ointe,c1 1- eac in s

Vtiat '.iour kids are
earn iris about- Israel
ic a and iSiass

labuses developed with the sup-
port of Riyadh.

An Example

The "Arab World Studies
Notebook" is one such example.
Billed by its creators as an impor-
tant tool to correct misperceptions
about Islam and the Arab world,
the manual for secondary schools
has been blasted by critics for dis-
torting history and propagating
bias.
First published in 1990 as the
Arab World Notebook, the manual
was updated to its current form in
1998. The newer publication was
created as the joint project of two
organizations — both of which
receive Saudi funding. Some of the
references are subtle, critics say,
making them all the more harm-
ful. For example, the manual:
• Denigrates the Jews' historical
connection to Jerusalem.
• Suggests that Jews have undue
influence on U.S. foreign policy
-Suggests that the Koran "syn-
thesizes and perfects earlier revela-
tions': meaning those ascribed to
by Christians and Jews.
• Leaves out any facts and fig-
ures about the State of Israel in its
country-by-country section, but
refers instead only to Palestine.
One of the groups involved in
the publication is the Berkeley,
Calif.-based Arab World and
Islamic Resources, or AWAIR,
(www.awaironline.org) founded in
1990 with funding from organiza-
tions that include Saudi Aramco, a
Saudi government-owned oil com-
pany. The editor of the notebook is
Audrey Shabbas, AWAIR's founder.
Saudi Aramco World, the publica-
tion of Saudi Aramco, features
pieces praising Shabbas and her
teacher-training materials.
The second organization
involved in the manual is the
Middle East Policy Council of
Washington, which helps print and
disseminate the 500-page manual
of essays, lesson plans and pri-
mary sources. The council lists the
manual as the primary resource
material for its teacher-training
program. It employs Shabbas to
conduct its training and seminars.
According to the group's Web site
(wwwmepc.org), more than
16,000 educators have attended its
workshops in 175 cities in 43
states. The manual itself claims to

October 27 2005

the instructional materials they
have reached 25 million students.
create so subtly that apolitical
The council, which is headed by
teachers are unlikely to spot them."
Charles Freeman Jr., a former U.S.
In an interview with JTA,
ambassador to Saudi Arabia, gets
Stotsky called the notebook "a
direct funding from Saudi Arabia.
piece of propaganda" rather than
In an interview, the council's
scholarly work.
acting director, Jon Roth, declined
The American Jewish
to specify how much money his
Committee issued a scathing
group gets from Riyadh, but made
report on the manual earlier this
clear that he is seeking much
year, called
more. In September,
"Propaganda,
Roth visited Saudi
Proselytizing, and
Arabia to meet with
Public Education: A
Prince Alwaked bin
Critique of the Arab
Talal bin Abdulaziz al
World Studies
Saud, a member of
Notebook": The
the royal family who
report said that the
owns Kingdom
publication, while
Holding Company,
"attempting to
one of the world's
redress a perceived
wealthiest compa-
deficit in sympa-
nies.
thetic views of the
"We have been
Arabs and Muslim
trying to cultivate
Sandra St otsky
religion in the
the relationship with
American
class-
the prince for a long
room,
veers
in
the
opposite
direc-
time, because he has lots of
tion — toward historical distor-
money': Roth said after his trip.
tion as well as uncritical praise,
"Our hope and expectation is mil-
whitewashing and practically pros-
lions" from the Saudi prince, who
elytizing!"
initiated the meeting after hearing
The result, the AJCommittee
about the teaching program, Roth
said. He said his group operates on
an annual budget of $750,000.
The council's board of directors
includes executives from compa-
New York/JTA
nies with huge financial stakes in
Saudi Arabia, including Boeing,
he state of California is on the
ExxonMobil Saudi Arabia, the
brink of a major election that
Carlyle Group and the Saudi
involves neither Arnold
Binladin Group.
Schwarzenegger nor Clint
Eastwood. The candidates are
textbooks and other teaching
Notebook Critics
materials that will influence what
Sandra Stotsky, a former senior
schoolchildren across the state
associate commissioner of the
— and across the United States
Massachusetts Department of
— will learn for more than a
Education, is one of a growing
decade.
number of critics of the Arab
With a debate under way over
World Studies Notebook It is one of
evolution and intelligent design
the examples she cites in a study,
in science textbooks, a less-publi-
"The Stealth Curriculum:
cized battle is being waged over
Manipulating America's History
the content of social studies and
Teachers' in which she examines
history materials — some of
supplemental teaching materials.
which are pro-Islamic, anti-
The problem with many of the
American, anti-Israel and even
supplemental materials, which are
anti-Semitic.
most often distributed through
California is in the final stages
teacher training workshops, "is the
of the "adoption process" for his-
ideological mission of the organi-
tory and social studies materials
zations that create them': she said
in kindergarten through eighth
in her study, published last year by
grade. The process, which takes
the Thomas B. Fordham
place every seven years, deter-
Foundation, a Washington-based
mines which books make the
think tank on education. "They
mark, enabling local school dis-
embed their political agendas in

report said, "is a text that appears
largely designed to advance the
anti-Israel and propagandistic
views of the Notebook's sponsors,
the Middle East Policy Council
(MEPC) and Arab World and
Islamic Resources (AWAIR), to an
audience of teachers who may not
have the resources and knowledge
to assess this text critically!'
David Harris, the AJCommittee's
executive director, said upon issu-
ing the report in February:
"Educating American children
about the Middle East and about
different religions is vitally impor-
tant, but the notebook is precisely
the wrong way to go about it."
Shabbas, in the introduction to
the manual, says that AWALR's
mission is to counter the "rampant
negative stereotypes of Arabs and
Muslims held by most Americans!'
Responding to criticism specifi-
cally about the effect of Jewish lob-
bying, she said everything in the
manual comes from the Arab and
Muslim point of view: "The note-
book is what it is. If you go out
anywhere in the Arab world, you're
likely to hear that view" of the U.N.
partition and Jewish influence.

Social Studies Controversy

T

tricts to use state funds to pur-
chase them. With the political,
educational and financial stakes
so high, publishers, special inter-
est groups and educators take the
process as seriously as any politi-
cal campaign.
Among the contenders is
History Alive! The Medieval World
and Beyond, a seventh-grade
textbook, with other course mate-
rials, published by the Teachers'
Curriculum Institute.
The course was piloted in
Scottsdale, Ariz., earlier this year.
But after a series of protests from
parents — who objected to what
they saw as distortions of
Christianity and Judaism, with an
overarching positive spin on
Islam — the publisher decided to
stop the trial.
"There was a lot of objection to
the amount of coverage of Islam','
said Liz Russell, the development
director of the Teachers'
Curriculum Institute, which is
based in Rancho Cordova, Calif.
The book was developed to
meet California standards, which

"Most textbooks merely tell peo-
ple the U.N. voted for partition and
the Arabs rejected it',' she said,
adding that American students
need to "delve into why people do
what they do; what are their val-
ues.
She also noted that the publica-
tion directs students to solicit
other perspectives from various
groups, including the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee
and the American Jewish
Committee.
Roth of the Middle East Policy
Council dismissed the critics of the
notebook as "cranks!' His council
touts the manual as an important
resource for educators. The manu-
al is "of such high standards that
the Middle East Policy Council
believes it should be in the hands
of every educator': the group's Web
site says.
The AJCommittee took the
unusual step of issuing a public
warning "urging school districts
across the nation" not to use the
manual. Still, Shabbas and her
publication are welcomed by out-

Tainted on page 44

require "a lot more on religion in
general" than most other states,
she said.
California has mandated the
study of religion since 1987.
Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism
and Hinduism are studied in
sixth grade, and Islam is covered
in seventh grade.
Meanwhile, the institute has
pulled The Modern Middle East, a
package of supplemental materi-
als deemed so objectionable that
a report by the San Francisco
Jewish Community Relations
Council said it creates a hostile
environment for Jewish students.
The material is still for sale,
however, and copies already in
circulation likely will sit on class-
room shelves for years to come,
according to educational experts.
Both The Modern Middle East
and History Alive! have hit the
market since the early 1990s, a
period that began what one
reviewer has termed "the
Islamization of the textbooks:'
Analysts say today's history
and social studies textbooks, and
supplementary materials, sow

Controversy on page 44

43