Why Islam should be taught in American schools

The demonisation of Islam and Muslims perpetuated by US politicians and the 24/7 mainstream news cycle is now rapidly encroaching upon the educational landscape of children.

On 3 October, a Tennessee mother named Michelle Edmisten registered her protest to the Board of Education regarding the inclusion of Islam in her daughter's school curriculum. 

Edmisten complained that her daughter was penalised for not completing assignments on Islam that included basic questions such as "List the five pillars of Islam" - a decision Edmisten says the girl took because it came in conflict with her Christian views.

"It is time as parents, teachers, and administrators we stand up and take back our families, our schools, and our country," Edmisten said while pleading with the board for a swift policy change at the school.

It is worth noting that Tennessee is one of several states in the US that passed anti-Sharia legislation essentially banning any law that is based on the tenets of Islam. The inanity of such regulations, while laughable - the American constitution does not allow any law based on a religious text - taken together with the association of Islam with extremism and hate in the media, helps to foster the very fears that people like Edmisten are expressing.

In fact, numerous studies show that increased awareness and learning of the "other" including Muslims left a positive impression on those who previously held negative views about the religion and its adherents.

Interacting with the "other"

In a recent study into attitudes towards Muslims in America, an alarming increase was observed over a 10-year period where 45.5 percent of Americans saw Muslims negatively in 2013, a rise of almost 20 percent from 26 percent in 2003. Muslims were viewed as the least favorable of all religious and non-religious groups in the country.

A March 2015 Huffpost/Yougov poll showed a whopping 55 percent of Americans held an unfavourable view of Islam. In the same survey half of those surveyed said they had limited knowledge of the religion and only 23 percent said they had a friend who was a Muslim - and herein lies the problem.

A substantial body of evidence shows that people learning more about the "other" are challenged on their preconceived biases, which can help break down stereotypes and negative perceptions that they held.

Muslims make up less than one percent of the American population, and the chances of interacting with a Muslim remain low for most Americans

One study on transgender biases that garnered national media attention concluded that "deep conversations" with transgender individuals demonstrated a notable change in people's attitudes after they canvassed to discuss their prejudices. Participants were likely to view transgender people more positively (a 10-point increase) than before the point of dialogue.

Researchers at the University of Madison Wisconsin conducted a 12-week project that studied the effects of "prejudice habit-breaking intervention". They found "dramatic" reductions in people's biases once the participants were confronted about the notions they held about black people, often showing concern for their behaviour and awareness of their prejudices.   

Similarly, one study conducted in Australia showed increased contact between Muslims and other faiths showed a significant drop in "intergroup bias and intergroup anxiety" towards Muslims while enhancing each group's understanding and knowledge of the other.

A Pew study in 2014 found that if a person was familiar with Muslims or knew one, there was a strong likelihood that they would express a more positive attitude towards Islam and Muslims, regardless of their political affiliation, race or education.

Though contact with Muslims is a positive approach to reducing Islamophobic and discriminatory perceptions, it can only go so far. Muslims make up less than one percent of the American population, and the chances of interacting with a Muslim remain low for most Americans.

Therefore, it is imperative that educational institutes establish a curriculum that provides a meaningful learning experience for children on Islam, by those well trained in the subject.

Teaching Islam – the American context

While providing a historical and rudimentary education on Islam can help students relate to Muslims and identify the falsehoods that have been popularised and entrenched in the mainstream consciousness, the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent War On Terror, that have largely shaped the image of Islam in 21st century America, cannot be ignored.

Much of the 24/7 news cycle provides a decontextualised caricature of Islam

Though more people are today have an awareness of Islam than when the Twin Towers fell that fateful morning, this has hardly been beneficial to the American Muslim community, or Muslims abroad.

Much of the 24/7 news cycle provides a decontextualised caricature of Islam, largely associating it with violence and militancy while providing an overall negative portrayal of the religion and its practitioners.

A report by the American Friends Services Committee (AFSC) found that most of the language associated with Muslims linked them with extremism, portraying them as "a singular, monolithic group of potential extremists". It is of no coincidence that in many anti-Muslim attacks, in America and elsewhere, the perpetrators are often caught calling their victims an IS sympathiser or threatening to bomb them. 

The report also found that most of the coverage on the conflicts in the Muslim world had a simplistic view of those fighting as senseless and irrational extremists, framed "as an undifferentiated Muslim 'Other' from a dark past threatening a present-day 'Us' that is positioned or glossed as western, Christian, and modern".

According to the author Beth Hallowell, it "downplays… the current social context: the downstream effects of more than a century of colonialism, over half a century of US reliance on oil, largely from the Middle East".  

Moreover, career politicians in Washington who continue to see the value of Muslims solely from a security point of view only add to the problem.

Formal education therefore remains one the few avenues where a multilateral approach to learning Islam can take place - that includes studying its role in local and foreign politics in the context of an increasingly globalised world, while helping provide future generations a solid foundation with which to challenge the bigotry and prejudices many Muslims face today.

Usaid Siddiqui is a Canadian freelance writer. He has written for PolicyMic, Aslan Media, Al Jazeera America and Mondoweiss on current affairs. Follow him on Twitter: @UsaidMuneeb16

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.