California Textbook Corrections Result of Broad-Based
Coalition of Hindus
www.hindueducation.org
Sacramento, California, March 1, 2006 - (HPI note:
Following is a joint press release of the Hindu Education
Foundation ("source") and the Vedic Foundation following
the California State Board of Education subcommittee
meeting of February 27. This meeting was also covered in
yesterday's HPI, and there is some duplication of
reporting.)
More than a hundred Hindu parents and community leaders
and about a dozen Hindu students attended a subcommittee
meeting of the California State Board of Education (SBE)
in Sacramento on February 27th.
Days earlier SBE released their final recommendations on
160 edits submitted by Hindu Education Foundation (HEF)
and Vedic Foundation (VF) in which many of the HEF and VF
suggested changes were included. The two Hindu groups are
seeking to correct the derogatory and inaccurate
depiction of Hinduism in the 6th grade history books
which will be used in California public schools for the
next 6 years. At the conclusion of the 4-hour meeting,
the subcommittee recommended approval of a staff report
accepting a number of corrections to the portrayal of
Hinduism and India in the textbooks.
"This is the first time the Hindu community has
participated in correcting misrepresentations in the
California textbooks. Hindu parents are concerned about
impact of negative stereotypes on students. The community
has succeeded in getting many of the humiliating comments
out of the textbooks. In fact, about 75% of changes from
Hindu Education Foundation have been accepted. Many of
the changes not accepted leave a distorted view of the
basic tenets of Hinduism and leave a negative feeling
about India and Hinduism in the textbooks. We will work
further to attempt to get rid of all negative
stereotypes." said Khanderao Kand, coordinator for Hindu
Education Foundation.
Both foundations continue to have strong reservations
about process violations and the failure to consider a
pending list of more than 300 errors identified by the
Vedic Foundation.
"We are calling for an independent panel of scholars from
within U.S. academia who are Hindu and who specialize in
the topics covered in the textbooks," said Janeshwari
Devi, Director of Programs for the Austin based Vedic
Foundation.
"The scholarly interpretation of Hinduism that is found
in the textbooks does not match how Hindus understand and
practice their religion," said David Freedholm, a world
religions teaching at Princeton Day School and a
practicing Hindu. He is currently co-authoring a textbook
about Hinduism in order to overcome some of the
misconceptions about the religion.
The accepted changes would remove some derogatory and
humiliating statements from the textbooks like the
question following the statement that it is said that
Hanuman is present whenever the Ramayana is read: "Look
around. Do you see any monkeys?" thus implying that
Hindus a re monkeys. It will change the description of a
photo of a Shivalinga that was described as a "Hindu
Street Shrine." Such changes will certainly save Hindu
children from some humiliation and embarrassment in their
classrooms although much more needs to be done.
The SBE decision to use Varna instead of "caste" in some
textbooks that depict the Hindu society in ancient India
and for branding Indo-Aryan theories as "controversial"
is notable. However, a number of the recommendations in
the list are inconsistent and leave factual errors
unchanged.
The meeting room was packed with supporters of the
foundations' edits as well as others who believe that
Hinduism is a pluralist religion and needs to be
presented more generically in the textbooks. The overflow
crowd was seated in adjoining rooms where they watched
the proceedings on monitors.
Many parents and students requested the SBE to confirm
changes proposed by practicing Hindus. Several youth
express their dissatisfaction with what they learned
about Hinduism in school. Sameera Mokkarala, a high
school student from Palo Alto, stated that in her 6th
grade class "all that was talked about was the caste
system, polytheism and sati." Chetan Surpur, a 10t h-
grader in Cupertino, narrated incidents in his classroom
where it was said that "Hindus worship talking monkeys
and throw widows into fires,"
The public comments continued for almost three hours.
Bhaavika Patel, a 10th-grader at Monta Vista High School
in Cupertino, said: "Hindu kids are embarrassed about
their religion because their classmates make fun of
them." She continued, "How many California students know
that there is more to Hinduism than just the caste
system?'' she asked. "Learning from history is important.
But it is the way that it is done - how it is portrayed.
We only hear of the negatives, and that makes us feel
inferior.''
Kartikeya Katir, a 16-year old student from Davis, said
that, "God is always spelled with a small 'g' when
talking about Hinduism and God of other religions is
spelled with a capital 'G'," and wondered why the
scriptures of Hinduism were referred to as 'myths' and
'legends' while the scriptures of all other religio ns
came from God.
During their presentations, various parents demanded that
"equal treatment" or a "level playing field" be provided
to Hinduism as is given to other religions. Parents also
expressed concerns of out-of-context and backward
projections of current social ills on the history of
India and Hinduism in ancient world. One HEF spokesperson
said, "We sympathize with the sufferings of untouchables
and other communities, but it is inappropriate to
attribute this present day social ill to Hinduism and in
textbooks which teach ancient civilizations.
"Caste divisions of society developed during the medieval
period so it is inaccurate to cover it during the period
prior to 600 A.D. which is the period covered by the 6th
grade textbooks," noted Dr. Shiva Bajpai, an expert on
ancient Indian history from Cal State University.
Following the lengthy public hearing, and without any
further deliberations, the subcommittee confirmed all the
staff recommendations. This appeared to many attendees to
be a public show to cover up the board's previous
inadequacies in keeping the approval process transparent.
"We are gravely disappointed that the SBE has once again
demonstrated a lack of concern for the protocol and
process provided by law," said Suhag Shukla, legal
counsel for Hindu American Foundation who became involved
in the process when SBE had invited input from
antagonistic scholars. "It is evident that the invitation
for public comment was never intended to be considered,
as the SBE had already prepared its motion to accept the
Feb. 27th recommendations before the meeting took place,"
she continued. "HAF is continuing to consider legal
options."
The Hindu Education Foundation is an educational project
of concerned Indians and Hindus in the USA. The
foundation, guided by scholars and concerned parents,
strives to replace misconceptions about India in general
and about Hinduism in particular in the general pub lic
as well as in academic settings. HEF seeks to replace
misconceptions with correct representation of India and
Hinduism in the textbooks used in U.S. classrooms. The
Foundation's website is located here.
http://www.hindueducation.org/
The Vedic Foundation is a non-profit educational
foundation based in Austin, TX. Foundation activities
include: publishing educational literature on the topics
of Hinduism and Indian history; conducting seminars and
study groups on various topics related to Hinduism;
presenting at Hindu conferences throughout the U.S. and
working with school officials to correct the inaccurate
and derogatory depiction of Hinduism in K-12 textbooks.
The Vedic Foundation is a volunteer based organization
that is funded by public donations. The Foundation does
not have any political affiliations. The Foundation's
website is located here.
http://www.thevedicfoundation.org/
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