOOL

RANTING preacher Anjem Choudary is planning to peddle his hate to teenagers at a “jihad” summer school.

The vile extremist has appointed himself principal lecturer of a 20-week course in his twisted version of Islam.

Now fears are being raised Choudary and his followers will indoctrinate a new generation of Muslim fanatics.

The minimum age advertised is 15, but his School of Shari’ah has promised to consider even younger students.

They will learn about the Islamic “struggle” and how to enter the “Gardens of Paradise”.

Last night disgusted Tory MP Philip Davies, 37, said: “This is appalling. We know what this character is like and the kinds of things he will be saying. We need summer schools to encourage people to integrate into British society.

"The last thing we need is individuals like this spreading their poison and indoctrinating more people into their cause.”

Choudary, 41, has joined fellow fanatics to set up the School of Shari’ah, based in east London.

A police source said: “Choudary is well on the radar and is considered safe because he is so high profile.”

English Democrats chairman Robin Tilbrook criticised Choudary’s right to preach hate while also raking in handouts.

He said: “Not only is he spreading his warped view of Islam, but he’s flaunting it in our face by doing it with our cash.”

Muslim Council of Britain spokesman Inayat Bunglawala said: “Anjem Choudary is not regarded as a qualified Islamic scholar by mainstream UK Muslims.

“That said, however, he is free to promote his own views and teachings in the UK as long as he acts within the law.

“We live in a country that is proud of its tradition of free speech after all.”

At this rate, not for long.

Interview of Anjem Choudary:



(crossposted to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

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Video: Teaching Islam In Our Public Schools

From this April 5, 2009 article by Islamic expert Raymond Ibrahim:

Textbook Lies About Islam

In recent House hearings dedicated to examining Islamic extremism, I stressed that the fundamental stumbling block to effective policy-making is educational and epistemological. What people are taught about Islam needs a serious overhaul before we can expect to formulate strategies that make sense.

[...]

In my [8] testimony to the House, I wrote: “It should be acknowledged that educational failures exacerbate epistemological ones, and vice versa, leading to a perpetual cycle where necessary knowledge is not merely ignored, but not even acknowledged as real in the first place. When American universities [or high schools] fail to teach Islamic doctrine and history accurately, a flawed epistemology permeates society at large. And since new students and new professors come from this already conditioned-towards-Islam society, not only do they not question the lack of accurate knowledge and education; they perpetuate it.”

This report demonstrates the validity of this vicious cycle. In fact, every last one of those flagrant textbook errors indoctrinating America’s youth is an indisputable “fact” for many of America’s Islam “experts,” particularly those advising the government. The effects are dramatic. For instance, far from objectively examining Islam, the government is now pushing to [9] ban Arabic words connotative of Islamic ideology from formal analysis — such as “mujahid,” “umma,” “Sharia,” “caliphate” — asking personnel to rely primarily on generic terms, such as “terrorists.”

Read the rest HERE.

According to Thomas Jefferson:

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." --Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 1816. ME 14:384

"The most effectual means of preventing [the perversion of power into tyranny are] to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts which history exhibits, that possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purposes." --Thomas Jefferson: Diffusion of Knowledge Bill, 1779. FE 2:221, Papers 2:526

"I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the conditions, promoting the virtue and advancing the happiness of man." --Thomas Jefferson to Cornelius Camden Blatchly, 1822. ME 15:399

"If the condition of man is to be progressively ameliorated, as we fondly hope and believe, education is to be the chief instrument in effecting it." --Thomas Jefferson to M. A. Jullien, 1818. ME 15:172

But what happens when the very education itself is corrupted with lies and obfuscations? The death of a civilization?

Of course, Jefferson had his own troubles with Moslems, particularly the Barbary Pirates:

...In 1786, Jefferson, then the American ambassador to France, and Adams, then the American ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the "Dey of Algiers" ambassador to Britain.

The Americans wanted to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress' vote to appease.

During the meeting Jefferson and Adams asked the Dey's ambassador why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts.

In a later meeting with the American Congress, the two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had answered that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."

For the following 15 years, the American government paid the Muslims millions of dollars for the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages. The payments in ransom and tribute amounted to 20 percent of United States government annual revenues in 1800.

Not long after Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, he dispatched a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean, and informed Congress.

Declaring that America was going to spend "millions for defense but not one cent for tribute," Jefferson pressed the issue by deploying American Marines and many of America's best warships to the Muslim Barbary Coast.

[...]

During the Jefferson administration, the Muslim Barbary States, crumbling as a result of intense American naval bombardment and on shore raids by Marines, finally officially agreed to abandon slavery and piracy.

Jefferson's victory over the Muslims lives on today in the Marine Hymn, with the line, "From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli, We fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea."

[...]

Jefferson had been right. The "medium of war" was the only way to put and end to the Muslim problem....

Yet, the textbooks in our schools are glossing over the historical facts about Islam and promoting an insane and dangerous kumbaya. Once that imprint is fastened into the minds of young people, can it ever be dislodged?

Would that advocate of education and Father of the University of Virginia could speak to us from the grave right now and sound a heeded warning as to the dangerous path we are treading in this era of multiculturalism and revisionism!

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Toxic Books?

A possible new danger has been detected in those beloved children's classics, any published before 1985. The possible danger cited — lead in the ink used for the printed word.

The danger isn't a clear and present one. Nonetheless, Congress has taken action to ban the books.

From this article in the Washington Post "Health" section:

Rachel Merrill, mother of three, was holding innocuous-seeming contraband in her hand at an Arlington Goodwill store earlier this month: a 1971 edition of "Little House on the Prairie." This copy of the children's classic had just become illegal to resell because of concerns that some old books contain lead in their ink.

Legislation passed by Congress last August in response to fears of lead-tainted toys imported from China went into effect last month. Consumer groups and safety advocates have praised it for its far-reaching protections. But libraries and book resellers such as Goodwill are worried about one small part of the law: a ban on distributing children's books printed before 1985.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency charged with enforcing the act, lead in the books' inks could make its way into the mouths of little kids. Goodwill is calling for a change in the legislation even as it clears its shelves to comply, and libraries are worried they could be the next ones scrubbing their shelves.

[...]

Implementation of the new law has libraries and secondhand bookstores reeling. Although they could pay to have each old book tested, the cost ($300 to $600 a book, according to the American Library Association) makes that impractical.

The [Consumer Product Safety Commission] has advised libraries not to circulate old books while the agency reviews the situation....

"We're talking about tens of millions of books," said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the Washington office of the American Library Association....

Of course, in order for children to suffer the deleterious effects of lead poisoning, they have to ingest the toxic element. The last time I checked, (1) children do not generally lick the pages of books, and (2) parents are responsible for keeping possibly dangerous items away from their toddler's prying hands and hungry mouths. Furthermore, I've never known of one single case of lead poisoning stemming from traces of lead in the printed word. Has anyone? In fact, according to this article:

Could a vintage, dog-eared copy of “The Cat in the Hat” or “Where the Wild Things Are” be hazardous to your children?

Probably not, according to the nation’s premier medical sleuths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC statement likely means that not one documented case of lead poisoing can be traced to the ink in children's classics.

The above-cited Washington Post article also states that the possibility of lead poisoning from the ink on the pages of older books is one of some controversy and dispute:

Scientists are emphatic that lead, which was common in paints before its use was banned in 1978, poses a threat to the neural development of small children. But they disagree about whether there is enough in the ink in children's books to warrant concern....

"On the scale of concerns to have about lead, this is very clearly not a high priority," said Ellen Silbergeld, a MacArthur scholar and professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University who is considered one of the leading experts on lead poisoning.

"It doesn't take a tremendous amount of intelligence to figure out what the highest-risk sources of lead are," Silbergeld said. "...I think this is just absurd, and I think it's disingenuous." She said that toys, poorly made jewelry and other trinkets were cause for much more alarm.

Nevertheless, in typical bureaucratic fashion, the federal government is barreling ahead with purging bookshelves of these children's classics. After all, Congress has so mandated.

The same kind of idiocy as we see in this nonsense with fussing and fuming over what likely amounts to no danger whatsoever also afflicts those in charge of various governmental oversights, both present and proposed. Today's Americans as a whole, however, continue to want more government intervention in all aspects of our lives — all "for our own good," of course. Thus, we see another example of governmental bureaucracy going too far and participaing in yet another wild goose chase.

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How Islam Is Portrayed In Our Textbooks

(Hat tip to Pastorius of Infidel Bloggers Alliance)





Also see this posting at Jihad Watch.

Have you checked your child's textbooks lately? For that matter, have you checked other teaching materials your child is learning from?

Remember this: on a typical school day, your child spends more time in school than with his parents.

Never underestimate the power of classroom teaching.

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One Student's Honesty

Most of my students desire to get good grades. Probably because they are homeschoolers and taught from an early age to be more concerned about achievement and progress than about evaluation results themselves, the homeschoolers I work with don't obsess about their scores. Still, they naturally prefer a good grade to a bad one.


Last month, after the high-school literature class finished reading Beowulf, I administered a quiz. Sometimes I design my own quiz, sometimes not. For this year's reading of Beowulf, I nabbed an online quiz from SparkNotes because, unfortunately, the site I used to access for multiple-choice quizzes has reduced the number of materials available. I rarely, if ever, use such a popular site to obtain any evaluation materials although my students and I frequently use the web to obtain discussion materials and to read sample essays.

As a tool for also working on the students' listening skills, often a weakness for some homeschoolers, I dictated the multiple-choice quiz. The students, of course, wrote down their answer choice: A, B, C, or D. As quizzes go, I would rate the SparkNotes quiz on Beowulf of medium difficulty.

Immediately after the quizzes were completed, then traded and scored, a student — I'll call her Susan — approached my desk. I have been teaching Susan various classes for some years and her getting out of her seat in the middle of class never happens. "I don't deserve the grade I just got on the quiz," she said.

Had Susan cheated? No, but she believed that she had because, as part of her preparation for the Beowulf quiz, she had taken the online SparkNotes quiz, the same one I used. Susan had earned a 100% on the quiz in class, a 92% when she took the quiz online.

My response to Susan: "I didn't tell the class not to use the SparkNotes quiz as a study tool. Your 100% stands. You didn't cheat. You did earn your A+." In spite of caring very much about her grades in her senior year, Susan protested a bit, then gave up. I'm not the kind of teacher with whom a student will argue for long.

Few students exhibit Susan's integrity, particularly in a situation such as the one I've just described. Not that my students don't have integrity! They do! But Susan showed the epitome of integrity in her voluntary admission. I commend her.

I've been teaching for over thirty-five years now. Like most teachers, I remember many of my students' names, but not all the hundreds and hundreds of names. Faces and names blur over time. I'm sure, however, that I'll remember Susan and her integrity for years to come. That moment of Susan's honesty is one of those things which a teacher never forgets.

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Your Sunday Funny

Proof that all the billions we’ve spent on education have been wasted:





Hat-tip to my dear friend Mustang, who emailed me the above.

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Non-Muslims Are Dogs

So were told some ten-year-old children on a field trip to a mosque in Amsterdam — a field trip to promote understanding and to emphasize freedom of religious choice.

Via this posting over at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and discussed a bit at Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

THE HAGUE, 09/04/08 - A primary school in Amsterdam wished to provide its pupils with an understanding for other cultures. But during a visit to a mosque, the children were told they were dogs.

With a view to developing understanding and respect for other cultures among children, primary school De Horizon regularly organises outings to various religious organisations. The chairman of the El Mouchidine mosque told the children from group 7 (aged 10) and their chaperones however that non-Muslims are dogs....

As expected, the children's parents were outraged, the school officials not so much:

..."We will resolve the matter amongst ourselves and I have no inclination whatsoever to discuss the matter with the media", as newspaper De Telegraaf quoted the school's spokesperson Mariet ten Berge. "We have been to the mosque before and it always went well".

Angry parents had sent the letter on to De Telegraaf but were reportedly rapped on the knuckles by the school's management. "The school wishes to play this down. That is precisely the problem", as one mother commented.

Media coverage and public discussion of the matter would be Islamophobic, right? Mustn't show any Islamophobia, no matter what!

According to the article, the school regrets the incident and has declared the mosque chairman's words "unacceptable." The mosque's regret is of the it's-not-my-fault type (hat-tip to WC of The Gathering Storm, citing this source):

According to a press release by Mohamed Guennoun, chairman of the El Mouhahidine mosque, the report above is based on erroneous information. He had never called unbelievers dogs and he rejects such statements.

[...]

There were several tours in March. Since he doesn't speak Dutch well he was assisted by a volunteer during the first three tours. For the fourth group, who had come on March 26th, he had to do without translation.

[...]

Guennoun stresses that he was speaking of the extremists. He doesn't belong to that group and he rejects their way of thinking....

Let's see if we can get this straight. Mosque Chairman Guennoun claims never to have called the children dogs, but now offers the excuse that he had to do without a translator. In other words, he didn't call the children dogs — except that he did by accident — and, in any case, was speaking of others who hold the view that non-Muslim children are dogs.

Whatever.

Guennoun also wants the story corrected. No word yet as to if he's going to the school to apologize personally to the children.

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The Sense Of Entitlement

I've long believed that embuing a child with a false sense of self-esteem will wreak unintended consequences later in life. Today in our society we are seeing those consequences in all sorts of ways, including at the career and the university levels:

"What employers and universities find is not only that young people lack basic skills, but also they have this overwhelming sense of entitlement," he says, attributing it to schools in which children received "gold stars and happy faces for mediocre work," as well as the "trophies-for-all" approach to youth sports and parents "who were more concerned about being their children's buddies rather than authority figures."

The above quotation from this article in the November 14, 2007 edition of the Washington Times is attributed to Charles Sykes, author of 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education and Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, or Add. He contends that the "bubble-wrapping" children — insulating them from the bumps, bruises, and frustrations of life — leaves them unprepared for the realities of life. Read the entire article from the Washington Times.

A recent segment 60 Minutes illustrates the result of the rah-rah mentality on the work force. CLICK HERE to watch the video, about twenty minutes in length and worth your time.

"Too Much of a Good Thing," an article from Scholastic.com, illustrates that, despite all the good intentions on the part of the self-esteem builders, young people are being psychologically and academically handicapped when parents and teachers ignore the importance of abandong standards in favor of promoting self-esteem (emphases mine):

We encourage them, we celebrate them, and we give them stickers and stars. But are we doing more harm than good?

Ask Korean eighth graders, “Are you good at math?” and chances are they’ll say they aren’t. Ask an American, and you’ll likely get an enthusiastic response. In a recent study, only six percent of Korean eighth graders considered themselves excellent math students, compared with 39 percent of American eighth graders. Yet the Korean students scored far better in math than their American peers.

We’ve taught our children since birth to believe they can do anything they choose, from starring in the school play to mastering long division. All that self-confidence, however, hasn’t produced more capable students. The Brookings Institution 2006 Brown Center Report on Education finds that countries in which families and schools emphasize self-esteem for students—America for example—lag behind the cultures that don’t focus on how students feel about themselves.

For decades our culture has concentrated on teaching self-esteem first, learning second. In the late 1980s, a California government task force found no connection between low self-esteem and societal ills, such as drug use, teen pregnancy, and school underachievement. Still, California forged ahead with a self-esteem education plan. Today, raising children’s self-esteem continues to be a primary goal in the classroom, and a goal of parents at home.

Downplaying grades, praising children for minimal effort, or using neutral-colored green or purple pens to comment on written work seems harmless enough, but we may be taking away the sense of satisfaction and pride that comes from genuine achievement. Jason Walsh, a special education teacher in Washington, D.C., witnessed this firsthand during his school’s fifth-grade graduation ceremonies. Some students received as many as 14 different awards. “The majority of the students didn’t know what their awards really meant,” says Walsh. The honors “didn’t reinforce a specific achievement—but a sense of entitlement and of being great.”

The long-term impact of this rah-rah mentality is already apparent. In 2004, according to Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me, 70 percent of American college freshmen reported their academic ability as “above average.” But, once ego-inflated students get to college, they’re more likely to drop out, says Twenge, when their skewed sense of self and overconfidence affects their ability to make decisions.

A growing contingent of experts agree that in the classroom, self-esteem should be an outcome, not a method. “Self-esteem,” says Robert Brooks, Harvard Medical School faculty psychologist, “is based on real accomplishments.” It’s all about letting kids shine in a realistic way.

Feel-Good Academics

There is a correlation between self-esteem and grades; studies have shown that high grades do lead to high self-esteem. But rather then praising children for every effort along the way, we should encourage them to focus on achieving particular goals and applaud that achievement. The danger of too much praise is that children may turn their focus to how good they feel and how to get more praise, rather than on what they’re learning. “All children should be held accountable,” says Karen Bernstein, music teacher at Howard B. Mattlin Middle School in Long Island, New York. “We shouldn’t worry about setting boundaries for kids because of their feelings.” In her classroom, Bernstein makes children responsible for their actions, so that when they do achieve, “they feel good.”

If a student’s confidence isn’t built on their actual abilities, failure can be devastating. Walsh worries that his students’ sense of greatness may lead to a “psychological crash and burn” because they don’t understand why they failed. Walsh’s hunch is on track, according to experts; children who work solely for praise don’t feel intrinsic satisfaction. Even if a child feels competent, says John Shindler, associate professor of education at California State University, it’s not real competence if it’s rooted in constant praise. Furthermore, students absorbed with their own sense of self often have difficulty completing difficult tasks. One study shows that adolescent girls have lower self-esteem than adolescent boys. When confronted with a low score, the girls are more likely to work to improve their performance, while the boys are more likely to give up and change activities. “The real issue,” says Rick Weissbourd, who teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, “is getting kids to develop a sense of self-efficacy, along with real competencies and skills. Self-esteem will follow.”

What Teachers Can Do

The latest findings on self-esteem can be dispiriting for teachers. After all, who wouldn’t want to make students feel good about themselves? Rather than tear down your “Shoot for the Stars” poster, reassess your priorities. Make sure that your primary focus is on student performance and improvement, rather than how kids feel about themselves. Emphasize effort and specific character traits, such as persistence, helpfulness, and consideration.

Students need to see that achievement is related to the effort they put out. Establish clear expectations and rubrics that students can use to achieve the outcome, with effort as one of the criteria for success. If a student has trouble with large goals, says Bernstein, break the task into achievable chunks.

It’s all about realism, adds Twenge. Instead of focusing on how great the students are, highlight students’ real strengths. Teach them that none of us can be good at everything all the time. Weissbourd recommends that for each child in your class, identify three of his or her strengths and then make a plan to highlight those strengths.

Ask your students, what can they learn from this situation? What can they contribute? What do they want to achieve this week, month, or year? Then help them create goals and a way to achieve those goals.

Focus on actions and real character traits, not “special” and “great.” The best kind of praise, says Weissbourd, “communicates a specific achievement and the importance of effort in that achievement.” When you correct children, focus on what the child can do better next time, and show them how.

Aha! Diagnostic and prescriptive teaching! A lost art?

Continuing now with the article:

Don’t shelter children from failure. Children who are shielded from failure are not prepared to deal with adversity. When students fail, tell them exactly why and provide clear ways for them to succeed the next time. To break the ice, suggests Brooks, tell your students about a time when you failed in school, and how you recovered.

A Classroom Full of VIPs

Of course, you are working with children who have already been raised in a self-esteem world. They may think that they deserve recognition regardless of how they perform, and believe they should be considered first. Kids who act out don’t have poor self-esteem, says Twenge. Instead, they often think that they’re the most important person in the room and that everyone else is getting in their way.

When a child is disruptive, you need to figure out why the child is acting that way and work with them to fix it. William Ricks, a teacher in Sussex, Virginia, asks his students to walk with him in the hall to talk with them about their behavior. “I try to find the root of their attitude,” says Reid, “and then I talk to them about humility.” Addressing students’ needs is crucial for behavior and academics. Once students’ “social and emotional needs are met,” says Bernstein, “they will be more likely to work harder.”

Focusing on praise and avoiding riticism makes everybody feel good. But children who have high self-esteem may become rude and uncooperative when they’re criticized. Still, “don’t try to protect students from failure,” says Jennifer Crocker, Claude M. Steele Collegiate Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Instead, when we make failure a learning experience and not a threat, the student’s self-esteem isn’t on the line, and they’re more open to taking constructive criticism.

Young children are naturally narcissistic, and teaching them self-esteem keeps them focused on themselves, instead of thinking about others. “Narcissism separates you from other people,” says Twenge, while true “self-esteem brings you into connection with other people.” In the long term, narcissism has been linked with aggression and poor relationships, while connecting children to other people has a positive affect on behavior. And, says Crocker, children learn more when they’re supportive of others.

More important than self-esteem, says Weissbourd, is a child’s maturity, or the ability to be aware of other people, coordinate other people’s needs with their own, and regulate intense feelings. By rewarding our students’ social successes, such as helping their peers, being good community members, and listening, we increase their genuine self-esteem and improve their behavior. Allowing children to help around the classroom, says Brooks, increases their “realistic self-esteem [because children are] making a positive difference in the life of someone else.”

Walsh has worked with students who have inflated egos and no sense of responsibility or respect. Too much self-esteem, he says, “creates a sense of entitlement. I’m not saying that children don’t need reinforcement, but you have to make sure that you develop a realistic, practical, and consistent behavior plan.” When we focus on building students’ self-control, sense of belonging, and competence, we create more self-esteem than we do if we dole out constant praise. “Genuine self-esteem,” says Shindler, is “a set of unconscious self-beliefs, formed over a lifetime, reflecting our perceptions and abilities, our ability to love, and how we attribute causality for the events in our lives.”

Of course, for some years now (Decades?) both parents and teachers are themselves products of "bubble-wrappping," so they want to perpetuate the feel-good mentality in themselves, their children, and their students. In sum, the cycle feeds on itself.

Can the cycle be reversed or slowed? Comments welcome.

Note: Please see The Merry Widow's post "Those 'Fine' Young Cannibals."

[Hat-tip to Raven, at whose web site I found the above article from Scholastic]

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