Some British schools are dropping lessons on the Holocaust and
the Crusades, seeking to avoid antagonizing Muslim students. A Historical
Association report, funded by the department for education and skills, said
teachers feared confronting “anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among
some Muslim pupils.” Some teachers also “deliberately avoided teaching the
Crusades” because “a balanced school treatment would have challenged teaching in
some local mosques.”Give the study credit for raising the point that almost any
history lesson could put some noses out of joint. Teaching about the slave
trade, for instance, could leave both white and black children feeling
alienated. Better not mention it! One wag said that he deeply resents the Norman
invasion of 1066 and doesn’t want his children to hear about it in
school.
A spokesman for the Commission for Racial Equality said the
report painted a “worrying picture.” But a government review of citizenship
education recommended that all pupils learn about slavery and the legacy of the
British Empire.
Some British Muslims object to the Red Cross as a symbol, as
well as the cross of St. Andrew in the Union Jack, since Crusaders wore the
emblem. The Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding said it is
time for England to produce a new flag and adopt a patron saint “not identified
with our bloody past and one we can all identify with.”
Britain usually outpaces the U.S. in the politically correct
sweepstakes. Out of deference to Muslim pupils, the “Three Little Pigs”
children’s story has become the “Three Little Puppies.” In many English schools,
“Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” is now “Baa, Baa, Rainbow Sheep,” which makes no sense,
but supposedly spares the feelings of sensitive black pupils. In some of the
same schools, Snow White and the seven dwarfs have morphed into Snow White and
the seven gnomes. The advantage here: gnomes aren’t really known for shortness,
and, as fictional creatures, they’re in a poor position to complain that the
story exploits them.
The national curriculum calls for compulsory teaching about
Christianity and Islam in state schools, with lesser emphasis on Judaism and
Hinduism. As part of lessons on Islam, children must copy out the Shahadah, the
statement of beliefs that signals conversion to Islam. Unsurprisingly, some
parents object to having their children write out a declaration of Islamic
faith. Many teachers are now very careful when speaking to their Muslim
students. At one secondary school, a teacher lost his job after students
reported that he had said most suicide bombers were Muslim. The teacher denied
it, but the school let him go without a hearing because the pupils “were very
upset,” a school official noted.
Since the July 2005 subway bombings, Britain has started to
rethink its commitment to aggressive multiculturalism. But some of the nation’s
schools remain behind the curve.
