This pamphlet quotes extensively from studies and investigative reporting done by
numerous individuals and non-profit organizations who have dedicated themselves
ove the past decade to exposing Islamist influences in our schools,
and to advocating better practices to prevent indoctrination,
separatism and intolerance in K-12 public school curricula.
They are listed at the end in resources.
Any errors of commission, or omission, please bring to our attention.
To provide comments or corrections, please contact info@stopthemadrassa.org
Stop the Madrassa: A Citizen’s Guide to Islamist Curricula in Our Public Schools
Table of Contents
Why do we need a Citizen’s Guide to Islamist Curricula?
The Problem
“P.C.” Myths about Muslim Americans and Arab Americans
The Facts about Arab Americans
The Facts about Muslim Americans
The Facts about
Discrimination against Muslim Americans
Textbooks
Teacher Training
Curricula
Charter Schools
Khalil Gibran International Academy
Title VI Reform: More Actual Language Training Is Needed
What can a parent do?
Investigate:
Educate:
Advocate:
Resources
Islamist Curricula Organizations
Organizations Investigating and Exposing Islamist Curricula
Reports
Why do we need a Citizen’s Guide to Islamist Curricula?
The problems of Islamist influence in American public education have been raised in
reports, studies, Congressional testimony, investigative reports, and news articles for the
last two decades. Academic experts and policy makers have repeatedly exposed the
ongoing problem of indoctrination in American education by well-financed Islamist
interests, mostly from Saudi Arabia. Studies have proven again and again that textbooks
have been rewritten to represent only a benign view of Islamic history; training of
history teachers is now subsidized and directed by Saudi-funded centers of regional
studies; and anti-American and anti-Israel curricula packages are developed at those same
universities for distribution throughout K-12 systems across the country.
Yet parents confront these problems only when their children are astute enough to alert
them about the Islamic indoctrination they are encountering in their classes.
Communities confront these problems only when they realize their tax dollars are paying
for a public school that is openly religious – and when the only religious practices
allowed in a public school are Islamic. Parents are the first line of defense to protect
their children and schools from Islamist indoctrination in the schools. They need the
tools to investigate the problem, educate their community, and advocate for policy
changes. The Stop the Madrassa organization is dedicated to providing parents, teachers and local communities with those tools. We welcome your suggestions to make it more useful for parents and students. It is intended as an introduction to the subject. Each topic area includes sample case studies, with citations to published studies that are much more comprehensive.
The Problem
“Politically Correct” Myths about
Muslim Americans and Arab Americans
To hear Islamist advocacy groups like1 Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
or the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) describe the situation of Muslim
Americans and Arab Americans in the United States, you would think they suffered from
significant discrimination in obtaining jobs, education and interactions with their fellow
Americans.
1 CAIR membership Plummets, Washington Times: http://www3.washingtontimes.com/national/20070611-034232-5919r.htm
CAIR has characterized itself as the NAACP of Muslim Americans2, implying that
Muslims suffer from racism, even though Islam is a religion, not a race. Any criticism of
Islamist ideology – such as the politics of Hamas or Hezbollah, both identified as terrorist
organizations – is dismissed by groups like CAIR as “Islamophobia.” Any defense of
America’s historical past or present policies – foreign or domestic – or of Israel, is
dismissed by these groups as “rightwing.”
Their arguments depend on this alleged victimization of the Muslim community – at the
same time that they discourage the Muslim community from integrating into American
society.
Their solution to all this alleged discrimination and insensitivity? Two decades of
demands that teachers and students be indoctrinated with the Islamist courses, curricula,
teacher-training, and textbook “corrections” that are detailed here. Two decades of
millions of Saudi and other Middle Eastern dollars funding a major effort to change the
way we educate our children and our college students.
But what if their argument is built on a myth?
• What if Muslim Americans and Arab Americans in general do not suffer from
discrimination?
• What if the vast majority of them are, in fact, successfully assimilated Americans?
• What if they have been following the same paths to success in America that all
our families have followed, as immigrants to America?
• What if most Muslim Americans and Arab Americans do not think they are
victimized – and do not want lobbying groups like CAIR, ISNA, the American
Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Muslim American Society and dozens
of other groups to represent them?
The Facts about Arab Americans
Arab Americans are not just doing well in America – their success is exemplary.
According to the Arab American Institute, using 2000 census data, their educational
achievements do not show evidence of discrimination, for they are better educated than
Americans at large:
Arab Americans with at least a high school diploma number 85 percent. More
than four out of ten Americans of Arab decent have a bachelor’s degree or higher,
compared to 24% of Americans at large. Seventeen percent of Arab Americans
have a post-graduate degree, which is nearly twice the American average (9%).3
Using the same census data, Arab American incomes do not show discrimination, for
they are wealthier than Americans at large:
2 CAIR March 19, 2007: http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=43570&theType=NB
3 Arab American Institute, Demographics: http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics
Median income for Arab American households in 1999 was $47,000 compared
with $42,000 for all households in the United States. Close to 30% of Americans
of Arab heritage have an annual household income of more than $75,000, while
22% of all Americans reported the same level of income. Mean income measured
at 8% higher than that national average of $56,644.
Most Arab Americans are Christian, according to the same Arab American Institute
source: 35% Roman/Eastern Catholic (Roman Catholic, Maronite, and Melkite -Greek
Catholic); 18% Eastern Orthodox (Antiochian, Syrian, Greek, and Coptic); 10%
Protestant; 13% Secular or Other Religion; and only 24% Muslim. Estimates of the
number of Arab Americans in the United States varies; according to the Arab American
Institute, only 1.25 million people identified themselves with an “Arabic-speaking
origin,” in 2000, but they estimate a total of 3.5 million people of an “Arabic-speaking
origin.” For purposes of self-identification of race in the American Census, Arab
Americans have traditionally been counted using the data term Caucasian or White.
The Facts about Muslim Americans
Muslim Americans are also doing very well in America. Census data from 2000
indicated their origins at 24% African American, 26% Arab American, 26% South Asian,
and 24% all other.4 Estimates of their total U.S. population range from 2 million to 6
million.
Muslim American educational achievements do not show discrimination, for they are
better educated than Americans at large. Two different studies (Cornell University and
Zogby International) showed that 42.7% (Cornell) or 32.1% of Muslims (Zogby) have
Advanced Degrees, versus 8.6% of Americans in general. An additional 35.2% (Cornell)
or 30.0% of Muslims (Zogby) have Bachelor Degrees, versus a comparable 35.1% of
Americans in general. This means that between 77.9% and 62.1% of Muslims achieved
either Bachelor or Advanced degrees, versus 43.7% of Americans in general.
Muslim American incomes do not show discrimination, for they are wealthier than
Americans in general. Of all Muslim American households, 26% households earned over
$100,000 a year according to 2002 Cornell University data, and 66% households earned
over $50,000 a year. This means 92% of Muslim American households earned over
$50,000 a year. The average U.S. household income was $42,158 according to the 2000
Census.
Muslim Americans also are highly represented in professions. According to Cornell,
in 2002 20.2% of Muslim Americans were students, 12.4% were engineers, 10.8% were
physicians/dentists, and 7% were programmers.
4 Allied Media, American Muslims Demographics: http://www.allied-media.com/AM/
The Facts about Discrimination against Muslim Americans
The Executive Director of CAIR, Nihad Awad, has complained to Muslim American
audiences that they are not filing enough claims of discrimination, and as a result the
numbers of reported civil rights violations of Muslim Americans are significantly below
those of other minorities. On April 27, 2007 he explained that the few numbers of
complaints of discrimination were making his job as a lobbyist harder (the CAIR national
office is a 501c4 lobbying group)5:
There were 196 cases reported by the Justice Department for Muslims in civil
rights cases. There were over 1008 cases reported by the Jewish faith. We need to
do a much better job not only in recognizing our civil rights but also in reporting
it to the government… The Department of Justice, in their annual report, don’t be
surprised that if you feel Muslims are not treated well in the country, that the
number of reports of incidents against Muslims or hate crimes is very low.
Whereas the number of incidents and hate crime cases against the Jewish
community is very very high. Maybe dozens of [incidents] against Muslims, but
against Jews are in the thousands… So there’s a huge gap between where we are
as a community and underreporting what goes on, and how we are perceived. So
we go to Congress, and testify before Congress, our claim and our statement is
weak, because a fair-minded Congressman will ask the question, “How many
cases are we talking about?” Well, we’re talking about a few hundred cases. You
give the specifics, and here’s an annual report by CAIR. How many cases are we
talking about, well maybe 2000 cases. How many Muslims do we have in the
United States? Well, we have 6 million. So if you divide 2000 over 7 million [sic],
that’s very very small percentage. Which means Muslims are in good shape.
Muslims are not treated badly.
These are the facts. But special interest lobbies ignore these facts.
Particularly since the terrorist acts of 9/11, these special interests –CAIR, the American
Arab Anti-discrimination Committee and others – have argued that Muslims and Arabs
are subject to such wide-spread discrimination that representatives must give presentations of Islam to public school children.
As a result, textbook publishers have tried to appease the lobbyists from CAIR, ISNA,
MAS and the Council on Islamic Education by making children’s textbooks show the
Islamist view of history. Teachers are sent by school systems, worried about accusations
of discriminatory curricula, to learn a politicized, Islamist curricula for their K-12 classes
in the fall, in summer workshops funded by the Saudis. Anti-American and anti-Israel
curricula are distributed throughout entire state educational systems. And Islamic charter
schools and independent “New Century” schools that teach an Islamist point of view
have started in several states within the public school system. The Khalil Gibran
International Academy in Brooklyn, New York is included in the last category.
5 CAIR audio April 27 2007: http://www.vigilantfreedom.org/910blog/2007/04/30/audio-from-cairs-meeting-on-6-imams-at-adamscenter/
If you are a parent or simply concerned about the schools in your neighborhood, you can
learn from cases that have already occurred elsewhere in the U.S., and know what to look
for in your own school district. Below we have provided examples of problems across
the country, and citations for more comprehensive studies for further research.
Textbooks
In 2003, The American Textbook Council issued an important report on Islamic bias in
standard history textbooks: Islam and The Textbooks6 . According to Gilbert Sewall of
the American Textbook Council7:
Since 2003, several reports have documented bias and evasions in world history
textbooks. Textbooks misrepresent Islam past and present, critics agree. They
contain fallacies and untruths about jihad, sharia, slavery, status of Muslim
women, terrorism, and international security.
These reviews independently reach the same conclusions. Most conspicuously,
history textbooks whitewash the meaning of jihad. Houghton Mifflin’s seventh grade
text, Across the Centuries, has come in for singular criticism. Houghton
Mifflin’s books dominate the nation’s largest state, but they are in no way worse
on this score than competing textbooks. Textbooks make no distinction between
sharia and Western law, and they pretend that women are making great strides in
the Islamic world, when all evidence indicates otherwise. Social studies textbooks
ignore the global ambitions of militant Islam. They fail to explain that Muslim
terrorists seek to destroy the United States and Israel. They omit geopolitical
goals that include theocracy and world domination by religion.
Islamic organizations led by the Council on Islamic Education act as domestic
textbook “censors.” Strictly speaking, since only governments censor books, the
Islamists are merely agents of suppression, using educational publishers to do
their bidding. Publishers ignore those who press them about motives, funding,
legal status, and strong-arm tactics on the part of their Muslim “consultants.”
The latest evidence of Islamist influence is California’s adoption of History Alive!
The Medieval World and Beyond. The publisher is Teachers’ Curriculum Institute,
a privately held company trying to gain part of the lucrative California textbook
market. Based in Palo Alto and Sacramento, TCI’s greatest advantage is being
local. The student edition is an ill-written product printed on the cheap.
Accompanying instructional materials are simply amateurish. By comparison, the
Council on Islamic Education-inspired and often criticized Houghton Mifflin
textbook for seventh graders, Across the Centuries, is a solid and sometimes rich
introduction to world history from Islam to the Enlightenment.
According to the History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond front matter, the
chief author-advisor on Islam is Ayad Al-Qazzaz, professor of sociology at
6 Islam and the Textbooks Report, 2003, American Textbook Council: http://www.historytextbooks.org/islamreport.pdf
7 Islam and the Textbooks homepage with updates, American Textbook Council: http://www.historytextbooks.org/islam.htm
California State University, Sacramento. Al Quazzaz is a Muslim apologist, a
frequent speaker in Northern California school districts promoting Islam and Arab
causes. Al-Qazzaz also co-wrote AWAIR’s Arab World Notebook. AWAIR
stands for Arab World and Islamic Resources, an opaque, proselytizing “nonprofit
organization” that conducts teacher workshops and sells supplementary
materials to schools.
Daniel Pipes, founder of the Middle East Forum and a Middle East History and Arabic
expert, has detailed extensively the problems in Across the Centuries, as well as
individual parents’ efforts to protest the textbook in their own school systems.8
The Textbook League9 is another national center that evaluates textbooks for academic
quality and political bias, which also found multiple editions of Houghton Mifflin’s
Across the Centuries to be filled with Islamic preaching. They have also drawn attention
to Prentice Hall’s textbook, World Cultures: A Global Mosaic as “a vehicle for Muslim
propaganda”10:
Long passages in World Cultures are devoted to promoting Islam, to making
American students embrace Islamic religious beliefs, and to winning converts for
Allah. In these passages, Muslim myths are disguised as historical information,
Muslim superstitions are disguised as facts…
The Islamist organization that prides itself on influencing textbook publishers is the
Council on Islamic Education (CIE). Materials from CIE show up in teacher training
seminars on Islam, and directly in public schools as well. As described by Lee Kaplan in
“Textbooks for Jihad”11:
According to Munir Shaikh, the Executive Director, and on its website, it is a
non-profit and receives no funds from Saudi Arabia, only the local Muslim
community. Yet when asked for details over the phone of its non-profit status,
Shaikh admitted it has not been a non-profit since being founded and only
recently applied for such status. Its founding director, Shabbir Mansuri, has been
quoted in the past as boasting he is able to vet public school textbooks by
threatening charges of racism and xenophobia against publishers who don’t meet
CIE standards12. Despite Shaikh’s denial of any Saudi connection, he mentioned
that CIE started out as part of the International Islamic Educational Institute that
does have ties to overseas Islamic organizations and funding.
8 “Think like a Muslim” Daniel Pipes’ Blog: http://www.danielpipes.org/article/118
9 Textbook League: http://www.textbookleague.org/ttlindex.htm
10 Textbook League: http://www.textbookleague.org/113centu.htm
11 “Textbooks for Jihad” Front Page magazine: http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID={3F8C053C-53D2-49CC-B393-
85F4CD79A32B}
12 Blessed Cause investigation:
http://www.blessedcause.org/protest/Exposing%20the%20Council%20on%20Islamic%20Education.htm
Teacher Training
Martin Kramer13 and Stanley Kurtz have taken the lead in investigating and exposing the
Islamist take-over of K-12 teacher training within colleges and universities. As Kurtz
recently wrote (July 2007) in National Review Online:
Saudis have figured out how to make an end-run around America’s K-12
curriculum safeguards, thereby gaining control over much of what children in the
United States learn about the Middle East. While we’ve had only limited success
paring back education for Islamist fundamentalism abroad, the Saudis have taken
a surprising degree of control over America’s Middle-East studies curriculum at
home.
How did they do it? Very carefully…and very cleverly. It turns out that the system
of federal subsidies to university programs of Middle East Studies (under Title VI
of the Higher Education Act) has been serving as a kind of Trojan horse for Saudi
influence over American K-12 education. Federally subsidized Middle East
Studies centers are required to pursue public outreach. That entails designing
lesson plans and seminars on the Middle East for America’s K-12 teachers. These
university-distributed teaching aids slip into the K-12 curriculum without being
subject to the normal public vetting processes. Meanwhile, the federal
government, which both subsidizes and lends its stamp of approval to these
special K-12 course materials on the Middle East, has effectively abandoned
oversight of the program that purveys them (Title VI).
Enter the Saudis. By lavishly funding several organizations that design Saudi friendly
English-language K-12 curricula, all that remains is to convince the
“outreach coordinators” at prestigious, federally subsidized universities to purvey
these materials to America’s teachers. And wouldn’t you know it, outreach
coordinators or teacher-trainers at a number of university Middle East Studies
centers have themselves been trained by the very same Saudi-funded foundations
that design K-12 course materials….
Kurtz goes on to state:
Yet the full extent of Saudi curricular funding, and the magnitude of its influence
over university outreach programs funded under Title VI, was only revealed in
late 2005 by a special four-part investigative report by the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency (JTA). As the JTA put it: “Saudi Arabia is paying to influence the
teaching of American public schoolchildren. And the U.S. taxpayer is an
unwitting accomplice….Often bypassing school boards and nudging aside
approved curricula….These materials praise and sometimes promote Islam, but
criticize Judaism and Christianity….Ironically, what gives credibility to…these
distorted materials is Title VI of the Higher Education Act….Believing they’re
importing the wisdom of places like Harvard or Georgetown, they are actually
13 Martin Kramer’s website: http://www.martinkramer.org/
inviting into their schools whole curricula and syllabuses developed with the
support of Riyadh.”
Riyadh achieves this by supporting a number of groups devoted to the
development and dissemination of English-language curricula about the Middle
East.
Curricula
Curricula packages can be purchased from some organizations or simply downloaded
from others.
A particularly notorious curricula package is History Alive! from the Teacher’s
Curriculum Institute in California. As Lee Kaplan describes it for Front Page Magazine:
One publisher not mentioned in the American Textbook Council report was
Teacher’s Curriculum Institute in Mountain View, California. The content of
TCI’s book and resource material for its Modern Middle East curriculum unit is
blatantly anti-Israeli. High school teachers are instructed to require class
“exercises” designed to pit some students in roles as advantaged Jews against
other students as disadvantaged and unfairly treated Palestinian Arabs. The
teachers, representing a world power, are instructed to intentionally and unfairly
side against Arabs to suggest the existence of favoritism to Jews. The course
material is quite shocking and clearly biased.
Furthermore, the TCI material turns Middle East history on its head. It does not
present the history of Arab terrorism against Israel much less outline its extent
over the last 55 years. The theme is constantly implied, stated and reiterated that
Israel is a foreign entity that stole the Palestinians’ “country.” There is no mention
that more than half of Israel’s population is indigenous to the area or victims of
Arab pogroms. In fact, any Arab violence discussed at all is couched as being
done in self-defense against Jewish persecution or “terrorism” against Arabs in
the region. The same distortions are taught in Saudi and Palestinian schools where
they help raise the next generation of Islamic terrorists and suicide bombers or
their sympathizers. This is the same type of educational system in the Arab world
that roils and intensifies the Middle East conflict. It works over there, so why not
here?
Another highly radicalized curricula is available , seemingly for free downloads, at The
University of Michigan:
http://www.umich.edu/%7Eiinet/worldreach/curriculum/cu_region_new.html .
Byron Union School District
In 2002, the Thomas More Law Center filed a federal lawsuit against California’s Byron
Union School District because of its three week intensive course to teach seventh graders
how to become Muslims. During the course, students took on Muslim names which they
printed on name tags worn during class, were taught the five duties all Muslims must
perform, were required to complete a project for each duty, and memorized verses and
prayers from the Quaran. They even played a game entitled Jihad.
The Thomas More Law Center14 involvement in opposing Islamist curricula demonstrates
the interfaith opposition to this kind of indoctrination of school children. Christian,
Jewish and secular organizations have begun forming coalitions, locally and nationally,
to oppose Islamism in our public schools. The Thomas More Law Center is a Christian
organization, which “defends and promotes the religious freedom of Christians, time honored
family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and
related activities. It does not charge for its services.”
Charter Schools
Charter schools are an important innovation in American public schools, but for all their
advantages they have created an opportunity for radical Islamic political groups to
sponsor public schools that are relatively free from state and local regulations. A charter
school has a greater degree of freedom and autonomy than the traditional public school,
and students attend it by choice. Each school is granted a renewable charter, usually by a
state or local board for three to five years.15
A public Charter school in Minnesota, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy16
(http://www.tizacademy.com/ ) in Inver Grove Heights, was founded in 2003 by Imam
Asad Zaman, who co-founded the radical Muslim American Society of Minnesota in
1992. The Muslim American Society (MAS) is affiliated with the extremist Muslim
Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928 and arguably the most extreme and widespread
Islamist organization in the world17. The school adjoins the building housing the local
chapter of the Muslim American Society. The girls wear headscarves, Arabic is
mandatory as a second language, prayer times and Islamic holidays are observed. The
school is named after General Tarek ibn Ziyad, whose battle marked the beginning of the
Muslim rule of Spain in the eighth century. Students at the school are said to do well academically.
The controversy surrounding it is that, as a taxpayer-funded public school, it is a religious
Islamic academy, and that it has radical affiliations through MAS with the Muslim
Brotherhood. Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy is now expanding to create a second Islamic academy, in Blaine Minnesota (http://www.tizacademy.com/BlaineCampus.html). http://www.startribune.com/local/17406054.html
Katherine Kersten, in an April 8, 2008 article in the Star Tribune entitled “Teacher breaks wall of silence at state’s Muslim public school” details the involvement of the Muslim American Society and reports of religion taught at TIZA, a public charter school. (http://www.startribune.com/local/17406054.html)
International Academy of Columbus (http://www.iac-school.com/ ) and Westside
Academy (http://www.westside-academy.com/ ) are two public Charter schools recently
started in Ohio . In this case, the radical affiliations are the Council on American Islamic
Relations, which has been under investigation as an unindicted co-conspirator for terrorism
financing. Ahmad Al-Akhras, CAIR national vice chairman, is one of the incorporators
14 Thomas More Law Center: http://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=717
15 Charter schools, Questia, accessed: http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/charter_school.jsp
16 “Brother’s Keeper.” Kevin Featherly. Minnesota Monthly
17 Chicago Tribune, September 2004, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-
0409190261sep19,1,6654807,full.story?coll=chi-newsspecials-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true
for both schools. Another founder is Abukar Arman, according to investigative reporter
Patrick Poole, the Somali terror apologist who was recently forced to resign from the
Central Ohio Homeland Security.18 “Arman identifies himself as the board president of
Westside Academy and March 2005 press release announcing his appointment to a
government board lists him as “building director” of International Academy” These
schools are NOT doing well academically, according to investigative journalist Patrick
Poole19 but they are managing to keep children from assimilating:
Extremist politics, rather than education concerns, seems to be the driving factor
of the schools. One of the leaders of the two schools admits to creating a program
designed to keep students from integrating into the “racist” American mainstream.
In a published education article, “Educating Immigrant Youth in the United
States”20, Abukar Arman and his co-author lay out an educational plan of keeping
Somali children from integrating into their new culture, and cite the experience of
International Academy as the best example of their recommended “selected
acculturation” educational philosophy in practice.
An extensive discussion of other Charter, Independent and similar public schools with
Islamist curricula is presented by Daniel Pipes, Middle Eastern and Arabic expert, here in
his comprehensive article “Other Taxpayer-Funded American Madrassas21.”
Khalil Gibran International Academy
The Khalil Gibran International Academy is not a Charter school but rather an
independent public school founded under the George-Soros funded New Century
Schools22 program. It opened September 4, 2007 in Brooklyn, New York. Ostensibly an
“Arabic language and culture” school starting with sixth grade classes, this controversial
academy has refused to release lesson plans, Arabic or regional studies texts or any
substantive information about teaching and learning Arabic culture and language, in spite of multiple Freedom of Information Law requests and an Article 78 filed by both the Middle East Forum23 and the Stop theMadrassa Coalition24. The founder and first principal-designate, Dhabah Almontaser, resigned after supporting the concept of “Intifada NYC” printed on t-shirts associated with an organization she had founded. The KGIA Board of advisors includes three imams, all actively and ideologically Islamist. A Lebanese-American organization, Friends of
Gibran, has publicly protested the use of Gibran’s name for this school. The Stop the
Madrassa Coalition will continue to fight to seek transparency and to pursue other
legal actions as needed. The local and national coalitions built to oppose the Khalil
18CAIR Goes Back to School – http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.aspx?GUID=DBE795F9-740C-4F7C-8BC9-
FD39070399CE
19 CAIR Goes Back to School – ibid
20 Educating Immigrant Youth in the United States: http://frogscorpia.blogspot.com/2005/12/educating-immigrant-youth-inunited.
html
21 Other Taxpayer Funded Madrassas: Daniel Pipes: http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/758
22 New Century Schools: http://www.newvisions.org/schools/nchs/index.asp
23 Middle East Forum: http://www.meforum.org/
24 Stop The Madrassa Community Coalition: http://stopthemadrassa.wordpress.com
Gibran International Academy has expanded the Stop the Madrassa Coalition to a national level.
Stop the Madrassa also continues as the New York City community coalition working specifically to close the Khalil Gibran International Academy.
Title VI Reform: More Actual Language Training Is Needed
What is Title VI?
Title VI, or “Title VI of the Higher Education Act”, is a federal program meant to fund
efforts to improve language and area studies in colleges and universities. The program
was created to serve the national interest by helping to provide the country with qualified
language speakers and experts knowledgeable in international studies in critical language
content areas such as Arabic, and other languages critical to national security.25
But that’s for colleges. Does Title VI provide curriculum materials for K-12
students?
Yes. Organizations funded under Title VI are required to engage in “Outreach” programs,
and “Teacher-trainer” programs, meant to provide K-12 students and their teachers with
improved language and area studies instruction materials. In addition, Language
Resource Centers exist to provide training and instruction materials for teachers at the K-
12 level.
Who oversees these Title VI “Outreach Progams”?
In brief, no one does. On many occasions content from political activists has been
provided under the guise of educational materials in programs organized by Title VI
organizations under the heading of “Teacher-training.”26
But How Can Teaching Languages Be Political?
Title VI includes not just language instruction, but also area or cultural studies. Title VI
centers often focus heavily on area studies rather than the language side, despite claims to
the contrary by Title VI proponents.27 In addition, by funding curriculum-designing
organizations countries, like Saudi Arabia, have been able to introduce inaccurate or
biased materials into K-12 schools. 28
But these materials are endorsed by well known colleges, and part of a federal
program, how bad could they be?
25 Department of Education, “Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended” accessed:
http://www.ncccs.cc.nc.us/Resource_Development/docs/TITLEVIoftheHIGHER.PDF
26 Kramer, Martin, “Outreach Outrage at Georgetown”, July 2,2003, accessed at:
http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/2003_07_02.htm
27 Kramer, Martin, “Title VI- Turn on the Defogger,” March 17, 2004, accessed at:
http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/2004_03_17.htm
28 Kurtz, Stanley, “Saudi In the Classroom,” National Review Online, July 25, 2007, accessed at:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjRhZjYwMjU4MGY5ODJmM2MzNGNhNzljMzk4ZDFiYmQ=
Pretty Bad. After 9/11, the Massachusetts Department of Education attempted to institute
a seminar for teachers on how to teach Islamic history through a title VI outreach
program from Harvard, which included amongst other questionable materials, “the Arab
World Studies Notebook”, which argued that America was discovered by Muslims in
889.29
Is my Child going to be trained by Title VI materials or by a Title VI trained
teacher?
Probably. According to Department of Education website, more than half of textbooks for
“Less Commonly Taught Languages” (LCTLs) were funded through Title VI.30
So what can be done?
While teaching languages, particularly LCTLs is vital to American interests; it must not
be done without oversight. In a review of the Title VI system published in April, 2007,
the National Research Council of the National Academy proposed a president-appointed
overseer within the US DOE to examine Title VI funded programs to insure their
suitability.31 Also proposed was an every 4 to 5 year independent reexamination of Title
VI programs. Critics say these steps, in addition to strong wording in the congressional
legislation against bias and grievance procedures for reviewing bias in Title VI materials
and programs, would greatly improve the system.32
Is Title VI the only way to fund language instruction?
No. In January of 2006, President Bush announced the National Security Language
Initiative (NSLI) to provide funding for LCTLs crucial to national security, a program
involving the Secretaries of State, Education and Defense. The NSLI programs focus
more specifically on K-12 students and teachers and with more focus on language than
easily politicized “area studies.” However, the NSLI funded programs, like Title VI, do
not receive enough oversight from federal authorities.
How Can I Help?
The most important thing is to be involved and informed. If LCTLs are going to be
introduced to your school district, ask these pertinent questions:
1. How is the program being funded?
By Title VI, the National Security Language Initiative, or some other method? From what
other programs or organizations does the group receive its funding?
29 ibid.
30 Department of Education, “Title VI Programs: Building a US International Education Infrastructure,” accessed at:
thttp://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/iegps/title-six.html
31 Kramer, Martin, “Title VI Verdict,” April, 2007, accessed at: http://sandbox.blog-city.com/title_vi_verdict.htm
32 Kurtz, Stanley, “Title VI Reform” National Review Online, April 2,2007, accessed at:
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NTlkYmJlNTk5MDYyZDdkYmU2YWM4YWI2NTRlYjM1OWE=
2. What organizations will be conducting training or providing materials?
This is very important. Even Title VI programs attached to prestigious universities can be
filled with bias and inappropriate materials. Because the organization is federally funded,
or has a national recognized name is not a guarantee.
3. What materials will be used to teach my children?
Do not take anyone’s word for it. See the materials for yourself. If textbooks or lesson
plans are not available to you, use the internet. By searching for the company providing
the materials you can often view samples of their work online.
4. Stay Vigilant!
Even after the program is adopted and your child is enrolled, continue to stay involved.
Ask your child what they have been learning and how they have been taught. Encourage
them to share their textbooks and other materials with you.
5. Demand Oversight!
Title VI Reform has been on Congress’ agenda several times in past years, but is
continuously blocked by elements of the Higher Education Lobby which benefit from
Title VI funds. Urge your elected Representative to support the National Research
Council’s proposed reforms of Title VI.
Quotable Quotes:
“Most of these materials have been prepared and/or funded by Islamic sources here and abroad, and are distributed or sold directly to schools or individual teachers, thereby bypassing public scrutiny.”
-Sandra Stostky, The Stealth Curriculum33
We in the universities and colleges have much experience in taking tightly focused
government programs and diffusing their intent to flow money into activities more
central to our interests. If you fund language and area studies, we will leverage the
language effort to get more resources for area studies, literature studies and culture
studies. These are good things, but they do not address the national need….”
-John V. Lombardi, Chancellor University of Masschausets- Amherst34
33 Stosky, Sandra, “The Stealth Curriculum” as quoted in “Saudi in the Classroom,”, July 25, 2007 accessed at:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjRhZjYwMjU4MGY5ODJmM2MzNGNhNzljMzk4ZDFiYmQ
34 Lombardi, John V. “Can We Learn Hard Languages?”, Jan 16, 2007, accessed at:
http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/01/16/lombardi
“While some school district officials are completely unaware of the material reaching their teachers and classrooms, others welcome it: Believing they’re importing the wisdom of places like Harvard or Georgetown, they actually are inviting into theirschools whole curricula and syllabuses developed with the support of Riyadh.”
-Jewish Telegraph Agency35
“The real effect of blocking federal oversight of Title VI has been to create a public outreach program that is not part of the college curriculum — a program funded by the American taxpayer, yet answerable to no-one. The unsupervised state of these university outreach programs leaves them open to exploitation by foreign interests seeking control of America’s K-12 curriculum on the Middle East.”
-Stanley Kurtz, National Review Online36
“The real Title VI story is this. Many in area studies are persuaded that the United
States possesses excessive power, or abuses its power. Knowledge in the service of such power is knowledge complicit in its excesses and failures. The inclination of these academics has been to separate Title VI from its original intent program from a contract into an entitlement…”
-Martin Kramer37
What can a parent do?
Investigate:
Start by finding out which offices within your local school board or state Department of
Education are responsible for purchasing textbooks, contracting for teacher training or
purchasing curricula packages. Write and call them to discover how they make their
decisions, and the next time public testimony will be allowed. You may find that you can
register a complaint immediately.
This application, which generates a national or state Freedom of Information Law request
automatically online, can help you if the offices begin stonewalling:
http://www.rcfp.org/foi_letter/generate.php.
Educate:
Other parents may share your concerns. The Stop the Madrassa Coalition may also be able to direct you to other parents in your state or town who are ready to take action against Islamist curricula. You will find many opportunities to educate other parents.
35 Jewish Telegraph Agency, “Tainted Teachings,” October 27, 2005 As quoted by Campus-Watch, accessed at: http://www.campuswatch.
org/article/id/2247
36 Kurtz, Stanley, “Saudi in the Classroom”, July 25,2007, accessed at:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjRhZjYwMjU4MGY5ODJmM2MzNGNhNzljMzk4ZDFiYmQ
37 Kramer, Martin, “Testimony before the committee to review Title VI”, October 5, 2006, accessed at:
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/cfe/Martin_Kramer_presentation.pdf
Advocate:
You will need to become the advocate for yourself and for your child to your local school
board, your county and perhaps your state legislature. Our organization can help.
Resources
Islamist Curricula Organizations
Council on Islamic Education
Arab World and Islamic Resources
Arab World Studies Notebook
http://www.makanalislam.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_C
ode=AWAIR&Product_Code=ARAB-WORLD
Legacy Video: The Barbarian West (“This final episode traces the origins of
western culture, noting that its triumph was the result of its borrowing from the
legacies of these ancient civilizations, and its borrowings from the Muslim
civilization of the Middle Ages.”
http://www.makanalislam.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_C
ode=AWAIR&Product_Code=LEG-104&Category_Code=CDS-DVDSVIDEOS-
POSTERS
Organizations Investigating and Exposing Islamist Curricula
American Textbook Council
http://www.historytextbooks.org/
Endowment for Middle Eastern Truth
Martin Kramer on the Middle East (largely on teacher training)
http://www.martinkramer.org/reader.html
Stanley Kurtz, National Review Online (multiple articles)
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjRhZjYwMjU4MGY5ODJmM2MzNGNhNzljMz
k4ZDFiYmQ=
Middle East Forum Campus Watch (multiple articles)
Textbook League
http://www.textbookleague.org/
Reports
“How a Public School in Scottsdale, Arizona, Subjected Students to Islamic
Indoctrination” (Textbook League)38
Refuting Propaganda About the Crusades (Textbook League)39
Islam and the Textbooks (2003 – American Textbook Council)40
Islam and the Textbooks – A Reply to the Critics (American Textbook Council)41
Saudi Arabia’s Curriculum of Intolerance42 (Freedom House – Saudi textbooks used in
private Islamic schools, so far as we know NOT in public schools – useful for cultural
understanding)
The Stealth Curriculum: Manipulating America’s History Teachers43
Textbooks for Jihad44 (Lee Kaplan, Front Page Magazine – on Teacher’s Curriculum
Institute)
Tainted Teachings: What your kids are learning about Israel, American and Islam45
Jewish Telegraph Agency, 4 part series
Textbooks Under the Influence
Human Heritage, by Greenblatt and Lemmo. Glencoe Publishing, 2001
Across the Centuries by Nash, Armento, de Alva, Wilson and Wixson. Houghton-Mifflin,
1994
A Global Mosaic by Ahmad, Brodsky, Crofts and Gay. Prentice-Hall, 2001
Patterns of Interaction by Beck, Black, Krieger, Naylor, Shabaka. McDougal Little. 1999,
2003
Connections to Today by Ellis and Esler. Prentice-Hall, 2001, 2003
38 Textbook League: http://www.textbookleague.org/tci-az.htm
39 Textbook League: http://www.textbookleague.org/122cru.htm
40 American Textbook Council: http://www.historytextbooks.org/islamreport.pdf
41 American Textbook Council: http://www.historytextbooks.org/islamandthetextbooks.pdf
42 Freedom House: http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/special_report/48.pdf
43 Fordham Foundation: http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/publication/publication.cfm?id=331
44 Teachers for Jihad, Front Page magazine: http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID={3F8C053C-53D2-49CC-B393-
85F4CD79A32B}
45 Tainted Teachings: Jewish Telegraphic Agency: http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/Whatyourkidsarel.html
The Human Experience by Farah and Karls. Glencoe Publishing, 1999
Continuity and Change by Hanes, Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1999
