History Alive! textbooks

History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond is a series of social studies and history textbooks published by Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI).

TCI was cofounded by Jim Lobdell.[1]


Reactions to Islamic content

Conservative outlets have objected to the presentation of material in the textbook.

In 2003, J Weekly, a Northern California Jewish news blog, highlighted the book's adoption in a Santa Rosa, California high school. After a parent complained about anti-Israel bias, the Jewish Community Relations Council reported on the problems in the book, then sent it to Alan Dershowitz, who concurred. The region's Anti-Defamation League also got involved. By the following year, TCI planned to update the book.[2][3] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency noted the Council on Islamic Education and the Islamist, anti-Israel scholar Ayad Al-Qazzaz both consulted on the creation of History Alive, while the Jewish community had failed to present a similarly unified review of textbooks.[4]

In 2005, Daniel Pipes, described as an Islamophobe or anti-Arab propagandist, and creator of Campus Watch, published a comment on his site about Islamic indoctrination in the History Alive textbook, which was being trialed in the district, as did Cinnamon Stilwell in the SF Chronicle; Stilwell is a conservative commentator who has written for Campus Watch.[5][6] It was then picked up by Little Green Footballs, which was a conservative site at the time,[7] by the far-right Islamophobic site FrontPage Magazine,[8] and by other conservative blogs, which also claimed the book had an anti-Jewish bias.[9] A group called The Textbook League said that TCI had consulted with Islamic Networks Group, which it called "a Muslim propaganda agency".[10]

By a month later (March 2005) the district had received enough emails and expressions of concern that they stopped their trial of the textbook.[11][12][13]

The revisions to the textbooks were discussed in November 2005 at the California State Board of Education, which voted to allow History Alive and other textbooks with compliance to lists of revisions.[14]

TCI covers Islam as part of Medieval history, and covers other major world religions in the previous year of study's History Alive! textbook, since that is the historical era during which the respective religions developed.[15]

See also

References
  1. Jim Lobdell (6 May 2018). "Where Edtech and Its Investors Miss the Mark - EdSurge News". EdSurge. Retrieved 14 July 2020. This conviction is born out of my 30 years in and around classrooms, first as a social studies teacher at Milpitas High, and then as co-founder of Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI).
  2. Alix Wall (3 October 2003). "JCRC, ADL see anti-Israel bias in high school history text". The Jewish News of Northern California. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  3. Alix Wall (13 February 2004). "Complaint of bias against Israel prompts high school text rewrite". The Jewish News of Northern California. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  4. "Tainted Teachings [part 2] What Textbooks Have to Say About Israel, America and Islam - Jewish Telegraphic Agency". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 28 October 2005. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  5. Stilwell, Cinnamon (2008-06-11). "Islam in America's public schools: Education or indoctrination?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  6. "Islamic Indoctrination in Scottsdale, Arizona Public School :: Reader comments at Daniel Pipes". Daniel Pipes. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  7. "Arizona Public Schools Teach Islam". littlegreenfootballs.com. 28 February 2005. Archived from the original on 9 February 2006. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  8. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17225. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. Jerome du Bois (9 March 2005). "TURNING ARIZONA PUBLIC SCHOOLS INTO MUSLIM MADRASSAS --IT'S ALREADY BEGUN". Archived from the original on 13 January 2006.
  10. Bennetta, William J. (2005). "How a Public School in Scottsdale, Arizona, Subjected Students to Islamic Indoctrination". The Textbook League. Archived from the original on 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  11. Jerome du Bois (10 March 2005). "HISTORY ALIVE! IS DEAD! BUT . . . QUESTIONS REMAIN [UPDATED]". Archived from the original on 13 January 2006.
  12. Falkenhagen, Andrea (April 6, 2005). "Text pulled after uproar over Islam". East Valley Tribune. Archived from the original on 3 February 2006. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  13. Susser, Deborah Sussman (2005-11-04). "Curriculum conundrum: 'Inaccurate' materials used to teach Scottsdale students". Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. Archived from the original on 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  14. "California Requires Textbooks to Teach Religion with 'respect' - Jewish Telegraphic Agency". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 11 November 2005. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  15. "Middle School Social Studies Textbook & Curriculum | Middle School History Resources". TCI. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
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