School curricula includes Islamic training

“I think Islamism is becoming the new religion,” observed Kendalee Garner of Nyssa , Oregon .

Anyone looking at the small ranching community’s public school system, 85% of the role count being children of Hispanic migrant workers, might agree.

It might be puzzling why almost six weeks of the seventh-grade Social Studies class is devoted almost exclusively to studying the religion and culture of Islam.

More puzzling is why the two-worksheet mention of Christianity is devoted to “the Crusades” as an immoral war against innocent Islamic society.

Part of the reason might be an effort by intellectual leftists acting as partners with Islamists in an area where resistance to pro-Islamic propaganda is weak.

“The state curriculum has one line of requirements for teaching Islam and it’s affect on the West,” Garner said, adding that no information is offered critical of Islamic history.

She makes her observations as mother of six young children, one is in the class this 2007-08 school year and one completed it last year.

Her family came to national attention last year when an interview with the local newspaper got picked up by AP - it ignited a whirlwind of media coverage and controversy. “I was shocked that so much attention was paid to my concerns,” she said.

“Major newspapers, radio shows and even Fox News called to talk to me about my objection to what I felt was the indoctrination of my son into the Islamic religion,” she added.

“We are a Christian family with very conservative values. So are most of the other families in our little community.”

When asked for information about the program, school district curriculum director Janine Weeks was visibly upset.

“We have made it a policy to not discuss this with anyone since we have been the victims of so much false information,” she said.

“I have no comment on any part of it,” she said, and referring to reporters, added, “some people I talked to have out and out lied and distorted the truth.”

Weeks refused to verify whether or not the program is ongoing this year, but the Garner family confirmed it is, and it gets worse.

The textbooks, Journey Through Time and Across the Centuries, have been coming under fire from sources such as The American Textbook Council’s Gilbert T. Sewall.

"Textbook editors seem not to recognize a school-related Islamic agenda in the U.S. that uses multiculturalism as a device [toward]…favorable and uncritical view of all things Muslim,” he said.

The textbooks include other religions of the world, but Christianity and Judaism were ignored last year while teachers taught the “Five Pillars of Islam” to students.

“Children were being forced to dress up like Muslims and act out skits, including the call to prayer,” Garner said. “We took our son out of the skits but he had to write a report on Islam instead.”

Her husband, Harlen Garner, was outraged that the program is forced on students. “If the program was a shorter elective in high school, I might feel differently,” he said.

“This is mandatory for seventh-graders who are very impressionable,” he added. “It just doesn’t sit well with me.”

Kendalee Garner explained increased awareness of Islam seemed to start after the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

“We wouldn’t have a problem with the Islamic teaching if they taught other religions too, and if they showed the negative side of Islam,” she said.

“I want my kids to be knowledgeable as well as tolerant of others, but they need to teach it all,” she added.

“I sat in on the class a number of times, and I felt sick to my stomach at the disgusting way it’s presented.”

She was additionally critical of why there would be so much focus on Islam out where cowboys working on beef ranches dominate the scene.

“The teachers seem to be quite liberal-minded, and they influence the selection of textbooks...It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” she said.

Determined to make an effort to create changes for the new school year, the Garners went before the school board.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have much support from other young parents in the area,” Kendalee Garner said. “A few of the older people joined us.”

Town logistics impacts the issue: The school board is the town’s largest employer, and many families live near borders that could rezone to inferior schools if they fell out of favor with Nyssa.

Although few changes resulted from the Garners’ effort, the 2007-08 class has added two days of Christian worksheets focused on negative aspects of the Crusades.

“Kind of a good Muslim, bad Christian thing going on here,” Kendalee Garner said wryly. “Islam seems to creep into other areas of study too. It’s tough on the students, but there seems to be no way to stop it. A lot of the kids act like it’s just a big joke.”

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