Your comments should specifically:
- Identify the instructional material and page number where the subject content appears
- Explain why the content is inaccurate or does not meet the content standards and,
- If possible suggest a correction.
| Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI) | History Alive! California Series  To review "History Alive!" follow the instructions on TCI's website (click the link above):
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6–8
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The portions of this online textbook dealing with Christianity appropriately use qualifiers such as "According to the Gospels" and "According to the New Testament." However, the sections on Islam are told with more authority. For example, this paragraph under "The Call to Prophethood" sounds like an "evidence" for Muhammad's claim:
ReplyDeleteLesson 7 – The Origins and Spread of Islam, Section 3: The Call to Prophethood
“Though Muhammad apparently could neither read nor write, he said that the messages from Gabriel were imprinted on his mind and heart. His followers also memorized them, and eventually some even wrote down these words and collected them in the Qur'an (also spelled Koran), the holy book of Islam. The poetic style of this book helped lend credibility [credibility: worthy of being believed] to Muhammad's claim that it contained the words of God.”
Similarly, the section below doesn't use the words "claims" when explaining Muhammed's story. He didn't claim, he reported:
Lesson 7 – The Origins and Spread of Islam, Section 4: Muhammed’s Teachings Meet with Rejection
“While these losses were terrible for Muhammad, that same year, he reported a miraculous event. Muslim tradition tells the story of the Night Journey in which a winged horselike creature took Muhammad to Jerusalem, the city toward which early Muslims had directed their prayers. Jerusalem was already holy to Jews and Christians. There, Muhammad met with earlier prophets, such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Then the creature guided Muhammad through the seven levels of heaven, and Muhammad met God. To this day, Jerusalem is a holy city for Muslims.”
The descriptions of Islam and the Qu'ran need to have the same qualifiers as do the descriptions of Judaism and Christianity.
History Alive – Grade 7 – Lesson 9: Muslim Innovations and Adaptations
ReplyDelete“In this lesson, you will explore Muslim contributions to world civilization.”
4. Science and Technology
Muslims demonstrated an endless curiosity about the world. In fact, the Qur'an instructed them to learn more about the world God had made:
Have they not looked at the camels—how they are created? And at the sky—how it is raised up?
—Qur'an, Chapter 88, Verses 17–18
My comment: While the history of Islam includes numerous contributions to civilization, there is no such attention given to Christianity’s contributions.
History Alive – Grade 7 – Introduction
“You'll learn about how Muslim empires often did not force Christians or Jews to convert to Islam. Instead, they lived in coexistence with one another.”
My comment: By contrast, the introduction to the Reformation states: “You'll learn that some denominations fought over their religious differences and demonstrated intolerance.”
Impression given to students: Islam is tolerant, Christianity is not.