Linda K. Wertheimer is a veteran journalist, former education editor of the Boston Globe, and the author of a new book, Faith Ed: Teaching About Religion In An Age Of Intolerance . She appeared at the recent AJC Decatur Book Festival.
In this piece, she discusses the controversies around the country, including Georgia's Walton County, related to teaching students about Islam. Parents in Walton created a "Georgia's Islamic Curriculum" Facebook page to air their complaints about what their children were learning.
The Georgia Department of Education requires schools to teach about Islam and other religions under the rationale that it helps students make sense of world events. Georgia middle school students are expected to be able to describe the cultures of the Middle East and compare and contrast Judaism, Islam and Christianity. In teaching about Islam, Walton is following the state guidelines.
With that background, here is Wertheimer's piece.
Credit: Maureen Downey
Credit: Maureen Downey
Our education system has begun to heed the wisdom Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark gave in the 1963 Abington v. Schempp ruling banning teacher-led prayer: "It might well be said that one's education is not complete without study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization."
But Clark could not have predicted the anti-Muslim sentiment that would grow in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in America and color reaction to anything involving Islam. In Lumberton, Texas, a small town on the border of Louisiana, a world geography teacher faced ire after she let students try on a burka and other Muslim garb as part of a dress-up exercise on clothing of the Middle East and other countries. Teacher Sharon Peters had used the clothing for 15 years with the intention of opening students' minds to the world around them. "I want you to put it in front of your face so you can see how others in the world live," she would say as she passed around a black filmy veil some Muslim women wore to cover their face.
About the Author
