09-11-2006, 07:38 PM
another email which is one the mark:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The first four URLs, listed below, provide a fair report on the CA Superior Court's judgment on sixth grade textbooks. The report is unanimous: The process adopted was illegal and the textbooks are flawed. The judge recommends that HAF and CDE/SBE should work out a fair procedure to redress the illegalities.
<b>There are two key issues:</b>
1. Curriculum content
2. Who decides?
While the deliberations will be ongoing related to the curriculum content and the guidelines or procedures related to determination of the content of the school textbooks, the CA Superior Court judgment should be seen as an episode in the ongoing Hindu Civil Rights movement. Civil Rights movement it is, because, it involves the 1 st amendment (Freedom of _expression and religion), 14th Amendment (Non-discrimination on the basis of religion or ancestry) and Article 42 Association Clause of the US Constitution (Non-discrimination on the basis of association). Using 'hindutva' as a derogatory term is a direct violation of Art. 42 Association Clause. The movement has thus to be proceed through many systems: legal, and political systems and also by involving the society of American parents concerned about the transmission of values to the younger generation through the education system consistent with the practices and traditions venerated for generations in family, farm and social or community festivals. The right of the Hindu community to get involved and be heard in matters related to curriculum content and fair depiction of hindutva (Being Hindu, Essence of Being Hindu) as a component of the civilization studies to which the students are exposed through the grades of the educational system.
One of the declarations admitted by the CA Superior Court judge was that of Prof. Nathan Katz. Hindu tradition places enormous emphasis on responsibility, vratam and hold that rights flow from due performance of responsibilities. Hindu term adhikaara flows from the performance of responsibilities. Prof. Nathan Katz made a comment that only the insider has the adhikaara to state the Hindu tradition and what is involved not mere historical chronicling but a compassionate understanding of the meanings of cultural metaphors.
I would invite a reference to the last URL which deals with teaching of 'religion' in many schools. An excerpt follows: " One exception is Modesto, Calif. For the past five years, all ninth-graders have been required to spend nine weeks studying major world religions. The course begins with a segment on the First Amendment and religious liberty in the United States, then describes in succession, though not comparatively, the beliefs and practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The semester's other half covers world geography; apparently, students should know about seven spiritual continents as well as the physical ones. In a rare example of empirical research in this area, Modesto's experience has been studied by Emile Lester, a visiting professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., and Patrick S. Roberts, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. Their report, "Learning About World Religions in Public Schools," is available from The First Amendment Center's offices at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Surveying approximately 400 students with 75 written questions before and after they took the world religions course in the fall of 2004, the researchers found that after the course, students expressed modest increases in their already strong support for religious liberty and their weaker support for other First Amendment rights like freedom of speech and assembly. The course increased students' basic knowledge about world religions and stimulated student interest in learning more about major faiths. After the course, students were far more likely to view all major religions as sharing "basic moral values." But this increased appreciation of similarities among faiths "did not contribute to religious relativism or encourage students to change religious beliefs," the researchers write. Students did not conclude that "differences between religions are negligible or that choices about religion are arbitrary whims." In fact, later in-depth interviews with a sample of students showed that students' personal faith was more likely to be invigorated than enervated."
During the proposed deliberations between CDE/SBE, it is the responsibility of HAF, Hindu parents and the Hindu community to re-affirm the cardinal principle enunciated as a guideline that the children studying the educational material should get instilled with a sense of pride in their heritage and to reclaim their civil right to get involved in transmitting information on Hindu traditions and value system to the students.
The task has just begun; the CA court judgement is but one milestone in the ongoing Hindu Civil Rights movement involving over 2.3 million Hindu Americans (according to the 2005 survey figures). Hindus are contributing immensely to the American society and economy and their voices have to be heards.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1051433 Hindu textbooks flawed but retained
http://www.indiawest.com/view.php?subactio...rt_from=&ucat=1 Judge Admits SBE Flaws, Upholds Calif. Textbooks
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1...050001.htm US court retains flawed Hinduism textbooks
http://tinyurl.com/nwzxz Underground processes, hostile academics
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/483749.html California public schools teach about religion
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The first four URLs, listed below, provide a fair report on the CA Superior Court's judgment on sixth grade textbooks. The report is unanimous: The process adopted was illegal and the textbooks are flawed. The judge recommends that HAF and CDE/SBE should work out a fair procedure to redress the illegalities.
<b>There are two key issues:</b>
1. Curriculum content
2. Who decides?
While the deliberations will be ongoing related to the curriculum content and the guidelines or procedures related to determination of the content of the school textbooks, the CA Superior Court judgment should be seen as an episode in the ongoing Hindu Civil Rights movement. Civil Rights movement it is, because, it involves the 1 st amendment (Freedom of _expression and religion), 14th Amendment (Non-discrimination on the basis of religion or ancestry) and Article 42 Association Clause of the US Constitution (Non-discrimination on the basis of association). Using 'hindutva' as a derogatory term is a direct violation of Art. 42 Association Clause. The movement has thus to be proceed through many systems: legal, and political systems and also by involving the society of American parents concerned about the transmission of values to the younger generation through the education system consistent with the practices and traditions venerated for generations in family, farm and social or community festivals. The right of the Hindu community to get involved and be heard in matters related to curriculum content and fair depiction of hindutva (Being Hindu, Essence of Being Hindu) as a component of the civilization studies to which the students are exposed through the grades of the educational system.
One of the declarations admitted by the CA Superior Court judge was that of Prof. Nathan Katz. Hindu tradition places enormous emphasis on responsibility, vratam and hold that rights flow from due performance of responsibilities. Hindu term adhikaara flows from the performance of responsibilities. Prof. Nathan Katz made a comment that only the insider has the adhikaara to state the Hindu tradition and what is involved not mere historical chronicling but a compassionate understanding of the meanings of cultural metaphors.
I would invite a reference to the last URL which deals with teaching of 'religion' in many schools. An excerpt follows: " One exception is Modesto, Calif. For the past five years, all ninth-graders have been required to spend nine weeks studying major world religions. The course begins with a segment on the First Amendment and religious liberty in the United States, then describes in succession, though not comparatively, the beliefs and practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The semester's other half covers world geography; apparently, students should know about seven spiritual continents as well as the physical ones. In a rare example of empirical research in this area, Modesto's experience has been studied by Emile Lester, a visiting professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., and Patrick S. Roberts, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. Their report, "Learning About World Religions in Public Schools," is available from The First Amendment Center's offices at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Surveying approximately 400 students with 75 written questions before and after they took the world religions course in the fall of 2004, the researchers found that after the course, students expressed modest increases in their already strong support for religious liberty and their weaker support for other First Amendment rights like freedom of speech and assembly. The course increased students' basic knowledge about world religions and stimulated student interest in learning more about major faiths. After the course, students were far more likely to view all major religions as sharing "basic moral values." But this increased appreciation of similarities among faiths "did not contribute to religious relativism or encourage students to change religious beliefs," the researchers write. Students did not conclude that "differences between religions are negligible or that choices about religion are arbitrary whims." In fact, later in-depth interviews with a sample of students showed that students' personal faith was more likely to be invigorated than enervated."
During the proposed deliberations between CDE/SBE, it is the responsibility of HAF, Hindu parents and the Hindu community to re-affirm the cardinal principle enunciated as a guideline that the children studying the educational material should get instilled with a sense of pride in their heritage and to reclaim their civil right to get involved in transmitting information on Hindu traditions and value system to the students.
The task has just begun; the CA court judgement is but one milestone in the ongoing Hindu Civil Rights movement involving over 2.3 million Hindu Americans (according to the 2005 survey figures). Hindus are contributing immensely to the American society and economy and their voices have to be heards.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1051433 Hindu textbooks flawed but retained
http://www.indiawest.com/view.php?subactio...rt_from=&ucat=1 Judge Admits SBE Flaws, Upholds Calif. Textbooks
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1...050001.htm US court retains flawed Hinduism textbooks
http://tinyurl.com/nwzxz Underground processes, hostile academics
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/483749.html California public schools teach about religion
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->