Indian identity in American schools

aneeshm

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An article I found interesting . If you can ignore the slight bias of the author , the facts he has given speak for themselves .

Link

Controversy
Indian identity in American schools
By C. Alex Alexander

Although I have been in the US since 1962, I seem to have remained unaware of how American schools are imprinting concepts of Indian identity and Hinduism on the minds of American youth including children born to Indian parents. It was probably because I never had children of my own. My recent inquiries of Indian parents about this issue revealed that not many Indian parents are fully cognizant of the extent of misinformation that is being parlayed to young Americans, not just about India but about most non-European civilizations.

After availing of an early retirement from our professional lives, my wife and I spent a year studying Art History after which we became volunteer docents at a local art museum. In our roles as docents we came in contact with elementary and high school students who visited the museum to augment their knowledge of world history and ancient civilizations. After a year’s experience of interacting with school kids I have become convinced that something needs to be done, especially with regard to the way non-Judeo Christian communities are being portrayed in the text books that our students use and the manner in which their teachers are trained to deal with Asian, African, Latino and Native American traditions.

India, in my opinion receives the worst treatment of all at the hands of our teachers of world history. China and Japan fare a lot better. My African-American colleagues with whom I often talk about India’s image in the US greet me with their “welcome to the club” slogan. They remind me that Indians “have to fight the battles like they themselves had to struggle with in order to make the white Americans concede at least partly that Africa is more than a mere continent that sent them their slaves”. Those who have resided in the US since the early 1960s may recall the debates that when the US Nobel Laureate William Shockley and his friend, Professor Arthur Jensen began to popularise their (now-discredited) theories of racial inferiority of African-Americans. It took nearly four decades of systematic challenges by the black community to correct the distorted stereotyping of blacks, some of which continue even today in a subtle fashion.

Likewise, during the last three or four decades, the negative images of India and Hinduism in particular have been promoted by our movies and talk show pundits (Indiana Jones, Oprah Winfrey, 60 Minutes et al). These have contributed to the inability of many of our school teachers to present a balanced portrayal of the Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh traditions to their students. Hinduism seems to fare the worst at the hands of our school systems. The average American teacher’s knowledge of Hinduism, which is the core component of India’s cultural heritage, is often stilted by the sensational portrayals of that faith by our mass media. Though a few inquiring Indian parents seem to be aware of these problems, I am unaware of organised efforts in most states of our land (except in Virginia and California) undertaken by the Indian community to address this issue. I also realise that the extent of such prejudiced portrayals of India may vary from state to state, the worst being in our Bible belt in the South.

This issue was recently highlighted at the 5th International Conference of the World Association of Vedic Studies (WAVES) held on July 9-11, 2004 at the Shady Grove Campus of the University of Maryland by a paper presented by Yvette C. Rosser of the University of Texas at Austin and titled “Stereotypes in Schooling: Negative Pressures in the American Educational System on Hindu Identity

Formation”. That study found that “stereotypes about India and Hinduism when taught as facts in American classrooms may negatively impact students of South Asian origin who are struggling to work out their identities in a multicultural, and predominantly Anglo-Christian environment”. Rosser’s work is based on surveys of both teachers who teach world history in our classrooms and Indian students who are being taught by these teachers.

The study found that the teachers devoted only seven per cent of their preparation time to Asia of which most of it was consumed by Japan and China. Latin America received six per cent, Middle East four per cent and Africa three per cent. Eighty per cent of their learning time was devoted to European history! The amount of time spent in class instruction of these cultures reflected a similar distribution of effort. The students who were interviewed by Rosser were all of Indian descent. They were often befuddled by the contradictions that resulted from what they learnt about Indian culture and Hinduism through their teachers vs. what they derived from interacting with their Indian parents and Indian friends of non-Hindu faiths.

This is a serious issue with implications for the formation of both identity and character of not only the Indian youth but also of their non-Indian counterparts with whom they will have to interact socially and live with for the rest of their lives. Aren’t we after all “one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all”? Our great seal proclaims “e Pluribus Unum”, “out of many, one”! Neither American’s cultural identity nor his/her roots should be demeaned owing to the ignorance of our teachers, especially when we the taxpayers are paying their salaries!

My own interactions with my adult American friends lead me to conclude that most of them appear to have got their entire education about India and Hinduism either from the television and newspapers, or magazines like the National Geographic and Readers Digest or through visits to museums. This is particularly so with regard to their knowledge of Hinduism.

Most of them know about India’s three Cs: Caste, Curry and Cows and the three Ps: Polytheism, Poverty and Population! They know little or nothing about the distinctions between polytheism and pantheism. The more “sophisticated” ones know a little about Gandhi, mostly through Richard Attenborough’s movie. They are also the ones who are more likely to ask you about “sati”, “bride-burning” and “the Kashmir” problem. With more than a million practicing Hindus now in the US and with nearly 800 Hindu temples and ashrams here, there is no reason why Hindu temples in each state (a la the African-American churches) cannot take leadership roles in systematically examining the high school textbooks that the children of their worshippers use in schools. Should they find factually incorrect or demeaning characterisations of India and its Hindu, Jain, Buddhist or Sikh religious traditions in these textbooks, they should bring them to the attention of their local school boards with requests to rectify them.

Not doing so will surely affect the identity and character formation of both Indian and non-Indian youth who are the future citizens of this nation. In order to do all that, there needs to be a united voice of Indians of non-Abrahamic traditions in every community. I believe that the temples of the Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist faiths are uniquely suited to perform such functions. It is indeed both sad and surprising that Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist temples in the US have not yet formed at least a web-linked and non-dues paying national council or association or consortium to discuss and resolve problems that affect the identity of future generation of Indians here who want to remain as adherents of their faiths into which they were born. The monotheistic faiths (Judeo-Christian & Islamic) in the US have their own separate linkages that inform each other of important issues facing their respective faith communities. They do so with lightning speed whenever they suspect that their images or reputations are being distorted. I believe that the Hindu temples (due to their large numbers) are uniquely suited to take a lead in the development of such a consortium, council or association to tackle issues concerning representations of their religious traditions in our school systems.

Not too long ago, there were many articles in the US and Indian media about the denigration of Ganesha, Ramakrishna Paramahans, Shivaji etc by the sophomoric writings of euro-centric American professors associated with US schools of divinity. Complaints about such writings were lodged by both Indian scholars in India as well as scholars from among the NRI communities here in the US and UK. But the latter (critics) were often unfairly caricatured by a few Judeo-Christian as well as Indian “intellectuals” characterising the critics as Hindu fundamentalists or ignoramuses who are unfamiliar with our Bill of Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression.

It was even more baffling for me to learn that some of these American (Judeo-Christian) professors who routinely defame Hinduism and its deities and heroes through their writings are frequently invited by Hindu groups and even given honoraria and garlanded and feted for their “contributions”. Most Hindu hosts seem to be unaware of the fact that their “distinguished lecturers” who often identify themselves primarily as professors of “Eastern religions” at reputable universities are in actuality serving as principal faculty of their respective schools of divinity. These schools of divinity have ulterior motives in offering degrading interpretations of non-Abrahamic faiths.

They have no interest what so ever in teaching any student the virtues of India or its predominant Hindu civilization, which has contributed, to the evolution of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Hinduism’s core value of pluralism and its tolerance of all faiths are seldom highlighted, nor discussed as more conducive to the preservation of world peace than our monotheistic Abrahamic faiths can ever hope to be if the latter remain wedded to its exclusivist religious philosophy steeped in their respective beliefs of infallibility.

You should not be surprised if you had heard from your children that they had not heard anything good about India or its many religious traditions from any of their teachers. I wonder how many of them were told by their teachers that India is the largest democracy in the world with a secular form of government, that it is a country that has never had a military coup, never invaded another country, allowed Christianity to thrive even before it spread to Europe, gave haven to Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians when they fled from the onslaughts of Islam, and gave birth to Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. They also may not have heard from their teachers that India is the seventh most industrialised country in the world, and that it contributed a great deal to ancient mathematics, astronomy, bronze casting, surgery, and vaccination, Yoga, Ayurveda etc.

But, your children may have been asked inane questions by their classmates based on a sensational TV or magazine account of some weird practice going on somewhere in India as it happens everywhere, even in our own, viz., the United States of America.

For example, Rosser reported in her study that one Indian student said that he was asked in a class discussion why Indians always worshipped rats, fed them and allowed them to multiply when it is well-known that they can harbour vectors capable of spreading bubonic plague.

This occurred after a TV show aired an item concerning veneration of rats in a temple in Rajasthan. I too recall someone asking me whether that practice was typical of Hinduism. My response was that it was no more typical of Hinduism than it is of Christianity if we were to infer that all Christians handled rattlesnakes in their Sunday worship as some congregations in West Virginia or the Boot Heel of Missouri still do in order to test and affirm their own “sinless” lives since their last worship in that church!

The Judeo-Christian, African-American and Latino parents (Latinos less vigorously than the former two groups) exercise constant vigilance to ensure that the facts about their respective cultures are not degraded or slandered by any teacher. If they do, their representatives on the school boards promptly take them to task. Now, it is the turn of Asian-Indian parent’s here, particularly Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist parents to find out from their children what they are learning about India and its many religions and their traditions. And, if they find that their schools are not offering a balanced account of India’s history, its achievements and its religious traditions, I do believe that the parents have an obligation to seek remedial action from the administrators of their schools.

At least for posterity’s sake, they must act. If they do not, they are in my humble opinion, short-changing their own commitment to Sanatana Dharma. They are also missing a golden opportunity to highlight the ancient wisdom of the Hindu traditions as codified in Sanatana Dharma, which celebrates religious pluralism and diversity. I know of no other faith other than Hinduism or an ancient land other than the pre-Mughal and the pre-Colonial Indian subcontinent which permitted the thriving of multiple faiths and demonstrated its hospitality to all those who came to its shores seeking refuge from religious persecution or trading opportunities.

Even in recent times, India has provided refuge to Tibetans fleeing from persecution in their own homeland. More than two thousand years before our Founding Fathers in this Nation envisaged a country which shall become that “shining city on the Hill” where religious pluralism and diversity shall thrive so that we can remain an example for the rest of the world, the Indian subcontinent was practicing it! India continues to remain as that “shining” land mass of religious tolerance even despite the relentless provocations of the arrogant factions of the monotheistic faiths.

It is not a well-appreciated fact here in this country that India’s Sanatana Dharma had always espoused such a pluralistic tradition as befitting the peoples who inhabited that subcontinent. Middle East too was a haven for pluralism with its pre-Christian Semitic and African cultures as well as the very early Christian churches of the first four centuries of the Common Era. They were all destroyed consequent to the bastardization of the ancient eastern Judeo-Christian faiths when these essentially “eastern Jewish and Orthodox Eastern Christian faiths” were hijacked nearly 1700 years ago by the Western imperialist powers to convert them into exclusivist creeds and make them become tools in their quests for world domination. Unfortunately, the Islamic rulers embraced the same fervor for co-opting religion in the service of expanding political power. The follies of all such perversions, past and present are now becoming more obvious in recent years with the resurgence of militancy among the ignorant minorities of the Abrahamic faiths who are either willing to maim and kill for proving their exclusivist superiority and nearness to God or belittle and ridicule those who perceive God differently. In that context, the parents of our Indian-American children have a stellar opportunity to show their neighbours of Abrahamic faiths the redeeming values and traditions of Sanatana Dharma and the latter’s intrinsic nearness to the true tenet of the American creed, EPLURIBUS UNUM!

(Dr. Alexander is a US citizen and has retired from the medical profession. He has held several executive medical positions in the US Department of Affairs, US Department of Defense, US Army Medical Corps, Reserve Components and has held professorial appointments at several medical schools during his 40 years of medical career in the United States.)



I'd request the posters from the US to tell me what their own education told them about Hinduism .
 
aneeshm said:
I'd request the posters from the US to tell me what their own education told them about Hinduism .

To be perfectly honest, not much...

article said:
Most of them know about India’s three Cs: Caste, Curry and Cows and the three Ps: Polytheism, Poverty and Population! They know little or nothing about the distinctions between polytheism and pantheism.

This is fairly accurate. Although I would break it down even further into Caste, Cows, Population.

Particularly Caste... it is the only thing about India that we spent more than a fleeting moment on.

My general feeling from my world history class though was that the stupid kids wouldn't care regardless, and the smart kids were smart enough to realize that an apathetic teacher and a book that has an entire unit on the U.S.S.R shouldn't be taken as anything near 100% accurate.
 
Well i am an avid history reader. I have studied world history on my own from a variety of sources. Although im afraid they were probably published by american or european writers also.

I am moderatly informed a bit on some of indias history. I know that it is a haven for many religions and it is a largely buddhist and hinduist country. I also have an interest in mythology and have read many hindu myths. Although i have to admit until recently i did not know hinduism was actually monothestic in the sense that all the gods in hinduism represent one universal being.

I really have never had any negative images about india. Although i find it hard to beileve at first the article said at first that they have never invaded any country before. I mean India is a very very old country. They had a well devoloped military in ancient times and fought off even greek invasions. Although it may be true they never invaded any neighboring countries i honestly dont know. However you cant deny throughout much of indias history they had a caste system. Elements of the caste system even remain today. I cannot view a caste system with widely divided rights among citizens positivly.

However one can argue no country at the time was very liberal anyway so its not a big deal. Anyway i think india is a fantastic place (except that it is very crowded) and is doing very well in modern times economically from what i hear. They have a rich and diverse culture and history and i would like to visit india some day. :)
 
I'm fairly certain that we never studied India at all.
 
We skimmed over India. We learned about the Caste System, about Brahama( or whatever the creator gods name is), the population of India, the Indus Valley civilization, the Mughals, and about Buddhism.
 
I'm half Indian who and while it’s true that the various aspects of India aren't covered very well during high school, I can honestly say it didn't bother me. I learned less about Russia and Eastern Europe through my various history courses then India. If someone is truly interested in cultural and historical aspects of a region, they will study in depth on their own free time.

I tried to pick read a few books about Indian religions and history, but I simply couldn't bring myself to be interested in the subject. The history seemed tedious and repetitive while the numerous southern Indian names were not memorable at all. Being an atheist, I found the theology Hinduism to be such rather bizarre.

It’s a shame but I don’t seem to really identify much with my Indian heritage. I guess it shouldn't be too suprising since I've lived in the US for most of my life.
 
My world history teacher was inept and had a love affair with China. We never substantialy covered anything outside of China and its immediate surroundings. India was apparently not close enough. I doubt we even covered the 3 C's and P's.
 
Xanikk999 said:
Well i am an avid history reader. I have studied world history on my own from a variety of sources. Although im afraid they were probably published by american or european writers also.

I am moderatly informed a bit on some of indias history. I know that it is a haven for many religions and it is a largely buddhist and hinduist country. I also have an interest in mythology and have read many hindu myths. Although i have to admit until recently i did not know hinduism was actually monothestic in the sense that all the gods in hinduism represent one universal being.

I really have never had any negative images about india. Although i find it hard to beileve at first the article said at first that they have never invaded any country before. I mean India is a very very old country. They had a well devoloped military in ancient times and fought off even greek invasions. Although it may be true they never invaded any neighboring countries i honestly dont know. However you cant deny throughout much of indias history they had a caste system. Elements of the caste system even remain today. I cannot view a caste system with widely divided rights among citizens positivly.

However one can argue no country at the time was very liberal anyway so its not a big deal. Anyway i think india is a fantastic place (except that it is very crowded) and is doing very well in modern times economically from what i hear. They have a rich and diverse culture and history and i would like to visit india some day. :)

The article is correct in that India, the twntieth century post-colonial nation, never invaded anyone. However its history is indeed long- for example, prior to the mughal period India was divided into several states, which frequently fought one another. This is not a testament to their primitiveness, but quite simply to the ancient depth of their history.
 
In my public school days,religion itself is kinda somewhat not talked about in many History or so-called social studies curriculas.I find myself always being yelled at by peers and teachers[ridicule,or other things that classmates will show contempt toward my somewhat naive and curious nature]and finding me atagonistic sometimes.

Solution.Go to the public library and get more info on whatever religion that you wanna find out,if your unfortunate to not find someone who is from India or other region of the world.
 
I don't think it is surprising 80% of American history classes is about Europe. It's save to say the American culture is largely built on European culture. Whatever the point is of this guy, he seems to forget that the influence of India and/or Hinduism on the American culture is rather minimal.

I'm not sure what I did learn at school (in the Netherlands) about India. Most certainly we were informed about the Caste system and we were taught is nearly as bad as racism or slavery.
I was also informed about the slave trade. Before the Dutch West Indian Company (what's in a name ;) ) got involved in West African slave trade, many people from India were 'contracted' for labour in Suriname.
In 1975, when Suriname was forced into independence, most Hindus from Suriname settled down in Holland.
So, we have quite Hindu minority here. I checked the 45 names of the community council in The Hague:
-Baldewsingh
-Chandoe
-Siwpersad
Sounds hundu to me.
 
Hinduism (as well as any religion besides Catholicism/Protestantism) isn't mentioned in Northern Ireland schools at all.

EDIT- In fact, there is nothing on any course that mentions anything outside Europe, besides Geography which mentions world poverty and extreme weather.
 
I learnt about the basic beliefs of Hinduisim, the caste system, 4,000 years of Indian history in 5 pages, and something about poplation and how cows are scared.
Oh we did learn the geography though.

Mostly I don't pay attention to what they say about history in American or Canadian schools cuz I know more than the teacher. So whatever...
 
The article is correct in that India, the twntieth century post-colonial nation, never invaded anyone. However its history is indeed long- for example, prior to the mughal period India was divided into several states, which frequently fought one another. This is not a testament to their primitiveness, but quite simply to the ancient depth of their history.

Indian Empires at their height usually extened into Afghanistan and Persia, notably the Mughals and Mauryans, Greco-India, Indo-Parthian and such...
I mean they fought eah other, they founght outsiders, like the Portoguese, Selecuids, Afghans, British, French, and such at various times in their history. So its somewhat inaccurate to say they never invaded anyone.
 
i found my american History class too long for only 400 years of history, while my world history class talked about india, mid east, and the rest of asia, for only 2 days, the rest was about europe, and nothing about africa.
"discrimination" anyone???
 
silver 2039 said:
Indian Empires at their height usually extened into Afghanistan and Persia, notably the Mughals and Mauryans, Greco-India, Indo-Parthian and such...
I mean they fought eah other, they founght outsiders, like the Portoguese, Selecuids, Afghans, British, French, and such at various times in their history. So its somewhat inaccurate to say they never invaded anyone.
well if you compare india with any other invading civ, you find that india is prolly the least invading of all. compared to others, indians have generally been peaceful, and minded their own business. maybe because they had what they needed, and more. btw, my college history professor remarked that india was the richest country in the world at the time of the British take over. in fact that is why the Brits came in the first place. of course when they came, so did poverty, and famine.:(
 
I took an Asian religions class in college, (elective) we learned Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism. Other than that, no mention of India or Hinduim.
 
High school history and religion classes (I went to a US private school) were worthless when it came to the East. Undergrad (BU) was fantastic, though. I did a program called core curriculum, where you learn by reading the seminal works. The Bhagavad Gita, Lao Tze, Confucius, etc. I think that is the best, least biased way to learn.
 
We talked about India's population problems and the monsoon in Geography and their castes and the problems of Indian girls/wives in Religion.
 
I recall learning about the Caste System, it being the world's largest democracy, frequently at war with Pakistan, once part of the British Empire, Mohatma Ghandi, millions butchered by Islamic conquest of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and now Kashmir.

That said, history in the US should be about the US and what people do while they are here, not about the places where they came from. People who would call themselves a "hyphenated-American" don't belong in America.
 
silver 2039 said:
Indian Empires at their height usually extened into Afghanistan and Persia, notably the Mughals and Mauryans, Greco-India, Indo-Parthian and such...
I mean they fought eah other, they founght outsiders, like the Portoguese, Selecuids, Afghans, British, French, and such at various times in their history. So its somewhat inaccurate to say they never invaded anyone.

This is unbelievable . Are you telling me that you don't know the extent of India ? Did you not know that undivided India stretched from Afghanistan to Nepal to Indonesia ? Afghanistan was a part of India . It is even mentioned in the Mahabharata ( the Mahabharat's 'Gandhar' got corrupted into Kandahar ) . Later , these parts were lost . Any invasion of these parts by an king of a central territory was not an invasion - it was India trying to get back territories which were lost to foreigners . Even today , I consider it the duty of the Indian government to try to get back India , stretching from Afghanistan to Kanyakumari , into one state .
 
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