The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion

The Trouble with Textbooks co-author Dennis Ybarra is interviewed by Fox News in a one-hour documentary: "Do Your Know What Textbooks Your Children Are Really Reading?" broadcast September 4-6.

4-minute excerpt

Watch excerpts: 14 minutes
Watch the full program: 44 minutes

Over the past year, the Institute promoted the first ever exposé of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in the K-12 textbooks most widely used in America’s schoolrooms. This shocking study, The Trouble with Textbooks, has substantially spurred and influenced the national debate about errors and bias in textbooks, particularly about religion. Recently, Fox News produced a documentary that analyzed all sides of the issue. This excerpt examines what textbooks say about Islam.

The Role of Islam in U.S. Public Schools
Muslims have disproportionate influence on public school curriculum and textbooks. The Council on Islamic Education and other Muslim organizations have successfully lobbied publishers and schools to improve the image of Islam and to present the Israeli-Palestinian conflict only in terms of the Arab narrative.

Some examples of the problematic material in textbooks are:
• Any connection between Islam and terrorism is expunged.
• The concepts of jihad and sharia (Islamic law) have been removed.
• The three major monotheistic religions are not treated alike: Judaism and Christianity are qualified and critiqued while Muslim beliefs are taught as historical fact.