Junior, high school textbooks lack accuracy on Islam, report says

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Misinformation, errors and disputed definitions about Islam abound in some junior and high school textbooks, a new report concludes.

“Outright textbook errors about Islam are not the main problem,” according to the June report of the American Textbook Council, an independent national research organization that reviews history and social studies textbooks used in schools across the country.

“The more serious failure is the presence of disputed definitions and claims that are presented as established facts,” one of the conclusions in the report stated.

Jihad, for instance, has had its meaning shifted in some cases to focus on less hostile aspects instead of how it’s widely portrayed as a “sacred” or “holy” struggle and viewed as a “holy war” in Muslim scripture, the report states.

The report studies examples of “10 of the nation’s most widely used junior and senior high school history textbooks,” some of which are used in Baltimore-area schools.

In Howard County, several of the textbooks are used, but none received a negative score, school officials said.

“The issue of how to teach about Islam came up a few years ago, partly as a result of the September 11 attacks, but also as a result of the increasing numbers of Muslim students in the county,” said Mark Stout, the social studies coordinator for the school system.

The school system has responded by working closely with the Howard County Muslim Council and has a member on the social studies advisory board.

A Muslim teacher also reviews the world history or world cultures books that are used, Stout said.

Some school systems, like Anne Arundel, don’t use any of the books in the study.

In Harford County Public Schools, none of the middle school textbooks is used, but the system does use two of the high school books.

“Harford County social studies curriculum relies on multiple sources of information rather than strictly using a textbook-based approach,” said George Toepfer, the school system’s social studies coordinator.

All textbook adoptions in Maryland are local decisions, unlike in some states, like California and Texas, said Bill Reinhard, the department’s spokesman.

“I know it’s a very debated topic,” said Celeste Saxton, supervisor of social studies for Carroll County Public Schools, where five of the study’s textbooks are used.

“But we follow Maryland State Department of Education [Voluntary] State Curriculum and present [Islam] on a historical basis.”

The Voluntary State Curriculum for Maryland is used by local systems to develop their curriculum and touches on religion as part of social studies in seventh grade, Reinhard said.

“Students will understand the diversity and commonality, human interdependence, and global cooperation of the people of Maryland, the United States, and the World through a multicultural and a historic perspective,” it states.

 jkowalkowski@baltimoreexaminer.com

Advertisement