via Texas teaching ‘Allah is the Almighty God’.
In the 70 percent of Texas public schools
where a private curriculum has been installed, students are learning the
“fact” that “Allah is the Almighty God,” charge critics of a new online
curriculum that already is facing condemnation for its secrecy and
restrictions on oversight.
The program, called CSCOPE, is a private
venture operating under the umbrella of the Texas Education Service
Center Curriculum Collaborative, whose incorporation documents state its
independence from the State Board of Education of the Texas Education
Agency.
The critics say the studies border on proselytizing.
In one scenario, students are asked to
study the tenets of Islam, and critics say the materials provided exceed
impartial review of another faith, extending into requirements of
conversion and moral imperatives.
A
computer presentation utilized as part of a study of Islam includes
information on how to convert, as well as verses denigrating other
faiths.
According to excerpts, under the heading, “Who Is Allah?,” students are told:
“Allah is the Almighty God.”
“Allah alone is the Creator. He alone deserves our devout love and worship.”
Muhammad is described as having become
“disillusioned with the corruption in the city and the growing gap
between the urban dwellers and the Bedouins (nomadic herders).”
But there is no mention of his documented sex activities with a child or his penchant for beheading entire indigenous people groups.
CSCOPE’s geography curriculum also is being scrutinized.
A high school question on a geography test
asks, “Which of the following has been a benefit of globalization?”
Possible answers are as follows: a) pandemics, b) increased standard of
living, c) loss of local culture, and finally, d) widespread
environmental impacts.
The only “correct” answer accepted in the context of the test is “an increased standard of living.”
WND recently reported the Texas State Board of Education was hearing concerns expressed by parents.
The debate carries national significance
because of the influence Texas has on textbook and curriculum publishers
as the only state that adopts uniform standards.
Kimberly Thomas, a teacher in the Lubbock
school district, calls CSCOPE a “joke,” identifying a ninth-grade lesson
that asks students to circle capital letters in a sentence.
Her department was rated exemplary by the
state prior to the installation of CSCOPE. As Thomas notes, CSCOPE
“forces our own department to undo the proven, successful curriculum we
have developed that gave us an exemplary rating.”
Just days ago, Thomas Ratliff, a member of
the state board and supporter of CSCOPE, said CSCOPE was “supplemental”
and that textbooks still are being used.
“CSCOPE is not designed to eliminate
textbooks or other instructional materials. It is designed to complement
them for the benefit of the teacher and the student,” he wrote in a
prepared statement.
CSCOPE employees, on the other hand, claim
the software is designed to replace textbooks and, indeed, has in many
Texas school districts.
Addressing the issue of the program’s
secrecy, Ratliff slammed critics who say they want government to be “run
like a business” but then get upset when that happens.
But critics argue private schools, the
closest thing to a school being run like a business, still make
instructional materials available to parents, something that CSCOPE
refuses to do.
Robert Spencer notes that this should be no surprise:
What a coincidence that this
curriculum would be in use in Texas, where Governor Rick Perry partnered
with the Aga Khan Foundation to develop a severely whitewashed, Islam-friendly curriculum.
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